No sunrise this morning, way too many clouds. Both the ships that were in the way yesterday had departed, which would have been good if the sun was visible, lol. (By 7.30 there were 2 more docked)

It rained most of the morning, but had stopped by lunchtime.

I had a simple continental breakfast up in the Diamond Club as I thought I should try it at least once. Once the 2 chatty Australians left I was all by myself in silence, it was lovely. Apart from the rooms there is piped music everywhere, even on deck, so it was great to have quiet. Had a chat with the concierge when he popped in and then back to my room. Had lunch and then headed out to the meeting point, once again on the other side of immigration.

This tour was of the Winter Palace and the Hermitage which is seamlessly joined to it. There are 10 buildings to the Hermitage throughout St Petersburg, 5 of them in this one spot. Catherine the Great bought 3 million pieces of art and then needed to house it all as a private collection. Nowadays, 5 million people visit annually. Our guide said it wasn’t too bad today, as we only had a 20 minute wait in the queue to get in and it wasn’t overly crowded. Well, I wouldn’t like to be there at all when it’s very crowded, today was bad enough, LOL. Everyone had said I had to visit it, but it wasn’t really my cup-of-tea, lol. I did like the ceilings and the enormous vases though, especially the malachite ones. We weren’t allowed to use a flash so the photos are a little dull.

Then back to the ship and more long queues as the gangplank was going up at 5.30 and it was 5.15 already. There’s an event on tonight for those who sail frequently, so might see if I can stay awake long enough to go to it, lol.

 As good as it got Catherine’s throne, made in England

Egyptian Room