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| Nevskyprospekt |
I’ve lived in Paris half my life, which is a powerful number of years.
And over those years, I’ve visited the Louvre Museum more times than I can remember. As I have a pass that allows me to cut the lines, I’ll often go there when I’m early for some meeting nearby and have an hour to “waste”. Fine art is such a good way to “waste” an hour.
Not counting the appendages at the opposite end of the Tuileries Gardens (the Jeu de Paume and the Orangerie museums), the Louvre “contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 652,000 square feet dedicated to the permanent collection”, according to an internet source I found. The Uffizi in Florence is a wonderful place, but it totals only 139,000 square feet. And after its expansion, New York’s MoMA now weighs in at a respectable 630,000 square feet. But the Louvre is still bigger.
The only museum that can rival it is the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. Or so I’d been told. It is bigger, with the exhibition area totaling 719,471 square feet (out of total premises of 2,511,704 sq ft). So I had to see it for myself.
And relations becoming rocky between Presidents Obama and Putin this past year, I thought perhaps it would be wise to do it sooner rather than later.
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| Fontanka River |
For last year’s trip through the Volga country, it was Vladimir who organized and took care of everything (see Russia, Volga, starting March 11, 2016). This time I was going on my own. He counseled me to use the services of a friend of his, Antonina, who is Russian (well, Ukrainian, actually). She would charge me for it, but it turned out to be worth it. Because an American getting a Russian visa is no picnic.
Now I know that getting a visa for the U.S. isn’t easy for people from some foreign countries, and most probably a lot harder for citizens of Russia than perhaps for the French. But to snag a Russian visa, you have to indicate your specific date of arrival and date of departure. The visa will be good only between those two dates, unlike a six-month U.S. tourist visa. To visit Russia, you have to say where you’re going (unlike the American visa permit... and yes, I checked this on-line.) The embassy officials will also want to know where you’re staying. And who invited you! That part just blows my mind. Because no one invited me. It was just my notorious curiosity. (Usually a tour agency will work their magic here. I have no idea what Antonina told them.)
She came through and I got my visa. Five days for 135 euros, the same price I’d paid for 14 days the year before. Oh well.
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| Church of Our Savior on the Spilt Blood |
Upon arrival at Roissy Airport, I have my first scare. Cancelled flight. Luckily it’s the one for Moscow and not St. Petersburg.
I soon learn that Russian children in international airports are just as unruly as American children, judging by one family in the boarding area. Then there’s the late departure and the rain, with snow reported in St. Petersburg, even though it’s only October And once on board - oh joy! - those little darlings are seated in front of me. Then an announcement says that no one can have a Samsung Galaxy on board. Totally banned because prone to exploding, we’re asked to give them up to be put in the hold. I don’t see where that would be any less disastrous than in the cabin. Not auspicious signs, any of this. Good thing I’m not superstitious.
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| Gribaedova Canal |
