Day 8: The Hertimage and St Isacc's Cathedral

Well, we awoke to rain this morning. It had continued through the night. Luckily our coats and shoes had dried out from yesterday. Decided we would spend a far chunk of our time today in The Hermitage Museum which is in the Winter Palace. There were lines a mile long everywhere. We stood in the wind and rain for about 35 minutes and discovered we were in the group tours line. It's that's"oh shit" moment because you know that if you go to another line it's going to be hours. Rick went to check things out and had discovered an atm style ticket machine just around the corner in a bit of a side street. We bought 2 tickets and just walked in a side entrance. We could not believe it. People were lining up for hours and hours on the other side...what a stroke of luck for us. Once inside we started to realise one; how big and magnificent the place is, two; how busy it would be and three, how hot it would be (temperature not sexy). Walked around a bit aimlessly until we (BR) figured out the map. Caught a lazy da Vinci or two and marvelled at the Greek sculptures. BR did note that in the European art section, the pompous men did need a touch of photoshopping. We also noted that the pout is not the preferred selfi pose here, rather it is a version of the bend and snap from Legally Blonde....and age would appear to not be a barrier. I thought I might try it but after the bend I think I would have a very different snap. After a few hours of crowds and overheating we decided to exit...I know... You could spend days in there and never be found...but needed fresh air. Got that pretty quick as we made our way to The Blue Bridge...lol aptly named as the bridge is in fact blue. By this stage it was pelting down with rain...luckily we had the infamous red and black waterproofs making another holiday appearance. Got to Isacc Square and saw the very big statue of Nicholas 1st and then sought refuge in the St Isacc's Cathedral....which was gorgeous. We were sopping wet...from legs down so battled the freezing wind...straight of the Gulf of Finland and walked the 1.5 kms back home. Latte, Russian donuts and a hot pack with NCIS in Russian ended an exhilarating day.