Day 10.   Svirstroy to St.Petersburg

Left Svirstroy at 3.00pm in rain and at 7.00pm had the Captain's Champagne Reception ( dress up ) followed by dinner. The whole crew ( 100 ) were introduced to us .Went through the last lock on the Svir River and sailed all night and arrived in St.Petersberg at 6.30am Wednesday. I said earlier Lake Onega was huge but last night we went across Lake Ladoga which is about 3 times larger and is Russia's largest - you would think it was the ocean. Had a big day today starting with a hydrofoil to the Hermitage Museum on the Neva River. This place is absolutely huge spread over about 7 buildings ( Palaces ) and includes many paintings by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Goya, Rembrant, and many many more. The decor in all the rooms is simply too opulent to even comprehend with lots and lots of gold trimmings. I must have taken over 200 photos ( flash not allowed ). After 3.5 hours there a bus then took us to the Academy Restaurant for a 4 course Lunch which Eric enjoyed.We then had a 3hour city tour by coach visiting St.Isaac's Square, Church of our Savior on Spilt Blood and Peter and Paul Fortress - all magnificent old buildings. Traffic here is terrible and took us 1.5 hours by coach to get back to the ship ( less than 30 minutes by hydrofoil ).Population here is 5 million. Fuel is about $1.00 a litre. Everyone is tired after a long day as we didn't get back till 7.00 pm and then another 4 course meal to get through.