Saint Petersburg

Russia

Saturday

September 9, 2011

At the Hermitage Museum I was approached by a charming woman who offered to be my personal guide.  Since she quoted an exorbitant fee, I simply explained, “I just follow my nose.”  

I noticed that everyone raced through the entrance lobby and headed for the magnificent grand stairway leading up to the main galleries.  What a shame.  They rushed through the arcade filled with enormous Greek sculptures.  And in one corner, in a very unpretentious location, I found a huge urn with bas relief sculptures depicting a “party” and the inevitable outcome of too much of a good thing.