My Kicks: le Hermitage

1.My shoesies in le Winter Palace - Home of the Romanovs
2.In front of the Winter Palace
3. Halls of the Hermitage*
4. Portrait of a pretty girl
5.The Palace Square

*The Hermitage houses one of the largest collections of art I've ever seen. The structure itself is a sight to behold, and extends beyond the winter palace into multiple other buildings. No wall is without art. The collection began with Catherine the Great, and here you can find anything from Egyptian art, to Russian culture and art, to Van Gogh and Rembrandt. Did I mention how large the collection is? Apparently, the Hermitage only houses 5% of the collection with the other 95% being held in storage. Legend has it, that if you were to study each painting for 10 seconds (minutes?), it would take you 9 years to get through the whole museum. It's incredible, really.

My kicks: the Red Square

1. My shoesies (duh)
2.Le Red Square view from Lenin's Mausoleum*
3.A very red building, which I don't think was very important
4.St. Basil's Cathedral
5.P,HB,HV,D jumping for joy in Maskva

*There are no photos of Lenin's Mausoleum mostly because I didn't think it was very interesting to look at, BUT it was extremely interesting to visit. The mausoleum houses Lenin's embalmed body, and is open on some days for a public viewing. If it tickles your fancy, one stands in line, goes through a metal detector, has one's backpack denied entry, is rushed through a maze and into a dark opening of the facade, continues further into a dimly lit corridor, around a corner and quickly past the body. It seems at any moment the man is going to open his eyes...His body has been around longer than he has. This was a weird experience. Interesting, and very weird.