9:45-12:00 pm Inside guided tour of the Hermitage Museum (Early entrance, before official opening hours)
We went into the museum through what looked to be a side door and after passing the entrance barriers we started our tour.
Into the rooms.
Looking outside we could see some of the queues to enter the museum.
More rooms.
Walls of portraits.
This was the throne room. We were told that the marble ran out (lost on the way from Italy?) so the throne has behind it the space that should have been in the room.
This room was so different to the rest and we had views of some of the gardens.
This clock was amazing.
One of the staircases with an enormous urn at the top.
We next began to wander through the galleries of art, statues and exhibits. Our guide was able to tell us about every piece!
The next section was a room with the beautiful sculptures.
The Hermitage was by now getting busy especially around the major works of art. We passed back through the rooms with the art and these rooms were simply full of visitors now.
This urn was huge !
And finally we passed through this gallery on our way back to the ground floor.
We met back up with the couple who had joined us in the morning – they were unable to walk around the Hermitage so instead waiting for us all in the entrance lobby. We then all went outside at 11.46 am and were amazed at the queues formed along the pavement.
