Winter Palace -surprisingly hypoallergenic

The State Hermitage Museum.  More commonly and easily referred to as simply 'The Hermitage",  this is one of the largest museums in the world.  It houses over 3 million works of art, so it is no surprise that it holds the Guiness World Record for housing the world's largest collection of paintings.  Some names that spring to mind; Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Michaelangelo, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Monet, Renoir... not to mention Faberge jewellery and apparently the largest existing collection of ancient gold from Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

The best part?  I can see it when I look out the window of my university... Right down the road and across the Neva River, sitting there in all it's opulent stucco-fied glory, like a giant green baroque birthday cake, is the Winter Palace.  And with a Studientchisky billyet (a student card), entrance is bezplatno -free.

Today we (Evan, Laura, Katie-my suitemate, and I) journeyed to the Hermitage.  But today we weren't there to see the Da Vincis or Monets, we weren't there for the architecture, or even in hopes of seeing the giant gold clockwork peacock open it's tail...

We were there to see cats.

Yes. Cats.  See, the Hermitage museum currently employs around 50-70 workers who are of the feline variety.  They live in the basement, and are supported and fed by the government.  Their job of course is to protect the priceless art from Death By Mouse.  Or Rat. Or whatever other snobby and cultured rodents insist their beds be made from only the finest artwork.

Apparently once upon a time the cats were free to roam the halls of the museum, but nowadays they keep them hidden in the basement.  I'm not sure why -maybe the risk of a tomcat marking his territory on "The Prodigal Son" is too great, or perhaps too many royal russians were sensitive to pet dander... I'm not sure.  But the tradition carries on.

And today was a special day: today, they let the cats out.

Aaaaaaaand now I'm tired. So I'm going to finish this post later.

In the meantime, here is a picture of me outside the Winter Palace section of the Hermitage.  This picture doesn't even begin to capture the grandeur, or the ridiculous ornate decoration and architecture on it...

Very cool.