Roel Jansen (22), HAN-student International Business Studies, studies half a year at the Plekhanov International Business School in Moscow. Until the beginning of 2011 he will inform us about his experiences in the Russian capital.
After a trip of seven and a half hours with the nighttrain from Moscow, we finally arrive in St. Peters-burg in the early morning. We start to explore the city right away, since we cannot check in in our hos-tel until 1.00 pm. St. Petersburg is a city with a more western character than Moscow has. The people in the streets speak better English, they are more willing to help and show more sympathy than the
Muscovites I met during the two months I live there.
Because we didn’t sleep in the train, the majority wants to go to the hostel, but my neighbor Lorette and I are going to explore The State Hermitage Museum. It is the biggest museum in the world, and it really shows. It is situated in the former winter palace of the tsars and consists of, unbelievable, ap-proximately thousands rooms. There are three millions of pieces of art to admire, which of course you cannot all see within one day or even a week.
The next day Lorette and I go again, and take the rest with us because everybody now wants to see The State Hermitage Museum. There is so incredibly much to see, that we choose to visit the most outshining rooms. And we will go for the French and Dutch Grandmasters. In this museum, more Dutch masters ‘hang’ than we in Holland have. For example, there is one room which contains 28 paintings of Rembrandt. I am not a patient museum visitor myself, but the State Hermitage Museum is really impressive. The building itself is already a piece of art. The whole premises shows wealth and richness, which the former tsars obviously had that time. All rooms are provided with gold leaf and ceiling- and wall paintings.
The State Hermitage Museum is a must-see for everyone who ever visits Russia. St. Petersburg isn’t called the capital of culture for no reason. Besides the Hermitage, you can see beautiful palaces and cathedrals. It is definitely worth your visit.
After four days, our trip is over and it is time to get back to Moscow. I almost wrote down ‘time to go home’. However beautiful St. Petersburg is, Moscow feels like home.
