We got up early on the morning of the 21st of August to start our walking tour of St. Petersburg. Armed with a map (in Russian) and a tourist magazine we headed out in what we hoped was the correct direction. Our navigation was good and after approx. 20 minutes of walking we came to the Winter Palace & Hermitage just in time for opening. We returned an hour later to no line ups. The museum itself was incredible. There were rooms of gold and precious stones, enormous paintings and inlaid floors. At one point we got very lost and ended up climbing a staircase only to emerge in a room of paintings. Looking around we realized we were in a room of over 30 Picassos. Picking our jaws up off the floor, we continued on to a room full of Monets, followed by Rembrants, Pissaro, Gaugin, .... Welcome to Russia!