En route to the museum, we witnessed the gruesome aftermath of what we assume to be an accident (car vs. pedestrian). For some reason, the authorities failed to cover the body of the victim, who’d sustained extensive head trauma. While I’ve seen that sort of thing, it came as an unpleasant shock to Libby. Thankfully, Emerson was looking in the opposite direction and didn’t notice the accident. All in all, not a happy start to a tour. 

But, life goes on…

The Hermitage was unsurprisingly crowded with visitors and tour groups:

However, it’s still a spectacular space with amazing art and artifacts. 

This is actually a clock, which moves moves mark time (e.g. the peacock displays its tail, etc.):

The room that contained it was pretty spectacular (though crowded):

More lavish interior:

I really liked this Ribera (not that it’s anywhere near the most famous / important work):

After the museum visit, we were brought to a large shop for Russian trinkets and trash. 

This made it totally worth the visit:

Within a few minutes of walking in to the city, it started raining. Then it started raining harder. And, then it started to hail. Thankfully, it stopped within a few minutes. But, we spent most of the morning walking in and/or trying to avoid the rain.

While this made our day slower going, we did manage to allow Mom to get a sense of Palermo. We visited a few churches along the way too. Most importantly, I managed to get us some cannoli (freshly made just for me) from a little pastry shop. We thoroughly enjoyed them back aboard the ship. Indeed, Libby thought it was probably worth braving the weather just for the cannoli.