Like savoring caviar and vodka, one cannot come to Mother Russia without attending a ballet, and this is why the Palladian Traveler files his ninth dispatch from inside the ornate Hermitage Theatre as the lights dim and the curtain goes up on Swan Lake.

The Palladian Traveler is joined by the likes of Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Velasquez as he pays a visit to the world famous Hermitage Museum.