The Hermitage, dumplings, Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood, and the Summer Garden.

Well I think that after today it's pretty safe to say that we're now in Russia -- I know that we technically were here yesterday, but with the rain and only having the bit of an afternoon and spending the evening in the hotel it didn't really seem like we had really started to fully experience being in Russia.

Kira, our guide again today, met us in our hotel lobby at 10am, and we set off from there. Our first stop was The Hermitage Museum. I have to admit that overall, museums aren't really my thing. Also not my things are lots of people and small spaces -- especially at the same time. So while there were lots of pretty pictures on the walls and architecturally, the Museum is incredible, being there was kind of what I envision hell to be like. People were pushing and shoving -- and for the first time, I actually saw people yelling and shooing people out of the way so that they could get pictures....it was actually pretty disgusting. Kira did a good job of showing us the 'masterpieces' and taking us to the most important places so that was helpful -- I can't even imagine just wandering around the place. It was like the Louvre on steroids.

The Hermitage -- unfortunately, with some scaffolding 

The other side of the square 

After a couple of hours (we told Kira that we would probably run out of steam after about 2 hours in the museum), we called it quits (for today) and headed off for lunch. When Kira asked what we wanted, I just specified that I wanted to be far far away from lots of people. She said that she thought she knew of a place that would work and it turned out to be perfect. I can't remember the name -- but it was a short drive away from the Hermitage and set back off the street a little bit. There was basically no one in the restaurant -- which I would normally say was a dubious sign, but it was really great. I had a mushroom soup to start and then pork and beef dumplings! I was trying to eat some more traditional Russian food since I had sort of failed on that yesterday. And then since lunch was delicious, we decided to try their versions of tiramisu and cheesecake for dessert, which also did not disappoint! 

Dumplings 

Tiramisu 

After lunch and dessert and tea, I had requested that we go to the Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood -- a rather morbid name if you ask me. It was one of the most incredible churches I have ever seen. It was opened in 1908 and literally, every single surface on the inside is covered with mosaics. It was built on the actually spot that Alexander II was assassinated -- hence the name. Still lots of people but a little more manageable....after that, we went to the Summer Garden which is right next to Peter I's former Summer Palace. Gorgeous fountains and trees and statues -- and of course all of St. Petersburg was there since the sun was out! Oh -- and today was Russia's national day (we keep seeming to find ourselves in places during their national holidays), so people didn't have to work and were out enjoying the chilly yet nice weather. 

Mosaic central....

The outside

Part of the Summer Garden 

Our last stop of the day was at Smolny Convent -- or Smolny Institute as it is often called. As Kira warned, it looks like the top of a wedding cake. It was never actually put into use as a convent -- she said that there were a total of 9 nuns or something like that, but today it is used as a concert hall because it has excellent acoustics. We weren't able to go inside, but the outside was absolutely gorgeous -- and only one tour bus was there! So not crowded at all -- my kind of place. 

The cathedral part 

Convent/Institute 

From there, Kira drove us back to our hotel. Because of our late and mostly traditionally Russian lunch, we decided to be lazy and try out the Russian Pizza Hut for dinner -- a little embarrassing, but it was still really good...we could tell that the waitresses were trying really hard to practice their English with us which was kind of entertaining. And once again, it's well after 10pm and the sun is still up. Crazy.

I can definitely see why St. Petersburg is a tourist destination. I have never seen so many palaces in one city before -- and it's all really beautiful. Of course, there's some not-so-beautiful Soviet stuff mixed in, but it provides for an interesting contrast. Kira continued to provide tons of interesting historical and contextual information about everything that we visited -- and I am still fascinated by Russian history and the Romanov family in general. She kept talking about the Storming of the Winter Palace in 1917 - and unfortunately, I can't help but think of the Disney movie Anastasia, but Kira kind of laughed at me when I brought that up....not that I'm surprised. 

One more full day here, and we have plenty of things on our to do list. Being here has definitely been a bit of a new cultural experience, although we all agree that there are parts that are a little Budapest-esque. 

I'm done for tonight -- hoping that my roll away bed that is clearly made for midgets and contains a college-issue mattress might be a little more comfortable tonight than it was last night...although it's probably safer to not be overly optimistic.

A demain!