I survived Russia - Part 2

After stuffing ourselves on the buffet breakfast (complete with lots of stale bread - it seems that Russians haven't quite got the hang of fresh bread) we all got back on the bus for a city sightseeing tour, complete with Russian guide up the front of the bus with a microphone. She was a sweet older woman, who had a habit of saying things like "Look to the left, ok to the right you'll see....". She really knew her stuff, and I wondered how many times she had told the stories and history she was telling us. We drove around, seeing all the famous landmarks and stopping every so often to get out and take photos. I quickly perfected my polite yet firm "No" as at almost every stop there were men trying to sell one thing or another. Not quite as bad as Bali though!

I think my favourite building would have to be "Our Saviour on the Spilt Blood" cathedral, shown above. There is also a closer up shot on my photos page. Apparently this is similar to a lot of the architecture in Moscow, so it's a shame we couldn't go. It was built around the site where the Emperor Alexander II was assasinated, and actually juts into the water of a canal on one side as it was built so that the pavement where his blood was spilt is inside the cathedral.

We were then dropped off in the city for some free time, and after Preethi and I tried the local pizza (luckily the woman behind the counter knew 'tomato' and 'cheese' in english), we did some souvenir buying before heading to the Winter Palace, which is where the State Hermitage Museum is. The queue was substantial, but moving quickly so we joined it, only to have it stop when we were about 20 people away. Waiting, waiting, and eventually a policeman turned up to try and sort out the situation. Not sure what the hold-up was, but after maybe 15 minutes we got inside and out of the cold. Entry was free for students, but we had to pay 100 rubles (about $5) to take our cameras in. Here is where I first learnt the Russian's dislike of giving change. It is a huge museum with thousands of people paying each day to enter, and yet I could not give her a 500 ruble note. She needed 100 exactly. This was a continuing theme throughout the trip, with people getting quite upset if you tried to give them anything rather than exact change.It was quite amazing looking at artwork from such famous artists as Picasso (above), Monet, Renoir, Rodin (below), Kandinsky, and many others I can't remember right now. They also had prehistoric pieces, though by the time we made it to them we wer pretty buggered and I had lost interest.Upon using the toilets in the museum, I realised that it is common (before I just thought it bad luck) for the toilets to not have any seats. I guess this was not so bad, as it was so cold in the toiles I probably wouldn't have like sitting down anyway.

The bus took us back to the hotel to get changed for our river cruise. I was looking forward to this, as they told us it would involve Champanski - Russian champagne! While we were waiting to board the boat, something happened with the mechanics and an enormous jet of water flew from the side, drenching everyone who was about to board. This was quite amusing as this included some people who had thus far proved to be very irritating. The cruise itself was good, and although the Champanski was disappointing there was plenty of BODKA to wash it down with. Food consisted of half a slice of bread each (with some sort of cheese spread, and caviar), and a bucket of fruit for each table.The entertainment was really good, including folk singing and dancing, and of course this involved people being pulled from the crowd to join in. I had to play a Russian game which involves a man and woman sitting on chairs with their backs to each other. I think the rules are that after the count of three, the two people turn their heads around, and if they turn the same way then the man kisses the woman on the cheek. If they turn opposite ways then a new man has to try his luck. Photos of the entertainment are on my photos page.

Well I seem to have run out of steam again - I think this will have to be a 3 part series.