Fall Break Day 7: MUSEUM OVERLOAD

Friday was packed full of museums for me. I started by going to the Russian Museum with a few other students. It was basically another fancy palace with lots of artwork in it. Here was my favorite from the exhibits:

It was titled the last supper. I liked it because of the medium, the colors, and the texture. It was a wax like medium the really popped out of the canvas. After the Russian museum we went to the Church of Spilled blood for some daytime pictures, and to check out the nearby outdoor market.

Nesting dolls EVERYWHERE! They are so pretty! After the market we went to lunch at our favorite pastry shop that I said I ate at everyday. After lunch Missy and I decided to go to the oldest museum in St Petersburg, the Kunstkamera. It was absolutely the most interesting place I have ever been.

The highlight of the museum was Peter the Great's collection of curious things. He started a collection of animals, skeletons, and deformed fetuses people referred to as "monsters." The building itself was originally the academy of science, which is the perfect place for a collection of anatomical things. There was a whole room full of preserved animals and fetusus. There was also a whole floor dedicated to the original building and what it was used for. The rest of the building was a display of the older civilizations from around the world, such as Native Americans, Mongolians, Egyptians, etc. A very interesting collection all in one building. All for 50 rubles! (That's less than $2) We returned to the Hermitage for another hour to finish seeing some of the areas that we had not seen the day before. The whole group then met and went to Pizza Hut together. Super Russian, right?

After dinner some of us went around and took pictures of pretty buildings at night. Here is the Hermitage all lit up!

And the Church of Spilled Blood, of course! We then checked out a neat book store and I bought some pants at H&M right across from our Hostel. Getting back to the room around 10:30 pm, I thought I was done for the day, but boy was I wrong. Over the course of 2 days my new Finnish friends had found me on Facebook and indicated that they would enjoy hanging out again before I left Russia. We originally planned to all get coffee Saturday, but then they remembered that they were going to be gone on a trip that whole day, and I was leaving Saturday evening. We decided that if we really wanted to see each other, it would have to be that night. By the time we had figured all of this out and decided on what to do and where to meet, it was 1am. We were planning to meet halfway at a metro station intersection at 1:30. I arrive there on time and look around for 10 minutes and don't see them anywhere. I think to myself that maybe they thought we were meeting at the hostel intersection instead. So I hurry back and look for them there. Nothing. Now it is 1:50. I find some free wifi and check my messages to see a "Where are youuuu" from Lauri. I tell them the situation and they tell me they are currently at the metro station and they will wait for me if I hurry. So I start running down the road towards the meeting place. On my way I passed a group of Study Abroad students on their way back from the bar. They give me the most confused look. I yell back at them "I am going to see the Finlanders!" They are still very confused but I had no time to explain. I make it back to the intersection and look around, and don't see them. I begin to think this is all a joke and they are just at home pretending to be here, making me look silly. I find some more free wifi and message them my exact location. Now it is 2:00. I wait around and keep telling them different clues about my location until they understand. Now it is 2:10 and I am about to give up and leave. Just as I start to head home I hear "Turn around girl!" from Mikko. They had finally found me! I was so happy to finally see them! They took me out to their favorite burger place and we just sat and talked about Finland, America, Lithuania, and Russia for over an hour. It was fun to compare countries and languages and cultures. They eventually walked me home and said goodbye. If I am ever back in Europe I will have a place to stay in Finland now :) To finish the story of my Russian adventures read Fall Break Day 8: SAUNA.