The Hermitage

I’d heard talk of the world ending on May 21, and though America still has a few hours to go, our day in St. Petersburg is winding down and it was amazing (yet again)! We had planned a visit to the Hermitage, so after a plate of pishki, we were ready to take on one of the most famous art collections in the world.

A large portion of the Hermitage is in the Czar's Winter Palace

I’ll start off by admitting that I only got through the first floor and half of the second. Even then, I hardly got a good look at everything. There was simply too much! However, I take heart in the fact that we will be visiting it several more times. Sergei even offered to take us on a personal tour through it. How crazy cool is that?! Admission normally costs 300 rubles for foreigners, but with our magical student IDs, we can visit to our hearts’ content without paying a kopek :) Ahh, the perks of being a student…

Founded by Catherine the Great,
the Hermitage houses nearly 3 million works of art!

More and more am I realizing that we arrived in St. Petersburg at the perfect time. If we had arrived even a week earlier, it would have been snowing, and, with the beginning of white nights, in a couple weeks summer tourists should be flooding in. Thus, we have the perfect window to explore all the wonders of the Hermitage without the crowds and hot weather.

My favorite work of the day

We were planning on staying in the city tonight because the museums are open all night for Night in the Museum. However, the metro closes at 12 and our dorms lock down shortly after. It’s a shame, but we’ll have to miss that experience (Imagine, a night in the Hermitage!!!). Before heading home, we ate some more pishki in our secret pishki café (I know…add those to my list of addictions) and finished our day wandering through a souvenir market. I didn’t have enough money to buy anything, but that didn’t deter the sellers from trying to bargain with me. I guess they thought I was just being a tough haggler when I told them I had no money.

"I really don't have any money..."
"Okay, for you, 800 rubles."

Tomorrow we’re going with Shirah (another student in our program) to a non-denominational church. I know I ought to visit a Russian Orthodox service at some point, but I'm still excited about tomorrow.