Stroganov Palace

Today began with the same delicious breakfast that we eat every morning at the hostel. The breakfast is a lot different than my typical breakfast in the United States, but I enjoy the hard-boiled egg and cheese as a start to my day. Next, we all gathered in one of the rooms in the hostel and were given very vague directions about the rest of our day in an attempt to keep our destination a surprise.

After a few mile walk we encountered our first destination on Nevsky Prospect; we were going to tour the Stroganov Palace. The pink and white building's baroque architectural design and beautiful details made the palace look beautiful from the outside, but what we discovered inside was far more impressive. The palace contained elegant chandeliers, gaudy gold trim, and hand-painted ceilings. I was breath taken by the beauty and elegance of the palace.

For lunch, we went went to a traditional Russian cafe near the palace. Ordering my meals in Russia has been one of the most difficult parts of visiting a foreign country where a different language is spoken. Today was a success because the cafe had English translations of the menu items written under the Russian. Sometimes, I am forced to point at a random item and hope that I like it. For the most part, I have enjoyed all of the food in St. Petersburg, and look forward to trying new Russian foods like caviar.

We changed our second destination because we discovered that it free on Thursdays and were trying to save money in the long run. We ended up at a railway museum a few miles from the palace. The museum was interesting, but the lack of English translation made it difficult to know what I was looking at sometimes. I learned some history about the Russian railways, but this destination was less exciting than the amazing palace we visited earlier today.

We were given the remainder of today to explore the city and do any shopping or homework that we needed to do. I visited a few shops on Nevsky Prospect and returned to the hostel for the remainder of the evening. I have greatly enjoyed my experience in St. Petersburg thus far and look forward to the many weeks of adventure to come.

-Tim