Three days in Russia. So this morning was a little rough. Because we got back from the ballet at 11:00 pm, I went to bed really late. However, we didn't have to leave the boat till 9:00. Customs was so much easier, so we went through that super quick. Once we found our guide we got into our 22 person van and headed to the winter palace of Peter the Great. Our method of travel was a little different. We boarded a hydrofoil and rode for about half an hour until we got to the palace griunds. With...I think 5 buildings the palace was huge. The vegetations was so gorgeous. At the green house (which was the size of a normal house) had the most beautiful and fragrant roses. I must say, I love roses :) it seems like Peter the Great had a sense of humor and mischief because there were trick fountains. Basically if you walked in this stone area and you stepped on the "trigger rock" you would set of these sprinklers that soaked you. There were probably 3 of them around the grounds. There was also a huge fountain display at the rontbifbthe main palace building where all of the statues and fountains were covered in gold leaf. After a wonderful tour through the palace gardens we went to lunch. It was in a little cafe right outside the palace. We had another Russian lunch. I had mushrooms, onions, and potatos... But they were inside of this fried half moon like pastry. It was absolutely delicious. (I will try and post a picture if it under St Petersburg in the photo gallery) I also had a Russian Coca Cola. It was funny because the slogan was written in Russian. The actual drink tasted the same as American coke. After a wonderful lunch we got in our van and rode for an hour to Katherine the Great's palace. When we arrived at the palace we had to walk a ways before we got to the extraordinarily long palace. The outside of the palace was blue, gold, and white. My personal favorite color combination. When we entered the palace, we had to put on these brown paper-ish slippers over our shoes because the floors had to be clean. Almost every room was full of gold trim, ceiling paintings, mirrors, and candles. One room was completely covered in Amber...well, just the walls. But even the picture frames were made out of Amber. My favorite room was the ballroom. It was an extremely long room, covered with mirrors, candles, and gold all around. But it also had two grand pianos at one end. Another room was covered in pictures. I mean, separate pictures puzzle pieced together. Once we finished the hour long tour through Katherine the Great's palace, we left right as the rain started. The rain fell harder and harder. We were scheduled for a one hour boat ride, but because the water was pretty rough, we canceled it. Mrs. Coco wanted to go into the church of spilled blood, so we stopped there before heading back to the boat. I didn't go in because my hip was hurting. Back on the ship, we went too late for dinner so we just did our own thing. Sumner and I did dodgeball, then we went to bed. All in all, it was a good day in Russia.
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