11/13: Russia - Day 4

Our last full day in Russia started with a bus tour of the city narrated by the same weird/boring lady from the previous day at Catherine's palace. We went to random sites, saw stuff, and because everyone was so tired we were in general completely unaware of where we were. As a perfect example, here is from right to left: Win (American from NC State), Evan, Loic, Helen, me and Charles in front of some random building that probably had some historical significance or some shit (notice the blue and gold).


Here is the Hermitage Museum, one of the largest art museum's in the world, from across one of the many rivers/canals in St. Petersburg.


Apparantly, following the Cold War, Russia reduced it's military spending.


After another tour of the city we went to see the Hermitage museum (free for students). Here is a bunch of us:


Fuck the cougars ...


One of the hallways in the Hermitage that were undoubteldy showing some pieces of art of some significance ...


A statue commemorating the man who invented the hole in the popcorn tub move:


Loic with some random Russian women he met on the street ... or so the story goes. I wasn't present for this, regardless, what a PLAYAH!


As our last optional activity, we went on a canal cruise. It cost something like 50 Euro to take the trip, but it involved free caviar (mmm, fish eggs ...), a bottle of champagne, and a half liter of vodka per table (6 people per table).


Charles and I about to try the delicious Russian Vodka ...


His expression says everything.






Having fun with the shutter speed:


Afterwards we took the subway, which is the deepest subway in the world (seriously, this felt like an escalator to hell) to a club.


On the way we saw a crazy intense fight ... we all stood stunned and hoped that one of the dudes wouldn't kill the other. After the dust had settled and it appeared as if all were left standing (well, not standing ... but at least alive) we kept going on our quest and partied for a while. St. Petersburg is kind of weird though since there are so many bridges and they all go up at around 2:00 to let boats through, so if you don't get out of downtown before then, you're stuck there until like 5 in the morning. With that in mind, Loic, Helene, Charles and I took the early cab home.