Weird hats, meerkats, and beer cats
So I totally forgot to mention yesterday that I went to the Hermitage! XD I went to one of the biggest and prettiest art museums EVER and forgot to talk about it. Go me. I really really enjoyed it. I'm usually just okay with going to art museums, but this one was spectacular. My group took a guided tour through the museum, which gave us a nice overview of most of the collections and ensured that we didn't get lost our first time through the museum. It is quite literally a maze. It spans over five buildings that are connected by little passageways, and I think I only saw one map on the wall the entire time I was there. Luckily my guide book has several maps of the place. XD I definitely have to go back [multiple times] and take pictures of everything. I didn't buy the picture-taking pass last time because I knew I wanted to go back through the museum again anyway and it would be more efficient if I knew exactly where I wanted to go take pictures before actually going to take pictures. The photo passes are 200r (around $6), so I didn't want to have to pay it more times than I had to. Normal admission to the Hermitage is something like $20, but since I have a Russian student ID I can get in for free. ^-^ They had a surprising amount of porcelain and ceramic work, which I happen to absolutely love. I need to go take pictures! Part of the museum is in the Winter Palace's gorgeous staterooms. My favorite part of the museum (which we sadly hurried through) was a special Picasso exhibit held in the Armorial Hall. It was kind of interesting to see such abstract art smack dab in the middle of what essentially looked like a giant ballroom. I'll post more on the Hermitage when I revisit it. Because then I'll have pictures! :D
I'm posting all of my pictures from the trip here, since they definitely won't all fit on facebook. I haven't gotten a chance to flip them all in the correct direction yet... I'll do that tomorrow night. You can just turn your head sideways for right now.
Today I went to the Kazan Cathedral and Church of the Spilled Blood. I'll write about my day tomorrow, since I really need to go to sleep now. Tomorrow we're going to the super gorgeous Peterhof Palace, which means I'll come back with even more pictures and stories for you guys. ^^;;
P.S. I finally found manga in Russian. XD I got the first two volumes of Death Note and something I've never heard of but the art looked pretty. The store had a ton of series I've never heard of before. Mostly I think because they all seemed to be about war and stuff. Except for Bleach, Naruto, and Death Note. And manga is cheaper here than in the US methinks. I kind of want to go back and buy some more... maybe at the end of the trip. They also had a lot of manhwa, which made me happy. I wanted to buy some of that too, but I'm here to experience *Russian* culture, right? >.<