Trip Post 2 Days 5-7

Day 5 Drive to Novgorod!

On the Way to Novgorod we stopped at the House where Tchaikovsky was born.



Then we stopped and bought groceries and ate McDonald's!



Later we stopped at a truck stop where it was pouring down rain and we had to wait for the driver's break to be over.




Later when we actually got to Novgorod we went on a guided tour of the Kremlin and then we checked into our hotel and had dinner.





Day 6

We drove further North to St. Petersburg and saw a tight church that I especially love because I had already purchased an ornament that looked like it.



When we got to St. Petersburg, the first thing we did was go to the Siege of Leningrad Museum. I was looking forward to this because I really wanted to see the memorial to those who died during the 900 day seige of Leningrad where the city was cut off from supplies and it was bitterly cold and people were literally dying in the streets. The fact that they kept the city from falling into Nazi hands is a testament to the resiliency of the Russian people.



Then we went to The Summer Palace of Peter the Great. It is beautiful and is probably the moment when I fell in Love with St. Petersburg. It is featured often in the documentary, Russia: Land of the Tsars by the History Channel. I love it and was like I am in Russia: Land of the Tsars! the whole time.




Then we did a mini city tour, met Serge the "legitimate businessman" who sold us some awesome souveniers, and had a Champanski toast on the waterfront.



Then we went to our wonderful hotel of horrificness. It was not the worst place I have stayed in but it was the worst place on the trip and it was pretty bad. Only half the people's plumbing worked and there were rooms that couldn't open or close their doors. This hotel was an adventure to say the least. We had an okay room and then we got dressed and ate dinner.



Then we went to the ballet. On the way to the ballet, I "made friends" with my Australian friend who had had WAY too much to drink. He wanted to be more friendly than I was prepared to be...The ballet was alright, I ended up falling asleep because I couldn't see the stage and was really tired already.





Day 7

A longer City Tour including a visit to St. Peter's and Paul's Fortress and Cathedral. This is where the Romanov family from the time of Peter the Great is buried, including the last of the Tsar's Nicholas II and family so, yes, I went to Anastasia's grave.




Then we went to the Hermitage which I loved. It is a giant art museum of amazingness.



Then we went on a canal cruise where we were served champanski or vodka, and this is when the evening started to go majorly down hill. The boys all bought 5Euro bottles of Vodka and they had way too much to drink.




After the Canal Cruise we went to the Faberge Egg store where their idea of brilliant marketing is to provide unlimted free shots of vodka to tour groups who shop there. The vast majority of people who were sober before entering the shop weren't anymore after the shop. I think that there were 7 people still sober after shopping there. Then we went to dinner at Mumu and had Beef Stroganoff, which was good. Then the group that was in a partying mood went out more after dinner. I went back to the hotel to pack and get ready to head to Finland on day 8!