Day 5 - Russian Museum & Sightseeing

Monday, June 27

Another rough night. I woke up around 3 in the morning, and it was FINALLY dark outside. Tossed and turned, never was in a deep sleep. Finally decided to get up around 7:00. Ate a Luna bar, then finished “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” Decided to get ready (slowly), then headed downstairs around 8:30. Had breakfast (a Luna Bar is NOT breakfast), then talked to the front desk about arranging my taxi in the morning. I also had to check out of my room NOW, even though I will still be in my room until just before three in the morning (yes, that is when I have to have my taxi to go to the airport).

Headed out for the morning. Only thing on the agenda for the day was to check out the Russian Museum. I wandered around for a bit since the museum didn’t open until 10:00. I keep window shopping for souvenirs but everything is either tacky or SUPER expensive. Just for some perspective… a “cheap” lunch (300 rubles or so) is over 10 US dollars. That’s ridiculous. There were a few meals where I didn’t understand what I was getting and ended up paying over $700… same thing happens with souvenirs. 2000 rubles?? That’s like $100 for a trinket! No thanks.

PS, It's not any cheaper in Russia

I ended up wandering around until about 10:15, then headed in to the museum. Most of the museum was paintings, but there was some neat stuff to look at and I ended up being inside for about an hour and a half. 

Gates to the Russian Museum

Russian Museum

Pretty impressive lobby!

All the ceilings were fancy!

Wood Carving

By the time I was done I was STARVING. I spent the next hour trying to find somewhere “cheap” to eat. Read previous paragraph. Most places would end up costing about 600 rubles for what I wanted. Finally around 1:00 I was famished and decided to just eat at Sbarro. Got a decent amount of food for 283 rubles. I plan to go back tonight to do the salad/buffet bar. Cheapest thing in town I think!

After that I again half-heartedly tried to find some souvenirs. I really want to find a non-tacky t-shirt or something, but that just doesn’t seem to exist. Everyone will just have to be satisfied with what they get. I walked around the “mall” that I found, but everything seemed pricey and my feet/legs were so tired. By about 3:00 I was DONE and decided to head back to my room to sit down and rest.

I wanted to get this for my Dad, but they would NOT negotiate.

Yep, that's a monkey in clothes

Random woman on stilts next to an Avatar guy 

Caught up on Facebook, email, and some blogging. Before I knew it, it was already after 6:00. I still wasn’t especially hungry for dinner, but I knew that I needed to get something soon if I had any hopes of getting to bed early. 

Further proof about how sketchy the hotel I was staying in was...

FruitFly - this is for you! Public toilets, but you have to pay to use them!

Last shot of me and my "neighborhood" in St. Petersburg

I headed down my usual route, and decided to do a bit more wandering around. I picked up a few last minute souvenirs, then finally went to Sbarro for dinner around 7:30. This time I dind’t get any pizza, but got some pasta and veggies from their buffet. Another nice inexpensive dinner.

Did my final walk through the streets of St. Petersburg and headed up to my room. Did my final packing but was still having a hard time unwinding. Maybe this is what “jet lag” is? I’ve never struggled so much with traveling and getting on a decent sleep schedule. I did a bit more reading but it was still after ten before I finally tried to go to bed.