Burger King (June 1, 2012)

What a busy day! We went to three libraries today: the library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (BAN), St. Petersburg State University Library and Pushkinski Dom. It was an early start, and everyone seemed pretty exhausted by the end of the day.

At BAN we met the director, Dr. Valerii Leonov, who seemed even more excited to meet us than we were to meet him. He gave us a brief overview of the resources, patrons and services BAN offers, and then we took a tour. We saw some amazing things. In the manuscripts room we saw many rare artifacts, including a scroll from the 17th century, some beautiful books with god leaf, and several items owned by Peter the Great, such as his passport and a sample of his handwriting. So cool!

17th century scroll

Ben Franklin's honorary certificate of membership

Our signatures in the guest book

After manuscripts, we went to the archives where were were shown books given to BAN by Benjamin Franklin. They were signed and everything! 

After our tour we went to eat lunch in the BAN cafeteria. It was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. I had a cheese dish called syrniki that was absolutely delicious. I was going to take a picture, but I was too busy eating it. 

Then off to the second stop, the university library. It was by far the most technologically advanced library we have been to since coming to Russia. There were computers everywhere and quite a few e-journals and databases, but they were still good about integrating the old and traditional with the new. 

The Old

The New 

The Mix

It was a really up-to-date library, and the librarians seemed like they were trying to stay with the latest technology. They also seemed like they were trying to recruit us to go to the school. Hmm...

Our next stop was Pushkinski Dom, where we saw some cold archives. No pictures allowed! By this point I was thoroughly exhausted and trying to stay awake. I was awake enough to appreciate seeing sheet music actually written by Bach and Mozart. 

The person we spoke to was very sweet, and had an awesome hairstyle. It was a braided bun; very Russian. 

We walked back to the hotel since it was a nice day, and then I went with Darrell to the post office. It was so creepy. The stairs going up looked like they belonged in a horror movie. They were old and ward out, dark, with a dirty window looking out at nothing pretty. 

Inside we were confused. Everything was in Russian, so we couldn't tell if we needed to take a number to be helped or if we just stood in a line behind one of the counters. We walked around with our postcards until someone waved us over and gave us stamps. But yeah, the inside was just as creepy looking as the stairs.

After the post office adventure, I was pretty hungry. All of that creepy-ness works up an appetite. A bunch of us headed out, and after a bit of wandering, we decided on a Spanish restaurant.

Store we saw while looking for a place to eat

It's basically the coolest store in
St. Petersburg.

A bunch of us were only a little hungry, so we ordered tapas and side dishes. When our orders came, we did not get tapas. We got tapa. There was only 1 piece of each type we ordered. It was so sad. Almost everyone was still hungry when we were done with our expensive meal, so we decided to go to Burger King for ice cream.

Now, I don't know if anyone has been to a fast food place in St. Petersburg, but they take it pretty seriously. This BK was super fancy. There were cushy booths, flat screen TVs, and intricate designs on the ceiling that were made to look like they belonged in a palace. Intense like woah. And it was yummy. Ice cream for 75 rubles? That's in my price range.

Where is the fabulous palace?

Burger King, of course!

A satisfying end to a long day.