Day 5 - "Don't think, just buy!"

Hi folks!
So today, it's time for Day 5 of my Russia diary. Enjoy!

Today's weather was cold, but still really sunny - a vast improvement upon yesterday! After breakfast and getting ready, we made our way onto the bus towards the Hermitage, also known as the Winter Palace! I had opportunities to take much better photos of the sites in St. Petersburg. It didn't take us long to reach the building, and after a short queue we were in. I managedd to buy a camera permit, meaning I could take lots of photos! The building itself was incredible - really ornate and covered in gold leaf - You wonder how they got it all to look so perfect.
Personally, paintings have never really interested me. Don't get me wrong, I can respect them for what they are, but I'll never be fascinated by them the way I am with books and music. I took some pictures anyway, but when I ran out of space on my card, I wasn't too fazed. After a while, however, the rooms seemed to go on forever, and our guide's voice had a really soporific effect!
A blast of icy fresh air was enough to wake us up though, and we set off down the prospekt to find lunch. I was confident going around by myself - in any case, it was better than going to MacDonalds like everyone else. Unfortunately, I got ambushed by the teachers, who insisted that I go with them to have pizza. So yeah. That was fun... Not!
But anyway, after joining up with the others, we headed down to the Church of the Spilled Blood, which was essentially a mini St. Basil's. It was 350 roubles to get inside, so I decided to just take pictures from the outside. We then took a short detour to the Fields of Mars, which was a fire representing the Revolutions and everyone who died in them. It was sad to see the monument in such a run-down state, but I suppsoe the people here are anti-Revolution these days.
So we were then given free reign around the local souvenir market. It was great fun, haggling with everyone. I managed to get one guy to reduce something from 1500 roubles to just 700. I also bought some air-force-related badges to add to my school bag. Pretty much all my money was now spent, apart from the 18 roubles I would need for the bus back. Catching the bus was...interesting. Whereas in England you pay the driver, here a conductor comes to find you. With a bus as packed as ours - believe me, it was packed - this can lead to chaos! Eventually, however, we got back. After dinner, the evening's entertainment was a Russian folk evening! So I dug out my shirt (There are shirts, and there are shirts. This was the latter. Hehehe...) and joined the otehrs, and pretty soon after we were taking our seats in a seriously posh theatre.
The show itself was incredible - ten times better than the flamenco! The things they were doing with their arms and legs were incredible - they must be made of pure muscle. The music was great as well, proper Russian folk music - they even had one of thos mahussive triangular guitars whose name I can't remember. In the interval I enjoyed champagne with nibbles, as well as some expert piano playing. The pianist even showed off a bit of Fur Elise at one point. I also learnt a funky new word - "Twende" IS Swahili for "Let's go!". I'm going to say that all the time now - Twende!
The rest of teh night was pretty much a repeat of yesterday, although I felt a bit left out in the bar. I wish the gang had been there. I could have had a laugh with them.

Anyway, there you have it, the last full day of the Russia trip. TOMORROW, look forward to more sight seeing, before the return home! Cripes, that was fast!

See ya 'round!

Jack