Saint Petersburg Tourist Attractions
1. The Hermitage Museum was opened to the public in 1852 and it is considered the biggest art museum in the world. It was estimated that if a visitor stopped for one minute in front of each exhibit, it would take him 11 years to make a complete tour. The museum comprises six buildings, among which the famous Winter Palace, a former residence of the Russian Tsars. The museum was not closed during World War II even if all the paintings were deposited elsewhere and the curators guided the visitors past the empty frames, telling them the story of each painting.
Every year in March it is celebrated Cat's Day at the Hermitage.Eversince the time of Peter the Great, stray cats have found shelter at the Hermitage. Many of the 2,500 people working at the museum take care of the homeless kittens and each year in March they try to find a loving family for these beautiful creatures. http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/
2. Peterhof Palace is a building situated at the Baltic Sea in the Gulf of Finland. The palace is surrounded by parks, cascades, statues and gardens and it is known as the Russian Versailles. Its building lasted for 11 years and it was designed by French, Italian, Russian, Danish and German architects who combined influences of the Russian tradition with West European elements.
The travellers can admire the palace and its surroundings including 4 cascades and 176 fountains for an admission fee of 7.5 ...
updated 2010-07-17 20:50:50
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How to Say "Where" in Russian
Russian is sometimes difficult for English speakers to pronounce, as Russian has consonant clusters, such as "gd" or "kt," at the beginnings of words. The word "gdye" is an example of this, as it starts with a "gd" sound.
Listen carefully to the pronunciation in the instructional video before you try to say the word. Although the video transcribes "gdye" phonetically as "gah-dyah," this is merely to emphasize that the "g" and "d" sounds are both distinctly pronounced. There is no vowel between these two consonants when spoken at normal speed.
When the instructor in the video speaks the word quickly, it may be difficult for English speakers to hear the initial "g" sound, but it is there. Listen for it before trying to replicate the pronunciation yourself.
The "y" sound before "ye" is not a separate letter. When Russian is transcribed into the Latin alphabet, the letter transcribed as "e" is commonly pronounced "ye" in Russian.http://masterrussian.com/aa032301b.shtml
