Planet Neptune

Question of the day:  What language do seals at a Russian aquarium speak?

Today we decided to get out for a bit and see the “Planet Neptune” Oceanarium, Russia’s first aquarium.  I of course wanted to see what a Russian Aquarium looks like and with the current weather (in the 30s with snow or rain) an indoor attraction seemed the best option.  This, interestingly, was the first time I have had to pay for admission to an attraction in Russia with my own money.  Russians really like their students, and with my national student ID card I have been able to get into every museum I have gone to in the entire city free of charge!  It is also the first purely for profit aquarium I have ever been to; all the others have associated research and education institutions.  This one was on the bottom floor of and the entire basement of a shopping mall.

Nevertheless I was quite impressed by the aquarium’s assortment of fish from all over the world some rather innovative exhibits involving deep sea fish and a tunnel through a 1 million liter tank.  I had never seen most of the fish and other sea creatures names in Russian and that might have been the most fun part of the experience.

Sadly the only really Russian portion of the aquarium was the tank of black sea sturgeon and explanation about them being endangered because of the demand for (now illegal) black caviar. They also had a decent sized tank containing 3 seals who where wrestling and entertained us for the better part of 45 minutes (and I think where worth the price of admission on their own).  

Overall, this was a fun little outing, I think that I need to go on more little excursions like this, after class and back in time for dinner.  There are still so many things to see in this amazing city and I only have so many free days and weekends left to see them!