The tour guide in charge of my trip, Doris, texted me before we left the US, “I hope you like mushrooms.” She was arranging for the group meals, and explained that in Russia I was going to eat a lot of mushrooms. When we got to Peterhof, we had a group dinner in the New Peterhof Hotel at the Duck and Drake Restaurant. I had a salad with raw mushrooms on it, a delicious cream of mushroom soup (everyone else in the group had borscht with beef), and linguini with cheese and assorted mushrooms. Everything was superb. Several of the meat eaters wanted mushroom soup, but I was the only one that got it. 

 

In the morning we all ate buffet breakfast at the hotel. I got a bowl of granola and noticed they were offering an odd shaped bran cereal as well, so I added that on top. I got back to my table and asked what everyone thought the shape of the cereal was. We were split between mushrooms and penises. I wish I had taken a picture. We then headed off to the palace nearby.