В 1697 году Петр I отправился за границу в составе Великого посольства

Tsar Peter I, both navigator and carpenter, went abroad to master the said professions. In order not to confuse his teachers and tutors, he traveled under the name of Peter Mikhaylov, non-commissioned officer of Preobrazhensky Regiment. His incognito was soon disclosed, but the crown-bearing student managed to do a lot for slightly over a year: listened to the lectures of famous scientists in the Netherlands, worked as carpenter at a dockyard, mastered technical drawing in England, visited the parliament, mint and Greenwich Observatory, where he got acquainted with its director – Sir Isaac Newton. Besides, he watched experiments in chemistry in the Academy of Paris. Coming back from the journey, the tsar brought with him skates, sunflower seeds and many useful things, like diplomatic relations and love for cities standing on water.