To Russia with Love

 You can watch my 65 minute video of our Russia vacation at http://u2c-it.com

You know how you can have a vacation, and everything goes right? You can have a magnificent trip but the memory soon fades with all the other vacations. Then you can have an adventure, things go  arye and are unpredictable  and you spend time and energy correcting and counter correcting the corrections.  An adventure you remember forever and tell your grandkids about. This was truly an adventure

The oversold eleven hour flight to Moscow went on without a hitch. We left Indianapolis at 2:30PM landed at Dulles DC and had to sprint to the connecting flight with no time to spare. The flight was boarding when we arrived. The nine hour flight was tiring. We were outside the luggage area after easily clearing customs, where out driver met us for the fifty minute drive to our hotel.

The Metropol Hotel was a delightful beautifully appointed hotel, located next to Red Square. BTW Red Square has nothing to do with the Soviet Rule. In Russian Red means ‘Beautiful’ and Kremlin means “Fortress“and many Russian towns had a Kremlin

After settling in our room we did a walk-about in Red Square, and tried to find the Boshoi Ballet  Theater  That night we went to the Ballet to see a spectacular  presentation of Ludwig Minkus "Don Quixote" (Ballet in three acts) We had great seats in row nine. All the dancers were unbelievable but the lead male dancer was beyond great, on a 10 point scale his performance was a 13.  The second and third balcony were spellbound by his dancing and he received many ‘Bravos’ and cheers. I have always felt that you can judge a performance by the reaction of the second and third balcony, likely to be local patrons.

Sunday morning Elena, our tour guide met us in the lobby to began our private walking tour:  we visited The Kremlin, Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral, monument to Minin and Pozharsky, Lobnoye Mesto, the Historical State museum, the Alexandrov Gardens, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Lenin Mausoleum, Kremlin Towers, Patriarch's Palace, Emperor Cannon, Emperor Bell, Cathedral of the Assumption, Church of the Deposition of the Robe, Cathedral of the Annunciation, Cathedral of the Archangel Michael. All the Cathedrals were beautiful with five rows of Icons from the late eighteen century, and amazing stained glass and other religious artifacts, we saw the crown diamond jewels and the Armory (halls 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9) full of seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth  century artifacts, Faberge Eggs, Carriages, Dresses, Crowns, Diamond Throne and much more. Last Elena took us to more than a dozen Metro stops. There were beautiful stain glass, gold leaf, mosaics and scenes painted on walls, it looked more like a museum than a subway station.  . Elena was a wonderful tour guide. We all had lunch inside Gum’s at a ‘real’ Russian cafeteria.

After the tour we met the driver who drove us the 45 minute trip to the boat, after stopping at Yeliseev’s Food Hall, a Victorian décor .interior with crystal chandeliers, carved pillars, full of fresh food. We picked up some bottled water and food snacks.  We boarded the ship and were greeted with bread and salt. Then the adventure started. We knew the ship, ms Nikolay Chernyshevsky, was a tourist class vessel built in 1981 and refurbished in 2002. We had low expectations of the amenities offered and we were not disappointed.  Our room, a Junior Suite, was very small and very hot. I thought I had turn on the AC but I think I turned the heat on before dinner. I ‘complained’ about the room’s temperature a couple of times before and a couple of times after dinner. After the third or forth time a staff member attempted to adjust the AC and finally the ship’s engineer was able to get the AC on.

The next morning the ship had the half day city tour and we were disappointed that it was all a drive by.  We elected to not take the ‘optional’ afternoon tour to get some much needed rest. We had seen the Moscow Metro with our private tour so we skipped the evening optional Metro tour. We met other travelers in the dinning room for meals.  We tried to press our group tour guide on what optional tours would be offered in Saint Petersburg but he told us he did not know.  The ship’s advertising had a lot of optional tours listed for Moscow but they were not offered, causing quit a bit of concern with many of the passengers we spoke to.

 You can watch my 65 minute video of our Russia vacation at http://u2c-it.com

We decided that we would try to disembark from the ship when we ported in Saint Petersburg and setup a private tour so we could see the attractions we wanted to visit. On Monday when the ship did their Kremlin tour we decided to call the Russian travel agency to book a room in Saint Petersburg and to book ‘private’ tours of the Palaces.

Did I mention the cell phone? I purchased a cell phone setup to work in Europe and a Russian SIM card but it was the devil to use, top of that I had a calling card with a Russian  ‘800’ number but there are so many digits to enter and requirements to press only the top of the right soft key that I kept screwing up and of course the display and prompts were in Russian.  After many failed attempts, I was finally able to call the travel agency and they needed a signed authorization so we asked them to fax the form to the hotel we stayed in Saturday night.  After completing the authorization we had the hotel fax  it back to the travel agency and made it back to the pick-up point for the tour bus back to the ship.

After talking to other passengers who were also disappointed with the optional tours the ship offered we knew we had reached the correct decision about disembarking on Oct 5 instead of Oct the 8^th.

We had some very interesting table mates. One couple from the UK, Brian who was a retired Policeman and his wife, Pauline. They had traveled to many places and this was their fifth trip to Russia. There were  two women in their early 80’s, Gloria from New York City and Anita from Minneapolis. Gloria, has traveled all over the world including teaching for a month in rural Kenya.  The two were old high school friends. They ventured out on the Metro by themselves twice.

Tuesday evening the ship left Moscow heading north up the Volga River.  The meals on board the ship were, I thought, very good. The starter course was always Julian fresh raw vegetables, sometimes with a cold small piece of chicken, beef, or fish. Lunch included a soup course, and there were three choices for the entree and dessert, dinner did not have the soup dish but we always had plenty to eat.

Wednesday afternoon we ported in our first call, Uglich, where there was a scheduled walking tour. We did not hear the announcement that the tour was beginning so we were late catching up with Group One, our English speaking group.   We visited the Church of Saint Dmitri on the Spilt Blood and the town markets and street vendors who relieved Suellen of some of her Russian Rubbles.

Thursday morning, after an early breakfast we had a city tour of Yaroslavl, our next stop, We took a panoramic city tour with visit to a local market (free time). Went inside Church of St Nicholas,  and enjoyed an interactive tour of former Govenour´s House (Art Gallery)with a champagne Ball. .Stretching for 18 miles on both banks of the Volga, Yaroslavl is an important Volga port with a population of 600,000. It was founded in the 11th century by Prince Yaroslav the Wise and today retains many noteworthy monuments of its colorful past. Of special interest is the magnificent 13th century Spassky Monastery ensemble, a group of majestic 17th century cathedrals, an elegant rotunda and remnants of an ancient trading center. The churches of St. Nicholas and Elijah the Prophet have some of the Golden Ring´s most impressive frescoes.

Friday morning we had a tour of the bridge, the Captain had a very cute Persian cat who wore a ‘life vest’ as a collar.  We ported in Goritsy   at 2:00 PM and were taken to Saint Cyril Monastery on White Lake. The Monastery was constructed in the Fifteenth Century, it was one of the oldest in Russia and in the Seventeenth Century ‘employed’ over three hundred peasants. Today there are only five monks, and the state runs the museum that houses some of the oldest collection of Russian Icons.  Friday was the first day that it rained and it was a cold rain, of course I left my hat and gloves at home.  Friday night dinner was a pirate theme. All the servers and waiters were dressed as Pirates and the tables were not set up. Silverware and glasses were strolled about on the table and we had to sing for our supper. A very good time was had by all.

 You can watch my 65 minute video of our Russia vacation at http://u2c-it.com

Saturday afternoon we ported in Island town of Kizahi, where we saw our first wooden Cathedral, the 22 domed Church of Transfiguration, which was started, it is believed, in 1563 and took almost 200 years to complete by the local peasants. We visited a church constructed in the seventeenth century and reconstructed, from the original building in a rural village and moved to the site. The Bell ringer played the church bells as we  toured the grounds. Back on the ship we had a traditional Russian tea which included the history and rituals performed during the tea. Dinner was a classical Slavonic Dinner. After Dinner we were treated to a folk music show with domra and accordion with a talented female singer.

Sunday was a rainy day where we had ported in Mandrogui, located on the River Svir. The small village is a romantic vision from the past. It was recently created for artist to display and sell their wares. There were some beautiful wood carvings for sale and Suellen was forced to purchase some of them. The ship had a Russian style Barbecue lunch in a shelter for everyone. Dinner, that night, was the Captain’s farewell dinner and a ‘talent’ show where Salvo, our ship tour guide did the Russian Cossack dance.

The Passengers on the ship were an interesting mix there were 150 Brazilians , what can I say about 150 Brazilians on a small ship? They were enthusiastically vocal and some were extremely physically assertive.  The next group was booked with Vantage Travel.. There were about 50 people from all over the USA. That group were offered more tour options and receive other perks, one free bottle of water daily, free tea in the bar.   Then there was the group we were in Group One.  A group composed of English speaking people from different countries.

Monday we ported in Saint Petersburg and disembarked from the ship where Victor our driver carried us to the Hotel, Our room at the hotel was almost as small as the ship’s room.  We walked down the canal to the Church of the Spilled Blood, built on the site where Alexander II was assassinated. The interior is magnificent. Almost everything is mosaic: icons, pictures, walls, columns and arches, ceilings, floors, even the cupola. Stonework is composed of rich and many-hued marble, jasper, rhodonite and porphyry.

Tuesday we had a private tour, , with Maria, our tour guide, seeing the Winter Palace, said to contain 1,057 rooms, 1,786 doors and 1,945 windows and included the  State Hermitage museum. We entered through the Winter Palace on the ground floor and walked up the magnificent Jordan Staircase to the first floor. The rooms on the first floor are breathtaking, with many of the rooms restored as they were during Imperial times. The main architectural ensemble of the Hermitage situated in the centre of St Petersburg consists of the Winter Palace, the former state residence of the Russian emperors, the buildings of the Small, Old (Great) and New Hermitages, the Hermitage Theatre and the Auxiliary House. The museum complex also includes the Menshikov Palace and the Eastern Wing of the General Staff building. When we were done we were driven over to the Peter and Paul Fortress  where inside the Cathedral off SS Peter and Paul all the Romanov monarchs and there families are buried.  

That evening Victor, our driver, delivered us back to the Hermitage Theater, for the Russian Ballet performance of Swan Lake. The Hermitage Theatre, one of the oldest theatres in Russia, was built by order of Catherine the Great in 1782-1785 to a design by the architect Giacomo Quarenghi. It was constructed in the austere Neoclassical style on the site of what was once Peter I's Winter Palace. It was a very good show, but once you have seen the Boshoi Ballet it is difficult for other Ballet Companies to measure up.

Wednesday we went to Catherine’s Palace(Tsarskoye Selo) in  Pushkin, about 15 miles South of St. Petersburg, it is also known as the Summer Palace, which was a gift from Peter the Great to his wife Catherine. Its present style was defined by Elizabeth, who was one of the most abstentious monarchs in the world. The palace follows a baroque style, disproportional shapes, long and heavy architecture. The abundance of art pieces, columns and gilding could be considered tasteless by modern-day standards, but they do speak to the wealth of the Russian Tsars.  Last we visited  Pavlovsk Palace.  The history of the Pavlovsk Palace dates back to 1777 when Catherine the Great presented the area to her son Paul to mark the birth of his heir, future Emperor Alexander I. Using the money that came along as a gift, Paul and his young wife Maria traveled to Europe to purchase works of art for the decoration of the new palace..

We had a late lunch where Vladimir Putin had celebrated his birthday a couple of times. We were greeted and I was offered a shot of vodka which was the first time I had drank any on the trip.  It was very satisfying, enough so that I told Victor, our driver, I would like to take a bottle back home. The borsch was great as was, home made sausage and Beef stroganoff that a Russian invented. I had a shot of vodka that had been fortified with Horseradish to ward off colds.  

Thursday we were driven to Peterhof, the palace and park at Peterhof (also known as Petrodvorets) that are often referred to as "the Russian Versaille", only grander. Peterhof Palace sits in 1500-acres of formal gardens and park 18 miles from Saint Petersburg, and its 173 glorious fountains are fed by underground springs that are 14 miles away. The focal centre of the ensemble is the Great Palace which towers above the edge of the 52-foot-high terrace. The elegant three-storey building provided with galleries and flanking blocks, the Court Church and the Coat-of-Arms Pavilion, shining with their gilded cupolas, make up the facade extending for about 984 feet along the terrace. We walked down to the bath house by the Baltic Sea and around the magnificent grounds. We had a bite of lunch then were driven back to our hotel.

Friday we were up at 2:30AM and Victor helped us with our luggage and drove us to the airport to begin our long flight home.

Final thoughts; The Russian people are very friendly and proud; both Moscow and St. Petersburg are great places to visit and we were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to enter and exit the country. Overall we were very pleased with the services that Express to Russia provided. It was surely an adventure we shall never forget.

 You can watch my 65 minute video of our Russia vacation at http://u2c-it.com