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Russia …..Wonderful trip!by Mevvie |
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Back from our 10 day river cruise St. Petersburg to Moscow . The Viking cruise ship Surkov, wonderful service, food, very smooth ride and 10 sunny days in a row in a country that sports 55 sunny days per year! Leaving Pine Grove on August 5 th , drive to San Francisco, stop over with delay in Frankfort arrive in St. Petersburg August 6th, pick up and delivered to ship by bus………total trip time 27 hours. St. Petersburg is a very beautiful city, rebuilt (and still reconstructing) after occupation by Germans in WWII. The Catherine's Palace and Peterhof Palace 's were both reconstructed and breathtakingly beautiful. Both are fashioned in the Russian Baroque style, gold leaf, artwork on ceilings, wood inlaid floors, obviously the royalty lived very well!. The river cruise was very smooth, sunny weather was a definite plus. On board the food was wonderful, the majority of our fellow passengers were from the U.K. , New Zealand , Australia and the U.S. (Including Jack Klugman who we had dinner with!). The very knowledgeable guides all spoke clearly understood English, they held a Russian political history course every day, covering all their very diverse forms of government, including a round table discussion where you could quiz them on anything about their government. A Caviar sampling, Vodka tasting, and cast and passenger show took up much of the time. Day trips along the river every day also. Ah, Moscow ! We were totally blown away with the beauty, natural resources, history, art and cleanliness of Moscow . We rode their underground Metro system, each terminal was gloss marble floors and walls, and with 9 million people living in that city there was not a single piece of litter anywhere! Perhaps they would be sent to Siberia if caught littering, but hats off to the people who have such respect for their city. Traffic is horrendous, much worse in the Winter when students return. A hotel room can cost anywhere from $700-1,500/night, rent for 500 square foot flat $4,500/month (usually shared by 10-15 people, see photo) very expensive. Both St. Petersburg & Moscow are very cosmopolitan cities, looking at the people, cars, dress, etc. you could hardly tell them apart from San Francisco . Russia is undergoing a period of reconstruction, religious revitalization many old Russian Orthodox churches that were turned into museums are not being reconsecrated and used again. We visited Red Square and the Kremlin, the Kremlin still has an “attitude” all drive black Mercedes and have the look. |
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