Russian Roundup

I'm sitting in the posh lobby of our hotel waiting for the bus, so I've got a few minutes to kill and figured Id do a quick brain dump of what happened in Russia.

- flew into Moscow last Thursday on my own and the transfer I had booked worked out well. The 1.5 hour drive to the airport was a bit awkward, but I'd picked up enough Russian words to initiate some conversation and the young driver knew enough English words that we could manage a bit of interaction. Cherades were still essential. I quite enjoyed the experience, although it would be exhausting to keep it up longer.
- met the tour group for dinner and spent the night choosing optional excursions and hunting for money exchanges to pay for it, before we headed to the bar for a few drinks and time to get to know each other.
- next morning we met our Moscow tour guide Galina, a big, rough woman who was every bit the picture of what you would expect for someone who has lived through some of the worst of the communism era here. We didn't get a lot of good detailed historical information from her as her stories tended to wander, but were treated to first hand accounts of what life was really like. She had participated in the rallies that led to Boris Yeltsin's presidency, feared the KGB, and lived through encounters with secret informers. It's easy to see why people in Russia didn't seem to smile much, although the young people seemed to be happy and full of hope so there is a good chance of a better future for the country, although the return of the old days remains a real possibility. Most interesting story she told was the introduction of Macdonald's and what that did for the psychology of the country. I guess when you've spent your whole life recieving your allowed rations, being able to go in to a place and have choices was a huge shock to the system. Apparently some even suffered heart attacks because it was so foreign to their world concept, they simply couldn't handle the shock.
- Galina took us on a tour of the Moscow metro, where each station was built and decorated like a palace. Quite a site. We also made stops at a milatary museum (including a display of the rifle from the sniper featured in "Enemy at the gates"). The read square, St. Basil's church, Lenin's tomb, and the Kremlin completed our Moscow sightseeing. Oh, and a night time tour of Moscow including a stop for a Vodka shot at Swan Lake. Moscow is far more beautiful at night, and I highly recommend a night tour if you are ever here.
- James Bond theme music gives a complelty different feeling to a bus ride in Moscow by the way. Actually makes your heart beat a little faster.
- we also got an evening at the famous Moscow State Circus (hence the earliwr comment about the cat and monkey). A few of the acts were lame, but all in all it was a great show. Recommended.
- after 2 days in the capital, we had a 440 KM drive to Novgorod that took close to 10 hours. The roads here are not so good, but still on par with Saskatchewan, except for the traffic. It was cool seeing the country side though (quite poor). Novgorod was more of an overnight road stop than anything scenic.
- we had 2 days in St. Petersurg, which was far more beautiful than Moscow. Our tour guide Ana here was a hoot. Included a visit to the Hermitage, some free time to explore the city and a couple very impressive churches, as well as an evening canal cruise. Vodka was cheap, although some of our group ppaid for it the next day. Good fun though, I would definitely recommend a visit here. Most of our group much prefered it to Moscow, although I thought Moscow provided the better "EXPERIENCE"

Well, it's go time so I have to sign off. We are headed to the harbour to catch our overnight cruise ship to stockholm. 1 more full day there before the tour officially ends and then John and I will break off for Norway on our own. By the way, Finland is beautiful. I don't think I know anyone else who has comehere, which is a shame. I could easily see myself living here. Go Finland.

Sorry about the lack of pics... they will come in time :)