Photos here.

Zdravstvuite comrades! As readers know, early in November my brother and I had an interesting visit to the Russian Consulate to pick up our visas for a our Christmas trip. With temps promising to range between -10 to -20 degrees celcius I was hoping that this would be a nice white Christmas and boy did Russia deliver. Before I left, we’d had some debate in the office as to whether it ever got too cold for snow and guys (and gal) I can say with absolute certainty that -15 before windchill factor (which I think is about as cold as it got) is not too cold for snow!

So, a few details about the trip I guess? Russia is quite a tough country to get into and normally requires an “invitation” to visit it. Therefore, to make things easier my bro and I joined a packaged tour. I’d seen adverts for onthego tours in my usual Monday TNT magazine reading and their tour sounded pretty filling (if typical): a few days in Moscow, a side-trip to a smaller Russian town, before taking an overnight train to St Petersburg to spend a few more days for a total trip of about 9-10 days.

I’m not sure where else onthego actually advertise but as expected the tour group was composed mainly of Antipodes. However, thankfully the group wasn’t all that large with around about 20 of us (I’d heard that some of the other groups were between 30-40 in size!) and we were blessed with an amazing tour guide – thanks Alsu for being so passionate on the tour. In addition to making the sights more interesting and relevant to us, she was really great at accommodating and remembering all our little quirks – she definitely made a difference to the tour.

The way that onthego organised the tours was quite interesting – there were two groups that started off in Moscow (though we did our Moscow bits separately), splitting up for our respective “small-town experiences” – the other group went to Skov whereas we went to Vladimir – before meeting up again in St Petersburg. On the flip-side two groups started in St Petersburg and worked their way down to Moscow. In this way you got to meet at least two tour groups as we each met the other groups in Pskov and Vladimir respectively for the Christmas party.

Its really hard to know where to start in the telling of this little tale. The whole experience was definitely eye-opening. Although considered to be part of Europe the culture is vastly different from any of the Europe as I have experienced thus far.

With a history that is both tragic and triumphant, the post-Soviet Union era really has seen Russia shake off the shackles of communism and embrace the more Western concept of wealth and diversity (I think I read somewhere that Moscow has almost as many billionaires as New York.) Moscow, Vladimir and St Petersburg were absolutely beautiful to see – cathedrals are constantly being renovated and you can see the pride of Russia everywhere you look.

With only 9 days in hand, it was unfortunate that we could only focus on the typical tourist cities of Moscow and St Peterburg (though admittedly these cities hold most of the cultural richness of Russia). However, being able to go to a smaller town such as Vladimir revealed the beauty that exists outside of the metropolis.

Why go?	Lonely Planet correctly pointed out that Churchill’s ‘riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma’ remains an apt description of Russia. Go and experience the extravagance of the old with the riches of the new. Also go for really cheap good quality vodka. 🙂
Weather	Freezing cold (ranging from -2 to -15). In other words – perfect for me.
Moscow	Moscow is a city that buzzes 24-7, a fact that was taken advantage of by many in our tour as they partied until dawn. I was quite impressed by their efforts as they still managed to turn up for every day of the tour, if a little worse for wear! I’m not sure what to make of Moscow – it is pretty in its own right from the golden cupolas of ancient cathedrals, to the imprissive walls of the the Kremlin and the magnificence of the Red Square, but I am not convinced with its livability factor (I think I’d be out of place with all those millionaires on the loose – ha ha.) An interesting attraction is the Metro – an underground train system that is known both for its extreme efficiency and beauty. Alsu tells me that in the summer cruise ships actually take vast numbers of groups on tours around the Metro just to see all the stations. We took in a couple of them and they were indeed gorgeous. Must-dos in Moscow are: – a visit to the Red Square especially at night when the lights of GUM, a well-known department store, reflects upon the square and St Basil’s Cathedral can be seen in all its glory – paying respects to Lenin at his masoleum (also located on the Red Square) – a stroll around the Kremlin coupled with a guided tour of The Armoury. We also visited the KGB museum and whilst our visit was hosted and narrated by an ex-KGB member (who had a great sense of humour) was slightly expensive for what you got. It is worth nothing that the KGB was dissolved and a similar body, the FSB, has been raised in its place.
Vladimir/Suzdal	Four/five hours bus ride away from Moscow is the former Russian capital Vladimir. I think for me the time at Vladimir was one of the highlights of the tour. On Christmas Eve day, after a short visit to the cultural sites of Suzdal including the open-air museum of wooden architecture (where not suprisingly no smoking was allowed) and some ancient churches, we headed to quite possibly the best part of the tour – a few hours in a Russian Banya. Not just a sauna, Alsu likened doing the banya to playing sport (!) that requires much practice. The banya is like a sauna but there was so much more to it with whipping and rubbing … hmmm …. no this is not some kinky story – really, you go into a sauna room, lie down on a bench and get whipped by oak tree twigs (softened in warm water). It is absolutely divine and I could feel the toxins just roll out of my body. As a bonus in winter when you get warm enough you simply jump outside into the snow and if you’re hot enough into an ice pool to cool down. Fantastic. Christmas Eve was interesting with a massive party where we were served our first caviar (definitely an acquired taste) and entertained by some very unusual entertainment in between courses. It started off sedately enough with some folk dancing and magic acts and clowning but it soon got very wierd when we had a dog show (acted out by humans), a sexy dance show (no stripping – though I hear the group in Pskov had that dubious pleasure) and Christmas greetings from a number of countries. As I stated earlier I was looking forward to a white Christmas and I definitely got it. We had the options of ice-skating or going cross-country skiing. The snow was too beautiful to resist so cross-country skiing it was. Hard work and very different from downhill skiing but it was a lot of fun (even if my buckle did break and I ended up walking in knee high snow for about half an hour!) We closed out our trip to Vladimir by hopping on an overnight train to St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg is definitely the intellectual (with over 50 universities) and cultural heart of Russia. Laying in a swamp, St. Petersburg is home to many architectural wonders and was built by Peter the Great as a little Amsterdam (though many may incorrectly refer to it as the Venice of the North.) From the golden domed St Isaac’s Cathedral (great for views of city I’m told) to the Hermitage at the Winter Palace (where if you spent just 1 minute on every item it would take you 11 years to view the entire collection) there is plenty in between to keep you occupied in St. Petersburg. Visits to Peter and Paul Fortress (initially built to defend the land but now hosting many of the burial tombs of Russia’s Romanov rulers) to view the gorgeous baroque interior of the cathedral and The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood (so named for the spot where Alexander II was mortally wounded) for the masterful mosaics are well recommended. And no visit to St. Petersburg would be complete without taking in a cossack show or the ballet at Mariinsky Theatre. If it is open the summer residence of Catherine the Great (Catherine’s Palace) is a gorgeous place to visit (from what I’ve seen in postcards and what I’ve read about it) but unfortunately for us it was closed so a visit to Pavlovsk Palace was substituted. It was, however, enough to give us a taste of the opulence of an Imperial Romanov summer palace.
Vodka	The vodka is cheap and plentiful with Veda and Russian Standard being some of the recommended brands.
Final words	Russia has definitely gotten under my skin and I will remember my time there with great fondness. I have to say thanks to the rest of the tour group for being such fab people and once again thanks to Alsu for making it great. Finally, the best advice for when you go is to make sure you pick up a couple of common phrases in Russian (please, thank-you, excuse me) and familiarise youself with the cyrillic alphabet beforehand. Even in touristy areas – English will not necessarily be spoken.

First Words. I’m starting to think that it is in the stars for me to make it an annual tradition to visit the Christmas markets in Austria. Last year I hit Salzburg with a bunch of friends, so this year its sister city, Vienna, has the pleasure of my company. 🙂

More photos here.