Russia Day 10 (Moscow, Russia): The Red Square, The GUM and A Concert... With A Suprise...

Today is our first day in Moscow!

We arrived late in the afternoon so we had a pretty lazy morning which worked out perfectly because our excursion was a walking excursion. We met up with our group when it was time and we left for the metro station.

The public transportation system here has a lot of history and it’s extremely efficient! Efficiency must come with complexity because I wouldn’t be able to navigate the metro system without a guide. Trains run every 90 seconds and also connects with Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotellniki. We started off at off at Rechnoy Vokzal then we got off at Mayakovskaya and continued to the Teatralnaya station which is the stop for the Red Square. The Mayakovskaya station is one of the most famous metro stations in the world for it’s beautiful architecture and 34 mosaics. It was also the command center for Moscow’s anti-aircraft regiment in WWII.

The Red Square is the center of Russia’s government and the city center of Moscow. A lot happens around here. Ivan The Great believed trade should be conducted person to person so The Red Square became Moscow’s trade center. Today, it was set up for The World Cup’s Fan Fest… It was packed, hot and it rained most of the time we were there. Tourist and soccer fans filled the center of the square, the GUM and neighboring malls and stores. The GUM stands for Glávnyj Universáľnyj Magazín or Main Universal Store in English. This mall is best known for its revolutionary architecture and contains stores for some very high-end luxury brands. This is where my sister and I spent most of our time.

Because it was storming we continued our walking tour by bus. We were ushered into another nearby mall while we waited for our bus to arrive. This mall had more affordable shops and a lot of shops that were unique to Russia. This mall was also very crowded. Why couldn’t we have found this mall earlier?!

Before we went to our next scheduled stop we stopped at another cathedral, Cathedral of Christ The Savior. This cathedral is where Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture premiered, conducted by Tchaikovsky himself. The Iconostasis of this church is unlike any other, it doesn’t just separate the alter from the church but the paintings actually wrap around the whole cathedral. It's beauty has been compared to that of the Vatican.

We also attended a concert where they performed traditional, folk and popular Russian songs. The musicians were very talented, each had a formal music education and were vetted in one way or another.

After the concert we went back to the ship for a very late dinner and bed. Little did I know there was a surprise in store for me. After dinner the wait staff brought a small cake and sang happy birthday to me. They took the cake back and cut it and brought it back out to us on individual plates. The presentation was incredible! Thank you, everyone!

What a way to spend a birthday!

Russia Day 9 (Uglich, Russia): A Home Visit, The Church of St. Dmitri On The Blood and Russian Made Watches

Today we are in the city of Uglich where the Russian watch brand, Chaika, were manufactured.

We visited a local family’s home today. They were very hospitable, shared their home-made goods with us and told us a little bit about how they lived. They are a family of jewelers with 2 kids. One kid is away at university and the other one still a young student that lives at home. Before the watch factory closed down the father was a watchmaker. He and his wife are currently jewelers and their young daughter also dabbles in jewelry making. In the Russian culture it is customary to toast 3 times with moonshine, brown bread and pickles during a visit so we had drunk 3 shots of homemade vodka chased with brown bread and pickles before we left. He also showed us his garden where we wondered around while sipping some homemade dandelion wine he made. All of this happened before 10AM!

After we left the host family we went to the city center which has more churches I’ve ever seen. We started out at the Church of St. Dimitry on the Blood where the body of Tsarevich Dimitry, the last heir of Ivan the Terrible, was found. This church resides on the edge of the Volga River. The bell from this church was the first inanimate object to be sent to exile in Siberia. It was the bell that was rung to announce the death of Dimitry and was whipped and exiled like a human would be.

The next place we went to was the Transfiguration Cathedral. This 5 domed cathedral is the main temple of Uglich and is a popular pilgrim place for Christians. The body of Tsarevich Dimitry was held here before it was brought to Moscow.

Before I headed back I went to a few watch shops that sell Russian Made watches. It was interesting to see but nothing really peaked my interest. When we got back to this ship we had lunch on the top deck where we were served traditional Russian food. They had Pelmeni! We didn’t have anything else planned for the rest of the day besides dinner so we basically had the rest of the evening to ourselves. I ended up going to the bar to catch up with social media, emails and to work on the blog for a bit.

Tomorrow we arrive in Moscow! The last city of our trip

Russia Day 8 (Yaroslavl, Russia): Walking around town, A Couple of Churches and Shopping

Today we’re docked on one of the most significant ports on the Volga River. We went to another church and a street market and wondered around for a bit.

Yaroslavl is not a very well-known city but it’s a unique city that has made the UNESCO World Heritage list and has 140 monuments.  We took a walking excursion through the oldest part of Yaroslavl, Stelka.

We started out at The Church of Elijah the Prophet which has never been refurbished or had to be rebuilt and has the most vibrant, perfectly preserved interiors in all of Russia. The frescoes in the interior were painted by Skripin’s widow and a team of 15 people. Not only do the paintings depict the life of Elijah the Prophet but they also show what domestic, everyday life was like. It was revolutionary to depict the lives of peasants on temple walls.

The next stop of our walking tour was a farmer’s market, street market and shopping area. My mom loves places like this!  A lot of the booths here have World Cup merchandise. We spent a long time looking around the street market. The booths were arranged like a maze, they weren’t very consistent and some isles and vendors spaces were larger or smaller than others. The shopping area around the street market had more traditional souvenirs and your normal shops and cafés.

We passed by another church on our way back to the ship. I don’t remember the name of this church but it was a practicing church so men had to take their hats off and women had to cover their heads. There was a service in session when we got there. This was the newest in Yaroslavl donated by a patron in Moscow. Modern churches like this one have domes made of titanium instead of gold because gold is too expensive.

There were also vendors at the port when we returned to our ship but we didn’t have much time to stop and shop. We had dinner shortly after we boarded and lounged around until bedtime.

We walked a lot today!

Russia Day 7 (Goritsy/ Kuzino, Russia): A Monastery, A School and A Cooking Demonstration

Today was interesting. We got off our ship in one city, went to a monastery, visited a local school and got back on our ship in another city.

Our day started later than normal. We basically had the morning to ourselves. There was a presentation about Russia in the 20^th century and the second part of the Russian language lesson. I took the morning off and didn’t attend either lecture.

We have an excursion booked for the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery today.  When we arrived at our dock we were immediately greeted by street vendors. Most of the shops had the same merchandise. Brass pendants, hats and wooden Christmas figurines seem to be really popular around here.

The Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery was founded by St. Cyril and is located near Severskoye Lake. This is Russia’s largest monastery. The lake here is sacred and is used as a water source. To keep the lake clean and pure motorboats aren’t allowed to travel through it. The monks bless the lake and still drink the water from it. This monastery is built like a fortress and is defended by thick walls, guard towers and a large community of monks and peasants. The Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery houses a vast library that holds very important knowledge and documents. There’s also a lot of the items on display, mostly donated by Ivan The Terrible.

After we visited the monastery we went to a local school. The tour of the school was led by one of the students who was fluent in English and very well spoken. She is currently 15 and has been studying English since the second grade. Even though school was out for the summer some of the students come back to lead tours and practice English with tourists. Our student guide was very knowledgeable and showed us projects that some other students completed during the school year. She took us to one of the classrooms and led a question and answer session with the help of our guide. Our guide is also a former graduate and was a teacher at this school. Interesting enough our student guide wants to be a professional tour guide after she completes her studies. Since there are no major universities in the city the children have to go else ware to continue their education. This causes issues because a lot of the students don’t come back after they complete university and the population dwindles. They find jobs and never come back. It also doesn’t help that the jobs here aren’t very high paying jobs. This has been one of my favorite excursions of the trip so far.

When we got back we learned how to make Pelmeni. These little morsels of deliciousness are very similar to wonton and are eaten with a side of sour cream. I absolutely love that stuff!

After the cooking demonstration we lounged around until dinner and hung out while our ship sailed through another river lock.

Today has been a good day!

Russia Day 6 (Kizhi, Russia): Another Small Village, A Party and A Cocktail Reception

We made quick stop on the island of Kizhi today. This island is a rural island in the center of Lake Onega.

Kizhi is a pretty small island. Around here a large village would consist of 10 houses, a medium village would have 3 and a village of 1 house would be considered a small village. Imagine that… A single house village! Most of the male workers would find work in St. Petersburg and leave for work all summer. Each house would house about 20 family members and have 2 sections, a section they would use in the winter and a guest section. During the summer the whole house is utilized. Only a portion of the house was used in the winter because heating a whole house in the winter was not economical.

Each of the structures here are made of wood and each wood piece was cut entirely by axe. The craftsmen here believed that cutting the wood with an axe would close the pores of the wood insuring the wood would be stronger and last longer. They used very little metal in their buildings because metal was very expensive. Even the nails were made of wood. Just to put things into perspective, 60 nails would cost 1 cow. Because most of the craftsman worked in St. Petersburg they brought some of the design elements back to the village. Some of the stone work that was done in St. Petersburg was recreated in wood and used on the village’s homes.

The most important building on this island is the Transfiguration Church. This church is one of a few in the Kizhi Pogost. The Transfiguration Church is also the biggest building on the island, with an impressive 22 domes, it was used at a summer church because it would be extremely hard to heat in the winter. They used a more modest 9 domed church, the Intercession Church in the winter. Both of these churches were built without using a single nail. These were not the original churches on the island. The original churches were struck down by lightning and they were rebuilt in the traditional way. Image that… A church destroyed by lightning!

After our tour of the island we had some time to do some shopping before we headed back to our ship.

When we got back we relaxed for a bit, then went to the sail off party. Afterwards, my mom and grandma attended a Russian language class and a lecture on the Romanov family. Before dinner we attended a special, invite only, cocktail reception for people that have traveled with their travel company before. It sounds more elaborate than it really is… They do this on every trip that we take. The staff and crew personally welcome you, the captain gave a speech, then we toast. There’s a running joke for events like this… If the captain is here, who’s driving the ship?!

Then we had dinner while our ship made its way through a few river locks. River locks are large gates used to control the water.  Afterwards it was up to our rooms to lounge around before bed

We did a lot during our short day!

Russia Day 5 (Mandrogi, Russia): A Small Museum, Theme Park, Touristy Town

We didn’t have any excursions planned today so we were able to go about our day at our own pace.

Mandrogi, Russia is a traditional Russian village on the banks of the Sivir River. It was rebuilt by Sergi Gutzeit after being destroyed in WWII. The whole town of Mandrogi is an open-air museum filled with colorfully painted houses, a windmill, recreational areas and a small zoo. Artist and craftsman also create wares and sell them at their shops. Even though many tourists travel through Mandrogi it’s still a functioning town with permanent residents. It must be odd living in a town where strange tourists wonder through your town. This also must have caused issues because some people have "Private Property" signs in their yards.

This town caters very heavily toward tourists. There was vodka tasting and a build your own babushka workshop. The town was rebuilt like it was meant to be secluded and untouched by modern civilization but it feels a lot like a theme park. We were able to make our way through the whole town in the 3 hours that we were docked there. I was able to get some pictures of the unique buildings in the area but the shops didn’t allow pictures of their merchandise. The shops here didn’t have your traditional mass-produced souvenirs. A lot of the merchandise in the shops were hand made by the shop keepers. I can only recall one shop with mass produced goods.

It’s time to get to bed. We have an early excursion booked tomorrow!

Russia Day 4 (St. Petersburg, Russia): Mini Adventure, Shopping and A Different Market

We didn’t have any excursions planned for the day so it was a pretty lazy day.

We woke up at a reasonable hour and headed out to the immediate area around the port. There isn’t much out here outside of a gas station, a couple of markets and a few restaurants. After breakfast we decided to go to a market we’ve seen a few times while out on our tour buses. We had the hardest time getting around and didn’t make it to that market. We headed out to the main street, picked a direction and walked hoping we would run into that market. No such luck! We headed back to the ship for lunch.

Before lunch we stopped at the gift shop in the port. They had a bunch of your standard souvenirs, Fabergé eggs and a wall of babushka dolls. I’m not sure how the people that bought the eggs would get them home… They’re so fragile and everyone that shops there is a traveling tourist. The babushka dolls were separated into 2 sections, the traditional babushkas on one side and other themed babushkas on the other. They had Disney, Harry Potter, world leaders and American athletes on the dolls. I wonder if any actors or athletes knew they were babushka dolls. I think being a babushka doll would be weird.

After lunch my mom went to the front desk to get a map and to ask where that market was. We ended up going back and forth a few times because we couldn’t find the area where we were supposed to make a turn. We were able to find a market but it wasn’t the market we were looking for, this one was much closer. We bought a few items and ended going back a second time for more stuff.

After we sorted out our stuff we lounged around until the welcome reception and another excursion orientation. We arrived late so we missed out on the champagne… Bummer! Well, off to dinner we go.

We had set sail a little before we had dinner so we took pictures as we passed by interesting buildings and sailed under bridges after we were done eating.

Today was a pretty laid-back day.

Russia Day 3 (St. Petersburg, Russia): Bus Tour, Church on Spilled Blood and the 8th Wonder of The World at Catherine Palace

It seems to be a very common thing to have a winter house and a summer house here in St. Petersburgh.

After getting up and getting ready we headed out on our excursion to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. We traveled through the city center on the way there. The whole area is decorated with World Cup propaganda! It’s the coolest thing. St. Petersburg has a mixture of old and new buildings but you wouldn’t be able to differentiate between them unless you were around when the new buildings popped up. They try very hard to keep the town consistent. We also passed by the KGB building. The locals refer to the building as the “Big House.” Our guide pointed out a bunch of palaces, museums, and churches as we passed them. The majority of the residents are orthodox but they still attend church as a tradition and baptize their children just in case. There is an insane amount of palaces here! I could swear that the only people that lived here were royalty. A lot of them were repurposed into government buildings or museums. It seems like everyone had a palace at one point in time.

   

We made a stop at the Church on Spilled Blood but didn’t spend much time there. This church is built where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated. During the revolution the church was destroyed and closed until it was converted into a museum in 1970. The revenue generated from the museum was used to restore the church which still isn’t fully reconstructed yet.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral is one of Russia’s orthodox cathedrals and resides along the Neva River inside of the Peter and Paul Fortress. It also has the worlds largest bell tower. St. Petersburg’s skyline is relatively flat so the extremely tall spire can be seen from most places in the city. Our guide was very passionate about the iconostasis at this cathedral. She has been to many cathedrals and this one has been her favorite since her first visit as a child. The iconostasis here holds a unique history and represents a very strong culture. The Peter and Paul Cathedral is best known for being the final resting place of the Romanov’s.

After lunch we headed out to Catherine Palace. This place is absolutely incredible! The throne room, dining rooms and garden are very impressive but the most impressive room is The Amber Room, the 8^th wonder of the world. The current Amber Room is a reconstruction. The original room was looted shipped to Germany during WWII but it disappeared and currently, nobody knows where it is. It took 24 years, 6 tons of amber and the work of 40 skilled craftsman to recreate the priceless piece of art. The amount of detail expressed is insane! Each wall panel is an amber mosaic. No matter how well you know the room there’s always something new to discover. We were told that pictures weren’t allowed but I tried to sneak a shot on the way out. I got caught by a docent and I wasn’t able to get a good shot. What a waste of effort! Photos can be found on Google anyways…

We didn’t have anything else scheduled for the rest of the day so we ate when we got back and lounged around for a while.

What a day! Tomorrow is our last day in St. Petersburg before we move on to our next city.

Russia Day 2 (St. Petersburg, Russia): The Hermitage, Down Time and Swan Lake at the Alexandrinsky Theatre

We’re going to the Hermitage today, one of the world’s greatest art museums!

I woke up an eternity before my alarm clock went off this morning, which seems to happen a lot on day 2. My sister and I lounged around our cabin and begun to prep for the day at a very leisurely pace. Room service isn’t available on this trip so we had to get our own snacks. We timed things perfectly because snacks were just being put out at the lounge just as we finished getting ready. Snacks before breakfast! Eating is the best way to fill down time but it’s not good for my girlish figure.

We spent the longest time at the Hermitage.  This was the residence of Russian Emperors before it was turned into a museum and currently houses the largest collection of paintings in the world. The grand collection was started by Peter the Great and continued by his daughter in law Catherine the Great, who added more contemporary pieces and expanded the buildings. The museum currently consists of 6 buildings, the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage, and the Hermitage Theatre. It would take an eternity to go through all of the exhibits.  Even though we spent a lot of time at the Hermitage it still wasn’t enough to see all of the exhibits. During our tour we were constantly pushing through exhibits. It was a struggle keeping up with all of the information that was given to us.  The most notable works on display were a couple of paintings by Leonardo DaVinci and Raphael Loggias.

 After we got back from the Hermitage we went back to the ship for food and a nap before going to see Swan Lake. I didn’t take a nap because I wanted to get some things written out for my blog. If I don’t get my ideas down they’ll never make it into the blog.

Swan Lake is a ballet written by Tchaikovsky about a Swan Princess, Odette, that combines elements from Russian and German folk tales. We watched the ballet at The Alexandrinsky Theatre. This theater is gorgeous! The entry way consists of grand staircase with a maze of other staircases that lead into other sections of the theater. I had a hard time staying awake during the first act but got a second wind during the second and third acts. I can’t read a word of Russian so I had a difficult time finding the bathrooms. Needless to say, I know what the Russian word for “Toilet” looks like now.

After the ballet we headed back to the ship for a snack and then it was up to our rooms for the night. I am exhausted! We’ll still be in St. Petersburg tomorrow so I’ll write more about the city in the next blog.

Russia Day 1 (St. Petersburg, Russia): Surprisingly Short Flights, The World Cup and Settling In

I’m in Russia guys!

Today wasn’t a very interesting travel day so this is going to be a pretty short blog entry. We started out at the Sacramento International Airport and took a super quick flight out to San Francisco before heading out to Frankfurt, Germany. This was the shortest flight I’ve ever been on… It was over before I knew it! After we made it to Frankfurt we headed out on our last leg of our trip to St. Petersburg, Russia. 

One of the biggest sporting events in the world, The World Cup, is going on right now and we're in the middle of it! We caught bits and pieces of the action as we made our way between terminals. 

When we arrived at our dock we boarded our ship, ate and unpacked. Eating always seems to be the first thing we do when we arrive. The ship we’re on is smaller than the ones we normally travel on so we won’t have access to as many amenities as we did on our other trips. This trip is also a little longer than trips we normally take so we had to pack a little heavier. It was a challenge to get everything into one suitcase. We were allotted two suitcases but traveling with more than one piece of luggage makes it significantly harder to get around.

After we settled in we went to a briefing about the excursions were taking and the other available excursions. The format of this trip is very similar to the format of the China trip I took. On most of the days we have a morning excursion and an evening excursion booked which will keep us very busy.