Have you wondered why you haven't heard from us? Whether we'd been abducted? We had such slow Internet on the Volga, we were excited to reach St. Petersburg and get some decent Internet. We awoke in St. Petersburg to NO Internet and that persisted throughout our stay. I was excited to write something at both the airport locations, but I was so tired, I couldn't string a sentence together. We had a 6am flight out but, even though it was only a 15 minute trip to the very tiny airport,  they had our ship departure at 3 am. We were in the airport business class lounge before 4 am and didn't board until 5:30. The ship packed a nice little breakfast for us, the lounge had food and the plane also had food so by 7, we had been fed many times, but had only had a few hours of sleep. We seemed to walk miles and miles in Frankfort, to walk off the food...kind of like fat walking zombies...before we arrived at our gate and our 2 1/2 hour layover became a 4 hour one due to mechanical problems. The one solace was that the lounge was actually the gate to our plane and there was even more food.

The food on the two flights  was surprisingly good and much better than we experienced on our cruise. Now this is a sad commentary when airline food exceeds cruise food.

We've now all gone on our separate ways...Guy and Yvonne back to Switzerland and to work; Leslie and Brad to Berlin; Ngaire and Ken off to another trip albeit with wonderful food; and Doug and I back home. Doug will be walking the dogs and I will be at work tomorrow morning.

Russia is so large, as is the US, that you can't paint it with one brushstroke. Moscow is surely the financial and governmental center. This is where the money and jobs are. The city is well kept and modern and extremely expensive. St.Petersburg is where the wealth WAS. Now, it is a tourist capital, and a more middle to lower class city. Certainly, there is wealth, as we saw Lexus dealerships, but we didn't see the large, luxury cars lining the streets. The city and its people were worn and tired looking, the clothes were H&M not Prada. It didn't have the polish of Moscow. On the other hand, the river towns were provincial and some downright a step in the past. While the children looked like ours, in some towns, the is no running water and folks fetch it from the lakes; there is no central heating, only wood burning stoves.

There is an outspoken cynical dialogue about their corruption from whomever you speak with. They tell you corruption is the fabric, framework and history of their society and something they have come to term with  and what they must live with. This isn't something I have ever heard an American state. What a sad commentary. I realized the Russians lacked joie de vivre that was immediately evident when I got off the plane into Germany for my layover. There was so much more happiness in the air comparatively, more laughter, more smiles, than I had seen in days.

It's no surprise that folks in Russia have to struggle to find time to smile. With the high cost of things, many folks have to work two or three jobs to make ends meet. Where they have the same modern conveniences as we have...the same supermarkets, malls...the costs are higher and the salaries are lower. There are some people still living the life our forefathers left behind when they came to the US to seek a better life.

I did find The Russians personable and inviting to me as an American. Personally, I felt they repressed their emotions but they responded back in turn when greeted with warmth. They love the American way, not because of our capitalism, but because of our culture that is based on freedom. That's the essence they want to embrace from our way of life.

As far as their past leadership, Stalin is as hated as Hitler. I didn't get much of a feeling of how they feel for Lenin other than he was a tool for the Bolsheviks at a bad time for the country. There was a mixed feeling for Krushchev. Most felt he instituted kinder and necessary reforms, in the form of housing, etc., and the killings stopped, but there was no freedom of speech under him and the KGB loomed large. Nevertheless, he left office in disgrace. Currently, the government is young-only 20 years old-and the dust hasn't settled. The country is still in chaos and its medical system and morbidity rates are disgraceful. Whether the young people with a new global mentality can help their country transition successfully is a wait and see question.

While in St. Petersburg, my favorite museum was the Museum of Political History which was undergoing some form of a transformation. The exhibition is based on the collection of the now-defunct Museum of the Revolution, which contained artifacts gathered by key players in the Revolution long before the museum itself was actually established, including their own personal effects, documents, posters, pamphlets, and banners. A local guide took us through the rise of the Bolsheviks, Lenin, Stalin, Krushchev and through the 70s. The house was Bolshevik headquarters for a short period in 1917 and Lenin's office has been recreated. The exhibitions detailing the socialist revolution and its results is particularly fascinating. There is a great deal of documentation of the Soviet period through remnants of collectivization and reconstructions of houses from 1930 to 1950 which demonstrate the the struggle for survival by everyday people. There were sections devoted to GULAG prisons with documents concerning dissident arrests. We could have spent many more hours in discussion. 

During our city tours we drove by the only good thing Stalin appeared to do, built sturdy apartment buildings that have rather large, well constructed, attractive interiors. Krushchev's claim to fame with regards to housing was to provide a solution for the multitudes living in communal apartments and barracks  -- their own living quarters free of charge. That meant putting up poorly constructed, cement high rises with small units very quickly to ease the housing burden.

We balanced this out by going to visit two palaces, Pavlovsk and Alexander Palace, both about an hour away from St. Petersburg and near Catherine's palace. Pavlovsk distinguished itself in that it was incredibly lovely. Alexander Palace was only partially renovated and is owned by the military. It is the home where Nicholas and Alexandra and their family were held prisoner before being sent to Siberia and murdered.

Another highlight was a visit to the amber workshop which allowed us to understand how the amber room in Catherine's palace was reconstructed. We learned about the different veins of amber and how amber is mined and processed.

Last but not least was a visit to the Hermitage Storage rooms. If you've ever visited the Hermitage, you wonder why the art isn't totally destroyed. New York City's elegant Met or the Louvre, once itself a palace, have their temperatures carefully controlled. The Hermitage can be blisteringly hot and while as regally elegant as it is, sometimes you question whether it is an appropriate backdrop for such great works of art. The Storage rooms house pieces in appropriately temperature controlled areas as well as provide laboratories to prepare and restore the art. We were allowed into this sterile environment to witness some behind the scenes restoration and storage techniques.

There were also other memorable experiences. We spent our last day at the Hermitage. The lines at the opening were so long. There were 2 lines for machines with exact change and 2 for either credit card or rubles. The credit card line was one hour long. After 30 minutes in the exact change line, the machine broke and they sent us to restarting the hour long line again which was now about 90 minutes and it was past 11 am. I went back to the machines and found some misprinted tickets in the machine and decided to try them out. The guard waved me inside right into the ticket holder's line. I ran back and got Doug and we walked right in and then he fetched two more folks we had befriended. We then waited in a 5 minute line to pay for tickets inside. Finally, we were in. What wonderful works were there! When we left a couple of hours later, the line was at least 3 times as long as the 90 minute morning line. I shudder to think when these folks actually got in.

We had a lovely lunch of one course. Doug had a couple of beers and I had 2 juices. The bill came to $120 dollars. Two days before, we each had one drink and either a soup or salad at a cafe and it was $10 apiece. Russia isn't cheap! Then, we rushed to find the metro because we were meeting Guy and Yvonne at the porcelain factory near our ship. We had trouble finding the metro and asked a taxi driver if he could point us in the correct direction. He gave Doug directions, then ran after us and guided us along, chatting in charming broken English about where we were from and pointing things out along the way. We parted with hugs and he kissed my hand and we were off to find the factory. We had no idea where to go when we got out, but were able to piece things together and found Guy and Yvonne but sadly had missed the last tour. This factory has produced all of the imperial china for the Russian families and now had been privatized. It supposedly has some of the finest china in the world available only in Russia. Of course, they had entire place settings that were very expensive, but just pricing the extensive collection of tea cups, They ranged from $22 to $1000+ per cup. Not having take the tour, I didn't learn the difference. I purchased three favorites and headed back to do some last minute packing.

So, what are my feelings of my visit to Russia? For the money, there are other cities with a far greater value and much better food! But, if you have traveled most places, and are curious about Russia, here are some suggestions.

Moscow: A tour of the Treasury, the Diamond fund, New Maiden Cemetery, Pushkin museum and another art museum, Cold War Bunker, Red Square at Night and a city tour. This is two to three day city. St Petersburg: Catherine's Palace, the Museum of Political History,, the Hermitage Storage rooms, Peterhof, Hermitage, gold room, amber workroom, Yusapov, Pavlovsk, Alexander's Palace,  porcelain factory, city tour, Peter and Paul fortess. Maybe 4 days.

The people on the cruise were a well educated and traveled group and were fun to be with. They made the trip ever so enjoyable. The ship was a Motel 6 on water whose menu rivaled Denney's, senior management does not have customer service down at all, but junior staff was ever so ready to help, but if you want a Russian river cruise this is probably the best out there, so I really can't recommend the ship without "disclaimers" as Ngaire would say.

I came home with a better appreciation for the sheer beauty of Russia, the acres and acres of birch trees, the struggle of the Russian people, their desire to be our friends and how lucky I am to be an American. Could I recommend this trip to others? Only if they've been everywhere else. Would I do this trip again? probably not. Do I regret going? No. It broadened me as a human being.

While Brad may blame me for selecting this trip, I sure had a lot of fun with Leslie and him, Ngaire and Ken and Yvonne and Guy. While I like my borscht, I sure missed my rare beef!

Well, we're back to the comforts of home. And no more trips in 2011, so I'll have to wait until January 2012 and our Antarctic adventure which I'm sure will be enlightening.