All the reporting and pix are just fabulous! (I would definitely be losing weight on this cruise!)
The hat is something she'll never forget - great idea!

You all look fabulous; the food looks horrid!
The rat pear made me laugh.

Andi, you have done such a terrific job of writing and telling us the Russian history and stats. Leslie, your photos are so telling, just great.

My favorite is seeing Nastasa in her new hat. She's adorable. I think you've made a friend for life.

Agree with Marcie's comments! The gift of the hat is the sweetest picture and I love the hat!!!!

Thanks so much for all the information. It is all so fascinating. I thought the rat pear was cute!
-------------------
Helen

Andi, loved your thoughts on Russian history and culture. Given your interest, you should read Russka by Edward Rutherford if you havn't already. The book is a James Michener style historical novel covering early to modern Russia.

Leslie & Andi, your reports are fabulous and a great service to those of us considering this trip. I admire your ability to adjust your expectations and make the best of this adventure. Way to go! I'd like to think I would do the same. We are among those who were seriously considering booking this cruise. Our decision: no thanks. Part of that decision has nothing to do with your experience. We have been to SP already--three marvelous days on Voyager. And Fred has been to Moscow twice on business with a little touring on the side. But your reports have tipped the balance for us. That is a very positive contribution and why LCT and the other message boards are so constructive. Pat

Our Russian "motu" barbecue in the river hamlet of Sivirstroy has been rained out so we are anxiously waiting to see how they transform the planned menu of grilled shashlik into an inside meal. We are about 100 miles from St Petersburg at this point on the Svir River, having spent the last day on Lake Onega, the 2nd largest lake in Europe. We all thought we were cruising on a lake in Maine.

This morning's lecture was a round table for Q&A about contemporary Russia featuring Lara our lecturer and three young staff members, all university students, including our own Nastya holding forth on topics such as tactics used by guys in trying to avoid their year of military service, difficulties in getting travel visas and other topics posed by the passengers. Andi will no doubt recap.

Since this is our last night before our 3 days in St Petersburg the captain's gala farewell is on tap for tonight. We shall see how they transform Steak Diana... I am so sorry i forgot my camera at yesterday's lunch as i am sure you all would have marveled at the "tree stump" dessert. 

Hopefully I will be able to get some photos from yesterday's stop at Kitzhi Island uploaded too.

Photos from our Kitzhi walking tour

The Transfiguration Cathedral was built in 1714.  30,000 aspen wood shingles on 22 separate cupolas reflect different hues of silver, red and green depending on the light. The shingles only last about 50 years so it is an ongoing maintenance problem. The large church is under reconstruction (i think our guide said since some time in the 90's ) but we were able to enter the smaller 10 domed Intercession Church (also known as the Winter Church ) next to it as well as see some houses, chapels, bathhouses and other structures from the 18th and 19th century.

These photos and commentaries are terrific. It really gives us a great insight. That food looks atrocious, though! You all are such great sports about it. This would be the one cruise I might not gain weight on! (Or maybe even LOSE weight?!)

Well we found out tonight they can cook some good food. Smoked salmon appetizer - rich small mushroom soup (delicious) three smoked fish appetizer(good) a great pear sorbet, main course we had salmon and ours was great (Brad said his was not) and Baked Alaska for desert. For our tastes it was a really good meal. We ate at the Captains table tonight and met a nice couple that were in the personnel business in California and we knew a couple in common that are travelling on wines. It is a small world sometimes.

The food is improving OR we are all adjusting. You just do not order beef, eat fish, chicken and vegetables instead. Prime 7 cannot come soon enough as I am a total carnivore.

We had a quiet day today and finally got Andi playing hearts. After a couple of games she wanted to play after dinner tonight this we never do, but we did and ended up with a late night. Tomorrow we are taking the shuttle to the metro and then taking the metro into town. We have done St. Petersburg sights quite a few times before so just going shopping for some "egg orders". Everyone will be off the ship so no lunch on board tomorrow but we can sleep in and eat lunch in town.

I am continuing to enjoy your reports. But after the food and shower pictures, I think this will be one cruise I will not be taking. They certainly are creative in their plating of the food though. I can just hear George saying "this is your fault" to me if we had gone.

Today we awoke to a freezing cold ship and pouring rain outside. It didn't detract from the scenery though. While Guy, Ngaire, Ken and Brad played Hearts, Leslie and I went to the enrichment lecture, Doug downloaded pictures and Yvonne read,

A few brief enrichment facts for today...

There were first some audience questions about the army situation. Boys must enter at the age of 18 for one year unless they receive a university deferment. Those who do not go on to further their studies, try to get doctors to find
something wrong with them or feign that they are gay as gays are not allowed in the military. Some even go into hiding until they are 27, when they are only called into service should there be a war.

Interestingly, the US is a main attraction for young people and there seems to be quite a detente between our nations. Russian universities find it fairly easy to acquire grants for its students in the US versus Europe. Additionally, students are attracted to the US because it was built on the premise of freedom and democracy. English is the ONLY foreign
language taught in the schools, it is obligatory and language training begins in first grade.

They know our current culture better than their own. They read all about Brad Pitt's and and Angelina Jolie's life, Jennifer Anniston's new hairstyle and Arnold Schwarzenegger's love child. It isn't suprising since 75% of Russians have Internet.

Due to the high mortality rates for drunk driving, there is a one year old law now stating that you can't buy alcohol after 10 pm unless you are over 90. I guess they figure you can't get to the liquor stores if you're over 90 or, more cynically, they won't have to pay your pension anymore if you get in an
accident while drunk driving.

Well, that's the government lesson for today. We rolled into Svirstroy and I decided to roam around outside until lunch. Grabbed an umbrella and a camera and headed out. There were all these wood huts that looked like a summer camp and a small beach and across the harbor, a pepto colored
hydroelectric plant. I ventured further into the hutted area and I noticed that, while devoid of folks, they were filed with merchandise. There was hut after hut. The first hut had mink hats and gloves. Have you ever seen mink mittens? Toasty
warm and ever so cheap? Hmmm, a little negotiating and I got good deal as I was the only customer in a sea of rain. A few minutes later I walked off with my mink mittens. Shucks, the rain was letting up...and I bumped into Yvonne. We wandered into one store after another.... ended up getting
I got some awfully funny matryoshka dolls but the crowds finally descended on us so we went in for lunch.

We sat with Bob and Lil, an adorable couple, who met at his deceased wife's memorial service and fell in love. We left the port at 2:45. I wish we had more time there. It cleared up and looked like a nice neighborhood to walk around to really get a feel of everyday life. Svirstroy is a small village of about 1000 residents located on the Svir River about 150 miles east of St. Petersburg. The Svir connects the two largest lakes in Europe--Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega.
After we got on our way, Brad, Ken and Ngaire saw a sucker and decided to teach me to play hearts. I'm not sure if they wanted to finally ensure that none of them would ever lose or if they wanted comical relief. I lost every game by about a million points.I decided to join because Ngaire and Ken always draw my bath for me and even get the right temperature. Today, they got two comic effects, they waked in on Brad in only a towel in their suite when he was in for his daily bath.

Before dinner, we all went to my room and un nested my dolls and Leslie took picture of them. The mind is a terrible thing to waste.

After dinner, I decided to challenge everyone to another game of Hearts with Guy coaching me. This was working til Yvonne came and took him to bed and I died on the next hand.

The other passengers on the ship are delightful. About We're actually getting used to the food.About 30% are American, 30% are Australian, and the rest are from Canada, South Africa and Belgium and other assorted places. As far as the food...It's amazing what you will eat when you are hungry. The accommodations...kinda Motel 6. But, I'm having a great time.

I'm catching up today, and what a pleasure to read the reports of this interesting trip! Thanks to Leslie, Andi and Ngaire. Great pictures too!

This has to be one of the all time best seamails!!! Thank you Leslie and Andi! Waiting for the photo of Andi's unnested dolls! :D

Dupe

Too many spelling errors at 2am

I will miss your reports but sure have enjoyed the ride!!!!! Thanks to all for the fun and entertainment - and GREAT pictures!

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the daily reports on this Russian journey.

Andi and Leslie - wonderful reports and pictures.

Safe journey home everyone!

I am sorry the sea mail has come to an end! Those Winos better be a chatty bunch ;)

Agree with Joanna and Karen, what a wonderful insight you have provided. I don't think Russia is somewhere we will ever travel to so yours and Leslie's commentaries were a wonderful way to hear about it.

:lct:

I will post some more photos soon.  We had no Internet since we left Svirstroy. Here we were thinking the slow, unreliable service would pick up once we got to St Petersburg, but there was no service at all. Sitting on the floor of the dingy St P airport now with fast, free Internet. 

Since we hd been to St P before we scheduled 2 days of private tours. The first Andi, Doug, Brad and I went to a bit of a Russian Orthodox service at the extravagant St Nicholas cathedral, walked by Dostoevsky's last apartment (now a museum), went to the cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky monastery (burial place of Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky and many more luminaries, most of whom we hadn't heard of), visited a farmers market and a typical grocery store, had some more borsch for lunch, went to the high tech storage facility for the excess stuff the Hermitage isn't displaying and had a guided very interesting tour of the Museum of Political history to deepen our knowledge of Soviet times.

The next day Ngaire and Ken joined the 4 of us and we headed out of town for a tour of Pavlovsk and Alexander palace, lunch in small restaurant in a guard tower of Alexander Palace and a by appointment only visit to the amber workrooms at Catherine's palace where they did ll the restoration of the panel in the Amber Room and now make exquisite items for state gifts. 

On our final day we took the shuttle downtown and wandered round, bought some dolls the market near the Spilled Blood cathedral nd then went back for our final bad lunch.

Will post a summation a bit later, after we get to Berlin.

This is Brad posting under Leslie's name. I just have to say that, while the guides and various tours were always outstanding, I am very happy to be leaving Russia. Of the 50(?) countries we've seen, they rank close to the top for most screwed-up. The legacy of centuries under cruel, concentrated power & wealth has produced a strange mixture of resignation, inefficiency and indifference. On the other hand, I love their dark sense of humor.

Brad, you sure have had some time to come to your conclusions, which I respect. Strange, I always thought it was communism that brought about resignation, inefficiency and indifference, of which you speak. Very interesting take, as I think you are saying this is new?

Russia for sure suffering transition problems from the posts I've read on this thread. It seems like new capitalism on steroids, not so much raising up the middle class that is the benchmark of our system here (well, I guess that's up for debate, but we DO have a big middle class). Anyway, so glad for the perspective from all of you from this one snapshot of an experience of a group I know, and trust their words. I did love my Baltics cruise with Regent with my 3 days in St. Petersburg (and would do again in a minute as a repeat, if price were right). Black Sea, not so much.



Sort of makes me glad that for my cruise after what I'm sure will be a trusty bunch of ports for CANADA, I have chosen the Med to take my girls and spouses for the next one. No unknowns, all beautiful, and visited so many times by the cruise ships, will be a fluke if something goes WRONG.

Thank you all, for your great perspectives on this itinerary, why lct is so helpful to all of us.

Dolls!










How about this one? Hand painted by our top collector

Brad I couldn't have said it better myself! That iz exactly how I felt when Marc and I did our 3 days in Moscow. I couldn't wait to go, loved every minute, but boy was I glad to leave!

Love all of the posts. I had shoulder surgery last Monday, so I have spent more time reading the posts rather responding.

Leslie, when we see you in October hopefully we can have a first hand account of the entie trip, shower curtain and all.

Thanks for taking us along. I have enjoyed every word and photo. I might even decide to take a chance and do this myself....some day. After I learn to like beets. Russian history was my major in college. Feel like you all have updated us on life there today much better than any newspaper or magazine article could. Thank you. And Andi - love "your" doll! :app:

It could have been worse... When we docked in St Petersburg on the first day we exited to the pier through two boats. This is a photo through the window of a double cabin of the one next to us. Two bunks with a rather scary looking thin mattress and minimal linens.

Oh that's scary Leslie...we had better cots than that in my HS nurse's office. :eek:

Welcome Home Tzar's !!

Pavlovsk

18th century summer residence of Paul I, son of Catherine the Great, and subsequently of his widow, Maria, after his murder. Located close to Catherine's Palace it was saved as a museum after the Revolution. More than 13,000 items such as painting, sculpture, clocks, porcelain, furniture, crystal etc. were packed up and spirited away at the beginning of WWII. The palace was occupied and subsequently trashed by the Germans, but it  was able to be painstakingly restored in the 50's, 60's and 70's thanks to the safe keeping of many of the possessions in addition to the preservation of documentation about the palace.

Many visitors overlook Pavlovsk and only tour Catherine's Palace but we all really enjoyed our visit here and recommend a visit here too.

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.

I loved all of your reports and pictures - would never have been trip that interested me (prior to your reports) BUT loved experiencing it with you - sure was FUN!!!!!!

Wish you were with us. Now that would have bben fun!!

WOW! SO enjoyed all the reports and pix - a lot to digest! One comment, Andi, that jumped out at me was about the art displayed in the Hermitage. There was a DaVinci, I believe, displayed near an open window, with the sunlight pouring on it which really freaked me out; how it could have been displayed like that was beyond comprehension!
MANY thanks to all!

Thanks for these great reports - I so enjoyed living this trip vicariously. And all because It Was Andi's Fault!

We are now in Berlin and enjoying an amazing great leap forward in comfort and luxury having used one of our Hyatt visa card suite upgrade benefits at the Grand Hyatt. Brad even has a rubber ducky for his tub! Just need Andi here to do the daily recaps. So much history!

Will finalize uploading some Russia photos today.

At the amber workshop

Waiting for our tour. Andi is happy since we told her she could shop AFTER the tour...



Learning about amber



The tools and one of the craftsmen at work





And a few pix around Catherine's Palace where the workshop is located

Yeah, Brad wouldn't be blaming me for Berlin. I really love that city.Must have been reasly beautiful before the war. Hope you are having great time. I keep waking up and wondering where I am in this huge room and comfortable bed.

To Andi and Leslie :app: :app: :app: :app: