Russia
Russia
Anniversary Dinner
We spent the afternoon with a walk in the park near the Novodevichy Convent. Followed by a drive through the city which surprised us both with bustle of activity and the number of modern structures. Then we were treated to a fabulous anniversary dinner prepared by Aleksey’s wife Vika. Click on any photo below […]
Russia
Tretyakov Museum
The State Tretyakov Gallery is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery’s history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov acquired works by Russian artists of his day with the aim of creating a collection, which might later grow into a museum of national art. In 1892, Tretyakov […]
Russia
ICBM Bunker Museum
The tour of the ICBM bunker, now turned museum, was beyond belief. As a child of the Cold War I never in my wildest dreams thought I would very have such an experience. Hidden below residential buildings and 13 stories below ground this decommissioned ICBM launch site is less than 2 miles from the Kremlin […]
Russia
A Tour of the Kremlin
Aleksey arranged for an English speaking tour guide and we spent the day with her, in the rain, touring the many buildings of the Kremlin ( a fortress or citadel housing the offices of the Russian government. There are about a dozen in Russia, we were at the main one in Moscow). Before we begin […]
Russia
Moscow Market Day
Refreshed after a good night’s sleep in our comfortable bed, we were ready for our first full day in Moscow. Alexey, who’d already been up for hours which is his way, gave us a tutorial on using the new, high-tech DeLonghi coffee maker. We were nervous that he may have bought it because he knew […]
Russia
To Moscow by train and our next adventure
One final spectacular breakfast at the equally spectacular Kempinski Hotel, and we were off to the train station. Alexey had kindly made all arrangements, and in no time, we were happily seated in our luxurious car. Moscow is about a three and a half-hour train ride southeast from St. Petersburg, which gave us ample time to see […]
Russia
Goose Goose and Goodbye to St. Petersburg
With only one more day in St. Petersburg, we decided to stroll and eat and take a more leisurely pace. The weather was a bit chilly and overcast but nothing good Minnesotans and Muscovites couldn’t handle. With pizza and a prix fixe “businessman’s lunch,” Goose Goose was our choice for a hearty, well-prepared meal. The […]
Russia
On to the Russian Museum and the Mikhailovsky Palace
If a person wanted to sample more than 400,000 works of art covering all of the historical periods, forms, genres, styles, movements and schools embracing nearly a thousand years of Russian history, a person would be standing in The Russian Museum in St. Petersburg right this minute. Even reading that description (entirely plagiarized from the […]
Russia
A day at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg
It’s Hermitage Museum day! This has definitely been on Liz’s bucket list forever, so excitement ran high. Palace Square and the Hermitage were just a stone’s throw from our hotel, but once we arrived, we had to do a certain amount of arguing and milling around to decide which of the palaces was which. We […]
Russia
Lift bridges open during White Nights in St. Petersburg
This is a middle-of-the-night post as that’s the only time to experience the once-in-a-lifetime wonder of the lift bridges opening during White Nights in St. Petersburg. The practical fact is that the bridges open in the middle of the night to let the commercial sea traffic pass through. The magical fact is that masses of […]
Russia
Cruising, Faberge and pelmini
One of our favorite things to do when we travel to a new city is to ride the hop-on hop-off tourist bus. But in St. Petersburg, you can do that on a boat. It was a lovely, sunny day to see a beautiful city from the water, including a waterside view of our fabulous hotel […]
Russia
Peterhof
We have been lucky on two counts. We have managed to post a few photos via our iPad and the weather has turned in our favor in a big way. The last two days have been sun and outings. After a fancy breakfast at the Hotel Kempinski we set out for a big day at […]
Russia
Russia 2017
In 1990 we had to good fortune to host a foreign exchange student from Belarus name Aleksey Nikiforovich. That relationship has developed into a lifelong friendship with many return visits over the years. He had long invited us to come visit Russia and in 2017 we took him up on his offer and what follows […]
