I always thought I would like St. Petersburg better than Moscow. I may still, but Moscow is certainly wonderful. It is a huge city, 12,000,000 souls - not Beijing's 21,000,000, but pretty big. With the emphasis on pretty. an amazing blend of old and new, recently tarted up for the FIFA games, but with wonderful bones beneath it all. They are trying to get rid of all the Kruschev style apartments (what we think of as Soviet architecture) by 2022. Meanwhile, the new ones being built are spectacular - fabulous architecture, and massive. The big, wide boulevards put me in mind of nothing so much as Madrid.
There are traffic jams, all right - massive ones - but no horns, and incredibly clean. And where are the homeless people?
And the Metro!! I can't wait to show you the pictures. It is beautiful, the stations decorated with frescoes and semi precious paneling and stained glass and art deco (depending on the station). And also amazingly clean - apparently they are not allowed to eat on the metro - and way more user friendly than New York.
Not that I had to negotiate it myself. We actually did a group (17) guided tour! It was truly an amazing feat of organization - our guides deserved their pay for that one alone!
Along the way we saw three "literary: sites: the Metropole Hotel (think Gentleman in Moscow, people), the shopping street of Arbat (think Children of Arbat), where we ended up strolling for several hours before our farewell dinner, and Gorky Park (think Gorky Park - no spies in evidence, though...).
And this is farewell. Sort of. This is the end of the first part of my journey, and the start of my second. The rest of the group is dispersing for parts unknown today, and I am heading for St. Petersburg for three free days (think Hermitage and the Impressionists, guys), and then joining a second Road Scholar trip for the boat ride down the Volga back to Moscow. I hope I am up to another two weeks of touring.....
Meanwhile, the farewell dinner was fabulous - at a Bylorussian restaurant feature potato pancakes and Chicket Kiev, lots of toasts and exchange of cards, and good cheer all around. It was over-all a good group, with at least three folks that I hope to see again (including a Wagner groupie with whom a Russian opera trip may be in the offing).
Traveling day today, so the anxiety level is fairly high. I am leaving the hotel at 6:30 A.M. for the airport. The transfer to the airport itself has been taken care of. I only have to negotiate the airport itself - a nightmare even in your own language, as we all know - and then negotiate the airport to the hotel in St. Petersburg (which, by the by, is still called Leningrad by most Russians. It was changed pre-Soviet times, as St. Petersburg sounded too Germanic, there being a war going on and all.)
Wish me luck!
There are traffic jams, all right - massive ones - but no horns, and incredibly clean. And where are the homeless people?
And the Metro!! I can't wait to show you the pictures. It is beautiful, the stations decorated with frescoes and semi precious paneling and stained glass and art deco (depending on the station). And also amazingly clean - apparently they are not allowed to eat on the metro - and way more user friendly than New York.
Not that I had to negotiate it myself. We actually did a group (17) guided tour! It was truly an amazing feat of organization - our guides deserved their pay for that one alone!
Along the way we saw three "literary: sites: the Metropole Hotel (think Gentleman in Moscow, people), the shopping street of Arbat (think Children of Arbat), where we ended up strolling for several hours before our farewell dinner, and Gorky Park (think Gorky Park - no spies in evidence, though...).
And this is farewell. Sort of. This is the end of the first part of my journey, and the start of my second. The rest of the group is dispersing for parts unknown today, and I am heading for St. Petersburg for three free days (think Hermitage and the Impressionists, guys), and then joining a second Road Scholar trip for the boat ride down the Volga back to Moscow. I hope I am up to another two weeks of touring.....
Meanwhile, the farewell dinner was fabulous - at a Bylorussian restaurant feature potato pancakes and Chicket Kiev, lots of toasts and exchange of cards, and good cheer all around. It was over-all a good group, with at least three folks that I hope to see again (including a Wagner groupie with whom a Russian opera trip may be in the offing).
Traveling day today, so the anxiety level is fairly high. I am leaving the hotel at 6:30 A.M. for the airport. The transfer to the airport itself has been taken care of. I only have to negotiate the airport itself - a nightmare even in your own language, as we all know - and then negotiate the airport to the hotel in St. Petersburg (which, by the by, is still called Leningrad by most Russians. It was changed pre-Soviet times, as St. Petersburg sounded too Germanic, there being a war going on and all.)
Wish me luck!
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