| On May 18th Dot and I flew out of Raleigh/Durham airport to St. Petersburg, Russia. While she was very enthused I must admit I had many reservations. Russia? A cruise down the Volga? Eat all meals on the ship? To my surprise all my concerns were unfounded. We had a wonderful and informative experience. Food and service were excellent and the people we met were extremely friendly and outgoing. Some areas in Russia are still suffering from the consequences of the past regime. The infrastructure of the St. Petersburg area in the north is very run down. The people however are trying very hard to improve conditions and life styles. The small towns we visited on the cruise toward Moscow were very simple and clean. Some larger cities such as Yaroslavl and Uglich seem to be adapting to the change quicker. Arriving in Moscow was quite another story completely. It was like night and day in comparison to St. Petersburg. We were told that most of the resources of the past governments were channeled to Moscow to supply the rest of the world with a good image. This city was as modern and up to date as New York. English was at least some what understood here as opposed to virtually nil in St. Petersburg. The Cyrillic alphabet made it very difficult to navigate the streets and the Metro. Metro stations are beautiful and clean. The 5 story underground shopping mall is as good as any in the states. It even had a 200 terminal internet cafe in English with plenty of people to assist. All in all Moscow was a great experience and the highlight of our trip. Thank you Dot for bending my arm. |
