What can I add to what's already been said about a country with over a thousand years of recorded cultural history, and that had covered 1/6th of the globe? All I can do is what they told many years ago, when I was an umpire for high school baseball games in New Jersey -- "Call it the way you see it". So that's what I've tried to do here. The good stuff. And the bad.
Well, the weather in late Spring -- at least in the western part of European Russia -- is not that bad at all. During our 23 days there, the temperature ranged between 43 and 75. Mornings usually pretty cool, but refreshing. Usually a slight breeze. We had rain during the first few days on the Golden Ring. Aside from those days, it was sunny and comfortable. In fact, Anna in St. Petersburg told us that Petersburg only gets 33 totally sunny days all year, and we'd already used up almost all of them ourselves. (I mean, when you wait 50 years to take a trip, that only seems fair.) I've not seen a Russian Winter; they can last from 8 to 10 months or more depending where you are.
I do know that most pictures of russia show it in the snow. And it is very beautiful to see. As for the food -- it was certainly plentiful and fresh. A lot of root vegetables. Good salads.
Blinys were my favorite. And the soups, particularly
Shchi and
Borshcht. The deserts were great. Russians love desserts. (You know that old saying: "Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first!') I didn't trust the fish. Nor most of the meat. Like most Europeans, the Russians tend to under-cook the meat (by American standards), particularly the chicken. They also have some rather odd combinations of ingredients. Restaurant food is most always expensive, especially in the big cities. But then, eating out often is fairly new to Russia. And so their prices are geared for the tourist class. (Hey, there are several McDonalds in Moscow and St Petersburg, if you're not too proud.)
The Language
is difficult, particularly for older Americans. English is Latin and German based; Russian is Slavic, with an alphabet based on Greek. Not many words have any connection for us. The first step is to memorize the Cyrillic alphabet. (Most signage in Russia is strictly in Cyrillic.) Our guide in Klin, Feliks, said that translating from English to Russian is easier than from Russian to English, because the average Russian word has 3 syllables and the average English. (So don't feel so inferior if there are more Russians who can speak English than Americans who can speak Russian.)
What can I say about the Roads? I've already said a lot. Remember, 20 years ago, there were very few private cars on the roads, most of them in the bigger cities, There were waiting-lists, even for Ladas. In the more remote areas the roads were mainly for military vehicles. Comfort was not an issue. We invented the automobile in America, so we got a big head-start on road building. (I would not recommend bringing your car to Russia, nor even renting one. Let the professional drivers do the driving in their vehicles; they are very good at their jobs.)
I only saw a very small portion of Russia. Just 23 days' worth. I truly believe it would take more than a lifetime to really see it all. About the time I was born, American writer Thomas Wolfe wrote a long short-story (that's very Russian itself) entitled 'Only the Dead Know Brooklyn'; I think that could easily be paraphrased into 'Only the Dead Know Russia.' Another quote that applies to Russia is from Andre Gide, by way of American writer Norman Mailer: "Please do not understand me too quickly." And then this one. from American poet Walt Whitman: "Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself./I am large; I contain multitudes." And finally this last line from William Faulkner's
The Sound and the Fury : "They will endure..."
Nowadays it seems that lists and rankings (the top 10, the 50 best, the greatest 100, etc) are quite popular. So, concerning my impressions of Russia, as the song goes -- "Here a few of my favorite things"
:
Most beautiful church visited ( for location, exterior, interior): Church on the Spilled Blood, Petersburg
Oldest church visited: St Sophia in Novgorod, 1050 (couldn't really tell it from those built in 1130 or so)
Favorite monastery visited:: Tie between Valaam and Aleksandr Svirsky (Svirstroy)
Favorite Cemetary: Aleksandr Nevsky Master of Arts Necropolis in Petersburg
Favorite metropolis visited: Sankt Peterbourg
Ugliest town visited: Ivanovo (did not stop)
Favorite towns/villages visited (in order of appreciation): Plyos, Rostov-Veliky, Kizhi, Yaroslavl, Abramstevo, Suzdal, Strelna)
Favorite art museum visited: Tretyakov in Moscow (Russian Impressionism is my favorite painting)
Favorite historical museum: Dostoevsky House in Petersburg
Favorite Gardens visited: Peterhof
Favorite Palace visited: Yusupov (with Pavlovsk a close second)
Favorite Hotel stay: Plekhanov's Manor in Rostov-Veliky
As you can see by the posting dates used, it has taken me one year to gather and formalize these impressions. And, as i said before, I waited fifty years to make this trip. And it was truly, in every sense for me,
The Trip Of A Lifetime.
So let me thank first my wife, Phoebe, for having the fortitude to join me on this magnificent adventure. And for her beautiful photographs.
My thanks to Natalia Pakhomova of TravelAllRussia for her planning of much of the details of this trip, particularly on the Golden Ring portion, and her valuable advice on the other locations.
To Slava Shirokov, President of TravelAllRussia, for giving me the forum on this website to give expression to my impressions.
And to all our guides, local and traveling. With few exceptions they were truly exceptional people. We were treated like friends and family by them.
Finally, thank you Mother Russia for being there all these years. And waiting for me to get there.
If I were twenty years younger and could speak the language I'd go back there to live. To a small country village. Build a new wooden Dacha that looked like the old ones, with bright colored paint and Nalichniki around the three front windows, and a wooden-fenced garden plot in the back, and a grey Uaz to haul supplies in. "'Ow, wouldn't it be loverly, loverly!"
So, as I close this long treatise, I ask that you forgive me the length of my rambling descriptions and my opinionated opinions. (But they are very Russian, after all) And remember me as I choose to be remembered, after all -- standing at
Krasnaya Ploschad...
