Russia
We have visited Russia a couple of times but really the first time was only a transit and a few hours in Moscow airport when using a cheap flight to get to Sri Lanka (see my web page) and so our experiences consist mainly of arguing with security over whether they could destroy our camera film with their primitive scanning machine. Oh and Peter trying to pee in the gents whilst a cleaning biddy swabbed the floor round the urinal. Cheap flights back then (1978) were very much a lottery before the days of the internet but the difference between £600 with British Airways and £200 via an obscure French carrier and then Aeroflot that routed us out via Moscow and home via Tehran, Iran were significant so we took the chance and survived.
Our second and proper visit was a holiday based on St Petersburg but in fact we only spent a couple of days at each end of the trip whilst the main experience was travelling up through the rivers and lakes of the semi-autonymous region of Karelia. In doing so we passed through the two largest freshwater lakes is Europe - Lake Ladoga (passing close by Leningrad but not stopping) and Lake Onega on a Rhine-type river cruising boat. The primary objective was the amazing island of Kizhi with it`s many wooden buildings and churches dating back to the 17th century. The entire island is a no-smoking zone due to the bone dry timber that all the buildings are contructed with. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. But what it is NOT is mosquito-free!! In fact they are huge and find you in large numbers! Be warned! But at the end of the day it`s well worth the trip to see these stunning buildings - particularly the aspen covered domes.
Apart from Kizhi Island we also paid a visit to the capital of Karelia - Petrozavodsk where we were regaled by a theatre visit which involved local folklore performances including dancing, music and puppetry. All very jolly. We also visited on or two towns/villages along the connecting River Svir, passing through various locks. At one of these there was great excitement as Russia had started to open up trade with the rest of the world and they had just received a shipment of tinplate toy chickens that laid eggs if you pushed their bodies downwards!!! Woo-hoo. The other thing we noticed when visiting one village was the weekly market. Amngst the things being sold were packets of seed. However these were obviously locally harvested and packed because the packets had hand-painted images on rather than printed ones.
When we finally got back to St Petersburg our guide told us all about the Nazi siege of the city during World War 2 which lasted about 18 months. The locals had to resort to eating weeds in the ditches because there was nothing else left for them. She showed us a number of different weeds and told us what they all tasted like!. Then she announced that she had managed to obtain some excursion tickets for local events. The Germans on the boat she provided with tickets to the loval zoo whilst somehow she had obtained (scarce as hen`s teeth) tickets to the Kirov Ballet (check our pictures) for the Brits!! Then it was off to the mandatory tourist spots like the Hermitage Museum/Winter Palace. Absolutely stunning. Make sure that you have it on your bucket list. There`s plenty to see and do in St Petersburg but there is also a bit of a criminal element. We were advised to be very careful of the risk of bag snatchers which is very sad. Of course we came home with a set of stacking Russian dolls - I`m sure everybody does! Ours were of Russian political figures ranging from Peter the Great to Gobachov
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