Trans-Siberian - St. Petersburg and Moscow

Trans-Siberian Trip

St. Petersburg and Moscow

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The Trans-Siberian

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For the first four days, we toured St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Immediately after landing in St. Petersburg (via Frankfurt), I got my first taste of the adventure that was to follow as I navigated the St. Petersburg bus and metro system with no language and minimal ability to descipher the cyrillic alphabet. Fortunately, I was able to follow the instructions from Intrepid and arrived at the starting hotel with an hour to spare before the 6 o'clock group meeting.

After introductions, we went to a local restaurant for dinner. For evening entertainment, some of us went for drinks and a midnight cruise on some of St. Petersburg's canals and to watch the opening of the many bridges across St. Petersburg's main river, the Neva River. We staggered back to the hotel very late.

The next day, I spent a large part of the day touring the Hermitage Musuem, one of the largest art galleries in the world. In addition to the Picasso's, Da Vinci's and famous European art, I was struck by the incredible building, the Russian Tsar's Winter Palace that now houses the museum.

After the museum, I wandered through some of the streets of the St. Petersburg, then north across the Neva River to the Peter and Paul Fortress which was formerly a prison for political prisoners under the Tsars. It is now a tourist area and museum. I had an afternoon nap and then some of us from the group met for dinner.