Travel Announcement: Return to Russia!

[peacetraveler22]

It's now official! I just purchased my tickets to Russia. :) Here I am, standing on the frozen Neva River in Peter. Glorious! Dates of the visit will be 23 February - 9 March. For those in the U.S., airfares on Aeroflot are incredibly cheap now. Nonstop flights from Washington, DC or New York City to Moscow cost only $492 USD roundtrip, including taxes. I can't even fly to many places in the U.S. for this price.

The first week I'll travel with my Russian friend on a road journey to some new cities, though I'm not yet sure where. Proposed options include the following:
(1) Moscow → Yaroslavl → Vologda → St. Petersburg → Moscow

(2) Moscow → Vladimir → Novgorod → Cheboksary → Kazan → Moscow

Where to go? What to do? Suggestions for other intriguing driving routes from Moscow? Help me! :) I'm mostly interested in unusual people, wild and frozen nature and village life. Museums, Orthodox churches, and standard tourist attractions aren't really important to me.

If there's interest, I can try to arrange a reader gathering somewhere in Moscow the second week. Although I'm not sure where in the city is convenient for most people? If you know a good gathering place, like a restaurant or pub, please tell me in the comments.

I'm excited for the trip, to see if attitudes toward an American visitor have changed since my visit last February when I attended the Olympic Games. Since then, relations between our countries have shifted dramatically and even here on my blog I've noticed more anti-Americanism and hostility, even when the topic of my posts have absolutely nothing to do with politics.

Btw, I'm sure many of you saw Ilya Varlamov's post hanging in the TOP all day yesterday, but if not I suggest you give it a read. A foreign tourist's brutal impressions of Russia. Her story makes my first Russian post seem like a fairy tale. I think she was harsh in her review of the country, though she's certainly entitled to her opinion. It's especially amusing to view the reader comments to the story (over 4,000 of them now!!).

Russia - your country remains a fascinating place for me, and I'm very happy to return!

Comments

Places to visit in the vicinity of Vologda

[(Anonymous)]

Shannon,

Sorry for the late joining of the discussion; let me add some suggestions.

I've spent seven years in Cherepovets which is not far from Vologda. My opinion is that for sightseeng Vologda is overestimated and even boring -- comparing with few brilliant sights in the vicinity of Vologda.

There are two places to discover in one day (if you have a car of course):
A) Ferapontovo (Ферапонтово) - Indeed, the unique place: the museum of frescoes in the former very old monastery, est. 1397, World Heritage listed. The frescoes was painted by Dionisy in 1502 and now paintings have the fantastic level of preservation. Sorry for a link: www dot dionisy dot com / eng / ; and
B) Kirillov (Кириллов) - also the old Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, since the same 1397, but acting now. Being located at the mirror of the lake, the monastery with high castle walls is very picturesque and very, very interesting. Sorry again: kirillov-monastyr dot ru.

Both places have some tourist infrastructure (toilets, cafeteria). I beleive you can book an English speaking guide in Ferapontovo, but call them in several days in advance.

My suggestion is to start from Ferapontovo in the early and to go to Kirillov for the lunch, self catering canteen Пир Горой was acceptable couple of years ago.

Beleive it helps.
Regards, Alexander

Re: Places to visit in the vicinity of Vologda

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Hi Alexander! Thanks a lot for the advice. :)