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

[ryanka.livejournal.com]

If I were she.. I would try to learn weather, road conditions and law regulations before my trip to any country. Also I would read a lot of info and advices from people who did the same to know details. And finally I would learn at least easy phrases in language people speak in that country. I live in Korea and If you go to small cities and villages no one will speak to you in English actually. Yes that is a trouble and we learn at least easy Korean phrases to feel comfortable. It is very funny from her to expect that in any place you go people will speak in your language or English. Koreans are very shy to speak English or just don't know how to speak. At the same time they think foreigners should be respectful and learn the language of that country they are in. But see.. when they travel to the small Russian cities they break the laws and expect everyone will speak English to them.. so disrespectful.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. I always try to learn basic phrases in the countries I visit (hello, goodbye, thank you, please....), or at the very least you should always have a phrase book in the local language for easy reference. I don't expect people in remote villages to speak English. Why would they? It's unlikely such people will ever leave their neighborhood, much less Russia, and visit another country. So, English is of no use for them, except for personal knowledge and information on the Internet, etc. I'm not sure how common it is for villagers to have computers? It seems most people living in such areas are old pensioners.

[ryanka.livejournal.com]

most of people in small villages don't have computers as well as the internet.. but those who live in small cities have the internet like any other people in big cities. Maybe there is only one difference: their life is more real.. and less saturated by silly information.
I am glad to hear you learn Russian, I think it shows your true interest to the country :)