Prologue

Jan and I have been planning this trip to Russia and "the Waterways of the Tsars" for over a year.  In preparation, one or both of us have read Ascher, Abraham: Russia. A short History; Nordbye, Masha: Moscow, St. Petersburg & The Golden Ring; King, Anna: Culture Smart, Russia; and Stakhnevich, Julia: Learning Russian.  Our goal was to get a fair grounding in the history and culture of the places we will visit.

Based on what we've read, heard from friends who have visited Russia and picked up from the video snippets emailed by Viking River Cruises, we think we are in for a wonderful experience.  At the same time, remembering the grim portrayals of Russia delivered during the days of the Cold War, one wonders, what will it really be like?  We are eager to find out.

We leave this evening about 6 p.m. (already 2 a.m. in St. Petersburg), flying via Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then on to St. Petersburg, arriving there about 1:30 p.m.  If all goes as planned, some reports should be coming your way by tomorrow afternoon.

Russia Cruise About to Begin

The Viking River Cruise of the Russian waterways between St. Petersburg and Moscow for Jan and me is about to begin.  My goal is to use this blog to keep a record of the journey and provide a running commentary of our discoveries.  I hope you will enjoy it.  More to come...