Through a combination of modern-day technology and a painter’s artistic touch, this photojournalist, invited by Insight Vacations to document its Easy Pace Russia journey, is transported back in time to September 7, 1812 as French and Russian forces collide on a massive amphiteatre-like clearing near tiny Borodino.

I’m standing on a circular platform at the top of the Battle of Borodino Panorama Museum in Moscow looking down and panning right and left, taking in every detail of a gigantic 360-degree oil painting created by Franz Roubaud, a panoramic master, in 1911.

This tableau of bloodshed, standing 15m tall and stretching 115m around, is impressive. Along with Roubaud’s brush strokes, the added dimension and depth of dramatic set recreations in the foreground, special lighting and realistic sound effects make me feel as if I’m actually there, standing alongside Pierre, Leo Tolstoy’s naive, unworldly hero from War and Peace, witnessing the bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars.

Nearly 250,000 French and Russian forces answered the call that sunny, September day, but when the last cannon sounded and the final saber rattled, nearly 75,000 brave souls had perished on the battlefield.

Napoleon himself summed up the battle best: “The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy of victory, but the Russians showed themselves worthy of being invincible”.

What was left of the Imperial Army of Russia retreated, burning every hamlet, village and town in its wake, while Napolean’s equally depleted, but tactically victorious, Grande Armée continued its march to Moscow, some 115 km (70 mi) away, only to find it, too, deserted and ablaze.

Holed up inside the Kremlin for five long weeks, Napoleon waited impatiently for an official surrender from Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, but it would never come. Totally frustrated and weary, Napoleon limped back to Paris, in the middle of a harsh Russian winter, leaving behind nearly three-quarters of his original 600,000-manned invasion force dead, strewn about the countryside.

Celebrated historian Oleg Sokolov observed that the significance of the battle came much, much later. “The importance of Borodino,” he noted, “is by literature, by history, by poetry. It’s not so important strategically.”

Mikhail Lermontov wrote a poem, Borodino, that’s read and recited by every Russian schoolchild. Tolstoy made the battle the focal point in his aforementioned epic novel. And, 19th century symphonist Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed the world-renowned and easily-recognizable 1812 Overture, complete with cannon fire, that today accompanies elaborate, choreographed pyrotechnics that light up the sky above the annual Fourth of July concert on the Mall in Washington, DC.

The Battle of Borodino, the event that signaled the beginning of the end for Napoleon and, to a lesser degree, the conclusion of my visit to the Panorama Museum, the very last stop on this week-long, Easy Pace Russia journey. I just wish it were the overture and not the finale.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted routes around Europe, or call toll-free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

Do svidaniya!

The post Easy Pace Russia: The Battle that Inspired an Overture (Dispatch #17) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Hey, wait a minute. Wasn’t that cancelled so we could leave a little bit earlier than usual this morning? OMG, I’m late!

A photojournalist invited along to document the Easy Pace Russia experience, I scramble for my camera kit, dash out of my hotel room at the Radisson Royal, grab an elevator to the ground floor, race through the lobby like Usain Bolt (well, almost) and leap aboard the waiting motor coach curbside, with its engine running, completely out of breath.

“MEA CULPA,” I embarrassingly cry out, as Gennady, our tour director, Vera, our local expert guide, and the 22 bona fide travelers already buckled into their seats, strum their fingers on the armrest or point at their watches. Slinking all the way to the back of the coach, like a political prisoner exiled to Sibera, I can feel the chill coming off everyone’s shoulders as I pass by.

Barely seated, “Alexander the Great,” our expert pilot, puts the sleek, state-of-the-art Mercedes carriage, with business class legroom seating, in gear and we’re into the flow of morning traffic in no time, heading towards the M8 motorway.

Where to? The Trinity Lavra of Saint Sergius, the most important monastery in the country and the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church. Named after one of the Church’s most venerated saints, it’s located about 70km (42 mi) northeast of Moscow in Sergeyev Posad, one of a group of ancient “open-air museum” towns that form the Golden Ring.

Along the way, we steal a glance at the Monument of the Conquerors of Space, a 107m tall, titanium depiction of a rocket rising on its exhaust plume that stands right above the Memorial Museum of Cosmonauts.

“In case you forgot,” announces Vera via the onboard sound system, “the very first man in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, made his historic single orbit around the earth aboard Vostock 1 on April 12, 1961.” She adds, “Ten months later, on February 20, 1962, American astronaut John Glenn countered as he orbited the earth three times aboard Friendship 7, and the manned spaceflight race between the USSR and the USA was seriously underway.”

Speaking of the heavens, we’ve just arrived at the Trinity Lavra. Founded in 1337 with the building of a simple wooden church atop Makovets Hill to honor the Holy Trinity, one of the cornerstones in the religious teachings of Russian Orthodoxy, this monastic community is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of 26 areas so recognized in Russia.

“In awarding World Heritage Site status,” comments Vera in our earbuds as we enter through the Holy Gate, “UNESCO cited the Trinity Lavra as an outstanding and remarkably complete example of an active Orthodox monastery that was characteristic of the period of its growth and expansion between the 15th and the 18th centuries.”

This sacred destination, both spiritually and architecturally, is a unique ensemble of more than 50 buildings and constructions. An angelic park-like setting — absolutely spotless despite the foot traffic — Trinity Lavra is simply stunning with life-sized murals adorning many of the facades and a skyline filled with gilded onion-shaped domes and glistening bell towers.

Inside the nine churches and cathedrals of the monastery are scores of religious artifacts, paintings, ceilings filled with heavenly frescos and walls draped in iconostases.

The holiest spot of Trinity Lavra is inside Trinity Cathedral where the relics of St. Sergius, the monk from Radonezh who founded the monastery, may be seen, but not photographed. Also noteworthy, the tomb of Boris Godunov, the tsar who ruled briefly between the Rurik and Romanov Dynasties, sits in the family mausoleum near the entrance to the monastery’s main church, the Cathedral of the Assumption.

The Grim Reaper seems to be stalking us as our Insight motor coach returns to Moscow and drops us off in front of the entry gate to the most famous of the city’s cemeteries: Novodevichy Cemetery, where Russian history sleeps. Established just outside the south wall of the Novodevichy Convent, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, interment during Soviet rule was considered second in prestige only to burial in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

Today, the Novodevichy Cemetery, a veritable who’s who of Russian politics and culture, is the final resting place for only those symbolically significant burials, like more-recent arrivals Boris Yeltsin, the Russian Federation’s first president, and Mstislav Rostropovich, the world-renowned cellist.

Just about every field of endeavor is represented, but only luminaries reside six feet under. From architects, athletes and artists, to composers, cosmonauts and chemists. Why, there are even a few spies buried here, along with a World War II female sniper — I swear I couldn’t find her grave marker — and a circus clown! Yuri Nikulin, the Buster Keaton-like, “brainy clown” of the big top, is interred in the most entertaining and most moving of the more than 27,000 plots contained within these hallowed brick walls.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted routes around Europe, or call toll-free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

You’ve heard the expression, “Napoleon slept here,” right? Well, we’re soon to find out why his stay in Moscow didn’t last very long when we pay a visit to the Borodino Battle Panorama Museum to relive the Grande Armée of France’s bloody skirmish against the Russian Army on September 7, 1812.

The post Easy Pace Russia: Cosmonauts, Churches and a VIP Cemetery (Dispatch #16) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Barely out of first gear, the mood gets serious, but only for a moment, as our Mercedes coach, with business class-legroom seating, passes by Lubyanka Square and the former headquarters building of the Komitet Gosudarstvennoj Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security), better known as the KGB. It was here that erstwhile Soviet spies received their marching orders, then went out in the cold dressed in trench coats (collars up), fedoras (brims turned down) and sunglasses (the darker, the better).

What a difference a day makes, actually 12 hours to be precise. That’s how long, or short, it’s been since we meandered about the nearly deserted cobblestone and admired for the very first time the beauty that is Red Square, the very heart of Moscow, in the waning light at sunset. It’s daytime now, and Krasnaya Ploshchad — the Beautiful, but not Red, Square — is packed with Muscovites and tourists alike.

Following close behind Vera, our Moscow expert, and Gennady, our GQ-worthy tour director, we arrive at center stage of Red Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990, and bask in the beauty of St. Basil’s Cathedral, commissioned by Tsar Ivan IV, aka Ivan the Terrible, with its colorful, iconic rounded domes.

Over to our left is the 71m-tall Spasskaya (Savior) Tower with its Kremlin chimes that remind us all of the official time in Moscow every quarter hour. And, just behind those red-brick walls is where President Vladimir Putin governs and where we’ll be this afternoon.

Further along are the remains of former Soviet leaders buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, including Joseph Stalin, while the embalmed body of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, the “Father of the Revolution,” lies inside a pyramid-shaped mausoleum made of red, gray and black granite that fronts the cemetery.

In the far north corner of the square sits the State Historical Museum. Underneath its twin spires are 4.3 million pieces of Russian history, including the country’s largest coin collection.

And, on the east side of the square where the Upper Trading Rows once occupied the space — a massive trade center of 1,200 shops commissioned in the early part of the 18th century by Empress Catherine the Great and designed by Giacomo Quarenghi, an Italian neoclassical architect — stands Moscow’s swankiest enclosed shopping mall: GUM.

The ornate 240m-long (794 ft) facade, built in the 1890s, is a bright and open shopping gallery with hundreds of upscale stores and white tablecloth restaurants. Enclosed in a steel framed skylight of some 22k pieces of glass — designed by Vladimir Shukhov, an architectural engineer, to resemble the roofs of the great Victorian railway stations of London and to also support the heavy weight of snow during Moscow’s frigid winters — GUM, with its three-level arcades, wows the visitor with its spectacular interior.

“Nationalized following the Russian Revolution of 1917, GUM, which stood for Glávnyj Universáĺnyj Magazine or State Department Store, now National Department Store,” intones Vera, Insight’s local area expert, through our earbuds, “operated as a model retail enterprise for consumers regardless of class, gender, and ethnicity.”

Over the decades, GUM has morphed into and out of more characters than the late Lon Chaney, Hollywood’s “Man of a Thousand Faces.” First, it was a large block of state-run and tightly controlled shops followed by government office space. Then, in 1932, GUM was used briefly to display the body of Premier Joseph Stalin’s deceased wife, Nadezhda. After World War II, it returned to being a state-run trade center which then gave way to partial privatization. And, in 2005, GUM became wholly privatized and is now under the watchful, bottom-line eyes of Bosco di Ciliegi, a Russian luxury-goods distributor and boutique operator.

GUM, a “Who’s Who” of international brands elegantly laid out underneath its revolutionary arched glass roof, is one of the most popular shopping venues in Moscow, especially for rich and influential oligarchs packing a by-invitation-only black credit card in their wallets. And, that’s probably why I’m here just window shopping.

An afternoon walking tour inside the walls of the Kremlin will be Insight’s treat, but lunch is on my own ruble as I grab a table inside Shashlik-Mashlyk, a pectopah (restaurant) on the ground floor of an elegant, rose-colored, neoclassic apartment building along pedestrian-only Arbat Street, an affluent zip code in the heart of Moscow’s historic center.

Serving up some of the city’s most authentic Georgian, Ukrainian and Russian dishes, I study the leather-bound menu, over a glass of chilled Chilean Chardonnay, and decide to keep it light. Well, as light as I can.

With only an hour on the clock to consume (read, devour), I order a plate of succulent, marinated chicken kebabs, stuffed with herbs and spices and plated with sliced red onions and pomegranate seeds, along with a khachapuri, a piping-hot Ukranian cheese bread shaped like a turnover with a spicy tomato-based dipping sauce. Mmm.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted itineraries around Europe, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

The post Easy Pace Russia: Walking and chewing GUM in Red Square (Dispatch #13) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Through the turnstiles at Smolenskaya Station we go, me, the lone photojournalist invited by Insight Vacations to sample its Easy Pace Russia journey, and 22 traveling mates for an hour of underground time-travel back to the days of the old Soviet Union.

“Opened in 1935 as just a single, 11 kilometers-long line with 13 stations,” comments Vera, our local art-history guide in the easy-to-spot, bright-red jacket and matching red-and-white umbrella, “Moscow’s metro system of today has grown to 12 lines, 346.2 kilometers of track and 206 stations, with more expansion planned for the very near future.”

Sure, we’re here to share a ride with anonymous Muscovites, but, more importantly, we’re 50m below the surface to get a sense of what life was like in the U.S.S.R. via the thematic, hammer-and-sickle public art displays that are showcased in the many spotless stations, the so-called “palaces for the people,” that Joseph Stalin commissioned.

“Locals and foreigners alike claim that the Moscow Metro system, with its abundance of Socialist Realism art and architecture, is the most beautiful in the world,” comments Vera through our earbuds as we walk around the station, one of the 44 that are listed on the Russian Cultural Heritage Register. “It’s also the fifth largest system in the world,” she adds, “and its daily ridership of about nine-million surpasses both the New York City and London subway systems combined.” I’m impressed.

Cost of a single ticket is 55 rubles (approximately $.90 USD) which entitles the passenger to ride to any number of stations and make transfers within the system freely. Riding on Insight’s ruble, I’d say we’re a pretty inexpensive date.

With a train coming and going about every 90-seconds during rush hour, three to five minutes during off-peak, our time on the platform is brief as we hop on and head to Kievskaya Station on the Blue Line.

Inaugurated in 1953, Kievskaya is noted for its high white arches atop square pylons wrapped in red marble. Along each arch are detailed mosaics surrounded by a yellow-gold, baroque-style frame. The station’s theme depicts the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine and Russia.

When asked about the importance of the Moscow Metro, Vera replies: “It was touted as THE symbol of the new social order under Stalin, as these metro stations, with their reflective marble walls, high ceilings, artwork and grandiose chandeliers, became the focus of modern Communist engineering and architecture that eventually traveled above ground, too, in the form of the ‘Seven Sisters.’

No other station speaks more directly to Socialist Realism in public art than the Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square) station, constructed right underneath the square and our last stop on this underground, cultural museum primer.

In service since 1938, this “palace” features red and yellow marble arches resting on low pylons faced with black Armenian marble. Each arch is flanked and supported by a pair of bronze sculptures depicting the common man doing his/her part for the Soviet Union: soldiers, farmers, athletes, writers, aviators, industrial workers, and schoolchildren.

A total of 76 sculptures are on display at the Revolution Square Station, all created by Matvey Manizer, including the crowd pleasing frontier guard and his dog. It’s believed to bring good luck if one rubs man’s best friend’s nose. From the look of its snout, this canine has been petted quite a lot.

Returning above ground, we make our way through Revolution Square, past the statue of Karl Marx, the Prussian-born philosopher considered to be the “Father of Communism,” and onto the waiting Insight motor coach, parked right in front of the world-famous house of ballet and opera: Bolshoi Theatre.

Tourist: “Uh, excuse me sir, but how do you get to the Bolshoi Theatre?”

Muscovite: “Practice.”

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted itineraries around Europe, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

Our second day in Moscow is just getting started. As soon as “Alexander the Great,” our Insight pilot, maneuvers the coach through traffic, we’ll have another look around Red Square and go window shopping at the grand, elegant and opulent Main Universal Store: GUM.

The post Easy Pace Russia: Moscow’s Underground Art Museums (Dispatch #12) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Like a black cat with nine lives in its final countdown, who was this person who couldn’t be killed? Grigori Rasputin, the Siberian peasant-turned-Russian mystic who became a member of Tsar Nicholas II’s inner circle.

Fearful of the powerful influence he wielded over the Romanov court, a group of aristocrats, led by Prince Felix Yusupov, the eccentric son of the richest family in all of Russia at the time, plotted and carried out the murder of the “Mad Monk.”

Rasputin’s bloody and brutal demise took place on December 30, 1916 where it began in the basement of Yusupov Palace, the prince’s estate along the affluent banks of the Moika, and ended in the frigid waters of the Neva.

Along with 22 paying customers, I, a guest photojournalist invited by Insight Vacations (Insight) to experience its Easy Pace Russia journey, meet up with Guyla, our expert guide since we arrived in St. Petersburg, and head straight for the eerie, low-lit basement of Yusupov Palace to view the Madame Tussauds-like exhibition of Rasputin and his assassins. A static display, you still sense the evil that is about to take place down here and just want to bolt. And, we do. QUICKLY.

The gruesome historical footnote now behind us, we breath in the calmer air upstairs on the second floor where the Yusupov Palace — a building of federal significance that was originally built in the 1770s by French architect Vallin de la Mothe and steadily improved over the years — really comes alive on this optional Insight experience.

“One of the very few aristocratic homes of St. Petersburg to have retained many of its original interiors,” Gulya explains in our ear buds, “the palace, once the epicenter of high-society events hosted by the rich and famous House of Yusupov before the October Revolution of 1917, was nationalized, handed over to the educational authorities who then turned the palace into a club for local school teachers.” She adds, “Today, Yusupov Palace has been transformed into a modern museum and cultural center and boasts some of very best 19th century interiors you will find anywhere in Russia.”

Guyla is spot on as we move from one sumptuously rich room to another, down hallways and into large halls, all equally adorned with graceful art, sculpture, portraiture, golden chandeliers, frescoes, tapestries and some finely-handcrafted furniture pieces.

The private, rococo Palace Theatre, where world-class classical concerts and live theatre performances still unfold is stunning; the White-Columns Hall is impressive; and, down on the ground floor, Prince Yusupov’s billiards, study and Moorish drawing rooms are intimate and rich.

Despite the whodunnit, Clue-like atmosphere surrounding Rasputin’s demise down in the basement, upstairs Yusupov Palace is alive and well along the banks of the Moika. This prominent architectural gem of the Russian “Northern Capital” should be a must-see sight for anyone planning to visit the city that Peter the Great built.

I’d like stay and show you more, but I’ve got an ultra-fast Sapsan train to catch as this Easy Pace Russia journey picks up steam (electrical current) and heads for Moscow like a speedy peregrine falcon.

Do svidaniya St. Petersburg!

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted itineraries around Europe, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

The post Easy Pace Russia: The Beginning of the End at Yusupov Palace (Dispatch #10) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

As a photojournalist invited along to document Insight’s Easy Pace Russia journey, I’m offered complimentary tickets to all ten of its optional experiences, and I gladly accept. Like, tonight’s performance of the ballet Swan Lake at the intimate and historical Hermitage Theatre inside St. Petersburg’s Winter Palace. After all, you really can’t visit Mother Russia without attending a ballet, just like you can’t ignore the country’s two epicurean delights of caviar and vodka. It’s simply unthinkable. Uh, more vodka please. Spasibo.

It was in this very theatre, designed by architect Giacomo Quarenghi in 1783, that Catherine the Great, the 18th century Empress who ruled over all of Russia for 34 years, took her seat and, as a true patron of the arts, was entertained by the very best artists, playwrights and composers of the day with a steady diet of plays, ballets and concerts.

Tonight, the theatre is packed to the rafters as many a cruise ship has offloaded its passengers who now occupy most of the red velvet-cushioned chairs. I spot an aisle seat, ask the gentleman sitting alongside it if it was already occupied, he shakes his head no, so I sit down.

Not the greatest seat in the house, where photography of any kind during the performance is strictly prohibited, but I do manage to get off a few shots of musicians warming up, then quickly close up shop and settle in as the lights dim and the overture comes to life.

Swan Lake is a romantic ballet in four acts composed by Russian Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The storyline of this world-renowned ballet is partially based on a German fairytale. In a nutshell, it’s about a handsome prince, Siegfried, who, of course, falls madly in love with a beautiful princess, Odette. She, however, turns out to be an elegant swan by day, a young woman by night.

Princess Odette, interpreted by a prima ballerina who plays both swan and woman, is under a magic spell that can only be broken by a man who must promise to love her forever. In bounds Prince Siegfried, light on his feet, who pledges his love to the princess for all eternity. But, the plot thickens and the music takes on a dark tone as the prince is tricked by the magician, an evil-doer named Von Rothbart, dressed all in black (of course), who casts the spell.

In the final act, like Romeo and Juliet, Siegfried and Odette perish hand-in-hand as they jump into the lake and drown together. The spell finally broken, the two lovers’ spirits lift and all the swans in the lake turn back into girls. The end.

Craning my neck, I jump to my feet and applaud loudly — BRAVO! BRAVO! — as the curtain comes down on Swan Lake.

Now, I desperately need a shot or two of vodka to calm my nerves. And, a bit of caviar wouldn’t hurt.

Go here for complete information on Insight’s six itineraries to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted journeys around Europe, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

A high-speed Sapsan train whisks me off to Moscow tomorrow, but before I bid St. Petersburg adieu I’ll spend some time exploring elegant Yusupov Palace, the site of the murder of Rasputin, the “Mad Monk” from the court of Tsar Nicholas II.

The post Easy Pace Russia: Craning My Neck At Swan Lake (Dispatch #9) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Bathed in mid-morning sunlight that accents its colorful mint-green, white and gilded facade, the impressive Winter Palace takes center stage in the heart of historic St. Petersburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once upon a time the official residence of the all-powerful Romanov Tsars, stretching from the banks of the Neva River across to Palace Square, the Winter Palace houses the city’s most popular tourist attraction: the State Hermitage Museum.

Together with 22 other like-minded travelers and Gulya, our effervescent local guide, I, a guest photojournalists invited by Insight Vacations to sample its Easy Pace Russia journey, weather a very long queue — despite pre-booked tickets with an assigned entry time — and finally cross over the threshold and enter into one of the most impressive collections of priceless art, culture and interior design found anywhere on the planet.

“When asked about its status,” intones Gulya, “the current director of the Hermitage replied: ‘I can’t say it is the number one museum in the world, but it’s certainly not number two.’”

Up the imperial Jordan Staircase we go, elbow-to-elbow with the masses, to take in as much of the history, beauty and riches that adorn the hallways, rooms, walls and ceilings in the short amount of time we’re allotted.

One of the oldest museums in the world, the Hermitage was founded in 1754 by Catherine the Great. A true patron of the arts, the Empress of Russia relentlessly acquired artwork en masse from European aristocrats, and the museum continued to grow under the watchful eyes and deep pockets of her successors, and was massively enriched by Bolshevik confiscations during the Revolution and Red Army seizures from a defeated Germany during World War II.

With over three-million pieces of art at its disposal, of which only a small portion is on permanent display to the public, the Hermitage collection, incredibly varied, spans the history books. Bookended by artifacts from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and Persia and post-impressionist masterpieces by Matisse and Picasso, there’s a venerable “Who’s Who” from the annals of the art world — Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Velasquez, to name but a few — sandwiched in between.

Spread throughout 360 rooms located inside five connecting buildings — The Winter Palace, the Old Hermitage, the New Hermitage, the Small Hermitage and the Hermitage Theatre — the State Hermitage Museum dazzles the eyes with its lavishly decorated state rooms and spacious halls, all testaments to the incredible wealth, extravagant tastes and lifestyle of the Romanov Tsars.

As we near the end of our three-hour, whirlwind tour, Gulya remarks, “One estimate has it that you would need eleven years to view each exhibit on display for just one minute.” Well, that leaves me with just 10 years, 11 months, 30 days and 21 hours to fully appreciate the State Hermitage Museum.

Go here for complete information on Insight’s six itineraries to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted routes around Europe, or call toll-free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

It took three empresses to build a village, Tsarskoye Selo (Tsar’s Village), on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. Join me tomorrow morning and we’ll view it together.

Do svidaniya!

The post Easy Pace Russia: Inside The Hermitage Museum (Dispatch #6) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Just seconds after “Alexander the Great” applies the brakes in front of the Crown Plaza Hotel Ligovsky, my four-star digs while in St. Petersburg as a guest photojournalist of Insight Vacations on its “Easy Pace Russia” journey, I hop off the luxury motor coach and make a bee line for Varenichnaya № 1, just up the prospekt, for an all-Russian fare dinner, the lip-smacking part of our two-part folksy night in the city.

“Varenichnaya,” notes Gennady, Insight’s Moscow-born tour director-concierge, “means dumpling house.” He adds, “It’s one of the most traditional, tastiest and economical restaurants in St. Petersburg.” To prove his point, he takes me inside.

As with most eateries frequented primarily by locals, the menu at the “Dumpling House,” with its retro Soviet decor and Cold War-era prices, is in Cyrillic script. Not to worry, I’ve got Comrade G standing by to translate and help me make my selections.

With just over an hour to devour, I order way more food than I should: a crunchy white cabbage salad; eggplant wraps; deep-fried pike fish cakes with a creamy mound of mashed potatoes; pumpkin fritters with sour cream; blinis stuffed with cherries; and, a few glasses of Permskoye Gubernskoye, a Russian-brewed European pale lager, to wash it all down.

While I wait for the parade of mouthwatering dishes to begin, I pass the time staying within the lines as I experience the latest dining craze: adult coloring sheets. How’d I do?

One of the main avenues of St. Petersburg, running perpendicular to Nevsky Prospekt, is Liteyny Prospect. Once lined with foundry workshops tasked with casting the very first canons for the new Russian Navy, the Liteyny of today is a grand boulevard of upscale neighborhoods dotted with luxurious palaces, ornate apartments and stylish public buildings, like the Officer’s Assembly House, where we alight for the second and final leg of this folksy night in St. Petersburg.

They say a visit to Mother Russia is not really complete until you get up close and personal with the barynya (landlady). Monthly rent payments aside, this landlady is a top-flight folk show of traditional Russian song, dance and music that plays out on an old stage inside an ornate early 20th century music hall that was part of the then Red Army House.

One of ten optional experiences on the Easy Pace Russia itinerary, the folklore show, nearly two hours of entertainment with a champagne-filled intermission, is the absolute best way to experience the history, spirit and traditions of Mother Russia in one evening.

I score a front-row, center-stage seat and clap and stomp along with the troupe during this cornucopia of melodious folk songs and traditional dances. Fab singers and athletic dancers in colorful costumes perform historical pieces from the different provinces of Russia: lyrical dances of the north, fierce dances of the Cossacks, and humorous numbers from the Urals and Siberia.

As the curtain closes on the final act and the audience rises to its feet to acknowledge the folkloric troupe with a well-earned standing-O, I quickly check my wallet to make sure I’ve got enough rubles. This month’s rent is due and I really don’t want to hassle with the barynya.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six itineraries to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted routes around Europe, or call toll-free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

It’ll be another relaxed start tomorrow as we head inside one of the oldest, largest and most impressive museums on the planet: The Hermitage. See you in the queue.

The post Easy Pace Russia: A Folksy Night in St. Petersburg (Dispatch #5) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Our Savior on the Spilt Blood, with its striking edifice, is a memorial church that was built on the very spot where, in March 1881, Emperor Alexander II was assassinated — after six previously unsuccessful attempts — by a terrorist bomb that exploded while he was making his way back to the Winter Palace after presiding over a military parade.

Construction of St. Issac’s Cathedral, on the other hand, commenced without any blood shed prior to the first pine log pile being driven deep into the marshy soil. Designed by Auguste Montferrand, a French architect, the cathedral is a mammoth religious building at 10,000 square meters, crowned by a 25 meter gilded dome — the largest of its kind in the world — with an interior that can accommodate 14,000 standing worshipers and accented by vibrant green columns chiseled out of nearly 16 metric tons of Ural Mountain malachite.

Gennady, Insight’s GQ-worthy tour director-concierge, grants our party of 23 time off for lunch — and, perhaps, good behavior — to sample some regional fare around St. Issac’s Square.

I´m off the clock for an hour, a guest photojournalist on Insight´s Easy Pace Russia journey, and I find the perfect spot to pick up the cutlery and my camera. Sitting right around the corner, in the shadows of St. Issac’s along Malaya Morskaya St., is Schastye, or Home of Happiness, a chain of café-bakery bars that showcase an oversized, piping-hot Ukrainian cheese bun served alongside my fave Russian delicacy, red caviar. Need I say more.

According to Gulya, Insight’s local expert, “Peter I, the hands-on Tsar-turned-Emperor, left absolutely nothing to chance when he envisioned St. Petersburg.” She adds, “Employing the very best architects and artisans of the day, not to mention the deep coffers of the Romanov family, he set out to create a city along the Baltic Sea to rival the well-established capitals of Western Europe.”

And no other place in Greater St. Petersburg is more imperial, more spectacular, more over-the-top than the Great One‘s early 18th century summer palace: Peterhof.

Most tour operators deliver their clients to Peterhof via motor coach, spending needless time in slow-moving traffic until finally reaching their destination. But, with Insight, our party of 23 is treated to a speedy and scenic hydrofoil ride across the Gulf of Finland — standard mode on the Easy Pace Russia itinerary — where we see Peterhof come into view well before we glide to a full stop, disembark on the pier and quickly enter the imperial grounds that were modeled after Versailles.

“It was Peter the Great’s personal challenge to transform the gloomy northern landscape into a Russian Versailles,” Gulya intones, “and he realized his dream, and then some, in just a decade.”

Set among 1,000 hectares of land in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, Peterhof, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is filled with well-manicured parks and gardens, numerous lakes and ponds, five palaces containing thousands of works of priceless paintings, sculptures and applied arts, and countless water features, like the Grand Cascade fronting the Great Palace, with its three waterfalls, 75 fountains and more than 200 bronze statues, bas-reliefs and other ornamentations.

Lens caps off, let’s fill up our digital memory cards for family and friends back home.

Camera batteries now spent and memory cards maxed, we board the Insight motor coach for the relaxed ride back into St. Petersburg proper aided by several shots of Mother Russia’s favorite tipple, vodka, graciously offered and expertly poured by Gennady, Insight’s tour director, concierge and, who knew, barista. Na zdorovye!

Go here for complete information on Insight’s six itineraries to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted routes around Europe, just click, or call toll-free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

Care to join me for dinner and a show? Then I’ll see you this evening when we’ll dine on more traditional Russian fare and be entertained by a fab group of professional folk singers, dancers and musicians down at the Officers Assembly House in the heart of St. Petersburg. Did I mention that I scored front row seats?

The post Easy Pace Russia: Spilt Blood, Red Caviar and Peterhof (Dispatch #4) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

St. Petersburg is, without a doubt, one of the truly beautiful cities of the world. But this grand metropolis, embraced by water and accented by some 600 palaces, wasn’t always covered in gold. The city, in its infancy, was just a citadel, guarding the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea in the Bay of Finland against would-be invaders from its vantage point on a small island inhabited primarily by rabbits: Zayachy Ostrov (Hare Island).

Together with 23 other guests, I’m being introduced to the largest country (land mass) on the planet via Insight Vacations‘ Easy Pace Russia journey on the very spot where, on May 27, 1703, Tsar Peter I put shovel to earth and began building St. Petersburg from scratch: Peter and Paul Fortress.

“It was here,” intones Gulya, Insight’s local expert, “that Peter the Great’s vision began to take shape culminating in a sprawling imperial city built atop 101 islands, connected by more than 400 bridges and intertwined by some 40 rivers and canals.”

An optional experience on the Easy Pace Russia itinerary, one can’t really come to St. Petersburg and not visit this fortress. Standing proud along the banks of the Neva River Delta, the Peter and Paul Fortress is where the Russian Empire began, a reign that flourished then fell within the space of just 200 years.

Originally built as a military stronghold to fend off invading forces, the ramparts were never battle tested. For this reason, from 1721 onwards, the Peter and Paul Fortress was used, among other things, as a high-security political prison for those that spoke ill of the empire. Among the list of famous Russians who were imprisoned here included Alexi, Peter the Great’s rebellious son, Dostoyevsky, Gorky and Trotsky. Parts of this notorious jail are now open to the public, but our party of 24 — nary one a dissident — have better things to do than explore dark, dingy isolation cells, right?

The main attraction of the fortress is its namesake cathedral where almost all of the emperors and empresses of the Romanov Dynasty have been laid to rest. Designed by Domenico Trezzini, the 18th century Italo-Swiss architect, Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral was the very first stone-built church in St. Petersburg.

Following Gulya’s lead, we pass through the electronic turnstile and into a piece of gilded history. Lens caps off, lets have a look around.

As our time on this former rabbit colony draws to a close, we head back outside to admire the cathedral’s exterior.

Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral boasts the tallest bell tower in the city center at 404 ft capped by an angelic weathervane. Gulya points out that, “During the reign of Peter the Great, the angel on top came loose and a serf climbed all the way up and repaired it.” She continues, “So grateful was Tsar Peter I that he immediately granted the serf his freedom and presented him with a gold cup that entitled the man to free drinks wherever he roamed for the rest of his life.” Pausing for effect, she concludes this historic footnote by telling us, “Unfortunately, the poor man died of alcoholism.”

Making our way to the Insight motor coach, we take our final look around the grounds of this six-sided bastion: the City History Museum, the Mint — the only one in Russia producing coins — the Boat House, the Carriage House, and a monument dedicated to the island’s original inhabitants, who just happen to be in a good mood and ham it up with our tour mascot, one gregarious, ten-year-old Aussie boy from Sydney.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six itineraries to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted routes around Europe, or call toll-free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

Join me right after lunch when we’ll hop aboard a hydrofoil and head to Peterhof, the imperial residence known as The Russian Versailles, located just a few nautical miles outside of St. Petersburg.

The post Easy Pace Russia: Peter and Paul Fortress (Dispatch #3) appeared first on Traveling Archive.