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Russia, a vast land that spans 11 time zones, 2 continents, divided into 89 regions and with a population of 140 millions is a fascinating country, a country that was on the top of my “must see” list. Because of language problem and the limited time, we have decided to take a river cruise so as not just to visit the big cities but also the small towns - Waterways of the Czars is a cruise that sails from Moscow to St. Petersburg, a trip Peter the Great dreamed of. This trip turned out to be an eye opening in lots of ways for me.

Moscow, the capital city is like any other old European city with a population of around 10 -12 millions. There really aren’t many high rises, other than palaces, cathedrals and monuments, most buildings are only several stories high, old and gray, but there are plenty of new constructions going on everywhere. The average income in Moscow is less than USD$200/month, (much less in small towns) so most people can’t afford to own a car, therefore, the metro and buses are the major transportations. Their metro stations are called the “underground palaces”; they are incredibly beautiful with marble walls, chandeliers, sculptures, paintings, stained glass panels and mosaics. They were dug deep into the ground, the one near the Victory Memorial at over 90 meter deep supposed to be the steepest in the world. However, just like any other big European cities, their street traffic is horrible, I guess the main reason was that their streets weren’t designed for cars.

Because Moscow is a big city not only with a lot of people, but also in area, and since most of the residents rely on public transportations, therefore their metro system has 11 lines, extremely crowded and difficult to negotiate especially if you don’t know the language. Their street system is also very confusing, one can easily get lost without even knowing it. My sister and I had a hard time trying to get to the Moscow Circus from the Bolshoi Theatre. We tried to ask for directions, however hardly anybody there speaks English, we were lucky when we finally encountered a young woman, Olga who speaks fluent English. She was so sweet. Instead of just telling us how to get there, she took us all the way to the theatre simply because she was afraid that we might get lost in the complicated subway system. We invited her to a little café for a cup of afternoon tea to thank her. I am glad we had this little time together, we chatted about life in Russia. When I asked her why are the Russian people look so glum, she laughed, she said every visitor to her country asked that question and her answer was, there really is nothing to be happy about. Life in Russia is very stressful. People work very long hours with very little pay that is if they are lucky enough to have a job. Several generations still all live together in one apartment. A long and bitterly cold winter certainly doesn’t help either. For the younger generation like herself, who works for an American company as a translator, they have started to learn to enjoy life, like traveling abroad once they make enough money to do so. New York City seems to be one of the favorite cities that they would like to visit although very few can afford to come to the US; they mainly go to the nearby countries. Olga is so unlike any other Russians that we have ever met all through the trip, she was very open, friendly and cheerful, had a smile on her face, a very nice girl indeed.

Red in Russia means “beautiful”, and the Red Square is un-doubly a beautiful square surrounded by the Kremlin Walls and the Lenin’s Mausoleum on one side, the History Museum, the fashionable Gum department store and of course the incredibly beautiful St. Basil’s Cathedral with those colorful onion domes on the others. Not far from the square is the magnificent Cathedral of Christ the Savior where President Putin worships. The State Armory, which is situated inside the Kremlin houses the famous Faberge eggs. The ground within those walls are so calm and tranquil, it is hard to believe that so much important decisions have been made there which have so much influence to the rest of the world.

St. Petersburg, formerly known as Leningrad, is the second largest city in Russia with a population of 4-6 millions. It was the capitol of the Russian Empire until 1918. It was a city founded by Peter the Great in 1703 as the “Window to the West”. The city has more than 40 (some say 90, depending on whom you ask) rivers, channels and canals, therefore, is also called “The Venice of the North”.

Unlike other Russian cities, St. Petersburg has no Kremlin (citadel), and the layout of the city was based on the city of Amsterdam. This city has numerous statues and monuments and some of the most beautiful palaces I have ever seen. The most famous imperial building of course is the Winter Palace - it not only served as the winter residence of the Tsars, it also is the home of the Hermitage Museum. The State Hermitage, which occupies six magnificent buildings, started in the 18th century as a private collection of Catherine the Great and in the 20th century became one of the largest museums in the world. This museum did not disappoint me; I like it a lot better than the Louvre in Paris. It houses a large collection of works by Rembrandt, Matisse and Picasso as well as the French Impressionist paintings. Peterhof Palace, with its magnificent statues and fountains, is called “The Russian Versailles”, Catherine’s Palace, which has the famous “Amber Room” was adorned with so much gold, it can almost blind one’s eyes, are just two of the palaces nearby. This city also boasts quite a few very impressive cathedrals that are worth visiting, like The St. Peter and Paul Cathedral within the Peter and Paul Fortress, which served as the burial place for all the Romanovs, the beautiful Cathedral of the Resurrection (commonly known as Our Savior on Spilled Blood Church, so named because it was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded) and the majestic St. Isaac’s Cathedral, which is the third largest Cathedral in the world, behind St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London.

St. Petersburg also has a very interesting phenomenon called “white nights” (thus the city is called the “City of White Nights”), which lasts from mid May to June 22. As it gets closer to June 22, the days get longer and longer until there may be only an hour of nighttime, then it slowly gets shorter and shorter. During winter, there are only 4 to 5 hours of daylights. This phenomenon takes us a while to get use to - it is quite difficult to go to sleep in broad daylight, but it is great for sightseeing.

The four small towns along the river that we visited, Uglich, Kostroma, Yaroslavl and Kizhi (which has a 22 domes wooden church) all have some historical sites to see, however, it was quite depressing to see how poor those residents are. Every time we docked, there would be a “band” (I use this word loosely) playing, vendors along the streets and at the docks, a lot of old women and very young children begging. One little boy even tried to sell us the dandelions he picked from the field (and I might add that it seems the Russians do not like to get rid of the dandelions, not even in the Palaces’ beautiful gardens). A little girl not older than 5 or 6 years old sang some little songs one can hardly hear but urged by her father to keep singing so as to get some money from the passing tourists. We brought along quite a few dollar bills, so we just kept giving them away, but there are only so much one can do. We felt helpless. Like the lecturer on the cruise ship said, Moscow and St. Petersburg are like the window displays, it is beautiful when one looking in, but if you get to look from behind, they are ugly. And if you want to see how the real Russian lives, you have to go to one of those small towns like the ones we have visited. And they are not pretty.

Before the trip, I had very little knowledge about Russia, all I wanted to do there was to see the onion domes and palaces, which I did, a lot of them; each one is prettier than the other. After the trip, I still don’t know much about this country, although I did learn a little about their histories, especially the Romanov Dynasty, which is quite intriguing. And I also learned a little about the people and how they live. This country sort of reminds me of the China 10 years ago. Just about everybody there smokes, especially young people, they like to spit also. But unlike China, there are almost no bicycles on the road because of their terrible traffic situation and most streets have no lane lines, so cars go all over, and they go wherever there is room, very dangerous. And everywhere you go, one has to pay (between 8 to 10 Rubles) to use the toilet and with the exception of Catherine’s Palace, it will cost you between 50 to 100 Rubles to take photographs inside any museums, cathedrals or palaces. I guess they need the money to do the upkeep of those places.

As much as I enjoyed touring Russia, I have some mixed feelings after the visit. On one hand, this country has a lot of history and beautiful things to see, but on the other hand, I can’t get over the fact that a lot of the people there live in poverty. It is not that I have not been to a poorer country, but for some reason, this country really touches me, may be because Russia, even though it is one of the superpower in the world, yet they are far behind the rest of the western world in lots of ways, and although food supply is not a problem now, but the quality of life is. 70 years of communist rule certainly didn’t help, I guess all their money was spent on building their military and the space program, and thus their people have to suffer. But the good news is, I think things are changing; hopefully it won’t be long before this country can catch up with the rest of the western world.