Russia Experience

Can I go back...Pretty please...

Advantages: Cheap as sin for most objects, once in a lifetime experience, most speak some english
Disadvantages: Large contrat between rich and poor, large chance of pickpockets...TRAINS.

I went to Russia with my school group last Friday and got back yesterday, so from the 7th - 12th April. And I have to admit I prefered it there to in England...that may well have been the company I was in however. The whole trip cost us 660 pounds but that may well have been at a discount for a school group. I'm basically using my diary to write this but changing parts and padding it out with extra information. Also if I write 40r it means 40 rubles. ...
...Friday 7th April Spent all bloody day travelling...the coach was meant to leave the school at 8.00am, but there is always one and after a heavy night drinking **** turned up at 8.20. We were at Heathrow by 10.30 and set off for Moscow at 1.10 arriving in Moscow at 8.00pm local time as clocks were set forward by 3 hours. Our accommodation in Moscow was a 3 star hotel called, Hotel Izmailovo at half board and in twin rooms. On the first night we got ...

Secre 24.04.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of General: Russia

Don't believe the Hype

Advantages: You can tell people you have been there
Disadvantages: More icons. Typical Soviet town.

Don’t bother with so called Great Novgorod – Russians may get excited by it, but the chances are that by the time you get there you will have seen enough icons and monasteries to last you a lifetime, and the rest of the town is a dreadfully typical dull Soviet place; this is not a place which gets your historical imagination going. Don’t believe the hype. Try Nizhny Novgorod instead: it’s an ideal place to see the Volga - which has to be one of ...
...and it’s a nice relaxing break from the more difficult aspects of Russian life which you will undoubtedly have had time to appreciate by the time you get here. It certainly has its share of chimneys and grime, but these are mostly located well away from the centre of the town, where you will find pretty, if rather dilapidated wooden houses – the sort that don’t seem to exist elsewhere in Russia any more. If you arrive from Moscow you may be surprised ...

TheMonk 06.08.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Nizhni Novgorod (Russia)

With love, from very far away

Advantages: it's so different
Disadvantages: the tourist facilities are not very developed

Can’t I write about something gloomy just this one time? Anyway, I was born there and I’m supposed to know what it is all about. I am supposed to love it because this is the land of my fathers (not my grandfathers though, who came from different parts of Russia just to meet the grannies and produce my mum and dad), and I do love it, but first of all I will have to tell you that it’s the kind of a town where the best thing you can ...
...different from the ones from other parts of Russia. We the ones from the Urals are often described as simpletons, in the collective unconscious of the Russians the Ural mountains are situated exactly in the middle of nowhere, and this is almost true. So we are quite provincial, that is, not too snobbish, friendly to foreigners and usually not very chic, most of all in the way we dress. But anyway there’s almost two million of us, so the town ...

happy_hamster 11.05.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jekaterinburg (Russia)

Emprassion

Advantages: Very interesting tour
Disadvantages: Depending on weather

...Here must be one condition: the weather must be good;if it is not,your rest will be spoiled.The best time for having a rest in Volga is summer.The temperature is high,the wind is warm and weak. You can have different purpuses having a rest there: ones prefere fishing, others have a sun bath lying on a bitch, other are going hiking treaps on the bank of Volga.This kind of rest is rather cheep and good,you can live in special hotels or rent a house ...

Vital 04.10.2002 · Read full review
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Review of The Volga (Russia)

Love Russia

Advantages: lovley people, great food, fantastic culture,
Disadvantages: officials are awful, you see much pverty.

...really like. Veliky Novgorod is Russia’s most ancient city and is fully of beautiful buildings and other things of historical interests including its Kremlin with the marvellous St Sophia church. This is a stark contrast with the numerous blocks of incredibly run down flats that you see everywhere you turn. Although the Russian people do seem harsh at first it is only the hardiness that has had to develop for them to face life. I stayed with ...
...shall never forget is their overwhelming hospitality. These people lived a very humble existence in a small, average Russian flat. They have few possessions and although both husband and wife are trained, professional people the lack of money is obvious. Yet they gave me everything they could. They were loving and welcoming beyond anything I have ever experienced. I was not the only one who felt this. Every member of my group has similar stories ...

livelifeandsmile 22.07.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Novgorod (Russia)