As sad as we were to leave Moscow, we were pumped for the four nights in St. Petersburg—the cultural capital of Russia—we had ahead of us. And with a spontaneous business class upgrade on S7 Airlines (we ended up taking a quick flight rather than the train between the two cities) and free champagne and […]

Outside of our time exploring the Kremlin and the metro system, Chris and I spent a lot of time in Moscow doing our two favorite things: walking the streets and trying the local fare. We had been expecting harsh, Soviet-era buildings before arriving in Moscow, but what we found was elegant European architecture. Grand buildings, […]

Moscow’s metro was a sharp departure from the state-of-the-art subway systems we saw in Asia. The metro is celebrating it’s 80th birthday this year, and it looks like it hasn’t changed much in the interim. I mean that in a good way, actually. The stations are ornate, and many tracks still run the turquoise trains that […]

Most American travelers–especially of the backpacker variety–do not go to Russia. It’s hard to get into. It can be expensive. U.S./Russian relations are on the rocks. Few people speak English. And so on. Needless to say I was skeptical when Chris insisted that Russia be our first destination as we transitioned from Southeast Asia to Europe. Man, […]