I'm thinking of a trip to Moscow...anyone ever been?

[joeybee12]

The plan would be to fly in there...then St. Petersbug, Vilinus, Warsaw, and then to Prague. Any advice? Been to Prague lost of times--the other cities would all be new! :hi:

[joeybee12]

1. Kick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[xchrom]

2. i wanna go!

i'd love to see the hermitage -- i'm a museum nut.

[joeybee12]

3. Yeah, I'll probably spend my whole time there...

especially since the outside weather will suck!

[xchrom]

4. the great thing about the hermitage

is not only is the collection great -- but the building -- the building is to die for.

st petersburg will have lots of great buildings like that -- i love architecture like that -- so sumptuous.

i also love those old russian dachaus -- the wooden onion domes -- but you'd probably have to get out in the countryside to see those -- and i'm a city boy.

[joeybee12]

5. Yeah, I love that also...

...wonder why they appeal to me...maybe I lived there in a previous life???

[Flaxbee]

6. Moscow is neat, but now crazy busy and crowded

with lots of INSANE drivers. Didn't used to be that way, but now it reminds me of a colder Cairo - bonkers. There are some wonderful things to see - the Kremlin, St. Basil's, etc., but you could do St. Petersburg (gorgeous city, lots of history - and much less hectic), Helsinki (very cool town, you can take the train there from St. Petersburg), Tallinn (Estonia - beautiful old town, so I've been told - haven't been there but have always wanted to pop over from Helsinki (ferry from Helsinki to Estonia)) then Vilnius, Warsaw, etc. Llubjlana in Slovenia is supposed to be beautiful, too.

I've been to Moscow twice, and while it was fun, I don't really want to go back. But I LOVE to go to St. Pete's whenever possible.

Unless you just HAVE to see Moscow, I'd skip it and spend more time in St. Petersburg.

[wake.up.america]

7. Da Da, Hotel Metrepol near Red square. Chicken tastes like leather.

[joeybee12]

10. So...is that a good thing?

No accounting for some people's tastes, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you mean it's a bad thing!

[wake.up.america]

15. I would have to agree.

[LisaL]

11. I like St. Petersburg best too.

Never was a fun of Moscow.

[joeybee12]

12. I figured Moscow would be the only place to really fly into...

...checking flights and it would be on British Airways from London...I do think that it would be worth it if only to see the Kremlin.

[Left Is Write]

8. It's only a few hours' drive from my house.

Oh...wait...you meant in Russia, didn't you?

[kwassa]

9. I really liked Moscow

We were there on a business trip about three years ago. It was February, but it was the warmest winter in a hundred years, unlike what is going on now.

The Kremlin is fascinating because it has seven or so cathedrals in there, many very old, a great museum of all the crown jewels and wealth of the czars. There is another huge cathedral that the Soviets had blown up in the 1930s which was completely rebuilt from scratch in 1995. I also liked the Tretyakov, which is a huge museum full of Russian art. I've heard that the Pushkin museum has a great collection of impressionist paintings, but we couldn't work it into our schedule.

We had great food, we were comped into some of the best restuarants in town, though. Moscow is changing a lot, very rapidly. What was a little shocking was seeing all the McDonalds restuarants in Cyrillic lettering. I also saw KFC, Sbarros Pizza and TGI Fridays. The mallization of the world.

The Russians themselves were friendly, outgoing, and casual people, most were quite fit and pretty attractive, unlike the cliches. The subway system is amazing, huge, and fast, with underground stations with bronze sculptures. The subway tickets are almost identical to the ones used on the DC Metro, one of those funny things.

I recommend it.

[joeybee12]

13. What were the hotels like?

I'm looking for something cheap...did you find that even nice hotels were less expensive than here in the US, or was it the opposite? Thanks.

[kwassa]

16. Can't help you with cheap hotels

Our hotel was paid for by others, so we stayed in the Sheraton and the Marriot, as I recall.

I don't even remember how much it cost.

[Rising Phoenix]

14. my dad enjoyed the trip...

go for it!:thumbsup: