and St Petersburg. The Russians in Salda don't like Moscow. They say it is not the real Russia. After having visited there I understand. The amount of wealth in Moscow is ridiculous compared to the rest of Russia.Their priorities and values are very different. They are all in too much of a hurry to be polite. We did enjoy the Kremlin and went to the Ballet, we had some really high quality Russian food and saw some nice museums, but I am glad I don't live there because the people here are much friendlier and down to earth.
St Petersburg though was really nice. It is a university town full of young people. It is very vibrant and full of life. We went to the Hermitage museum and Julia really enjoyed that. We also went to the Russian Museum and to some of the really impressive churches. We took a day trip to Pushkin,
a city of Palaces where you can find the Amber Room and Catherine's Palace. It was tricky to do without a tour guide, but fun to try to figure out. St Petersburg doesn't know how to cater to the non-tour-group visitors yet. They just figure everyone there is with a tour group and the operators organize everything for you. So there are a few signs in English, but not enough. We managed to use the Metro and the minibuses without any big problems but it was a bit frustrating. 
I got a chance to practice my horrible Russian and it was just enough to survive. That's all. It was a few days before Victory Day when they celebrate winning world war two so we were able to watch the rehearsals for the Parade in front of the Hermitage museum. It was very impressive with thousands of troups and a parade of their best artillery. A band and a welcome of the troups by the head of the military. Four days was not enough time to see all of St Petersburg. I look forward to going again with Jill and Britain and Kelly in August.
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