The train was old and creaky, with narrow hallways and narrower sleeping rooms. The decor was red velvet and old wood, and looked very much like the setting for an Agatha Christie mystery. Scott, Rachel, Katie and I shared a room, and played cards for a few hours before being rocked to sleep by the train. It was raining in Vladimir when we arrived, although we soon found our taxi who took us into Suzdal. There were met Vera and Xena, two sisters whose homes we i...

Our Intrepid tour is fantastic. Lauren, our tour leader, is lovely, as is everyone else. On Tuesday morning the eleven of us met Nick, our St Petersburg guide. We did a walking tour of the city, see all the main sights. Nick was a good foot taller than I am, so we did more running than walking to catch up. After arriving at the Winter Palace we went into the Hermitage. The Hermitage is one of the greatest galleries in the world. Iparticularly like the Egyptian mu...

We're in Russia!! I love it so much. The streets are wide and busy with people, and the building are so old they're falling apart, but the place is so elegant. Today we walked to the Aleksandra Nevskiy Laura monastery and cemetary, where great Russians like Dosteyevsky and Mussorgsky are buried. We arrived yesterday after a very harrowing taxi ride-there don't appear to be road rules or speed limits in Russia. The Cyrillic alphabet has us both a bit floored, but...