I didn't now what to expect of Vilnius the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city. It has a population of about 600,000 according to our local guide. It is known for the architecture in its baroque old town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Prior to World War II, Vilnius was one of the largest Jewish centres in Europe. Its Jewish influence led to it being described as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania". At the beginning of the war there were over 200,000 jew...

After a long day in the bus we arrived at Minsk, capital of Belarus. Belarus was mostly destroyed in the Great Patriotic War, the term used in Russia and other former soviet republics, to describe the war with the Nazis. During the war 25% of the population of Minsk was killed. The city is dominated by monumental Stalinist architecture. Minsk was also the location of one of the largest tank battles in history in 1944. The Red Army encircled the Nazi occupiers. H...

Sunday in Moscow was really hot. After our late night Greg and I decided to have a sleep-in, whilst the rest of the group went of to visit a monastery. We joined the group again in the afternoon to visit the Kremlin. Security was very tight, we had to pass through two checkpoints to enter the buildings. We passed sentries who had to stand at attention without moving for an hour, tough on a hot humid day. The main attraction were the churches that surround the ...

"To Moscow, to Moscow, to Moscow" yes Anton Chekov was spot on, except we were probably going a lot faster than Anton ever felt possible. It is 700 kilometres from Saint Petersburg to Moscow, and our journey would take only about four hours, with an average speed of 200 kph. The train was amazingly quiet and it was possible to pour a glass of wine without spillage, this experiment was personally tested by the group. We arrived on a Friday night when most Muscov...

I think I might have seen too many Len Deighton spy films. As we approached the border between Finland and Russia I felt a small tremor. Will they let me in? Will the perfunctory Russian apparatchik march out, seize my passport and frogmarch me to an office behind a wall never to be seen again? Such Walter Mitty daydreams did not occur. At the border we left our bus to lineup at immigration. I didn't use the chance to take a photo, thinking that my Walter Mi...