Mobility in Russia

My wife, Patricia, has severe arthritis and walks with two canes. On a trip to Russia a few years ago, we encountered the following issues as regards accessibility.

There were many stairs at the railroad stations. There was usually a ramp tucked away to one side.

The steps to get on the train from the station deck were several inches away, leaving a significant gap to bridge.

There were no luggage carts in the train stations. There were porters with carts, but be sure to ask the price before they load your luggage on their carts. (At the airport there were free luggage carts.)

There were no elevators and no ramps at the Kremlin (Moscow), Peter’s Palace at the Peterhof (St. Petersburg) or Catherine’s Palace at Tsarsko Selo (Pushkin). In addition, there were significant distances to walk from each dropoff point to the palace.

There was one elevator at the Hermitage. It was not conspicuous; we had to ask about it. At the Hermitage, the dropoff point was fairly close to the entrance, but there were 20 to 30 stairs to climb to get to the ticket booth.

We did not use the metro, so I have no information on accessibility there.

NESSIM CICUREL

Chicago, IL