Impressions of Russia

From childhood, I was taught that Russia was my enemy and to fear it. My impression was that it was a mighty superpower of great warriors and conquerors. Now that I have had a chance to visit my “enemy’s” land and people and learn more about their history, culture and present-day conditions, my viewpoint has changed drastically.

I took a 16-day cruise-tour, “Imperial Russian Waterways & St. Petersburg,” from Vantage Deluxe World Travel (Boston, MA; 800/322-6677), Sept. 11-27, 2008. The cost, including 12 days on board the 200-passenger M/S Nikolay Chernyshevsky, four nights at the Moscow Hilton and round-trip air from Cleveland, was $6,700. (In 2009, this tour is 12 days long, with only one overnight in Moscow — Editor.)

The ship was a great way to see Russia — very comfortable, without having to pack and unpack every day. The weather during our visit was around 45°-50°F.

As always, people are people everywhere, so that is a given, but culture and environment speak the loudest. I now hold great empathy for the Russian people.

I shared a meal with a local mother and daughter. They lived on the fourth floor of a crumbling concrete apartment complex with no elevator. Their apartment was very small. One main room was used as the living room, with a table brought in and set next to the couch for a “dining room.” The ceiling light fixture was made for four lightbulbs but had only one bulb, to save on the cost of electricity.

There was also a tiny kitchen, a bedroom with two beds, a small bath and a tiny enclosed porch that served as a refrigerated area for much of their food and some herb plants.

It was my impression that most Russians live a pretty simple existence, with very little joy or hope. Imagine having to start over from scratch several times throughout your family’s history, and your present condition is still meager, at best. Many locals were “pan-faced,” showing little emotion. I don’t speak Russian, of course; nevertheless, usually when I asked someone a question they just walked away.

In Russia, the tap water is basically undrinkable, so the people have to filter it or buy it bottled.

As far as food goes, I was told that about 75% has to be imported and that all of their chicken comes from the USA. Russia grows a lot of cabbage, beets and cucumbers. I have never been exposed to so many unique uses of cabbage. They have a dish similar to sauerkraut balls, about the size of an egg roll and delicious. The borsch and all of the other soups I tasted were fantastic, the finest I’ve ever tasted! Their brown breads are simply the best in the world.

For the last four days of the trip, we stayed in downtown Moscow at the new Moscow Hilton. A perspective on how expensive things were — the rack rate for our room was $983 a night, and the hotel is not even centrally located near Red Square!

An 8-ounce hamburger cost $24, and I had the kitchen make me some chicken broth one day, which ended up being chicken bouillon. Three tea cups of that cost $45, plus $15 for a glass of orange juice! Souvenirs that I have been accustomed to purchasing for $20 to $40 cost $650 to $800 in Russia because they were “hand crafted by Russian artists.”

I never once had to convert any US money into Russian rubles. Both large and small stores were always happy for the US currency. The one place you may need rubles is in the pay toilets, as many public restrooms are “pay as you go,” but even there they often just waved me through free of charge since I didn’t have rubles and probably looked like a “stupid tourist.”

Catherine the Great’s Summer Palace in St. Petersburg represents one of the most obnoxious uses of money I have ever laid my eyes on. One of her huge ballrooms is about 85% covered in pure gold leaf and has several mirrors. I had the feeling that I was standing in the middle of Fort Knox.

Moscow, the richest city in Russia, reminded me of New York City with the tall buildings, constant traffic jams, horns honking, high prices, a Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini dealership and posh restaurants. What an extreme contrast to the rest of Russia! Of course, there were so many McDonald’s there, I lost count.

The odd thing is there seemed to be no rules for drivers; they did anything they pleased with their cars: parked on the sidewalk, parked horizontally or at an angle in any spot or parked three-deep in the main street. The main artery streets through the downtown areas have 16 lanes. Cars were everywhere! And honking a car horn is apparently the national pastime in Moscow.

And many cars were dirty, with mud-colored tires apparently from unpaved roads, so even the main roads had dirt on them. The dust was constantly floating in the air and irritated my sinuses.

There is a great Metro system and electric streetcar trolleys, but they were clogged with people.

This was the first country I visited where there was no English spoken. If you get lost, you’re on your own. There was very little signage on buildings; you can’t tell the grocery store from the former KGB station.

Vodka is the drink of Russia, and it’s everywhere. It’s good stuff and I tried many brands. We attended a short seminar on vodka and later had a taste testing. Vodka is also sold at souvenir stands. There didn’t seem to be any set price, so it would pay to shop around — the perfect gift for those hard-to-buy-for friends.

Russian beers also are really good. They’re usually served in large pint sizes as in Germany. The nice thing about the beer is they sell it in the grocery stores and souvenir stands one bottle at a time, not in a 6- or 12-pack, so you can take home six different beers. It’s not expensive, either.

MARK WEBER
North Canton, OH