Moscow to St Petersburg

July 14. Flight from Newark to Helsinki. Then Helsinki to Moscow.
July 15. MOSCOW: Fly to Moscow. Walk around Red Square. Board Yesenin, a river boat. Welcome reception. Introductory remarks by Marian and Jack Matlock.
July 16. MOSCOW: Visit Kremlin: Cathedrals of the Assumption and Annunciation, burial place of early tsars in Archangel Cathedral. lunch at the National Hotel. Visit Armory Museum. Russian music (liturgical and folk music) of the Zlatoust Ensemble.
July 17. MOSCOW: Marian's first lecture on Moscow and its museums. Visit 18th century palace of Kuskova, with its collections of porcelain and glass. Lunch along the Arbat. View ikons in the Old Tretyakov Gallery; early 20th century art at the New Tretyakov.
July 18. MOSCOW: Visit wooden palace of the Scheremetyevs, now the Museum of Serf Art in the Ostankino Palace. Then to theimpressionists, old masters, and the Schliemann gold collection at the Pushkin Museum. Museum of Serf Art in Ostankino Palace. Sail from Moscow.
July 19. UGLICH: Cruise the Volga. Jack Matlock will talk on how the Cold War ended. (Matlock was a former ambassador to the Soviet Union). Russian language class by Marina following lunch on the boat. Traditional Russian arts in Uglich, city of the Golden Ring; Tour the 17th century Chapel of Dimitry;Church of the Transfiguration, noted for its beautiful iconostasis. Choral concert of Romantic Russian music.
July 20. YAROSLAVL: Oldest city on the Volga. Undamaged in World War II. Murals depicting St John's apocalyptic visions at the Monastery of the Transfiguration. Marian speaks of Russian art and literature in the Bolshoi Hall on the boat. Bliny, caviar, and vodka tasting at 4:30 in the restaurant.
July 21. WHITE LAKE: Lecture by Jack on the Russia of Yeltsin and Putin. Tour the Kirilov Belozersky Monastery in the village of Goritsy. Founded by St Cyril in 15th century. I find it amusing that most of the institutions we visit on this tour are churches. Thank God the communists pulled down 3/4s of the churches in this country. Otherwise, we'd be lost forever amidst the ikons and iconostases.After dinner, folk show in the Bolshoi Hall.
July 22. LAKE ONEGA/KIZHY: Matlock speaks on US-Russian relations while we cruise on Lake Onega, 2nd largest lake in Europe. Captain's tour of the brige. Walking tour of Kizhy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the home of fascinating wooden architecture of the past. Open air museum and the Church of the Transfiguration, an onion-domed masterpiece, built in 1714. The church is unique: it has 22 separate wooden cupolas. Russian bliny dinner.
July 23. SVIR STROY/LAKE LADOGA: Marian lectures on St Petersburg and its museums. Ship docks near Svir Stroy, a typical Russian village. Watch the willows and white birch trees on Lake Ladoga. Marina organizes us to sing Russian songs and dance. Hadn't expected that she would dress us up as babushkas for the dance.
July 24. ST PETERSBURG: The Venice of the north. Visit the Memorial to the siege of Leningrad, where we view a film. Visit Pavlosk Palace and the Catherine Palace, featuring the Amber Room. Folkloric dinner served in Podvorie Restaurant in the village of Tsarskoye, where we meet Natasha and Oleg Koserev, old friends from St Pete. She is now the Curator of Graphical Art at the Russian Museum
July 25. ST PETERSBURG: The Hermitage, an enormous world class museum with 400 rooms. Great collection of European Art, especially rich in the Impressionists. Visit the Diamond and Gold Treasury. Could spend a week there without seeing anything twice. Visit the Russian Museum, concentrating on the abstract art of the early twentieth century. Marian lectures during the visit. Ballet performance in the evening at the Maryinsky Theatre.
July 26. ST PETERSBURG: Drive to the Chinese Palace of Oranienbaum, then to the Palace of Peterhof. Visit small palace of Monplaisir Tsarskoye. Lunch at Restaurant Adamant, near St Isaac's Catgedral. Tour Peter and Paul Fortress. I am unable to find the small museum to the early history of the Russian space program. Pack for early deparature on the 27th.
July 27. ST PETE/COPENHAGEN/NEWARK: Disembark the Yesinin. Visit the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and Cemetery. View tombs of Tchaikovsky, Dostoyevsky, and other Russian writers, artists, and composers. Fly to Helsinki, then to JFK.