Russia

Here comes a snapshot of our first destination: Russia. Though one should not think of having even the slightest idea about this vast and contradictory country by visiting St Petersburg and a few other places. It is a country one cannot assume to understand probably even throughout a lifetime. It is a country full of contradictions and extremes; on one hand the vast cultural heritage one shall discover in the grad architecture of Peter the Great till the jewels of the Orthodox church in the most remote places. On the other hand you find the poverty and weariness of the countryside and people lining up to cross the border on foot at Ivangorod to Estonia, listening to their complains about wages, pension system and politics. Flashy shopping malls and overwhelming Christmas decorations in St. Petersburg mix up with the rush hour traffic jams making even the underground an impossible place to bare. However romantic the frosty trees, the ice over the river Neva and biting minuses are, one cannot escape from the possibility of not seeing the sun and the blue sky maybe over a month. It is difficult to make a difference between midnight and 9 am in the morning on Nevskij prospect and should not be too much astonished to meet girls on horseback offering a ride or ask money to support the animals.