Getting Ready to Go!

Cheryl and JD "warm up" for Russia
with a short vacation in the Bahamas

Just back from a warm-up vacation (albeit a short one) in Nassau, we're ready to head off with dear friends Mary Lee Hess and Ray Urban for two weeks on "Waterways of the Czars".   Beginning in St. Petersburg and ending in Moscow, we will enjoy two weeks cruising the Volga River and seeing the sites, sounds, and people we once regarded as our mortal enemies!

Leaving Sunday evening, we fly from Columbus to Toronto to Munich to St. Petersburg which is 8 hours ahead of our normal EDT.  Under the auspices of Viking Cruises, we transfer to our St. Petersburg hotel and spend 4 days there - lots to see!   ON Day 5 and 6 we cruise on Lake Ladoga, the Svir River, Lake Onega and tour Kizhi - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Days 7, 8 and 9 have us cruising on the Volga - Baltic Waterway, Kuzino, Yaroslavi, Uglich, and on Day 10 we hit Moscow.   We're there on Day 10, 11, and 12, departing on Day 13 from Moscow to Geneva to Newark (back in the USA!) and home to Columbus.

Having grown up through the Cold War, I've always been fascinated with the Russians, their culture, and their survival against all odds in World War II.  And with ML and Ray, we'll have successfully navigated from Tianamen Square in 1998 to Red Square in 2013.

There will very likely be a daily posting with selected photos.   Hope you enjoy our (tall) tales as much as we enjoy experiencing them.  In closing, for now, I say "спасибо" (pronounced spasibo) and meaning "thank you" in Russian.