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Classical Russia
an enriching small-group tour of Moscow & St. Petersburg
Dates 2010
May 21-29 * Jun 18-26 * Jul 9-17 * Aug 13-21 * Sep 10-18 * Oct 8-16
Price per Person in Twin
May & Jun: $3,550.00
Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct: $3,295.00
Single Room Supplement
May & Jun: $990
Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct: $770
Visas are additional.
The current Consulate fees are $131 & $250
if papers are received from participants at least
6 weeks prior to the USA departure date.
From May-Sep the higher fee is recommended.
Our Tour Features
* Accommodations for 3 nights in Moscow at the Hotel Marriott Tverskaya
* Accommodations for 5 nights in St. Petersburg at Hotel Ambassador
* 8 Buffet breakfasts
* 6 lunches with beverages at fine restaurants
* 6 Dinners with beverages at local restaurants or hotel
* 1 Dinner on the train
* Individual transfers on arrival and departure
* All visits with entrances
* Expert English-speaking guides in Moscow, St. Petersburg and between cities
* Touring by modern air-conditioned minibus or mini-coach
* Business class seating on day train
* Participation limited to 10
Our Itinerary
Day 1, Fri: Arrival Moscow
Individual arrivals and private guided transfers to Hotel Marriott Tverskaya. Dinner is at the hotel. (D)
Day 2, Sat:
Kremlin Territory & Armory Museum * Pushkin Museum of Fine Art
This morning we enjoy a comprehensive walking tour. We enter the Kremlin Territory through one of its many gates and will admire the magnificent red brick walls of the Kremlin Territory, built in the 16th century by Italian masons. We view extraordinary monuments such as the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, the Czar Cannon and the Czar’s Bell and learn about their fascinating histories. We visit elegant Cathedrals with their gleaming golden domes, and marvel at the dazzling icons and chandeliers within. Our tour includes a special scheduled visit of the Armory Museum, considered the richest museum in all Russia, with dazzling royal treasures – thrones, jeweled crowns, and even some of the Faberge eggs.
After lunch, we tour the beautiful interior of GUM, now filled with high fashion shops, notable for its architecture – an enormous glass-domed ceiling, several floors of arcades and a sparkling fountain. We tour the extensive collections of Dutch Masters, French Impressionists and other European masters at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Art, one of Russia’s richest museums. (B, L, D)
Day 3, Sun:
The City * Tretyakov Picture Gallery * Gorky House Museum * The Circus
We set off for a city sightseeing drive. We drive along Tversakaya Street, passing Pushkin Square, named for the illustrious poet Pushkin whose statue dominates the square. We drive through the narrow streets of Old Moscow and cross over the Moskva River and driving through some of the chic residential areas and up to Sparrow Hills for a wonderful panoramic view of the city, second in size only to London! We view the imposing buildings of Moscow University, elegant old churches and stop to tour Novodevichy Convent, a white-washed brick kremlin, or fortress, set in lovely grounds, with a lake. Our city tour will also include a visit at the impressive and historic Choral Synagogue, Moscow’s largest.
After lunch, we enjoy the collections at the Tretyakov Picture Gallery, housed within a building that is something out of a fairy-tale – red brick and lots of gingerbread features. We will discover Russian Masters from the 17th through early 20th centuries, by artists whose paintings will give us an insight into Russian life. We view works by Serov, Grabar, Vrubel and Surikov, among many others, and learn about Russian history that is depicted in the themes and scenes of their paintings. We stop to view the exquisite Art Nouveau interior of the Gorky House Museum, within what was originally the Ryabushinsky house, a former mansion designed by Shekhtel, a renowned architect of the times. The interior is considered one of the finest in Russia. After an early dinner, we enjoy a thrilling performance at the Moscow Circus. (B, L, D)
Day 4, Mon: Arbat Street * The Metro * Elisseyev & on to St. Petersburg
This morning we enjoy a walking tour along the Arbat, a pedestrian street which dates back to 1493 and is rich in history. We will admire the elegant low-rise late 19th century buildings of wonderful pastel colors, a favorite of Muscovites, and learn some of the history of this district and street. We will also note the more “touristy” aspect of the Arbat – dozens of hawkers selling matrioshka dolls of all varieties, from the traditional to political, and other souvenirs. We then go underground to join the Muscovites on the move. We will view a few of the more amazing Metro stations, each a work of art with mosaics, paintings, chandeliers and spotless station platforms. Moscow’s Metro was designed by the French and is easy to navigate like the French Metro system (if you speak Russian of course), but it is as deep as London’s Tube! The last stop of the day is at the ‘food emporium’ Elisseyev, with dazzling Art Nouveau décor, and an equally impressive display of gourmet foods and wines. We are transferred to the train station for the afternoon day train to St. Petersburg. We enjoy seating in the business section with dinner served on board. On arrival in St. Petersburg, we are greeted by our local guide and transferred to Hotel Ambassador, in the historic downtown. (B, L, D)
Day 5, Tue:
The City & St. Isaac’s Cathedral * Peter & Paul Fortress & Cathedral
After breakfast, we enjoy a city sightseeing drive. The drive takes us along Nevsky Prospekt,the city’s longest thoroughfare, lined with historic buildings such as Kazan Cathedral, the Lutheran Church of Peter & Paul, and the former Stroganov Palace, designed by Rastrelli, Dom Knigi (House of Books), in what was once the Singer Sewing Machine Building, crossing over the Bank Bridge. We view the Admiralty, with its soaring spire, and at St. Isaac’s Square, we stop to view the monumental statue of Czar Nicholas I and to visit grandiose St. Isaac’s Cathedral, one of Europe’s largest and most lavish. The Cathedral, built between 1818 and 1849, was named for St. Isaac of Dalmatia, whose Saint’s Day coincided with the birthday of Peter the Great. The opulent interior is “crowned” by a soaring painted domed ceiling by Bruyllov with a skylight. At Decembrists’s Square we stop to admire the monumental equestrian statue of Peter the Great, known as the ‘Bronze Horseman’. We drive along the Neva and cross over to Vasilievsky Island to view the huge Rostral Columns, once lighthouses on the Neva, and we will view the immense façade of the Winter Palace, which houses the collections of the Hermitage Museum.
After lunch, we walk in the cobbled streets ofthe Fortress of Peter and Paul, built as a look-out for ships on the Neva, but converted into a prison for revolutionaries. We tour some of the sparse rooms where prisoners were once held. We learn its importance in Russian history before we explore the interior of its elegant Dutch-style Cathedral where the magnificent tombs of Russian rulers, from Peter the Great to Czar Alexander II, are entombed in splendor. (B, L, D)
Day 6, Wed: Catherine Palace * Russian Museum * A Cultural Evening
This morning we drive out to the suburbs to the town of Pushkin, once known as Tsarskoye Selo or “Czar’s Village” to explore Catherine Palace, begun in 1718 by Braunstein, for Peter’s wife, Catherine I, but later enlarged and embellished by Rastrelli. We discover rooms where color themes are carried out in the upholstery, marbles and wall papers: the White Vestibule, Green Dining Room, Blue Drawing Room and the fabled Amber Room, now fully restored. Our guide will explain the fascinating history of this room, and we will admire the results of decades of restoration work by talented Palekh artists. The Ballroom was designed after the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, as Peter the Great was obsessed by the magnificent French palaces he had seen in his journeys.
After lunch, we return to the city to enjoy a short walking tour around Arts Square to admire the buildings, all designed by the architect Rossi, to harmonize with the former Mikhailov Palace, within which are housed the collections of the Russian Museum. We discover extensive works by Russian Masters from the 10th through the early 20th centuries, including great talents such as Repin, Kiprensky, Schedrin, Surikov, Serov and Grabar, to mention just a few. We will admire the gilded and painted woodwork, and the splendid frescoed ceiling of this former palace. A cultural performance at the Marinsky, Mussorgsky or Hermitage Theater tops off our day. (B, L)
Day 7, Thu: A Day at the Hermitage Museum * Gold & Diamond Treasuries
We drive to immense Palace Square, formed by the façade of the Winter Palace and the curved façade of the former General Staff Headquarters, and we view the huge Alexander Column, a monolithic piece of red Finnish marble, weighing over 700 tons! We spend a full day within one of the world’s greatest museums, filled with treasures of all kinds and all periods. We tour the most popular and vast collections of Dutch Masters, many amassed by Catherine the Great, and an astounding collection of French Impressionists, many of which were loaned to the Hermitage by the Pushkin Museum of Fine Art. We walk through some of the fabulous rooms of this former royal residence such as Malachite Hall, once the living room for the Czarina, with elaborate parquet floors, malachite columns, tables and fireplaces, and dazzling chandeliers. We enjoy lunch on our own at the Hermitage Cafeteria before our scheduled entry to view the Gold Treasury, a collection of prehistoric Scythian gold pieces of incredible detail and beauty, and of the Diamond Treasury, which includes the diamond-studded miniatures of the crown, orb and scepter created in the workshops of Faberge. We will view other collections and rooms during our full day. (B, D)
Day 8 Fri: Petrodvorets: The Grand Palace & Monplaisir * Yusupov Palace
We travel into the nearby suburbs to Petrodvorets, also called Peterhof, the largest of the summer estates of the former Czars. We explore the Grand Palace, designed by Braunstein and LeBlond in the early 18th century, and later enlarged and embellished by Rastrelli, which explains the baroque touches. We pass through rooms of great beauty such as the Red Silk Drawing Room, the Green Silk Drawing Room, the Music Room, the Chinese Room, and Chesme Hall. We tour Monplaisir, the smallest of the palaces on this estate, and Peter’s favorite palace, with large windows looking out on the Neva, where Peter could watch the passing ships, which were his passion. We admire the marble checkerboard floors, carved ceilings and Dutch and Flemish paintings adorning the walls, in what was the first art gallery in Russia.
After lunch, we explore Yusupov Palace, a pale neo-Classical building on the banks of the Moika canal, built for one of St. Petersburg’s richest noble families, the Yusupovs, said to have been richer than the Czars. The palace became notorious as the site of the assassination in 1916 of Grigory Rasputin who held great influence over the Czarina. We visit the ground-floor rooms where wax figures depict how the assassination took place, and we tour all the special rooms. This evening we enjoy our Farewell Dinner. (B, L, D)
Day 9, Sat: Departure
Individual guided transfers are provided to the airport depending on flight schedules.
Da svidanya! (B) |
