Hi Serguei, 


Sorry to be tardy in getting back to you.

Our Russian tour was fabulous. Liz and I enjoyed all of it. All the arrangements worked like clockwork and i really appreciated you sending the second car to ge me when my flight to Moscow was delayed.

The National Hotel was great. Just perfect for us. The locations could not have been better right next to the Kremlin, the staff were lovey and we really liked the historic building. The included breakfasts were excellent.

The best thing about Moscow for us was our tour guide, Violet. Her incredible knowledge of history and obvious love and understanding of Russian art and culture were the perfect combination for a tour guide. She had a lovely quiet manner and we enjoyed every minute of our time with her. She was perhaps the best guide either of us has ever had. 


The Kremlin Armoury and the Tretyakov Gallery were highlights and we also enjoyed the outing to the monastery oat Sergiev Posad.

The Garage art gallery in Gorky Park was a real treat and a nice glimpse of modern cultural life in Moscow We would recommend all those sites to anyone going to Moscow.

We also enjoyed a visit to the city market on our own (Violet gave us precise instructions on the subway) and of course would not have missed a visit to Lenin's tomb.

And by the way, we went to the White Rabbit restaurant which is rated the 18th best restaurant in the world and we had a wonderful time. We would highly recommend it. The food was great and it wasn't as expensive as we might have expected.


One small quibble is that there were no plans for lunches on our touring days in Moscow.  

Most days didn't end until well after 2 pm and it would have perhaps been better to plan a lunch stop.
We were pretty hungry by the time the tours were done and ended up eating a big meal around 3 or 4 pm which wasn't always ideal.

But that's just a suggestion and, as I said, we couldn't have asked for a better guide. (In both cities, it would might been good to have a list of suggested restaurants to try.)  

The arrangements for the train to St Petersburg were excellent and we enjoyed the ride. It was during day time and we could see the countryside.


The Astoria Hotel in St. Petersburg was also an excellent choice. The food was very good and the location was just great.

Valery (Valera) was a good guide and took very good care of us. We enjoyed all the tours. The Hermitage and Catherine Palace were very crowded but that's just the reality of St. Petersburg. The art and architecture were incredible. We enjoyed the hydrofoil to Peterhof and it was great to get out of the city to visit Novgorod and see some of the countryside.


It was good to have free time to explore the city on our own and we discovered some interesting renovated galleries and young business spots in the downtown.

Again, in St. Petersburg, all arrangements worked perfectly.


Thank you for all help and advice and excellent planning.



Best wishes,

Linda Hughes (and Liz)

Calgary Alberta Canada 

October 10, 2016

Hi Serguei, 


What a wonderful trip you arranged for us to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Everything was just as you had described. I don't think Nancy and I were expecting such wonders as we saw in Moscow and St. Petersburg.  


Specifically: 


Moscow 

- the room with the Kremlin view was well worth it. Most of the rooms in the National Hotel do face the Kremlin but they do have some rooms that are facing a courtyard and that would have been sad.

The breakfast was exceptional as it too faced the Kremlin.

- Violetta was a great guide. She had many interesting facts and stories to tell about the history of Moscow and the Czars - up until the revolution. She did not speak too much about what happened after the revolution. Perhaps it is not such a great story to tell tourists.  

- the Kremlin with its Diamond Fun and Armory were well worth the visit. The jewelry and crowns were extraordinary - unlike anything i have ever seen and i have seen the crown jewels in London. This far surpasses the crown jewels in England. I especially liked seeing where Putin lives. He was in residence the day we were there and I was surprised that there was not more obvious security. I am sure there was lots of security but it was not noticeable once you entered the gates of the Kremlin.

- We enjoyed the opera at the Bolshoi - The Damnation of Faust. It was the first full opera for both Nancy and I and what better place than the Bolshoi in Moscow. We felt so lucky to be there.

- the whole experience in Moscow was great. We only had one bad meal and that was at the Cafe Pushkin restaurant that was recommended by the concierge in the National Hotel. Our food was cold and not very good. The place was full and not enough staff. The inside was very interesting to see but it seemed to be full  of tourists like us. All the other restaurants were very good.  

- If someone else was to go to Moscow - i would tell them to do exactly what we did - including the day we spent going to Sergiev Posad and seeing the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius. it was so beautiful and I especially liked to see the priests. We were so happy to have a private car and private guide. So worth it.

 

- my favorite thing was probably to be in Red Square and seeing St Basil's cathedral. A real sense of history especially with seeing Lenin's and Stalin's tomb.

 

- we needed the day off before the trip to St. Petersburg. We did some shopping and relaxed.    

- the train trip was great. Having someone drive us to the train station, someone else meet us and take us to the lounge while we waited for the train then come back for us and put us on the train - we could not have done this by ourselves. This is highly recommended for everyone

 

St Petersburg

 

- Astoria Hotel - beautiful, very high end hotel. We had a nice room looking out over St. Isaac's Cathedral..

 The manager was great and quickly moved us to a room with a view. I will send pictures.

 

- The Hermitage was more that we could have imagined and we were happy to have spent two days there. The Impressionist art has now moved to another building on the other side of the square. It would have taken another whole day to see all of the art but we managed to see a lot of it by moving very quickly and focusing on impressionist paintings.

No one can imagine the grandness of the Hermitage or the architecture or the art - breathtaking. It was the highlight for both Nancy and myself. 

 

- Catherine's Summer Palace - a must see. It is very different from the Hermitage and in a town outside St. Petersburg so it was great to see the countryside.  

 

- Gold and Diamond Rooms - very impressive. Very different from what we saw at the Kremlin as the collection is so much older - some pieces were thousands of years old. Unbelievable. The special guide from the Hermitage was wonderful and spoke perfect English. 

- our guide in St. Petersburg was excellent. Very interesting and professional lady and very kind to us (as was Violette).

Again the private guide and private car was the best idea. We felt very safe. We did walk around St. Petersburg on our own and went shopping one day to the big mall - all went well. 

- Ballet and symphony in the two different Mariinsky theatres were both a delight. We had very good seats - both with the aisle seats that i required (thank you)

 

So we had a great trip and enjoyed everything. Thanks again for all your help in planning and executing the trip.

 

 

Lisa Idenhartog & Nancy Gavin

 

November 06, 2017

Toronto Ontario