This was our second trip to Russia. In 2001 as part of a trip through Eastern Europe we spent a few days in St Petersburg.
Now exactly 10 years later we came for a more extensive visit. Things have certainly changed in 10 years! The streets have
all been fixed, the buses look new, the people appear to be happy and wearing the latest fashions and where before we saw old cars now you see new Mazda's, BMW's and Mercedes. Enjoy the pictures - Dave
Russia is officially known as either Russia or the Russian Federation. It is considered a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. The Sea of Okhotsk separates Russia from Japan and the Bering Strait separates Russia from the United States.
Russia is the largest country, 6,592,800 sq miles, in the world and covers more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people in 2010.
The medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century when Rurik the Viking came to rule in Novgorod. In 988 “Vladimir I The Great” adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for more than 1000 years.
Most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion and became tributaries of the nomadic Golden Horde. The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the Russian principalities, achieved independence from the Golden Horde, and dominated the cultural and political legacy of Rus'. By the 18th century, the nation had expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire.
The Russian history is a brutal story marked by fathers killing sons, siblings killing one another and children killing parents.
Following the Russian Revolution in 1905, Russia became the largest and leading constituent of the Soviet Union, the world's first constitutionally socialist state and a recognized superpower which played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first human spaceflight. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, independence of Baltic republics, the Russian Federation was founded.
Russia has the world's 11th largest economy by nominal GDP or the 6th largest by purchasing power parity, with the 5th largest nominal military budget. It is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Russia is a great power and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
Our trip to Russia was in July 2011. We flew to St Petersburg and spent 5 days exploring the Venice of the North. We left St Petersburg for a 9 day cruise to Moscow on the Volga-Baltic Waterway. The 685 mile Volga-Baltic Waterway canal and river system connects St Petersburg’s industrial area to Moscow. The waterway consists of canals, rivers and lakes passing through the beautiful Russian landscape. After 5 days in Moscow we flew to Kiev , Ukraine.