Drawbridge open for the night

Thursday, 25 July. It was pitch dark and rainy when we got up at 2:30 a.m. We finished packing and put our suitcases out before heading for breakfast. Our bus left at 4:30. Shortly after, we passed one of the many drawbridges on the river, and it was open. We'd been told that every bridge was a drawbridge, and that they all were opened for a couple of hours during the night, but not otherwise. This was the first (and only) one we'd seen open, since we had never been out at this ungodly hour before.

We were at the airport by 5:00. Customs and immigration were much faster than they had been in Moscow when we arrived. We were in plenty of time for our 7:00 Lufthansa flight. They served a light breakfast on the three-hour flight to Frankfurt. We had a two and a half hour layover there before our nine-hour flight to Washington Dulles. There were two meals on that flight so, by the time we got to Dulles at 1:40 p.m. EDT, we'd already had four meals.

After clearing immigration and customs, we picked up our car at the motel around 3:00 and headed for home. Traffic was heavy, but we were home by 5:30. We went to bed a little after 6:00, almost 24 hours after getting up that morning. We'd spent all of two hours in bed over the last 43 hours. It was good to be home.

Impressions and Observations. This trip was much better than we had expected. The opulence of the royal palaces was overpowering - and there were so many of them. The quality and size of the art collections were also amazing. The quiet beauty of the countryside along the rivers was a perfect respite between Moscow and St. Petersburg, allowing us to regain some sense of perspective before being overwhelmed a second time.

The canal-river network itself is an incredible engineering feat. It never could have been accomplished except under a totalitarian regime. Even then, we were told, Stalin had to conceal the extent of the devastation caused by the massive flooding of such huge areas.

The Russian people we met (granted they were only those who deal with tourists) were as friendly as any people we've met anywhere else. The tour was well organized and well run. The Russian Government is solidly behind development of the tourist industry, spending billions to enhance the infrastructure and restore and improve the many attractions. We only wonder, though, whether some of the major tourist sites can accommodate a doubling or tripling of the crowds.

Actually, Russia's ambitious efforts to improve tourist sites resulted in one minor annoyance for us. So many of the tourists sites were undergoing restoration or repair that we couldn't see them, at least not well. This big effort is in advance of the 300^th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703. Record numbers of tourists are expected next year. Maybe the scaffolding in 2002 will turn out to have been less an impediment to sightseeing than the crowds will be in 2003.

We deliberately chose the protected environment of a river boat for several reasons. Of course, we only had to unpack once. But we also avoided reliance on Russia hotels and restaurants, about which we have heard some unfavorable (though dated) stories. Also, we were not much exposed to the widely reported problem of poor law enforcement in Russia. We did see it on the roads, where there is little regard for traffic laws (and consequently many accidents).

Our guides told us that the traffic situation is aggravated because so many drivers never bother to get a license or get it by bribery. We also know that friends were able to bypass the line at Lenin's tomb by giving a policeman a dollar. Whether these minor incidents mean that the more serious aspects of law enforcement (and other governmental functions) are rife with bribery we can't say. What we can say is that, living on the Tolstoy, we didn't find the atmosphere at all sinister. Overall, we were very favorably impressed with Russia.