You may have noticed that we’ve mentioned Russia in some of our blog entries over the past few years. Becky listed it as one of the countries she’d like to visit in ***this quiz|http://prwdot.org/?p=archives/001646***. We mentioned seeing the movie ***Russian Ark|http://prwdot.org/?p=archives/000711*** several times – a fascinating movie filmed in one 90-minute shot in St. Petersburg’s fabulous Hermitage. Becky posted her review of ***Nicholas and Alexandra|http://prwdot.org/?p=archives/001685***, the last Tzar and Tzarina of Russia. We have even posted ***birthday greetings|http://prwdot.org/?p=archives/001977*** for my cousin Kim, who is currently living and working in Moscow.

Now, we finally have the chance to travel there. We’ve scheduled the time off of work. We’ve made arrangements to stay with Kim at her apartment in Moscow, and with a friend of hers in St. Petersburg. We’ve purchased travel books. And tonight, the reality of it hit home as we purchased the plane tickets.

We’ll be in Russia for the last week in April and the first week in May of this year. Part of our time will be spent in Moscow and part will be spent in St. Petersburg. Our timetable will put us in Russia for Orthodox Easter (May 1), so we hope to be able to experience a Russian Orthodox easter service. There are still a few details to work out, such as applying for visas (Russia charges US citizens $100 each for single-entry visas!) and planning our actual itinerary. But we are going! Now we just have to sit tight for three months. *sigh*