fff|ggg|russia_featured_photos/itar_tass|ITAR-TASS|ggg|fff

Today’s featured photo is of the headquarters of ***ITAR-TASS|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITAR-TASS***, Russia’s state-run news agency. Enjoy!

We have arrived safely in Moscow, Russia! Our plane touched down right on schedule at 11:20 a.m. Moscow time (3:20 a.m. EDT). The only minor trouble we had was at passport control, where the name change on Becky’s passport confused the Russian immigration officials. But after consulting with a number of other officials, they decided to give her the stamp. 🙂

Kim’s friend Misha met us at the airport and drove us in to Moscow center… lots of traffic and smog, but also lots of wonderful and beautiful sights.

More updates later, but now we have to get acquainted with our surroundings and get the heck out there and explore this place! 🙂

P.S. It is currently 2:08 PM Moscow time, 6:08 AM EDT.

I think Becky and I were just a little too prepared for this trip. We’ve been sitting around at home for a few hours now trying to think of things to do before we leave, and there’s really nothing left for us to do! I think we’ll be leaving in a few minutes so that we can eat our last Taco Bell meal for the next 11 days, on our way to the airport. Our flight doesn’t leave until 3:30, so we’ll have plenty of time.

I’m guessing this will be the last post until we arrive in Moscow, which will be at 11:35 a.m. Tuesday, Moscow time, 3:35 a.m. Tuesday, Boston time. So until then – da svidaniya!

Today: Ran errands and purchased a few random things to take on the trip. Got a pocket-sized Russian phrasebook/dictionary. Very handy, since we haven’t exactly mastered the Russian language.

Tonight: Met my Aunt Joan, my cousin Mark, and Mark’s girlfriend Ethel for dinner. Joan brought along some things for us to bring over to Kim. When we got home, we started arranging things in our suitcases, and it looks like we’re in pretty good shape! We each have one medium-sized suitcase for clothes and gifts, plus one carry-on backpack each. Not bad at all.

Tomorrow: Becky has to work. I’ll be at home doing some house cleaning, as well as squaring away a few last minute details. In the evening we’ll be meeting Becky’s parents for dinner.

Monday: A few final preparations, and then an afternoon departure!!!

Stay tuned to our website for updates before, during, and after the trip… I’ve set up a easy URL so that you can jump straight to the “Russia” category: ***http://prwdot.org/russia|http://prwdot.org/russia***. Enjoy!

At this time next week, we’ll be about two hours into a 10-hour flight to Moscow, Russia.

Can someone hit the fast-forward button, please?

Great news! Becky and I have received our visas from the ***Russian Consulate|http://www.ruscon.org/***. So now we can officially enter the country. Hooray! That was pretty much the last big hurdle for our trip, so we’re just about ready to go. Just need to buy a few travel supplies and make arrangements with folks in ***Russia|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia***. (In case you hadn’t guessed, the photo above is just the top part of a Russian visa. The rest of the visa contains personal information like our names, passport numbers, visa numbers, entry and exit dates, etc. All in both English and Russian!)

Oh, to answer Angela’s question from the previous Russia post, our trip will be from April 25 to May 5. Our total travel time will be 11 days, with the first two days spent in transit to Russia, eight full days actually visiting Russia, and the last day spent in transit back to the US. The eight days we spend in Russia will be more or less evenly divided between ***Saint Petersburg|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg*** and ***Moscow|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow***.

Three weeks and three days until our departure!

Update
Added a few links and some more details.

Call me a nerd, or whatever you like, but when I’m on a trip somewhere, I make it a point to visit any locations where I know a movie or television show was filmed.

For example, in Spain, we visited the ***Plaza de Espana|http://gallery.prwdot.org/plaza_de_espana/DSCN1234***, a location you might recognize from ***Star Wars Episode II|http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0121765/***. Our San Francisco trip was replete with filming locations, including the ***Monterey Bay Aquarium|http://gallery.prwdot.org/sfo_day6/DSCN4208***, which served as the “Cetacean Institute” in ***Star Trek IV|http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0092007/***, and any number of San Francisco hills, bridges, and other landmarks that were used in ***Sneakers|http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0105435/***.

Russia will be a bonanza for filming locations (departure date is less than five weeks away!). Obviously, we’ll be visiting the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, which was the subject of ***Russian Ark|http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0318034/***. Then there’s ***The Bourne Supremacy|http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0372183/***, which was filmed on location in Moscow. And ***The Amazing Race, Season 5|http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race5/*** featured a run through ***Saint Petersburg|http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race5/show/episode04/destinations.shtml***, including locations such as the Hermitage, Battleship Aurora, The Bronze Horseman, and the Anichkov Palace.

Two Russian tourist visa invitations, with vouchers: $90
Two Russian tourist visa applications, with consular fees: $200
Two visa applications mailed to the Russian consulate in NYC, with individual prepaid return postage: $23
Two excited American citizens who will be in Russia within six weeks, Russian consulate willing: priceless

It’s hard to believe that in just two months, we’ll be able to see places like this:

ppp| |ppp

(Left: St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow. Right: The Hermitage’s Winter Palace, St. Petersburg.)
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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*