It was a vacation trip...we lucked out on the weather, particularly in St. Petersburg...we spent four days in Moscow, five days on the Volga with stops in various villages and four days in St. Petersburg...the ship had 145 passengers and served as our hotel for the entire trip... my previous images of Russia were formed by the gray drabness of photos that seeped through during the Communist era...I was surprised by the the cleanliness of the streets and parks, the bright pastel colors of the buildings, the youthful and chic appearance of the big city inhabitants (walking the streets of St. Petersburg was like watching models on a runway)...overall, it seemed like a modern country on the rise...unfortunately, however, I got the sense that if I were in the Ukraine, Georgia or the Baltic States, I'd be worried about Russia's intentions...the architecture was amazing and the color and ornateness of the Russian Orthodox Churches was striking...many of the churches were neglected or reduced to warehouses during the Soviet era and now that religion is making a big comeback, a tremendous effort has been made to restore them...here are a few interesting churches...the "onion" shaped domes are supposed to represent flames.
Here's one from Red Square
I believe these are also in Moscow
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (named after the murder of a czar at the site) in St. Petersburg
Here's one of Catherine the Great's Palaces
Here's Moscow State University, another Stalin era structure...Stalin had built seven of these very distinctive "wedding-cake" skyrises in various corners of Moscow after WWII to dominate the skyline...they are referred to the "Seven Gothic Sisters"... an eighth was planned but never built.
Here's a gate in the Kremlin Wall