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Tags: Train Travel / Russia Travel / Travel News / High-Speed Trains / High Speed Rail / → All Tags

The Space Race Moves To The Rails As Russia Gets High-Speed Trains

When we talk about High-Speed Trains, it's not exactly news that the United States is extremely tardy to the party. Especially now that Russia has their act together and have debuted some Siemens-built trains designed to zip, rather than chug-chug, on the route between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The Sapsan—or "Peregrine Falcon"—train will ride the rails beginning in December, with an average speed of 250 km/h (155 mph), shaving an hour off of the total travel time between the two metropoli. No doubt this train will fast become a tourist's best friend, smoothing the passage between the capitals like the TGV did for the route between Paris and Nice, or the Thalys between Brussels and Paris. The big deal here, however, is that now we're talking about Russia.

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Tags: St Petersburg Field Trip / Russia Travel / Museums / Jaunted Field Trips / → All Tags

The Big One: You Can’t Leave Without Visiting the Hermitage

While it's hot here in the States, our special contributor Kate Winick is headed to the cold country of Russia. To St. Petersburg to be more specific, and all this week she'll be sending dispatches from the shadow of many onion domes.

Any reasonably worldly-minded person has probably heard the warning that you can’t see the Louvre or the Hermitage Museum in one day. And well—you can’t. Don’t try. There are several special exhibitions going at any one time, although they’re not always well-advertised, and it’s best to just pick one or two sections of interest so you have time to enjoy the art and the interiors themselves—it’s a combination of grand baroque and spooky decay that just about sums up the indefinable nature of modern Russia.

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Tags: St Petersburg Field Trip / Russia Travel / Food Travel / St Petersburg Travel / Jaunted Field Trips / → All Tags

Dining In St. Petersburg: The Best Spots For Caviar, Vodka And Borscht

While it's hot here in the States, our special contributor Kate Winick is headed to the cold country of Russia. To St. Petersburg to be more specific, and all this week she'll be sending dispatches from the shadow of many onion domes.

"Pectopah" is the one word you need to know if you’re hungry in St. Petersburg. It’s pronounced “restoran,” like “restaurant” with a twist, and is displayed prominently on almost every eating establishment in St. Petersburg.

The cuisine available varies from Moroccan to European to Japanese (sushi is the latest craze with the younger set), but for traditional Russian fare, there are a few experiences a cut above the rest. Three restaurants in particular stand out:

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Tags: St Petersburg Field Trip / Russia Travel / St Petersburg Travel / Jaunted Field Trips / → All Tags

Our Beat-The-Jet-Lag Walking Tour Of St. Petersburg

While it's hot here in the States, our special contributor Kate Winick is headed to the cold country of Russia. To St. Petersburg to be more specific, and all this week she'll be sending dispatches from the shadow of many onion domes.

So what do you do first in a country where you don't speak the language and you're still slightly suffering from jet lag? We took a cab into the St. Petersburg city center, down Nevsky Prospect, and this is the best place to start leisurely exploring. As the main street in St. Petersburg, Nevsky Prospect is marked by the Admiralty building with its tall gold spire on the north end (although there are several of these around, it’s the only one you’ll see at the end of the street) and the Nevsky Monastery to the south.

Worth stopping for a look outside are the Kazan Cathedral, the Dom Knigi bookstore (an Art Deco confection that formerly housed the Singer sewing maching company), the Russian National Library, monuments to Catherine the Great and more field marshals than you can shake a stick at, and the Anichkov Bridge, with its four famed equestrian statues. It’s also the central street for shopping, restaurants, etc., with the Gostiny Dvor, the city’s largest department store, on one side of the street, across from the Grand Palace luxury complex.

Even though Russia is no known for its love of luxury, St. Petersburg isn’t a shopping city—high prices and limited selection means that most wealthy Russians do their shopping on vacations in the rest of Europe or America.

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Negotiating A Flight From The US To St. Petersburg, And We Mean Russia

While it's hot here in the States, our special contributor Kate Winick is headed to the cold country of Russia. To St. Petersburg to be more specific, and all this week she'll be sending dispatches from the shadow of many onion domes.

You’ll have to pick your poison flying from the United States to St. Petersburg—direct flights are available mainly to Moscow, although finding a connection there is simple. On the other hand, you’ll get to pass through a hub that isn’t Atlanta. Finnair connects through Helsinki, KLM through Amsterdam, Alitalia through Rome, etc.

We chose to fly Lufthansa’s business class through Frankfurt, and were grateful to have the option of a lounge in which to pass out at 5:30 in the morning, after a not-long-enough rest on the flat seats.

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Tags: Russia Travel / Russia / → All Tags

Discover the "Real" Russia Amid the Modern Glitz of Moscow

Everybody has their own favorite travel memories, transcendent moments occurring far from home that spawn a new awareness and perspective on life. For me, a snowy trip to Moscow in January, 1993 is one of the fondest, as it was a moment that awakened in me the idea that the world is there for the taking, and all that is needed to visit somewhere exotic is simply to get up and go.

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Tags: Obama-Around-The-World / Presidential Travel / Barack Obama / Moscow / Russia Travel / Michelle Obama / → All Tags

More Museums For the Obamas As They Take Moscow

As President Obama continues to tour the world, we love that he's including his family and allowing them to be cultural ambassadors while he's tied up in meetings, like today's talks with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev over arms control.

While Obama conducts business in the Kremlin, Michelle and the girls are literally down the hall with first lady Svetlana Medvedev, who took them on a tour of famous tourist sites within the palace, such as the Cathedral of the Assumption and the Amory Museum and its 190-carat Orlov diamond. The girls even took tea in the Winter Garden; we are so jealous.

According to the Russian paper Pravda and USA Today, the Obamas might however be sleeping outside of the Kremlin walls at the Ritz-Carlton, since the hotel has suspiciously blocked off reservations for July 5 thru 8. There's yet another clue as to the Obamas' hotel sleeping arrangements: "In its lobby, the Ritz-Carlton installed an over-sized, chocolate statue of an American Eagle and a Russian Bear in honor of the visit." Our jealousy sees no end.

Related Stories:
· US first lady Michelle Obama tours Moscow's Kremlin as summit talks kick off [LA Times]
· President Obama's likely hotel choice while in Moscow: The Ritz-Carlton [USA Today]
· Presidential Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Stringer / AFP / Getty ]

Tags: Worlds-Coolest-Pools / Moscow / Russia Travel / Communist Travel / → All Tags

No Need to Russian This Moscow Pool

Last one in's a rotten egg! We're finding the best places in the world to stick our toes in this summer (or next winter) for our World's Coolest Pools map. Know of any pools we must check out? Let us know.

Ah, life is short and time is fleeting! We didn't get to Moscow in time to use one of the world's largest public pools—it closed in 1990—but its traces are still readily apparent on the site. Besides, we don't know of any other pools which later became houses of worship.

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Fly the Drug-Addled Skies of Aeroflot

Often we wonder why airlines still remind you, at the beginning of every flight, that "this is a non-smoking flight," because who can remember the last time open flame was welcomed in the sky? Of course, this innocent reminder goes for the flight attendants just as much as the passengers, but apparently needs to be broadened into "this is a non-bonging flight" for some Russian crew.

Thanks to Gadling, we've been turned on to this video of a possible Aeroflot crew not only smoking in the galley, but fashioning a plastic bottle into a personal bong for smoking hash. Aside from the obvious major no-nos associated with this (like setting something on fire, doing drugs on the job and doing drugs on the job when you're job is to protect the safety of others), we wonder at their stupidity to then film it and post it online.

If anyone happens to speak Russian and can translate their giggly words, which we bet are saying "oh man, this is totally going to get us fired," then let us know in the comments, because from now on, we'll be wondering what exactly is going down in the big galley in the back.

Related Stories:
· Russian flight crew smoking pot mid-flight [Gadling]
· Pilot and Stewardess smoke hashish during flight [LiveLeak]
· Drug Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

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Russian LCC Travel: Sky Express Launches Express Magazine

Just as other airlines are ditching in-flight magazines because they weigh too much (and secretly, we think, because they know they're full of rubbish), the colorful Russian low-cost carrier Sky Express is just starting one up.

We don't know too much about Sky Express, which flies from a Moscow hub to 11 other Russian cities. Given our own experience with non-low-cost Russian airlines, we're not sure we want to know much.

But in case you want to fly on the cheap around Russia, you'll now be able to read Express Magazine as you do it. The big plan is to revolutionize the Russian in-flight magazine market. If they're talking revolutions, perhaps they're in the right place.

Related Stories:
· Sky Express [Official Site]
· Ink Connects with Sky Express [Peanuts]
· This Week at Emirates: Whither the In-Flight Magazine? [Jaunted]

[Photo: Sky Express]

Tags: Worlds-Best-Train-Trips-Map / Train Travel / Russia Travel / Videos / → All Tags

World's Greatest Train Travel: The Grandest Babushka of All

This week, we're mapping some of the world's greatest train trips.

We'd be crazy if we didn't include the Trans-Siberian Railway on our list of the world's best trains. The Moscow-to-Vladivostok luxury line, the third-longest continual service route in the world, was one of the first to intentionally connect across borders (via the Beijing spur, technically known as the Trans-Manchurian) and to allow its posh clientele the opportunity to see areas of the world that even now are considered dangerous.

As the only route we covered that gets its own Lonely Planet volume, the Trans-Siberian is still influencing the direction of international train travel: Russia, China and Germany announced this year that it would collaborate on a Beijing-to-Hamburg route.

We get a little stir-crazy thinking about being on a train that long but with a little vodka, it just might be bearable.

Related Stories:
· Not a Real Trans-Siberian Trip [Jaunted]
· Travel Films: Transsiberian Is an Ice Cold Thriller [Jaunted]
· Ulan Bataar To The Russian Border [The World Is Not Flat]

Tags: Trains / Train Travel / Russia Travel / Airport Transportation / → All Tags

Airport Connections: Improving at Moscow's Sheremetyevo

Moscow might be a blossoming tourist destination with pricier hotels than nearly anywhere else, but until now getting into the city from any of the airports has been a bit of a nightmare. But things are looking up.

With a tongue-twister of a name, the Savyolovsky Station--Sheremetyevo Airport Rail Link has just opened, whizzing travelers from Sheremetyevo into downtown Moscow in just 35 minutes--half the time it used to take on the bus.

Of course, now you miss out on sitting on that smoggy gray traffic jam known as Leningradskoye Highway, but don't worry, it'll still probably take you ages to get through the immigration line.

Related Stories:
· Moscow Sheremetyevo Gains New Rail Link [Business Traveller]
· Moscow Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: jystewart]