CRUISE SHIP DOCKS AT ST. PETERSBURG
By Bob Van Leer

  (MOSCOW, RUSSIA, Aug. 13, 1993) - After a couple of leisurely days at sea we made up for it today with a full schedule that started at the docks in St. Petersburg, Russia, and ended at the Hotel Metropol in Moscow.

  Our ship, the Crown Odyssey, docked at St. Petersburg this morning after a two-day cruise from Warnemunde, Germany. At the dock we were serenaded by a Russian band playing the Triumphal March from the opera Aida, the first shore-side serenade we have been given.

   St. Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia. Betty and I visited here in 1989 when there was still a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Now, of course, the union has broken up. Russia was always the dominant republic and is a giant country in its own right. In land area, Russia is almost as large as the U. S. and Canada combined.

St. Petersburg is a relatively new city, founded May 21, 1703, by Russian czar Peter the Great. Moscow is a far older city, founded in the 12th century. Moscow was the capital until St. Petersburg was founded. Moscow became the capital again after the 1918 Russian revolution.

Flight to Moscow

  Shortly after docking 50 of us left the ship in two buses for the Pulkovo Airport to catch a plane to Moscow. The drive through St. Petersburg showed little change, except perhaps more signs in English, since the last time were here and the city was named Leningrad. The airport certainly hasn't changed. It is a secondary airport for the city and the best description of it is "seedy". In the waiting room a cat and two kittens begged food from waiting passengers. The airport is for local flights. The last time we were at the airport was to catch a plane for Warsaw, Poland.

  We were scheduled for an hour jet flight for the 400 mile trip to Moscow. Instead, we went on an Antonev turboprop plane that took an hour and 45 minutes. The terrain from St. Petersburg to Moscow, where we could see it through the clouds, was flat and a mixture of crop lands and forest. Timber harvesting was by small clearcuts. We landed at Vnukovo Airport, the smallest of the four civilian airports serving Moscow.

  We were met by our Intourist guide, Jane, who would be with us for the next two days. She said Russia is 10,000 kilometers east and west and 5000 north and south. Russia is 3/4ths in Asia and 1/4th in Europe. Moscow is in the center of the European part. The Moscow region is a huge administrative district of 7 million people. of these, 5 million are in the city. The district is larger than some European cities and has 72 smaller cities in it. Moscow is the main industrial area in Russia and it shows in heavy air pollution.

To the Metropol

  We were taken to our hotel, the Metropol, which is very centrally located, just a block from Red Square. The Bolshoi Theatre is just across the street from the hotel. We noticed several empty pedestals in the city missing statues torn down at the time of the breakup of the USSR. One was of the founder of the hated KGB. We went to Red Square for a tour and took pictures of the famous St. Basil's Cathedral. Red Square is large, but not nearly as large as Tianenmen Square in Beijing, China. It is 130 by 695 meters in size. One long side is formed by the wall of the Kremlin with the tomb of Lenin in front of the wall. This is the reviewing stand we used to see on TV as the Soviet leaders reviewed the missiles and other military might paraded in front of them. The other is on the east end.

  Moscow, at least the parts we have seen, seems to be in better physical shape than St. Petersburg. This may go with being the capital. U. S. money is accepted at most places we have visited. After a day of sightseeing we finished off the evening with a visit to a theatre for an outstanding program of folk dancing and singing. Tomorrow we are to be taken on a tour inside the walls of the Kremlin.