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The idea was to go to the Yusupov Palace today and the Hermitage again on Monday but, as it is closed on Mondays, we made our second visit today. This … Read more

We went to the Hermitage today. Got the orange line from Ploshchad Aleksandrogo Nevskogo to Spasskaya, then the purple line to Admiralteiskaya. The pictures tell it all. Mosaic in Admiralteiskaya … Read more

After changing 1,000 dollars for roubles, we had breakfast in a very nice coffee bar on Nevskii Prospekt, then continued to walk down it until it crossed the Fontanka Canal, … Read more

We heard that every hotel in Saint Petersburg was fully booked but were lucky to find a sweet little hotel just off Nevskii Prospekt which was full on the 10th, … Read more

In the morning we went to see the Novgorod Kremlin, often called the Novgorod Detinets. The first Bishop of Novgorod built his “Cathedral of Holy Wisdom” in 989 and the … Read more

A long day of driving on roads ranging from moderately bumpy to sublimely-smooth, the latter being the M10 motorway from Moscow to Saint Petersburg. This was a toll road and … Read more

Before setting off for St Petersburg via Ivanovo and Yaroslavl, we went to see the last significant site in Suzdal, the Pokrovskii Cathedral. It was founded in 1364 by Andrei … Read more

Suzdal arose in the 11th-century on the basis of a fort (kremlin) with earthen walls and the main religious building, the Rozhdestvenskii Sobor with gorgeous blue onion domes was built … Read more

An uneventful journey on a road which alternated between treble, dual and single carriageway road which made driving rather stressful. The road turned right at Vladimir and took us to … Read more

An advantage of sleeping in the van is that we were up and in the village before practically anybody else. We went to see the Cathedral of the Icon of … Read more