I lived in Moscow for a year, working at the British International School as the art teacher. I also visited on my way from Hong Kong to London with A. Living in Russia was intense. I loved and hated it, normally at the same time. I had amazing experiences including walking on Red Square at 2am while the snow came down and going into the Arctic circle. Russians en masse are rather aggressive, but individually they can be charming and welcoming. It’s a tough environment: it’s winter for 7 months and frozen for 5 of those, but it’s definitely worth visiting for the history and culture, particularly in and around St Petersburg.

When: Lived from August 2001 – June 2002, Visited in July 2005

Where: Moscow, Novgorod, St Petersburg, Sergiev Posad, Murmansk, Irkutsk, Lake Baikal

Who: Alone, with friends, with my parents, with A.

How: travelling around Russia I always took the train. The trains run on time and are comfortable – especially the sleepers

Weather: Very cold winters (you need long-johns, hat, gloves and very warm coat), the summer can be warm and sunny but also very wet.

Food: potatoes, borsch, blinis and caviar, sour cream, vodka, champanski,

Sights:  Moscow: Red Square, St Basil’s Cathedral, The Kremlin & Armoury, Lenin (if he’s open, I never managed to see him), monument to, the Pushkin museum, Tretyakov museum, the Nicolas Roerich museum (real gem this!), The All Russia Exhibition centre,

St Petersburg: The Hermitage, palaces, The Winter palace

Irkutsk: lake Baikal

View Russia in a larger map
Surprises: how comfortable the trains are

Tips: learning a few words of Russian will help. Learn to read the cyrillic russian alphabet. Go to the restaurant Dada Vanya’s for the best borcsh with garlic brioche.