Russia Trip

Nearly 30 students and accompanying staff braved the snow of a Russian winter.......

.....during February half-term, as the History department organised its biennial visit to Moscow and St Petersburg. We flew into Moscow and stayed two nights at the vast Hotel Cosmos, with spectacular views over the Russian space monument and Stalinist Exhibition park. Our time in Moscow took in all the famous sites such as Red Square, the Kremlin, the beautiful St Basil's Cathedral and Lenin's mausoleum. Moscow was a city of striking contrasts - traditional Asiatic grandeur, bleak Soviet architecture and modern day brash, yet thriving capitalism!  An overnight sleeper train to St Petersburg took us to Russia's second city where we were greeted by a beautiful sunny morning (apparently, St Petersburg only gets about 30 days of sunshine a year and we enjoyed two of them!). We were all struck by the beauty and elegance of the city centre, with its eighteenth century architecture and network of canals and rivers looking all the more sparkling against the sunshine and snow. The highlight was undoubtedly the Winter Palace and Hermitage museum, containing one of the largest art collections in the world. A final day visit to the Catherine Palace (a Tsarist 'Blenheim'!) and the sombre memorial to the siege of Leningrad completed a stimulating, exhausting and thoroughly enjoyable trip!
Features
Russia Trip Nearly 30 students and accompanying staff braved the snow of a Russian winter.......