WELCOME TO POSTCARD DESTINATIONS
TRAVEL CHRONICLES

POSTING 014

Cruise San Francisco to Vancouver
May 5-12, 2007
By Richcard A., San Francisco CA

Posting 012

Posting: 011

TRADITIONAL GRAND EUROPEAN TOUR
"Hi Nicholas,
We received the documents on Saturday and what a great package you packed for us! Thanks for all of the goodies -- especially the language converter. You are the best!
Mary"
Matlacha Isles, FL

TOUR -- Aug 31-Sep 26, 2005
050902

End of Posting 011

Posting: 010

THAILAND WITH ANGKOR WAT
By Tom Harrison
CLICK HERE: Thailand Comments
050420

End of Posting 010

Posting: 009

SOUTH AFRICA AND 24 DAY ANTARCTIC CRUISE
By Tom Harrison CLICK HERE Click Here For Antarctic Cruise Report

End of Posting 009

Posting: 008

Author: Bob Vizzard, Sacramento, CA
Trip: DISCOVER GAY RUSSIA, Postcard Destinations group to MOSCOW and ST. PETERSBURG.
September 13-19, 2002
Date Posted: 10/19/02

Trip on the whole was great. Airport transfers worked without a problem. Moscow is beautiful and historical. The Hotel "Ukraine" is monumental. One of the six "teeth of Stalin" as the Russians call the six "wedding cake" buildings in Moscow. Soviet style hotel, i.e. no concierge, restaurants and other services one expects in a European hotel. Very little English. Couldn't cash a traveler's check. View spectacular. Breakfast good. About a 25 min. brisk walk from the Kremlin. Prissier queens might prefer a more western hotel of which there is a plethora.

Historical guides in both cities were good. Incredibly knowledgeable, good English, and tried to accommodate us as much as the schedule and group desires allowed. Aloisha, the guide in St. Petersburg, set me up with a guide for my additional two days there. $93 and $15 for tickets for a driver and guide for the day to see the Catherine and Palovsk Palaces. $30 for an afternoon, personal tour of the Hermitage and another selected available site or two. A good deal.

Restaurants are plentiful and the food is reasonably priced by European standards. The "Moscow Hotel" had more services than the "Ukraine" Not like the Hotels more in the center of the city but I am sure much more reasonably priced. Two easy subway stops from the center of town or a 40 min. walk. Breakfast was very good, more English than at the "Ukraine". I liked it.

Demetri, our "gay guide" was a sweetheart, spoke perfect English and was very helpful. Taxies plentiful and pretty cheap but you have no common language (but how is that different from New York?) Would be glad to talk to anyone contemplating the trip. Keep me posted on available trips.I liked both hotels. Both were an easy walk to the center of the city. The Moscow Hotel in St. P was easy by subway to the center. I didn't try the subway in Moscow. Maybe next time, I will be more adventurous. Hopefully my Russian will be better. The Subway tour, by the way, was superb.

Sincerely,
Bob Vizzard

End of Posting 008

Posting: 007

Author: Richard Brabham, Richmond, CA
Trip: DISCOVER GAY RUSSIA, Postcard Destinations group to MOSCOW and ST. PETERSBURG.
September 13-19, 2002
Date Posted: 10/19/02

RUSSIAN ADVENTURE SEPTEMBER 2002!

What a wonderful and exciting trip! It was filled with exciting people, places and discoveries. Leaving London on Friday the 13th didn't pose a problem! No black cats were awaiting us, but a driver with a sign with our names was!! I've always wanted to be met that way---seems so exotic and prestigious. Luckily the driver knew where we were to be taken, as he spoke no English, and we no Russian.

The drive thru Moscow en route to the Hotel Ukraine was quite interesting. Our first sighting of many familiar western brand names ­ Pepsi, Coke, Camel, Marlboro, and of course the ubiquitous McDonalds (there are over 50 in Moscow!) The taxi radio was on 104.7 FM and playing "world music", about 2/3 english songs with others from Brazil, Russia, etc. I heard many of the songs that have been on local radio in the Bay Area. Ikea and one that looked like a Russian copy were huge. The business districts are filled with sidewalk kiosks selling just about anything. Many are food oriented, but many are for cosmetics, CD's, videos. The cutest ones are the watermelon "jails" ­ about 10 feet tall and made of curved pipes in the shape of a watermelon with a canvas "roof" and "skirt" painted like a rattlesnake watermelon. It is piled full of melons and when they are open, they open a little door and sell from it, and when it is closed, they just lock it up and the melons are safe since the pipes are placed close together!

Before arriving at the hotel, we traveled up the "Casino Row" with blocks and blocks looking like a bit of Las Vegas. One of the most impressive was fashioned in the shape of a huge ship. Many old churches were demolished to create this new "strip". We had heard that the Soviets had torn down all of the churches ­ but we know that MANY survived. Some were turned into skating rinks, subway stations, swimming pools, etc. Only one little one is left in this area.

The Hotel Ukraine is located on the Moskva River, and is one of the 7 "Wedding Cake" design buildings from the Stalin era. It is 29 floors high, and we had a fabulous view of the river, and the Russian Federation Government House (the White House). The White House is faced with white marble and I remember it well from the TV news coverage of the fall of the Soviet Era in 1991. That is where it all came down and the new era began. We could also see the Moscow City Hall and the American Embassy nearby.

Our first morning began with a breakfast buffet ­ including a salad bar and scrambled eggs with green beans! The pastries were rather dry and uninteresting. Don't exactly know who they were cooking for ­many non-breakfast type of things!

While waiting in the lobby for our tour, we saw several groups of very official looking men come in, and some very "KGB" type guards. As we were joined by the tour guide, she pointed to another group passing by and singled out the man in the center with burgundy robes and a skull cap-"the leader of the Chechneyan Rebels". So apparently there were some of the talks going on in our hotel!

All during our trip the weather was magnificent! Balmy days and nice nights, with only a couple of showers or days of rain ­ and we were inside the Hermitage Museum most of that day!

The Moscow city tour was filled with buildings that were interesting, many dating back several centuries. It was hard to follow all of the things they had been, and then find out that they were a museum or warehouse now! We drove to the city center and then began a walking tour. Our first stop was the Maneges gardens and fountains. One of the large stone buildings on the edge of this area had two distinctly different architectural styles on each wing next to the main façade. It seems the architect presented two sets of plans to Stalin. Not realizing that he was to choose, Stalin signed both of them ­ and the architect didn't want to upset him by asking which he preferred, so he built one wing from one set of plans and the other from the second! From there we walked past the State History Museum to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexandrovsky Gardens, which runs along one wall of the Kremlin. Kremlin means walled city -- and there are several Kremlin's in Russia.

It was at the Tomb we encountered the first of hundreds of wedding parties! It is custom to have the civil ceremony, and then the entire wedding party tours the city, visiting places of importance to the couple or traditional places. Then later in the day, they have the church ceremony which is more symbolic than official. We saw the largest number on the Swallow Bluffs overlooking Moscow later in the tour ­ easily 2 or 3 hundred couples!

We entered the Kremlin and toured several cathedrals there ­ all complete with onion domes ­ some in gold, some in silver, some with both colors, and some of other colors. We visited the Cathedral of the Annunciation, the Archangel Michael, as well the Cathedral of the Dormition, where all of the tsars were crowned. The Ivan the Great Bell tower is spectacular. We also saw the Arsenal Building, the Terem Palace of the Royals, the Tsar Cannon, which was never fired --- and the cannon balls on display in front are larger than the hole in the barrel! The Tsar bell was never rung, as it broke during its firing process. There are a total of 20 Kremlin towers, all different and strikingly beautiful. We walked past the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Armoury Museum, but didn't have time to tour.

We entered Red Square through the Voskresenkiye (Resurrection) Gates, which were restored in 1995. Just inside the gates was the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. It had been destroyed during the expansion of Red Square in the 1930's but was totally restored in 1993. I never in my life thought I would be standing in Red Square, looking across to Lenin's Tomb and walking thru the Upper Trading Arcades (now called the State Department Store, or GUM) It was built in the late 19th century and was the largest commercial building in Moscow for a long time. Our concept of arcades and malls looks to have had its origins here.

At the southern end of the Square is the most unique and colorful of the Cathedrals-The Cathedral of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God (Cathedral of St. Basil, the Blessed) (also known as St. Vasily) built in 1555-61. NOW I know where Walt Disney got the "It's a Small World" idea!! In front of it was the beautiful monumentto Citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky, the heroes of the people's volunteer corps who were the head of the Russian people's liberation struggle against foreign invaders in 1612.

From there we drove to the far side of the river to view the Kremlin from afar. Quite a sight! Then on southward past Gorky Park, with its Roller Coaster ­ didn't have time to ride!!! L We passed the beautiful monument to Peter the Great as a sailor, and the huge Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It had been plundered by Stalin. Its beautiful carrera marble and chandeliers used in the Metro Stations, and then blown up! It reopened in 1995.

Next came the Novodevichy Convent, with its beautiful bell tower. This is where the Tsars sent the women of their lives when they were upset with them. Behind it is the cemetery where many prominent figures in Russian history and culture are buried.

On the way to Sparrow Bluffs near the University of Moscow, we passed Kiev Stadium, the main venue for the US boycotted 1980 Olympics. It was a beautiful day and the view over Moscow was spectacular. Also spectacular was the number of bridal parties at the view point---easily 200-300 or more!

After a wonderful lunch of traditional Russian cuisine at the Fisherman's Restaurant (once we found out how to get to it around all the street construction) we were off to a late afternoon visit to the living history museum at Kolomenskoye. We attended a church service in St. Ivan's Cathedral and saw Peter the Great's cabin relocated from Arkhangelsk, and The Church of the Ascension. Kolomenskoye was the former estate of the Moscow grand dukes and the Russian Tsars. It was a bit of a disappointment, other than the great views. Possibly the other interesting parts were closed for the day.

Dinner was at a beautiful traditional Russian Restaurant in downtown Moscow. The décor was representative of old Russia, and the food was fabulous.

It was interesting to walk the streets and visit some of the nightclubsnothing much different than any nightclub anywhere in the world. We did not expect to find girls riding horseback at 11 PM on the main streets! There were lots of people out and about. There was even a club for rich Russian women featuring Chippendale type strippers, with huge banners on the street and bright flashing lights!

Sunday was filled with fun and discovery. We stashed our luggage at the hotel and walked a few blocks to the Metro Station nearby, and began a tour of Moscow Metro. It is really situated DEEP underground ­ a result of it being built as a war shelter for the people, in case they should be attacked. Each station on the ring route is a study in art and beauty. Lots of statues, mosaics, marble, monuments, gold and semiprecious stones, and fancy chandeliers! The Ploshchad Revolyutsii station has the carrera marble from the Cathedral! I was amazed at how busy the stations were ­ they have long trains that run every 3 to 4 minutes ­ and they carry over 3 Million passengers a day! At 10:30 PM the long escalators were totally jammed in both directions, with hardly room for another person to squeeze on!

Sunday is shopping day in Moscow, and we did just that! We took the Metro to the Izmailovo Flea Market. It is located in the old Olympic fun village, so has interesting architecture everywhere-windmills, etc. The variety of traditional Russian goods was totally amazing. The different levels of quality and workmanship in the Matreshki (painted hollow nested wooden dolls) was amazing. They even had sets with 17 dolls! Also available were the famous Russian Ushanka fur hats with ear flaps. A group of vendors decided I was to have one...and they surrounded me and kept following us, no matter where we wentso finally Bob bought one for me, to get rid of them! We shopped until we couldn't carry anymore, and then left to visit the Tretyakov State Gallery of art. It was a wonderful exhibit of paintings, sculpture and Iconsall made much more interesting with the knowledge of our expert tour guide, Dmitry!

We then took a walk to a park where the monument to mans seven abuses of children was located. By now the smoke from the forest fires near Moscow was very prevalent in the air, both visually and smell-wise. Dinner in a restaurant featuring Ukranian foods followed---very good! We trudged in the rain back to the hotel, gathered our bags and were taken to the train station for the overnight ride to St. Petersburg, leaving Moscow at 23:55!

Luckily, we had a compartment to ourselves. The beds were long enough for me to stretch out in.and the train was noisy and the wheels kept thumping under my pillow, but I managed a bit of sleep. They provided a box breakfast of cold cuts, cheese, crackers, yogurt, cookies and a roll. Not very good!

We arrived at 8 AM and immediately were met by Alousha, our city guide in St. Petersburg. Since we could not check into the hotel until after 1 PM, we were whisked away in a minibus for a city tour. Nevsky Prospect is the main thoroughfare, and we immediately discovered that most of the important buildings were wrapped in scaffolding and screening for renovation in preparation for their 300th birthday celebration May 27th, 2003!

St. Nicholas Bell Tower

The first stop was the Rostral Columns at the eastern tip of Vasilyevsky Island on the Neva River, known as the spit. From there we could view the Hermitage and the St. Peter and Paul Fortress and Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Immediately upon stepping out of the bus, we started grabbing for extra coats and sweaters! It was a foggy and cold day, especially compared to the beautiful weather of Moscow. After a drive thru the University, we left the spit and returned to St. Petersburg proper and a stop at the square by St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Mariinsky Palace, now City Hall. The cathedral is one of the tallest buildings in town. In front of the Cathedral is the striking statue of Peter the Great from Catherine the Great, overlooking the Neva River. Alongside the statue is the former Senate Building, now a museum.

Our next stop was the beautiful blue and white Cathedral of St Nicholas and the bell tower in tribute to sailors that had lost their lives, including the recent submarine disaster. St. Petersburb's answer to St. Basil's is the 9 domed Cathedral of the Resurrection (also known as Our Saviour on-the Spilted-Blood). It was put up on the bank of the Griboyedov Canal on the site where 63 year old Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded by a hand-made terrorist bomb. To commemorate the 26-year reign of the Tsarm who entered the history of Russia as the "Liberator" of peasants from serfdom, and to redeem the sin of regicide, this cathedral was built with funds raised by people's donations. It has a jog out into the canal, to preserve the exact spot where the Tsar was attacked.

We then visited the Pushkin Statue, the Grand Europa Hotel (for the facilities J) and the grounds of the Russian Museum.

As we approached the fortress of SS Peter & Paul, we were told to park and walk into the area, a special ceremony was occuring. Our guide said that that was the first time he had encountered a service in the Cathedral. It was a special service to honor the Icon that was most revered in the Romanov family. It is the Fyodorov Virgin and Child, which is reputed to have miraculous properties. It is considered to have been painted by the apostle St. Luke One of the oldest Icons in Russia---and we were lucky to have viewed it! In the middle of the servce, one of the priests ducked behind a column in the church and answered his cell phone! Maybe he was getting a call from on high?

We walked around the fortress and saw an unattractive statue of Peter the Great by the same artist who did the children's abuse statues in Moscow. He changes perspective on body parts as his commentary on that person! On the drive to our hotel we passed the ship Aurora, now a museum. It fired the first shot announcing the revolution of 1917. We also visited the blue Resurrection Cathedral of the Smolny Convent. It was, of course, wrapped in scaffoldingbut the postcard we bought shows what we missed. It was on the site of one of the earliest settlements in the region. Peter the Great also built a tar yard there.Smolny means tar!

Our hotel (Hotel Moscow) was huge.it took almost 10 minutes to walk the hallway from the desk to our room! We had a nice room overlooking the Neva River and one of the many bridges. One has to pay attention to the bridge closing times-generally from 2:00 AM to 5:45 AM, depending on which bridge. They open the bridges to ship traffic, so if you live on the other side, you have to wait until they reopen to traffic!

Not to be outdone by Moscow, St. Petersburg has the deepest Metro system in the world! And we thought Moscow was deep! There was a station right outside our hotelso for the equivalent of 20 cents, we hopped the Metro for two stops to come to the center of town at the huge shopping arcade, Gostiny Dvor. It is filled with all of the swank shops of the world. Our dinner was at the posh "Cats" restaurant about a half block away. It is very nice with wonderful food. While there we heard some beautiful music, reminiscent of vaudville or the 30's. Upon inquiry, we learned that it was a group called Palast Orchester. The desserts were the hit of the evening--- fruits, hollowed out and filled with ice cream flavored with that variety of fruit ­ I had a wonderful orange and Tom had a pineapple. The real surprise was when the bill came = $8.95 EACH! It was worth it!
After dinner we walked along Nevsky Prospect and saw some of the statues ­ particularly the bridge crossing the Fontaka River with the 4 beautiful horse sculptures entitled "Taming a Horse" by Piotr Klodt from the mid 1800's. The beautiful pink and white Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace overlooked the Fontaka and the bridge. We also visited the park with the statue of Catherine II.

One of the greatest highlights of the entire trip awaited us on Tuesday! We drove in the minibus about 40 miles north west of St. Petersburg to Petrodvorets to see Peterhof on the Gulf of Finland. Of course, the road we were to take was closed for renovation! But it gave us a chance to see some of the smaller villages and back roads in the area. It was interesting seeing the small farms and garden spaces. Many places were just small shacks, but many were quite nice homes. On the way out of town, we passed the Moscow Triumphal Arch, erected to honor those who fought in The Great Patriotic War (WWII). Also the Stalin Building, with the famous statue of "Stalin Hailing a Taxi" out front. Across the street was the very new modern Library Building ­ quite a contrast in architecture. A little further out was a huge area of gigantic apartment buildings, one next to the other. Really dense housing.

The weather was perfect as we arrived at Peterhof. The immense grounds, both front and back are filled with fountains of all types and sizes. And not a one has a pump in it! The entire system is gravity fed from three reservoirs about eight miles away! They rival any pictures I have seen of famous fountains of Italy. Some are beautiful, some are fun and some are tricky. Peter was a great trickster. As guests would arrive at the Palace by boat, they were allowed to sail right up to the base of the Palace. A set of steps and a couple of arches with doors greeted them. As they would reach for the doorknob, they would be drenched with water from above! And the doors were fake! In another area of the garden there was a flower fountain. As people leaned over to look at it, it squirted them. They would immediately back away and seek a place to sit and dry off---but the bench alongside was under a tree fountain that was activated whenever anyone sat on the bench!

The tour of the Palace was breathtaking! So much gold, and crystal and parquet wood and you name it ­ almost defies description. Catherine was so taken with some of the Palaces or features of them in Italy, she would get permission to copy them, and then hire the artisans to come and create it for her. The floors are so exquisite that no shoes are allowed! It was a challenge to keep the sllippers on my big feet, as they were for regular sized people! We have a book on the Palace and one on the fountains. No pictures were allowed inside. The tour of the grounds was so impressive with the fountains, huge bird cages, statues, gardens, and tree lined pathways everywhere. We saw Catherine's Block where she spent the night awaiting word that the assassination had been carried out and she was now Tsar.

On the way back to town, we stopped at another Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral. Also very ornate with colorful onion domes. Lunch was at the Stoganof Restaurant, where the tasty dish was created. After lunch we toured St. Isaac's Cathedral, going up to the observation level where we could see the entire city! Breathtaking views! As we walked thru the Admiralty Park, we were approached by a young lady on a horse. She wanted to know if we wanted horseback rides. We declined, and then she said, "Could I have some money? My horse is hungry!" It was a first for us, panhandling from a/for a horse!!

As it began to rain on Wednesday, we didn't care, because it was our day in the Hermitage Museum. It is so huge, and has so many things. Our introductory tour skimmed some of the most popular paintings and a couple of other things. We then left for a delicious lunch at a local restaurant and returned to spend more time in the Hermitage, viewing the wonderful marble sculpture areas and culminating with the exquisite Peacock Clock designed by the Englishman James Cox and bought in 1780 by Prince Potemkin. It was brought to St. Petersburg in pieces and reassembled in 1792 and is still working today! When the clock strikes, the gilded peacock "comes to life": it spreads its tail, turns and bows to the spectators. The owl in a round cage alongside turns its head and blinks its eyes, while the cockerel crows! Quite a sight!!

We ended that day with an evening of classical ballet in the Hermitage Theatre by the St. Petersburg Ballet and the State Symphony Orchestra. It was wonderful in every aspect! The grand theatre is 217 years old.

Our last day was also a bit showery, but not enough to keep us indoors! We visited the cemetery for famous people of the arts and saw the tombstones of Rimsky Korsikoff and Tchaikovsky, among others. That was followed by a trip to the Flea Market before leaving for the airport. It is rather complicated when the driver leaves you at the wrong terminal and you speak no Russian, and they speak no English! But we managed to find the right place and fly Aeroflot ­ I'll never complain about the lack of room on Southwest again!

It was a WONDERFUL, EXCITING trip. The main drawback was the fact that everyone smokes ­ starting at about 8 or 9 years old! Too bad they haven't gotten the word!
Beautiful people in a beautiful land with great spirits and friendly warm hearts. I'd go back in a heartbeat---with a guide!!!

End of Posting 007

Posting: 006

Author: Tom Harrison, Sacramento, CA
Trip: DISCOVER GAY RUSSIA, Postcard Destinations group to MOSCOW and ST. PETERSBURG.
September 13-19, 2002
Date Posted: 10/20/02

DISCOVER GAY RUSSIA TOUR REPORT

Moscow
Our flight from London to Moscow was on time and we had no trouble getting through customs. We were greeted by a non-English-speaking driver holding a sign with our names on it, but there was no indication that he was the tour guide. He drove us in a passenger car in Friday rush hour traffic completely across town from the airport on the western side of the city to the Hotel Ukraine. My very first impression was that Moscow is a very big and bustling city with industry, retail stores, and high-rise apartments built during various periods and there was considerable new construction underway. There were many billboards advertising movies, shows, and products, many of which I was familiar with the logos, but could not read the text! I new immediately I was in a foreign country! About 45 minutes later we arrived at the Hotel Ukraine, a high-rise hotel constructed during the Soviet area, located on the Moscow River. From our 24th floor room, we could clearly see the White House, which is the Russian executive office building where Gorbachev ceded power to Yeltsin in 1991, marking the end of the Soviet area and launching Russia's experiment with democracy and capitalism. We also had a great panorama of downtown Moscow.

While we were registering, we were joined by Bob V., a friend from Sacramento. He had arrived late the previous evening. We three spent the next several hours having dinner in the hotel and trying to contact our tour director. Since we were having some trouble with the menu, at one point the waiter snorted "oink"-oink" to help us select the pork chops! Finally about 11:00 p.m., we were contacted by Dmitry, a cute guy in his 30's, who speaks excellent English. He had been delayed in returning from Istanbul. The four of us piled into a taxi and headed to the Three Monkeys night club-disco, where action was just getting started. Loud techno music with a distinctive Russo-European beat was pulsing through the smoke-filled bar, and a strip show commenced about 1:00 a.m. All of us enjoyed our kick-off visit to Gay Russia.

The next morning a van arrived with an English-speaking woman tour guide for our city tour of Moscow. Among the places we passed were the Arbot district, a 17th century Arab section, which had been expanded during the Soviet era by demolishing old buildings, including many churches, to build a wide boulevard with many shops and gambling casinos, which now forms Moscow's entertainment district-the New Arbot. We saw the Duma, Russia's parliament building, the Bolshoi theater, KGB (now renamed), and numerous other public buildings and monuments, finally stopping in Maneges Square, location of a history museum, to view a statue of Gen. Jugov, who proclaimed victory over Germany during the invasion of Moscow in World War II. We walked through the beautiful Alexandrovsky Gardens, passing along the outside of the Kremlin wall, where we viewed the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier, and viewed other beautiful sculptures and fountains. We entered the Kremlin wall through one of several towers dating back to the 15th century to Cathedral Square, site of many historic events in Russia. We saw photographed, and toured several of the six cathedrals clustered in this square, including the Cathedral of the Dormition where Russia's czars were crowned; the beautiful gold onion-domed Cathedral of the Annunciation; the Ivan the Great Bell Tower and Campanile, the Grand Kremlin Palace, home of the czars. We saw the cracked Czar Bell and the Czar Cannon, with restored cannon balls to large to be fired! Tours inside the cathedrals provided breath-taking glimpses of beautiful iconography on the altars, marvelous walls and ceiling ornamentation, and grand crystal chandeliers. Our tour around inside the Kremlin continued past the Arsenal, and other government administrative buildings, statues and monuments as our guide gave extensive narrative on their history and significance. We walked around to Red Square, which was closed off for viewing of Lenin's tomb, then walked through the famous GUM department store. From there we viewed other towers on the Kremlin wall, then passed in front of the most beautiful of all the cathedrals-the 16th Century Cathedral of St. Vasily the Blessed (aka St. Basil). This is the cathedral with three onion domes of various architectural types with a tall spire that is seen on most tourist brochures and many postcards, T-shirts, etc. It is truly awesome and my special favorite!

Boarding the minivan again we crossed the river to view the Kremlin/Cathedral Square complex from afar. We passed by Christ the Savior Cathedral, which had been torn down during the Soviet era, but was completely rebuilt in 1995 at great expense, in despite Moscow's troubled economy at the time. We also stopped briefly to view the Novodevitchly Monastery, which at one point in Russia's torrid history, Ivan the Terrible had imprisoned his ex-wives. Also Boris Godonov had lived there. From there we headed up to Sparrow's Point near Moscow University, where we had a panorama view of Moscow. At this point we met Christian, a cute young man in his 20's, from Munich, Germany, who was joining our tour. He had experienced delay getting a flight out, due to failure to obtain a visa in advance of his scheduled departure. Here we saw, as we had in the Aleksandrovsky Gardens, numerous wedding parties celebrating by being "seen" at prominent places in the city on the day of their wedding. We couldn't help notice how cute the guys and gals were all gussied up in their formal attire. The women in their flowing gowns and veils were carrying beautiful flower sprays on their arms, the groom and the guys in the wedding party, also in formal attire, were carrying bottles of champagne and glasses from which all were periodically stopping for toasting and drinking. A good time was being had by all. The city guide left at this point and Dmitry then took the four of us to the Fisherman's Restaurant for an authentic Russian lunch.

After lunch we proceeded on out about 45 minutes from the city to Kolomenskoye. This former estate of the Moscow grand dukes and Russian czars is today is a museum-reserve portraying 16th and 17th century Russian architecture. Here we viewed and entered Our Lady of Kazan, an onion-domed cathedral built between 1644 and 1670. We then walked around to view The Church of the Ascension built in 1530 to celebrate the birth of Vasily III's son Ivan-the future Czar Ivan the Terrible. This early church, which has no onion dome, was closed and is under restoration. A great panorama of Moscow is visible in the background with the Moscow River in the foreground.

We returned to the hotel and rested while Dmitry took Chris to Red Square to catch up with the part of the tour he had missed. He then returned later in the evening and took the four of us dinner at a "theme décor" authentic Russian restaurant with costumed waiters and a chef staff cooking over a barbecue grill. We were able to sample the local seafood and other delicacies, while taking in the eye candy. After dinner we took the subway to check out to Kitai Gorod, a "cruisy park", and then headed through the back streets to a bar located in the rougher part of town, passing young kids hustling. Here again we were treated to Russian gay nightlife, this time at AWOL, a dance bar playing techno/disco Euro-Russian music, happily at a volume level that was more conducive to conversation. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the mixed gender dancing singles and couples, including one we dubbed "energizer bunny". We finally exited about 2:30 a.m. to the great disappointment of two drag queens, who swooned because we were to miss their show. Gosh, so sorry!

The next morning Dmitry picked us up for a tour of Moscow's famous subway stations. These were built by Stalin in the 1930's and depict Lenin, Stalin, and scenes from the labor movement in beautiful mosaics on the walls and ceilings from which hang great crystal chandeliers. We rode the circular subway line to view several stations--each had a different design theme.

From there we went to a huge flea market and had a glorious time shopping for Russian stacked dolls, T-shirts, porcelain figures, rugs, and the famous Ushkana "furry" hats with ear flaps. Richard found the Russians do not understand the English word "no", and not even "nyet". He is now the proud owner of such hat, thanks to Bob V. who paid them off just to get rid of them! It was a wonderful bazaar, full of sights and sounds of people and goods, great eye-candy, bargaining in rubles and dollars. Great fun.

Dmitry then took us to the Tretyakov State Art Museum, and gave a narrated tour of some of the famous Russian painters, including his favorite A.A. Ivanov (1806-1852). This gay artist had numerous pictures on nude males in classic poses, covering a major section of one gallery. After the gallery tour we walked to a park, which had a contemporary memorial sculpture depicting violence to children. Upon exiting the gallery we noticed the heavy odor of burning grass, which we later learned was a major forest fire burning outside Moscow. It was so bad that the Moscow airport was closed for several days, and planes had to be diverted to St. Petersburg. (Fortunately, we left that night by train for St. Petersburg.). We were then off to an authentic Ukrainian theme restaurant, and then by subway back to our hotel. A van came to take us to the train station for our overnight ride to St. Petersburg.

Four of us shared a sleeping compartment. Richard and I took the lower bunk, while Chris and Bob took the upper. The bed was just barely long enough for Richard. Dmitry, who had taken another compartment with strangers, stopped by and chatted a while, and we then settled down for the night. I managed to get four or five hours sleep, and did not realize the next morning that the train had stopped somewhere en route.

St. Petersburg
Bleary-eyed, with little chance to freshen up, we stumbled out of the train station into Monday morning traffic, where we were met by Alousha and set out on a city tour. We headed out the Nevsky Prospect, the major shopping street traversing the city between the bends in the River Neva and canals that separate the city into islands. (Aside: We later learned that drawbridges are hoisted during the night generally after 2:00 a.m. until 5:30 a.m. to permit boat traffic. Too bad if you are downtown and live on the other side of one of the drawbridges, you have to wait for them to lower. This happened to Dmitry one night.) I was immediately struck by the clear, cool air, which was a pleasant reprise from the smoggy air we had left behind in Moscow. Indeed the forest fires later became so bad that the Moscow airport was closed for a couple of days. Happily, it rained on Wednesday and Thursday, the day of our departure from St. Petersburg, and we were able to get out.

I was struck with how cosmopolitan and beautiful St. Petersburg really is. It has the feel of a European city. But, unfortunately, I immediately noticed that most of the prominent buildings we were to see were covered with scaffolding and netting, as a major restoration effort is underway in preparation for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg's founding in 1703. Our tour passed the Cathedral of the Lady of Kazan, crossed over a canal bridge and stopped at Arrow Point to see the Rostral Columns and get a view back over the Neva River to the green-hued Winter Palace/Hermitage. We passed St. Petersburg University, a local Duma (City Hall); viewed the Admiralty building with its prominent spire that served as a point of reference throughout our visit; saw St. Issac's Cathedral (which we returned to later in the week for panoramic shots); and viewed a former Senate building, now a national archive, where we stopped to view the statute of Peter the Great. It was inscribed "To Peter I from Catherine II". We stopped again briefly to view The Church of the Resurrection of Christ ("spilt blood"), which was restored and reopened in 1997. It reminded me a lot of St. Basil's in Moscow's Red Square. Passing other historic building and statues we then crossed a bridge onto St. Peter and St. Paul Fortress, an island, with its immense cathedral, where Peter the Great is buried. It too was mostly cover with scaffolding and netting. Passing street actors dressed as Peter and Catherine, and viewing an "ugly" statue of Peter the Great, we then entered the Cathedral. Not only were we able to view the grandeur of the altar, considerable public art and tombstones of Russian royalty (including Nicholas II), but also we happened onto a service commemorating an ancient icon deemed important to Russia's faithful. It seemed to me a bit impolite for our tour guide to be tramping us through the ceremony. Leaving the Cathedral we passed The Aurora, a restored ship/museum that had fired the first shot announcing the revolution of 1917. Passing the Smolny "tar" monastery (now a concert hall), we headed back across another bridge to our hotel.

To add to the confusion our hotel in St. Petersburg was The Moscow Hotel. It is a 7-story semi-circular designed hotel, which was built in the 60's soviet era, but subsequently added onto. It was seemingly a _ mile from the check in lobby to our room. But when finally arriving, exhausted, we were able to enjoy a grand view of the Alexander Nevsky Bridge and the Neva River. I was now time for a shower and nap.

In the evening Dmitry picked us up for a subway ride/walk to the "Cat" restaurant located in the high-class shopping district, the Gostiny Dvor. This is an elegantly appointed restaurant owner by gay entrepreneur Graf Usintsev. We were the only patrons this quiet Monday evening, but were treated to authentic Russian cuisine served by an attractive waiter. Hollywood show tunes were playing when we arrived, but music shifted to music by a very enjoyable Russian band, which Richard subsequently obtained a copy of the CD. A very disappointed live guitarist cooled his heels until a Scandanavian group came in for dessert, and he was allowed to play. There were autographed pictures on the wall of famous Russian actors and other celebrities who have visited the high-class restaurant. After a brief stop at a smoky bar, we elected to call it an evening and headed back to the hotel.

Next morning Alousha arrived with a tour van to take us to The Great Palace at Peterhof. Due to road construction, the van took back roads through rural villages, and passed along a modest vacation resort featuring small cottages "dachas" something like you might see at South Lake Tahoe (but not nearly as large!). Finally the van parked and we started across the immense grounds with beautiful fountains to the main entrance of the Palace. After covering our shoes with slippers to avoid damage to the parquet floors, we proceeded up the baroque, gilded "main staircase" to the first of 26 separate viewing rooms. Words are inadequate to describe the range of styles from classic to baroque to Chinese found throughout the vast reception rooms, ballrooms, dining rooms, studies, and living rooms of this grand structure. We saw magnificent parquet floors, with woods from all over the world, crystal and gold chandeliers, tapestries, grand drapes, Chinese silk wall coverings, Chinese lacquer panels, fine porcelain, Delft tile, Lemoge and Wedgewood china, fine mirrors, a Turkish divan and other grand furniture from European masters and indeed from all over the world. Suffice it to say the Peter the Great wanted to build a suburban residence equal in luxury to the famous Palace of Versailles. He and Catherine scoured the world for works of art and interior designs. What they were unable to buy, like a Greek tile bath, they would commission workmen to go to the original site, copy it, and return to Peterhof and construct it. And just when we had been thoroughly dazzled with the inside of the palace, we passed out into the gardens. After walking for more than an hour we were able to see only some of the 19 beautifully designed fountains of all types in a setting of gorgeous gardens. The interesting fact is that they entire system is run by gravity and there are no pumps necessary to operate the fountains. The grounds extend all the way to the shores of the Gulf of Finland. A canal extends from the sea to the base of the palace. From the point we could look across the bay and see the City of St. Petersburg.

After returning to St. Petersburg Dmitry took us by the local "cruise park" around a statue to Catherine the Great. We walked on down the Nevsky Prospect passing the Kazan Cathedral, with its Roman style arches, and stopping for lunch at the "stroganoff" café. The place, allegedly where Russian stroganoff was invented, features telephones on the tables so that one can call someone at another table. How quaint in this cell phone era! We toured along the Nevsky Prospect then hopped the subway back to our hotel. After lunch we returned to St. Issac's Cathedral and went to the roof to take panoramic pictures, then toured the museum inside the cathedral.

After returning to our hotel for R&R, Dmitry picked us up for a subway/walk to the Sinners bar/disco. This was a smoke-filled three level club, which we entered by ringing a bell. The ground floor was a dance bar with tables and stools. Along one wall was a small circular dance performance stage (just large enough for one person) accessible by a ladder from the dance floor. A long fireman's type pole extended from floor to ceiling, which the dancers used in their act. Two separate dancers stripped during the evening. On the second level there was another bar and viewing area down to the dance floor. The third level was an area for conversation and had a darkroom. During the course of the evening we all had some connection with the locals. It was truly hilarious watching Bob engage some of the guys in conversation, he with fractured German and Russian. They so badly wanted to try out their English. We proceeded to pronounce and they would mimic "California", "San Francisco", "New York" etc. Richard's Russian friend spoke better English than his fellow Russians, and had great fun laughing at us all. We finally left in a taxi in pouring rain in the wee hours of the morning, leaving Dmitry to remain until the bridges lowered.

Wednesday it rained all day. Alousha picked us up with the van for a trip to the Hermitage. The Hermitage is actually an art gallery, which Catherine commissioned built adjoining and connecting to the Winter Palace, when her collections outgrew its space. It is truly a world- class art museum with famous paintings of all the European masters. Unfortunately the tour was too hasty and our tour guide to soft-spoken to compete with the noise from the huge number of other tour groups. Full enjoyment was hampered by the rude behavior and illegal picture taking by a large group of Chinese tourists. Richard, Bob and I decided to return on our own after the scheduled lunch. By getting headphones in English, keyed to certain paintings, we were able to see more at our own pace later that afternoon. Still, because the collection is so huge, it was necessary to prioritize, so Richard and I spend much of our time with the Greek and Roman classical sculpture collection ending up at a magnificent animated 18th century Peacock clock. After returning our headsets, we made our way to The Hermitage Theater, rejoining Chris. Here in this beautifully restored theater we saw excerpts from several famous ballets including "Swan Lake", "Sleeping Beauty", and "Don Quixote" among others. The theater opened in 1785, but closed in 1796 with the death of Catherine, not to be reopened again until 1989. The dancers appeared to be younger and less experienced, perhaps just getting started in professional ballet, but did a good job. Due to a missed communication, we waited for more than an hour after the performance ended for the driver to pick us up and return to the hotel.

Next morning Dmitry came to the hotel to walk us across the street to the cemetery of artists, musicians and intellectuals. Fittingly, in a drizzling rain, we looked at the gravestones of such greats as Rimsky Korsikov, Stravinsky,Tchaikovsky, Dostievsky, Alexander Ivanov (the gay painter whose works we saw in Moscow), and several Russian stage actors, including a famous gay actor. About noon Dmitry bid Richard and I goodbye, and our driver and van arrived at 3:00 p.m. to take us to the St. Petersburg airport to Moscow then on to London for an overnight at a Heathrow hotel. Home on Friday to San Francisco.

In summary, it was a grand cultural experience. We saw many great and beautiful historical places and met some truly nice people, including some of the gay Russians. Our tour guide Dmitry was excellent and the history/city guides very good. The hotels were good, although the one in St. Petersburg, was more attuned to western hotel service. The weather was great--shirt-sleeve--except for cool evenings and rain on the last two days of our trip in St. Petersburg. Except for a few minor glitches in connecting with guides and drivers, and misdirection at airports, the entire tour went off as advertised without major disruption. I would highly recommend this trip to gay people anywhere.

End of Posting 006

Posting: 005

Author: Tom Harrison, Sacramento, CA
Trip: AMAZON RIVER CRUISE, Postcard Destinations cruise group from Manaus, Brazil, down the Amazon and stopping in the Caribbean at Devil's Island, Trinidad, Dominica, and Tortola.
January 29-February 11, 2002
Date Posted: 2/19/02

After a cross-country flight and overnight stay in Ft. Lauderdale, we took a 5_-hour charter flight arriving in Manaus, Brazil at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, the 30th. From there we boarded the Royal Princess, which was docked overnight, permitting us to tour Manaus that evening and the next day. We sailed at 7:00 p.m. Thursday evening the 31st, heading down the Amazon toward the Atlantic, stopping for the afternoon of the next day at Boca da Valeria, and all day on Saturday, February 2nd in Santarem, Brazil. Leaving Santarem Saturday evening we crossed the equator from the southern to northern hemispheres at 7:20 a.m. Sunday morning, the 3rd and proceeded past the Amazon light float at 3:30 p.m., marking the end of our 478 nautical mile (550 statutory mile) passage down the Amazon. It rained all day that Sunday, the only significant rain we experienced on the trip. The ship then set a northwest course along the coast of South America, stopping for the afternoon of the 4th at Devil's Island off French Guyana. Continuing on overnight and the next day, we arrived at 7:00 a.m. in Port of Spain Trinidad, the southernmost island of the outer islands of the Caribbean Sea. That afternoon we departed for Dominica, where we stopped for the day on February 7th, then on to Tortola, British Virgin Islands for the day. Departing that evening we sailed and spend the next two days at sea arriving at 6:00 a.m. in Ft. Lauderdale on Monday, February 11th, thus completing our 3592 nautical mile (4133 statutory mile) 12-day Amazon/Outer Caribbean Island cruise.

Our ship was the Royal Princess, commissioned in 1984 in London by Prince Diane. It is one of the older ships in the P&O Princess line's fleet, with a capacity of 1260 passengers and a crew of 521. While not as luxurious as some of the newer, larger Princess line ships, accommodations were comfortable and the food and service excellent. Some of the passengers had started the cruise in Buenos Aires, on a 14-day cruise around the east coast of South America, up the Amazon to Manaus, and had then continued with us on to Ft. Lauderdale. This was the last such cruise pairs, as Princess intends to discontinue service to Brazil.

Following are the major highlights of the trip:

Manaus, Brazil
The evening of our arrival we took a nighttime alligator sighting tour. Boarding a riverboat launch we proceeded out the R