Going on a Russian River Cruise with Viking at the beginning of October. Will be seeing the usual - Hermitage, Kremlin, Peter and Paul Fortress, GUM, Catherine's Palace, etc.

We will have 1 1/2 days free, on our own, in both Moscow and St. Pete's. <u>So, any suggestions?</u> (We will be using the subway.)

Thinking of the<b> All Russian Exhibition Center</b> on Moscow, for a bit of soviet nostalgia. Anyone been there?
http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/a...bition-center/

Want to do some real Russian shopping - get away from the tourist tchotchas. Maybe some fashion.

(Haven't seen any threads about Russia lately. Wondering why.)

Just walk around. The cemetery at one end of the Nevsky Prospekt is worth visiting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...ith/4185702684

In St Petersburg see the Grand Choral Synagogue - inside and outside. It's been beautifully redone. Our tour guide (from ALLA) took us there and the cantor spoke to our group, giving some history, etc.
Enjoy your trip!

I second Michael's recommendation for the cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. For a list of the "greats" interred there including Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Dostoevsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, see:

http://www.findagrave.com/php/famous...&fameLevel=all

Michael - Yes, e'd like to "just walk around". However, our time is limited so we need to decide what neighborhoods to do this in.

The cemetery sounds interesting. We went to a similar (seemingly) cemetery in Vienna and saw the graves of Beethoven, Strauss, etc.

Most of my pictures are along the Nevsky Prospekt with a few wanderings along canals.

Yes, I saw your pix. Thanks Mike.

Anyone with suggestions about Moscow? )Or other suggestions re: St. Petersburg?)

Another try at asking for suggestions about Moscow.

I wish I could help, but I'm thrown off by your question. You have SO little time in either city that I can't imagine aiming for things that aren't "obvious" when just seeing the most important sites in either city could easily take a week.

The unexpected things I saw while visiting major sites - including unexpected things at major sites (like people successfully stopping a runaway baby carriage, complete with baby, from falling into the Neva outside the Peter and Paul Fortress) to things I saw when I walked between destinations (or for that matter, when I took a metro in either of these cities, given that the metro stations are surprisingly interesting) - were more than enough "non-obvious" things for me; I just wish I had had more time for the major sites.

They are fascinating places - enjoy!

All Russian Exhibition centre is worth seeing,the architecture of the pavillions is very special,the fountains have not been on the times I have been. However the area has been reduced to a shopping area unless it's changed recently.
There are so many places to go, Kolomenskoye is an easy trip outside Moscow, Danskoi monastery and Novodevichy also. There is or was a market under the bridge at Sportivnaya metro station for clothes, but Russian fashion is either very high end designer or low end market stuff and not much in between.

Yes, we don't have a lot of time.

Besides going to famous buildings or sites we like to walk in neighborhoods, just "to be" and soak up the feeling of being in a place. Watch the people, etc. How is Kitay Gorod for that purpose?

Odin - What kind of clothing is sold at the market under the bridge at Sportivnaya metro station?

> we like to walk in neighborhoods, just "to be" and soak up the feeling of being in a place. Watch the people, etc.

In St. Petersburg, Nevsky Prospekt might be of interest.

Everyday clothes and items, fur coats and household stuff but there are many such markets around Moscow esp in the suburbs. Kitai gorod is a lovely old part of Moscow with a great Armenian restaurant in Ivanovsky pereulok called Noah's Ark. Chistye Prudy is past Kitai Gorod and is a lovely area for a walk/people watching.Patriachs Ponds is another nice area of Moscow and cafe margarita an interesting place for a meal/drink.

Thanks Odin.