Tour Review

While finishing up my travelogue I found myself quite nostalgic about the trip and the people on the trip.  While there were some things I did not like about this trip, overall it was a great experience and I would do it again.

Scandinavia offered a slow pace, and a nice community setting for those of us on the tour.  Although I didn’t fall in love with any of the Scandinavian cities, I still enjoyed them.  Scandinavia offered so much scenery:  the fjord, glacier, Lillehammer, mountains, lakes, rivers, snow and finally the moose and reindeer.  It really is the most beautiful place I have ever been to, which had previously been the Innsbruck area of Austria.  But the thing that left the greatest impression on me was it being light out all the time.  I had heard about this, always thought it sounded cool, but it’s nothing you can truly imagine until you live it.  At first it was a novelty, but it ended up being an experience I just can’t explain:  I don’t think you even have to interact with people to see what the impact of 24 hour sun has on people, you get to live it.  The side of my brain that ignores the fact that I am ALWAYS cold, would like to go back and visit in the winter to see the flip side:  darkness 24 hours a day and the Northern Lights. 

Russia was a completely different experience.  The pace of Russia bordered on exhaustive.  But you are given a good amount of time to see each of the cities in Russia (except maybe Minsk, which I would have liked a little more time in, but that’s Belarus anyway).  Maggy offered a good basis of history on Russia, which was enhanced greatly by the local guides; they didn’t just offer information and history, but insight into the Russian way of life and the impact of its past on today’s Russia. 

I found the stereotype of Russians to be fading.  There were plenty of the typical rude Russians, NIET NIET!  But the younger Russians seemed a bit friendlier and open to visitors. 

I did find the cities to be dirty.  A family friend was in St. Petersburg shortly after I was there and found the palace where we had the folklore show to be in need of a cleaning.  She also thought the Hermitage was dirty and felt the art work was not cared for properly.  Once you left the tourist area things often seemed to be falling apart.  I've described Moscow as being a bit like New York City, just a dirtier and more lawless.  I'm not sure they have rules regarding parking there, people seemed to park anywhere and everywhere.  And the driving, the little that I looked, was plain old scary! 

Belarus was interesting...  Everything was very nice and orderly, everyone seemed happy, but with all the political turmoil there you had to wonder.  I wished we had a little more time there to explore.

I liked Warsaw, the people were nice, the city was nice, especially the Old Town.  Although much of the city has that Russian architecture, which I don't really care for, it's becoming a very Western type city.  It's also a relatively cheap city since it's still using the zloty.  As an extra added bonus, most people speak at least a little English.

Berlin, I loved Berlin, not sure if it had to do with the extra buzz from World Cup, because I'm a German or because it's a neat city.  Either way, there is lots to do and see there, and even though it's using the Euro it's pretty affordable.  It's also supposed to have a really good nightlife, even if we didn't find it that night.  But they are Germans, which means they know how to drink and party!

Overall, Contiki put together a nice tour.  One thing that I didn't particularly love (and others had even stronger feelings about) was the fact that they combine the Scandi and the Russia tour together.  While it certainly makes sense from an Administrative standpoint, our two groups never meshed all that well, which apparently isn't uncommon (we had been spoken to about it more than once in advance).  There were a couple people who joined our tour who were wonderful and got along well with both groups of people and then there were people who I never had a conversation with.  There were people who seemed to have a disdain for us the whole time, which I'll never understand. 

If you're interested in another travelogue about this tour, I recommend Steve's, it's very good.