Understand

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History

The defeat of the Russian Empire in World War I led to the seizure of power by the Communists and the formation of the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef Stalin (1924-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union. The Soviet economy continued to grow at high rates under Malenkov and Khrushchev, and political and social controls were loosened. The Soviet Union eventually reached its peak and became stagnant under Leonid Brezhnev, causing a crisis that would continue until General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya.

Climate
Climate ranges from steppes in the south through humid continental in much of European Russia; subarctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north; winters vary from cool along Black Sea coast to frigid in Siberia; summers vary from warm in the steppes to cool along the Arctic coast.

Terrain
The terrain consists of broad plain with low hills west of the Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions; mountainous and volcanic throughout much of Far Eastern Russia.

Eat

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Russian cuisine is not one of the worl'd most varied cuisines. Often bland, and consisting of highly salted and pickled products, the central part of Russian cuisine centers on bread. Russia's reknowned caviar is easily obtained, however prices can exceed the expenses of your entire trip. Dishes such as beef Stroganov and chicken kiev, from the pre-revolutionary, era are available but mainly aimed at tourists as they lost their status and visibility during Soviet times.
Russian specialities include:

Pelmeni (meat-filled dumplings)

Blini (crêpes)

Black bread

Borsch (red soup/beetroot soup)

Piroshki (Meat or cabbage pie)

Golubsti (Cabbage rolls)

Ikra Baklazhanaya (aubergine caviar)

Shi (cabbage soup)

Vareniki (Ukrainian dumplings)

Vinegret (beet and boiled vegetable salad)

Olivier (potato salad)

Shashlyk (various kebabs from the Caucasus republics of the former Soviet Union)

Both Saint Petersburg and Moscow offer sophisticated, world class dining and a wide variety of cuisines including Japanese, Tibetan and Italian. They are also excellent cities to sample some of the best cuisines of the former Soviet Union (e.g., Georgian and Uzbek). It is also possible to eat well and cheaply there without resorting to the many western fast food chains that have opened up. Russians have their own versions of fast food restaurants which range from cafeteria style serving comfort foods to streetside kiosks cooking up blinis or stuffed potatos. Although their menus may not be in English, it is fairly easy to point to what is wanted - or at a picture of it, not unlike at western fast food restaurants. A small Russian dictionary will be useful at non- touristy restaurants offering table service where staff members will not speak English and the menus will...