The Tour 2010 Dates (confirmed so far)

[ladydi]

For those who may perhaps be considering Moscow in March (chilly!)...do not be concerned about hotels. Yes, there are hotels over $1000. per night but that is the Ritz Carlton! There are many, many other hotels running anywhere from $150 to $300 a night. Of course there are many other hotels much less than that but I would advise against them. Most of the hotels seem to be able to arrange your visa also, and in some cases apply the cost of the visa against the cost of your room, so you benefit. Most hotels also include breakfast. Having been there in '68 and attempted to have breakfast with a bunch of North Vietnamese men (only description is AWFUL), I am anticipating a much more western (hopefully European) approach to breakfast!

Moscow...wow, the images that emerged for me being driven in from the airport were mind boggling. The women sweeping the streets...the Stalinesque wedding cake structures...the rivers and bridges. The women on the street who stopped and touched my coat. The intrigue...the layers. Being driven by a journalist and realizing that we'd passed the same spot 3 times, only to be told that we were being followed...by a lumbering tank-type vehicle with curtains on the windows.

But...the country. The thousands of birch trees swaying in the wind. The little dachas.... And the simple homes of the peasants. The wind sweeping over the steppes..... A funeral in an Orthodox church (the deceased laying at my feet). Leningrad (now thankfully St Petersburg) in all its beauty. What a country!

But, far beyond my remembrances, I think of a nurse friend of mine, who for several years has gone to Siberia with a group of doctors and nurses, to help repair and renew children who have been born with a cleft palate, at no cost to them.

Sharing, giving, and feeling the earth of the country run through your fingers.....this is Russia. If you do go, try to go for more than a day or two. It seeps into your soul....as does Leonard.

Diana

[sueandtony]

Hi all, Just bought tickets for the Lille concert. Anyone know anything about the venue?

[lizzytysh]

Wow, Diana, a description that's like looking through a vue-finder. Really transporting. Great, travel-writer overview. Beautiful and warm. I can tell I would feel the same. It, of course, makes me want to go even more, but financially it's impossible. The whole idea of visiting Russia seems terribly complex. I have a friend in St. Petersburg [met on this Forum], who wants me to come spend a week with her and her family. However, the options were to book a hotel and then pirate away to her house... or to do some very complex arranging about a year ahead of time, and something else which would bring an immense amount of scrutiny on both my and her end. I'm more concerned about her end than mine, due to the uncertainties there. So, I'll be very interested in how all of your arrangements are made and how they go, as well as the overall costs. I wish I could find out on my own, but that's just really not possible.


~ Lizzy

[Sochijava]

Wonderful description of Russia of Diana. I certainly encourage anyway thinking of making this concert to spend a few days, get to Petersburg at least. Moscow is complex and huge and not beautiful, but terribly interesting. And the Moscow of today is nothing like Soviet Moscow, at least not the central parts of the city. It has chanced so much since I lived there in the early 1990s at the end of the Soviet era.

There are also alternatives to hotels, renting apartments in the city centre can be quite affordable and a wonderful way to see the city. I would certainly recommend this in Petersburg.

Getting visas really isn't that much of a hassle. Hotels, tourist agencies, everyday people, they can all arrange it for you. I've always just had a friend get me the visa, I either stay with them or rent an apartment.

I'm 90% certain that I will attend and I expect to rent an apartment in both Moscow and Petersburgh, a few days in each city. I still have friends in both places, but it's easier to have your one space. For those interested I can keep you posted on arrangements and logistics, etc.

Best,
Paula

[lizzytysh]

For future reference, I'm VERY interested, Paula. thanks for your input. I've felt very overwhelmed by the very idea. and it may be that my friend doesn't have such an accurate idea of the options, since she's not used to being part of any arrangements for anyone to come see her. It sounds like just renting my own space for that time might make it much easier for arrangements, too. Then, I can just visit her, as though we'd just met... even spend the night, but at least not have her and her family be my official hosts, which seems to take it into an entirely different category of paperwork.


~ Lizzy

[ladydi]

Hi Paula and Lizzy,

Nothing today in Russia could possibly compare to dealing with Intourist and the Soviets in 1968! A total exercise in futility Paula, I really appreciate your input. If I do go I'll only have time for Moscow but will spend at least 4 days there, and hopefully be able to once again visit Zagorsk, which impressed me so much. I was in St Petersburg for several days way back then and was overwhelmed by the beauty of the Neva, the city, and especially the Winter Palace! Would love to go again but that will have to wait for another time.

Lizzy, I truly hope you can make it one day as it is a beautiful vast country. Moscow, indeed, is not "pretty" but full of history.

Paula, hope to meet you in Moscow!

Diana

[Mabeanie1]

Wow! I am totally bowled over by these recollections and descriptions of trips to Russia. I thought I was totally alone in the world in my experiences "back in the USSR".

My first passion was always history but I also loved reading Russian literature, particularly Dostoevsky, so when, back in the early 70s, I spotted a course in Russian Studies, I knew it was the degree subject for me. This was in the days when it was socially totally unacceptable in the UK to show any interest in anything to do with the Soviet block and to finally dissuade me, my teachers told me I was no linguist and so would never cope with the language. That sealed my fate! I applied for - and was accepted - on the course, which comprised a small, tight knit group of 6 students in a department led by a White Russian emigre professor (Prof Evgeny Lampert) working in an old 2nd world war "Nissan" hut located in an obscure part of the university campus. I loved it!! I was so into the warmth and colour of Russian life and culture which always seemed to break through despite the drab and austere Soviet setting in the 70s.

My studies took me twice to Russia: the first time to Kiev, Moscow and Leningrad (as it was known then) with the Young Communists. I was no communist but it was by far and away the cheapest and easiest way to travel to the Soviet Union in those days and potential recruits to the cause were welcomed with open arms. They feted us, took us to visit collective farms and exemplary families and treated us to the best the USSR had to offer, including an opera at the Kremlin Palace. The second time I did a three month stretch, sorry, language course, at the Kyban State University in Krasnodar about 100 miles from the Black Sea, spending a few days in Moscow on the way to and from Krasnodar.

Diana descibed so many of my experiences so well (yes, we too were always followed everywhere ...) but of course there are many others I could add including the listening devices planted in the light fittings in our rooms, the old ladies (babyshki) selling apricots at the train doors as our sleeper travelled slowly through the Russian countryside,the glorious sight of the Don as we passed through Rostov ....

I have not been back since my studies ended almost 25 years ago. We had planned to do the tourist thing in the mid 80s but at the time my passport gave my occupation as "Government Servant" and, when I sought permission of the powers that be to travel to the USSR, there was a great hoo-ha about my personal safety. I was at risk they said because "government servant" could mean anything. However, they would not do anything to help me if I did have a problem because I didn't do anything they were remotely worried about. Nice.

Moscow was always my favourite place because it was always so full of life - a city with a buzz even in the Soviet days. I never took to Leningrad / St Petersburg I'm afraid. I always found it a bit of a cold artificial, un-Russian creation, which those who know all about Peter the Great will know to be the truth. However, there are plenty of "must see" places in Petersburg including the Peter & Paul fortress, the Winter Palace and the summer palaces at Petrodvorets.

I ramble on but the announcement of the Moscow date has reawakened my interest in all things Russian and the lure of the Kremlin Palace may prove too much to resist.

Wendy

[ladydi]

Wendy....we have to talk...

Diana

[lizzytysh]

This is awesome watching this thread develop .

This was in the days when it was socially totally unacceptable in the UK to show any interest in anything to do with the Soviet block and to finally dissuade me, my teachers told me I was no linguist and so would never cope with the language. That sealed my fate! I applied for - and was accepted - on the course, which comprised a small, tight knit group of 6 students in a department led by a White Russian emigre professor (Prof Evgeny Lampert) working in an old 2nd world war "Nissan" hut located in an obscure part of the university campus. I loved it!! I was so into the warmth and colour of Russian life and culture which always seemed to break through despite the drab and austere Soviet setting in the 70s.

I loved this, Wendy... especially the extremes those against something will go to try to dissuade the openness of others. I love that "That sealed my fate!"

So many old wounds between our two countries [U.S. and U.S.S.R.] ~ my conversations with my friend have revealed so MUCH unbelievable brainwashing on both sides... what's the official term for that? Escapes me at the moment... starts with a C, I believe. Pure lies, in any case.


~ Lizzy

[Philippa]

Sorry to change the subject.
As well as Russia .... South Africa, South America, Dubai, China, Japan and Korea are all on the list for 2010, from what I have heard (from a reliable source). Leonard has fans worldwide. Hence Jarkko's spinning globe.

[ladydi]

Oh yes Philippa, we only have a limited number of cities right now. I know many are waiting in anticipation for further announcements! Hence the limited comments, whether they be regarding France, Croatia, or Moscow.

The world awaits! Truly...

Then the explosion begins!

[Sochijava]

South America, Korea, South Africa, wow, a real world tour indeed. All tempting places ... .

Wendy - I completely understand your feelings about Petersburg. My first university trip was to Moscow in the summer of 1990 (still the Soviet Union then, but barely). I spent almost 3 months in Moscow. I went to St. Petersburg for a short weekend visit and decided to was too 'unRussian' for me, too European. Beautiful of course, but it lacked the wild, peasant-like soul of Moscow. Plus, as you alluded to, it was built on the graves of how many thousands of men who built the city on swamp land to realise Peter's dream.

But, I eventually fell in love with a Russian from Petersburg and lived there for over a year. You can't help but love the place. And it is so literary, so musical, so stunning. You can't help but hear Akhmatova reciting her poems as you walk alongside the Fontanka canal to the Neva, Tchaikovsky along the Nevskiy Prospekt. It got to me. But, Moscow still holds a special place in my heart. My first Russian love I guess.

I did my undergraduate degree in Soviet and East European Studies, from 1988-1992. Can you imagine a more exciting time to study that part of the world? Twenty years ago tomorrow the Berlin wall came down, hard to believe. I graduated in the spring of 1992, the last class to ever graduate from "Soviet Studies."

It's been too long since I've been to Moscow. I've been looking for an excuse to get back there, Leonard has given it to me.

Walking those streets and canals in Petersburg I was more likely than not listening to Leonard on my 'walkman'. He fits in beautifully there.

Best,
Paula

[lizzytysh]

Just for the record... Propaganda was that C word I was trying so hard to remember . Geez, Paula, such wonderful experiences you've had with that part of our world . What a very real homecoming for you it will be!

And, I'm seeing this proposed list:

South Africa, South America, Dubai, China, Japan and Korea

I so hope for Leonard and his group and his worldwide fans that these places will materialize! To think that he was surprized to find that the house was Sold Out at his first concert in Canada ! Little did that sweet, unpresuming man know .


~ Lizzy

[mike.barker58]

.... prior visits to the country doesn't seem to have affected France at all ...... perhaps Sheffield, Nottingham, Gateshead [The Sage] or anywhere in Scotland might be considered ......

Mike

[b.j.harvest]

Hi everybody

I have a question about the tickets. I ordered 3 tickets for Strasbourg last thursday (4.11.) and haven't got a confirmation E-Mail yet. Now I'm in fear of not having the tickets. Has anybody else the same problem or did all of you get a confirmation?
Thank you for your help.