I paid a premium for these coffee table pictorials in the mid-late '90s. By then I had traveled once to Moscow, another time quickly through it, spent almost a year south of there, in Uzbekistan, and taken a train through the Baltic countries along the western Russian border. I had become obsessed with both the Transsiberian Railway (actually purchased the Transsiberian Railway Handbook at this same time) and paying a proper visit to Russia's capital, Moscow, and its most beautiful city, St. Petersburg. I ordered these books through the mail, and I subscribed to an English language Russia magazine, which arrived monthly. In 2000, after I had met Mirjam, a German girl traveling in Thailand, I told her I likely would end my travels with the Trans-Mongolian Railway from Beijing, all the way to Moscow, and then work my way over to Berlin to spend time with her. Fate dealt me a different hand. Never got on that train. However, over the next seven years Russia remained prominently on my radar. Finally, in 2007, Kade and I spent a month there - 20 days in Moscow, 10 in St. Petersburg. You can find my photos and journal writings from that trip by searching categories in the sidebar. The pictorials above, especially the St. Petersburg one, came to life on that journey, and it was a trip of a lifetime. The Transsberian is still a dream, but not unrealistic, in any sense of the word. One day I will accomplish it!
Click here for other books on Russia I have enjoyed reading.
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