"From Russia with Hot Dogs" a Russia Travel Page by american_tourister

Just a great big WOW. Most of my experiences were unexpected but fascinating. It was definitely not what I expected. I thought it would be drab and dour but it was vibrant and exciting. There is a palpable air of energy that is present in the big cities. While it is in the midst of an enormous transformation, it is still one of the most interesting places in the world to visit.

On this I will caution you though. Do not travel there with anyone who does not have a grasp, or appreciation, of history. If you have someone with you who cares nothing for history or the effects it now has on our world, they will be lost in appreciating all there is to absorb in this ancient culture. We had one person like that with us and this person almost made it a bad experience.

Cyrillic makes even reading signs a challenge. I was the only one in our group who studied it at all and if it were not for the fact that I can read the Greek alphabet I would have been much further behind. It put stress on me to have to always be on my A-game when it came to navigation and iterpretation but by the time we were finished with our visit I was pretty comfortable with it. In other words, "Nyet te minah pugaish Russki!" (You don't scare me Russian!)

A word of caution to all epicurians; while the food is much better than I anticipated, the Hot Dogs are unlike any you have ever had. They are crackly skinned with a semi-liquid center and taste reminiscent of potted meat. We ate them at the Moscow Air Show because that was all that was available. That with the 85 degree (25 Celcius) Baltika Beer made for some unpleasent feelings in the undergut.