TWC tour to Russia

Twenty-eight very excited girls and three staff members flew to St Petersburg, Russia via Dubai on the first day of the April holidays.

After the pilot announced it was several degrees below freezing outside, many girls starting donning more and more layers of clothing much like seen in the movie Cool Runnings. On landing, there were layers of snow everywhere and an icy wind was blowing.

What did we see in beautiful St Petersburg?

• The Peter and Paul Fortress - this is an island but the river was frozen solid so it looked like it had been placed in an ice-lake and the girls had a chance to walk on the iced river.
• St Isaac's Cathedral – the largest cathedral in Russia.
• Church of the Spilled Blood where Tsar Alexander was killed
• The village of Pushkin and St Catherine’s Palace
• A traditional folk dance show
• The Hermitage Museum
• And naturally, the girls had to shop so they spent limited time in Galeria
• The highlight for many was watching an ice-hockey match

What did we see in Moscow?

• The Kremlin
• Red Square
• A basketball match
• A gymnastics training session
• Moscow University
• Gorky Park
• GUM Shopping Centre
• St Basil’s Cathedral
• Cosmonauts Museum
• A Bolshoi Ballet performance (La Sylphide)
• The highlight for many was a 2-hour master class where each girl painted her own traditional Matryoshka nesting doll

The trip was definitely a wonderful cultural experience. The girls struggled with the difference in food and discovered that very few people were able to speak English.

However, they did manage to find a way to part with a considerable amount of money whenever they found a shop.

Blog report by Debby Bird