Some photos from the большая поездка

I've just returned from my week-long river cruise along the Volga. We were a large group, consisting of all three city programs (Peter, Vladimir, and Moscow). All in all, the trip was a great time, and I would highly recommend anyone who visits Russia to go on one, because you will get to see a lot more of Russia than otherwise possible.  We saw Nizhni Novgorod, Samara, Saratov, Kazan, Ulyanovsk, and Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad).

Because I've slept the last two nights on trains, meaning 5 hours of oft-interrupted sleep on each, I'm very tired, so I'm just going to share some photos which I have stolen from David to tide you all over until I tell you about the trip.

Eternal flame for WWII in Volgograd. Every city has one.

One of the best things to do was just watching the scenery from the boat's deck

Mosque in Kazan's Kremlin

The great Bolshevik revolutionaries: Sean, Paul, Sergei Alexandrovich, and Chris. S.A. is our politics professor.

The Politburo meting table in Stalin's secret underground bunker

Preserved from WWII - bombed out building from the Battle of Stalingrad

The largest statue I have ever seen in my life

We stopped in Moscow on our way home