Introduction - Why Russia?



St. Olaf's Church and All-linn (Lower Town) - Tallinn, Estonia, USSR

The Soviet Union was comprised of fifteen “Soviet Socialist Republics.” We visited seven cities in four of the republics: Tallinn, in Estonia; Riga, in Latvia; Leningrad, Novgorod, Kalinin and Moscow, in Russia; and Kiev, in Ukraine. For the most part, our itinerary revolved around visits to historical and cultural sites, such as museums (many of them former churches and palaces from before the Soviet era), historic buildings and monuments.

(Click the "Notes" link in the sidebar for our itinerary, a map showing our travel route, and an explanation of my use of place names.)