Thursday, April 14, 2011

I miss Russia!

Somehow I feel disloyal or unfaithful to my upcoming trip to China, but this week I realized that I really, really miss Russia. Or rather, I miss all the planning for and anticipation of and actual experience in Russia that made up almost all of 2010 for me. And right now, I just don't have that same passion for China. Yes, I absolutely want to go and am very much anticipating the trip. What is missing is that fire, that passion, that burning desire to go and consume.

I think a lot of it has to do with how long I had thought about and been interested in all things Russian. It did go back to my childhood and was something I'd always kept in touch with. China has been on my "bucket list" but not in the way Russia was. I wonder if anything I see in China will take my breath away like the rainbow painted onion domes of St. Basil's or the pinch-me moments in the Hermitage or Pushkin or Tretyakov. Will I eat as well as I did in Russia? Hmmmm....

So I guess it won't surprise you that I've already identified a potential trip to Russia for next year. It combines more of the territory outside the big cities with more within the big cities that I didn't see the first time around. It's with the same company I booked with last year, only not independent, but rather a small group.

Oh the conundrums I have!

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