Moscow & St. Petersburg: Russia's Heart and Soul, Second Edition (Odyssey Illustrated Guide)

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and deeply practical--what more could you want?
Review: Filled with glorious photographs and inside information. Ms. Nordbye, who is also a noted writer of travel articles has been to over 100 countries, and regularly to Russia (her second home) for the past 25 years. So her advice is based on broad experience gained not as a tourist, but as an insider. Reading this, you will share her enthusiasm until you simply cannot wait to go there! Get this book!!!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and deeply practical--what more could you want?
Review: Filled with glorious photographs and inside information. Ms. Nordbye, who is also a noted writer of travel articles has been to over 100 countries, and regularly to Russia (her second home) for the past 25 years. So her advice is based on broad experience gained not as a tourist, but as an insider. Reading this, you will share her enthusiasm until you simply cannot wait to go there! Get this book!!!

Rating:
Summary: So You Want to know Moscow and St. Pete?
Review: Friends who've been to Russia kept raving about this book. They found it the old cliche: an indispensable companion for finding their way around. So did I when I eventually followed in their footsteps. And no wonder. Based on information from a person in fourth degree of separation from the author, I found out that Ms. Nordbye has been in and out of Russia on a pretty regular basis since she studied at Moscow U. back when the KGB still bugged your room. Not only does she write travel books, she's also a director of offbeat documentaries and has led many an expedition in and out of Russia, and particularly these two cities, where her knowledge of where to go and what to see has satisfied the narcisisum of even the most jaded Hollywood types. In this book, you get the benefit of Ms. Nordbye's linguistic and historical knowledge as well as a frequent travelers' tips on pop culture, lodging and cusine. If you're going to Russia you're going to go to Moscow and St. Petersburg. BUY THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: Ha! A brick to warm the armchair traveller.
Review: I did originally choose this book because of the great reviews, and because it was one of the most recent publications. It is a fine tome to read for those who are planning a trip. Long term planning, I mean -- read it six months before you go, because that's how long it takes to read and digest all the information. Or even better -- read it and don't bother to go. This book has so many photographs that you barely need to see the stuff for yourself. It weighs about six kilos, so don't plan on taking it anywhere with you.

Otherwise -- a good review of history and valuable detail. It was worth poring through before I moved to Moscow, but a smaller, handier travel guide would be a better reference while traipsing through the city's well-kept secrets.

Rating:
Summary: Moscow, St Petersburg & The Golden Ring
Review: The best way to see any country or city is with a trusted friend, someone who has lived in the place and has a special love for it.Through their intervention you meet the country as if it were a cherished acquaintancce, seeing the most interesting sides of it, tempered by its challenging aspects. Nordbye has been traveling to and within the former USSR for over 25 years. She conveys a love of the country and its people that is as infectious as it is realistic. There is none of the misanthropic cynicism or boundless blind enthusiasm of other travel guides here. Instead, there is everywhere a reveling in the beauty of the country's eclectic, chaotic nature--on one page, we read that Moscow has more casinos than Las Vegas, on the next there is a wonderful historic passage on cows in Red Square. Flip to a random page and you are led to the place that Russia's finest carriages were once built or to the small cemetery where Turgenec is buried...This book is a delight! "RUSSIAN LIFE Magazine" 9/03