Before the departure

After several tantalizing days of booking flights, hotels and figuring out the logistics (how to get from Manchester to Liverpool?), I am about to publish our trip schedule. Here it is:

• We leave Minneapolis June 21 and fly through Chicago to Manchester, UK.

• We spend June 22 in Liverpool, birthplace of the Beatles. Do I need to say more?

• Next day we have an early flight to Helsinki at 6:40 a.m. Then we can relax in Helsinki for two days. I am not sure what we are going to do there. According to the travel guides, the center of Helsinki was built in neoclassical style to resemble St.Petersburg.

• June 25 we fly Vienna by Air Berlin and then spend two next days in Vienna. This could be quite a shock after Liverpool and Helsinki!
• Finally, June 27 we start the second leg of the trip - we fly to Moscow to airport Domodedovo, appreciated by "foreign national carriers". Upon arrival to Domodedovo, we'll fly on S7 airline directly to Nizhnii Novgorod.

• Next day is spent in Nizhnii Novgorod.

• Finally, June 29 we take a train to Moscow. Amazingly, one can book the train tickets in Russia over the internet, though knowledge of the language is mandatory. The weekend June 29 through July 1 we stay in Moscow. Apparently, the hotel prices there can easily beat the prices in the most US cities.

• The last 6 days we stay in St.Petersburg before going back to Helsinki July 7.