Russia is a vast country in Eastern Europe and northern Asia. Russia has both extensive Arctic Ocean and North Pacific Ocean coastlines, as well as smaller coastlines on the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. Russia is bordered by Norway and Finland to the northwest, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine to the west, Georgia and Azerbaijan to the southwest, Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia to the south, and China and North Korea to the southeast. The American state of Alaska lies opposite the easternmost point of Russia across the Bering Strait.

Russia also administers the exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast on the Baltic coast between Poland and Lithuania.

Russia is the largest country in the world by far; spanning twelve time zones, its territory covers nearly twice as much of the earth as that of the next largest country, Canada.

Train service is usually reliable. You can get a direct train from many cities in Eastern and Central Europe to Moscow and sometimes Saint Petersburg. Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Berlin, Budapest and Warsaw are all possible departure points with daily services to Russia.

Russian cuisine is not one of the world's most varied cuisines. Often bland, and consisting of highly salted and pickled products, the central part of Russian cuisine centers on bread. Russia's renowned caviar is easily obtained, however prices can exceed the expenses of your entire trip. Dishes such as beef Stroganov and chicken kiev, from the pre-revolutionary, era are available but mainly aimed at tourists as they lost their status and visibility during Soviet times.

In most cities quality hotels are really scarce: most were built in Soviet times decades ago and are recently renovated in decor, but rarely in service and attitude. Even for a local it's quite a problem to find a good hotel without a recommendation from a person you trust. For same reason it may be really hard to find a hotel during mass tourist-oriented events like StPete anniversary.