Getting visa to travel in Russia was one of the most challenging experience although we are USA citizens. You just can’t walk into an embassy or consulate and fill a form. A travel agency in Russia has to “invite” you to come and visit specific locations. Hence, AAA has contacts that perform this function. Apart from being a bit expensive it takes weeks to get the visa. We visited only 2 major cities: St Petersburg and Moscow. Everything is BIG in Russia; for example, there is a cannon which is supposed to be the largest in the world; however, it has NEVER been fired once. Similarly, it took us 10 mins to go from the main gate in Holiday Inn to our room. The Palaces are big and may have up to 1000 fountains.
