INTRO

The Russian trip in June 2018 represented not only a long project involving extensive research and administrative tasks, but also a life-long dream. Since the World Cup 1998 in France everyone in the group dreamed that one day we could be there, where everything happens. Our chance came 20 year later and Russia was calling.

For an overall of two weeks and a half we have been travelling between Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and Saint Petersburg. And we have been incredibly lucky to experience the fabulous Russian culture in a historical moment. The memories we manage to make in Russia in that summer will follow us forever. This post is just a small reminder of that over the years.

MOVIES

Even if the Russian cinema and the movies about Russia can fill a never ending list, I have selected a couple of them to be seen specifically for this trip.

• The Death of Stalin (2017)
• Leviathan (2014)
• Stalingrad (2013)
• Solaris (1972)
• Anna Karenina (2012)

BOOKS

Similarly with the cinema, the Russian literature is world-famous. And to be honest, I did not do justice to it, by reading only the titles below. But as always, this is better than nothing. And with this occasion I got to explore the genius of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. Definitely a different felling later in real life walking down the streets they describe in their books.

• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1866)
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1877)
• The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1869)
• The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov (1900)
• The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov (1903)
• The Collected Stories by Alexander Pushkin (1828)