July 27 - August 10, 2007

Friday & Saturday, July 27 & 28

Tour departs from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on Friday evening on an overnight flight to Frankfurt, connecting on to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, arriving on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday, July 29

We will begin by attending a Baptist church service. Moscow is a gem of municipal planning and a city tour will feature this fascinating city’s great architectural monuments and historical sites. The heart of Moscow is Red Square, flanked by St. Basil’s Cathedral, Lenin’s Tomb, GUM Department Store and the walls of the Kremlin. We will visit Pushkin Museum which houses more than 350,000 drawings and engravings, thousands of works of sculpture and applied art as well as a large collection of paintings by French and Dutch painters. We will continue on to Novodevichy Convent, the best-preserved example of 16th and 17th century Russian architecture.

Monday, July 30

Today’s activities will include a walking tour of the Kremlin. The center of the Kremlin’s architectural layout is Cathedral Square where the Cathedrals of Annunciation, The Assumption, Archangel and the Patriarchs are located. The highest structure in the Kremlin is the 256-foot bell tower of Ivan the Great. The afternoon includes a cruise on the Moskva River. Evening at the circus.

Tuesday, July 31

This morning we will visit Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow’s finest art gallery and the State Art Museum, an affiliate of the Tretyakov Gallery. We will take an afternoon flight to St. Petersburg.

Wednesday, August 1

This morning’s sightseeing tour of St. Petersburg, the “Venice of the North,” will take us by the Smolny Institute, the Bronze Horseman statue, Nevsky Prospect shopping street, the Admiralty and a visit to Peter and Paul Fortress, a political prison during the Czarist period, and now a museum. In the afternoon, we will visit Petrodvorets, the former summer residence of the Czars built by Peter the Great who wanted to create a Versailles of his own.

Thursday, August 2

Today, we visit one of the world’s most famous museums, the Hermitage, which houses incomparable collections of art treasures. In the afternoon, we will visit St. Isaac’s Cathedral, an architectural monument with an abundance of sculptured decorations of great beauty, reliefs, gilt work and marble.

Friday, August 3

This morning we will do more sightseeing in St. Petersburg. You will have the afternoon free to relax, shop or explore more of the city. We will enjoy an evening folk show.

Saturday, August 4

This morning, it’s time to leave Russia and fly to Ukraine. We will have a city tour of Kiev including St. Sophia Cathedral and St. Michael’s Cathedral.

Sunday, August 5

Today’s tour takes us to St. Vladmir Cathedral, Kiev’s Perchersk Lavra and the Museum of World War II. At 5:20 p.m., we will board an overnight train to Zaporozhye.

Monday, August 6

Our train arrives in Zaporozhye around 8:00 a.m. and we will be transferred to our hotel for breakfast. Mennonites from Prussia came to settle in this region in 1789. A tour of the city includes a visit to the Island of Chortitza, the cemetery and a boat trip around the island. We will have a conversation with MCC staff and fellowship with members of the Zaporozhye Mennonite Church.

Tuesday, August 7

Mennonites from Prussia came to the Molotschna Region beginning in 1803. We will tour through some of the former Mennonite villages and visit churches, including Petershagen, and institutions in the administrative centers of Halbstadt and Gnadenfeld.

Wednesday, August 8

This will be a free day to explore Zaporozhye on your own, shop, have a rest or travel with a local guide to one of the Mennonite villages of special interest to your family.

Thursday, August 9

On the way to Dnepropetrovsk for our flight to Kiev, we will stop at the memorial stone at Eichenfeld in memory of those who died in the massacre that took place there. Farewell dinner in Kiev.

Friday, August 10

After breakfast, we will transfer to the airport for our flight back to Toronto. You will return with many memories, insights and new friendships.

Your Tour Leaders

Leonard Friesen received his Ph.D. in Russian history from the University of Toronto.  He lived in the former Soviet Union during the Gorbachev years, and has travelled back to Russia and Ukraine up to 20 times.  He has published articles on aspects of Russian and Mennonite history, and has a book coming out in 2006 on the history of Southern Ukraine.  He is a member of Waterloo North Mennonite Church, and teaches history and Global Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University.  He is married to Mary, and together they have three children and one dog.

Audrey Voth Petkau, a member of the team at TourMagination, will co-lead as tour administrator. Audrey has spent many years as a designer and has brought her creative spirit to TM to work as a tour consultant. She will assist you with the preparation for the tour as well as your needs while you travel.

For further information regarding the complete tour fare, please This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . We would be happy to be of assistance.