Matryoshka Dolls and Onion Domes:
Moscow and St. Petersburg

June 15–30, 2007

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Itinerary Register Interview with the Quades

Program Leaders: Pat Quade, professor emeritus of theatre, and
Kathy Quade, retired St. Olaf disability services coordinator

Like the enchanting matryoshka nesting doll, the many layers of Moscow and St. Petersburg reveal treasure after treasure. These two dynamic and differing cities offer countless historical, political and artistic gems. During seven days each in Moscow and St. Petersburg we study the contributions of major figures in the arts world, visit architectural monuments and enjoy a variety of performances.

Program Sites
Churchill’s “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” remains an apt description of Russia. Most outsiders have only a hazy idea of its realities. A composite of the extravagant glories of old Russia and the drab legacies of the Soviet era, the country both befuddles and beguiles.

Moscow is the barometer and nucleus of the changes sweeping through Russia. Nowhere are Russia’s contrasts more apparent than here. Ancient monasteries and ultra-modern monoliths stand side by side, and “New Russian” millionaires and poverty-stricken pensioners walk the same streets. The populace now prefers impromptu street markets to monolithic department stores, and the beautiful churches vandalized or abandoned during the Soviet era of hard line atheism are being lovingly restored. (adapted from lonelyplanet.com)

In Moscow, we explore museums, the famous G.U.M. department store, St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Kremlin, and various gardens, cathedrals and performance spaces.

We experience St. Petersburg during the dazzling “White Nights,” when the sun never fully sets. In Peter the Great’s capital we enjoy the city’s many palaces, the incomparable Hermitage, and a variety of churches and cathedrals.

St. Petersburg has been dubbed the Venice of the North for its palace-lined waterways. It managed to escape the architectural incursions of Stalinism, and its grandiose relics of tsarist days are rather intact. Sculpted by islands and the sinuous Neva River, the city is a vista of geometric elegance. (adapted from lonelyplanet.com)

Program Leaders
Pat Quade graduated from St. Olaf in 1965 and taught in the theatre department from 1968 to 1996. In addition to teaching and directing plays, he served for eight years as director of International and Off-Campus Studies, which sends over 800 students abroad each year on more than 35 January Interim courses and 60 semester- or year-long programs.

Pat and Kathy are veteran travelers and program leaders. Pat led his first Study Travel program, “London for Theater Lovers,” in October 1995 and has led the “Theater in London” Interim course for students 10 times. He and Kathy have led St. Olaf students on Term in the Middle East and Global Semester. They have led Study Travel programs in Australia, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Israel, Jordan, New Zealand, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and have another planned in Prague, Vienna, Budapest.

Program Fee
The program fee is $5,250 per person through Feb. 15, 2007. Based on double occupancy, it includes:

  • Seminars by Pat Quade and guest lecturers
  • Assistance by Kathy Quade and a national guide
  • Roundtrip airfare from Minneapolis
  • Express train fare between Moscow and St. Petersburg
  • All accommodations
  • Breakfast daily and several other group meals
  • Entrance fees
  • Group tours
  • Ground transportation
  • Entry visa
  • Gratuities

For single occupancy add $945. To travel land only (making your own arrangements to Moscow and from St. Petersburg), subtract $1,700.

The program fee after Feb. 15, 2007, is $5,400 per person and could be subject to additional airfare because group seats cannot be guaranteed after this date. Payment schedule

Continuing Education Units
Approximately 42 hours of continuing education are available.

Register Today
Go “behind the seen” with St. Olaf Study Travel. Register online, call toll-free 866-255-6523 or fax 507-646-8232. A $350 per-person deposit guarantees your space.