Virtual Tour of Russia and Authentic Russian Experiences in USA

In the past 15 months travel internationally was very difficult, impossible at times, due to COVID-19. Will travel come back to pre-COVID area norms – who knows? That’s why more and more people are looking for virtual travel experiences or experiences of travelling the world without leaving their home or at least not going too far.

You may be surprised but there are many international experiences available right here in the U.S. that you can partake as part of a road trip – no plane ticket required. Just check out my recent article Travel the World Without Flying that covers dozens of experiences and attractions from more than 16 countries.

If you are specifically interested in my home country, Russia, I can give lots of ideas about a virtual tour of Russia and Russian experiences that you can have in the U.S.

I was born and raised in Russia and and I would love to be your guide to my homeland. That said, to write about travel in Russia would take a lifetime and a whole other blog. So I am trying to do at least a small contribution through promoting interesting Russian traditions and culture, especially because some of the authentic Russian experiences and activities are available here in the U.S. or even from your home!

I can take you on a tour of Russian winter wonderland through my book, Russian Winter Folk Tales.

“Russian Winter Folk Tales” is an amazing book for many reasons. I can only take credit for translation into English and adaptation but the core of it is the wealth of wisdom accumulated by the Russian people over hundreds of years and passed from generation to generations.

As for the amazing colorful illustrations in the book, they were created by kids from all over the world. Twenty best works were selected be me out of 500 submitted!

So why this book will give you a great virtual tour of Russia? Well, here is why:

1. Through the 20 wonderful stories in this book you will learn some exciting Russian traditions from New Year’s celebrations to a Maslenitsa festival when we say good-bye to winter.
2. The book gives answers to many burning questions that kids ask all the time, such as: How winter begins? Why the snow is white? Who is the strongest in the world?
3. Russian Winter Folk Tales provides you insight to the mysterious Russian soul and teaches kids the value of hard work, friendship, kindness and more – there is an important moral in each tale.
4. The illustrations done by kids, winners of an international art competition, are a wonderful visual component of the book. The youngest winner was just 3 and half years old and the oldest one was 16. All illustrations are really beautiful and unique.

At the moment the book is not available for purchase because of the issues with the publisher but I have been up-loading read aloud audio recordings of the stories from the book on my YouTube channel. Below is the first story and there will be more on my YouTube channel. Kids will have fun listening to these Russian adventures and will also learn a thing or two.

MORE RESOURCES ON VIRTUAL TOURS OF RUSSIA

If you would like to learn more about my country and go on other virtual tours of Russia, here are some helpful resources:

1. Check out Eagle Travel tours – some of their virtual tours of Russia are actually FREE of charge.
2. Watch cool free St. Petersburg tour videos from Petersburg Tour Guide.
3. Read my universal guide to travel in Russia
4. Take a virtual tour of Russia with the absolute best and my most favorite Russian movies translated into English

AUTHENTIC RUSSIAN EXPERIENCES AVAILABLE IN THE U.S.

1.Come visit yearly Russian cultural festival organized by Russian Center in San Francisco (may be postponed in 2021 due to COVID-19). It is the best “virtual tour” of Russia because here Russia comes to you with cultural performances, food tastings, souvenirs, crafts and much more.

2. Discover your local Russian Orthodox churches. Many of them will organize Russian festivals for general public with food and crafts fairs.

3. Have a meal at an authentic Russian restaurant. There are about 400 of them here in the U.S. that showcase Russian food as well as the cuisine of the entire former Soviet Union. You can start you search of Russian restaurants by state HERE. My favorite one in California is Russian House #1 on the banks of the beautiful Russian River in California that offers authentic homemade food and drink with unparalleled scenic views.

4. Visit Fort Ross State Park, which was a stronghold of Russian territory in California for 30 years. Their historic tours, cultural presentations and festivals are superb. The in-person tours are currently on hold due to COVID-19 but they are organizing some on-line events and I also created this virtual tour of Fort Ross for you, my travel friends:

5. If you get to Alaska, definitely check out Russian America for a unique historical experience.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR VIRTUAL TRAVEL

If you are interested in virtual travel in general, here are additional resources that I put together that you may find useful:

Virtual Tour of San Francisco

Virtual Tour of California

Best books for armchair travel

If you found this information about virtual tour of Russia and Russian experiences and attractions in the U.S. useful, please, share it with others because it may help them in working out their travel plans. Follow me on Instagram for a daily doze of awesome travel photos, videos and stories.

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