Life on Land

Highlights of Field Programs in Russia

St. Petersburg offered a huge variety of field programs for voyagers to experience Russia, from the expected wealth of museum and city-orientation tours to a unique tea with Russian families and an overnight trip to Moscow. Many voyagers took full advantage of the excursions, signing up for multiple programs, creating over 1,200 experiences run by the field office during the five days that the MV Explorer was docked on the skirts of the cultural capital of Russia.

White Nights Canal Cruises ran two separate nights, with more than 150 people signed up for the program. The tour took voyagers through St. Petersburg’s canals, under bridges and out into the Neva River for amazing views from the water.

Voyagers soaked up the last bits of sunshine at 10 pm while cruising the Neva River with the Winter Palace and one of the city’s drawbridges in the background.

Student Lorenzo Servedio of Clarkson University attended the Moscow field program, capturing part of the glory of the Red Square.

Vertical 2-2 — From left to right; Madeline Rencher of Univeristy of Utah, Professor Betsey Chunko, Lorenzo Servedio of Clarkson University, Academic Dean David Gies, Janna Gies and Morgan Shaver of Iowa State University in front of Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. At right, Erarta Modern Art Museum in St. Petersburg, where 3 voyagers were guided through by a museum docent in the dark with flashlights.

20140726_223248 — Flashlight examination of many paintings gave an unexpected view of modern art works. Photo by Lauren Hartig.

Vertical 3 — The gem of St. Petersburg, the Hermitage Museum, was once the royal family’s Winter Palace. The stunning interiors blew many voyagers away, as it was hard to get one’s mind around the amount of art in the palace.

Vertical 1 — On the two-hour guided tour of the museum, many regarded the palace as its own piece of art in addition to the thousands of art objects and paintings. Some voyagers went back to the Hermitage multiple times to see more and more, but most agreed that having a tour guide was phenomenally helpful. At right, outside of St. Petersburg lies Peterhof where visitors flocked to visit the exterior of the palace. The impressive fountain grand cascade and gardens wowed many, and the field program participants got to see yet another palace. Photo by Alyssa Langworthy, University of California, San Diego.

Peterhof Gardens, Andre Whiteleather, Ohio University — The fountains of Peterhof as seen from above. Photo by Andre Whiteleather of Ohio University.

The Dacha Community Visit field program was also outside of St. Petersburg in the community of Komarovo where thousands of summer and weekend wooden Dacha houses dot the countryside. Two small groups of voyagers got to meet and have tea with two different Russian families, experiencing different foods and traditions for the afternoon snack.

A very popular field program was the where the chef is using dry ice to — On a culinary field program, the chef used dry ice to “cook” for the group. Photo by Lauren Hartig.

Blair Baldwin of the University of Maine gives a kitty a little love on the shelter visit field program.

Spring 2025 Spring 2025

Meet Our Spring 2025 Voyage Leadership Team (VoLT)

Highlights of Field Programs in Russia

Ready to Explore?

Related Articles