Dear CCI Readers,
Farewell to St. Petersburg, from Mike Metz!
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives
I came to Russia looking for history, that’s been my passion since retirement. I found history for sure, but mostly what I found was a country looking forward, looking away from a difficult past. Clean cities, crowded streets, new cars, busy people, peace, stability and relative prosperity.
When I watched the Russian team in the World Cup, I noticed the old Romanov crest on their uniforms and thought what an identity—centuries of czars, decades of communism, ten years of anarchy followed by nearly twenty years of Putin. Who are these people? They are all of that.
Some old believers:
Some new church goers:
Some Putin supporters, some not, but all lovers of peace and stability after the years of chaos and domination by these guys below:
All in all, Russians are just normal people, like Americans, with kids to raise, jobs to go to, bills to pay, hopes for the future. It’s a great place to visit (and cheap!) but don’t come as a tourist. Come with one of Sharon Tennison’s CCI group (https://ccisf.org/). Come with a purpose, to meet Russians, to listen and learn, and maybe make the world a slightly better place.
And if you’re lucky you might find a double rainbow over the Winter Palace.
Ok so the palace is slightly to the right- I missed the shot but this one’s not bad 🙂
Do Svedonya!
Mike Metz
Citizen Diplomat
September 2018