We arrived Tuesday in Russia with a group of 25 who hailed from Israel and various other places who got together to see Russia. We began our trip in St Petersburg, a beautiful city. The architecture and wide streets are magnificent! We saw so many different former palaces that were so beautiful.
St Petersburg is a city of 5 million, and like Montreal there are between 80,000 and 100,000 Jews. It is a bustling city with lots going on. We toured the city, and went to see the Peter and Paul Fortress, where the founder of the Chabad movement was imprisoned. We saw the prison itself, how prisoners were treated, and were explained the prison system.
To imagine that we were in a place where we were once imprisoned for spreading Judaism and yet today Judaism is growing exponentially was very profound.
We had an incredible breakfast at a beautiful kosher restaurant. Later, we had dinner with a show in a palace that was also kosher (and a 5 star meal!).
I can't imagine getting such treatment in Montreal within a kosher environment.
