We and our sterling Russian associates (the country’s finest, we’re proud to note) arrange trips that roam across all those time zones. We delight in showcasing the august wonders of Moscow and St. Petersburg and the remote Kamchatka Peninsula. We travel all along the fabled Trans-Siberian Railway and its tributaries and marvel at the world’s deepest and oldest lake, astounding Baikal, the Pearl of Siberia. We delve into the countryside of Tuva, home of the sublime throat singers, take Volga River cruises, and roam the towns of the Golden Ring, a veritable garden of onion-dome churches. We explore the arctic tundra of Wrangel Island and Yakutia, and are struck nearly breathless by the opulence of Tsarkoe Selo, palace home of the tsars.

And we make expertly guided journeys to Georgia, reveling in the magnificence of its Caucasian mountain sceneries and its famously hospitable folk and equally famed music, food, and dance. And, on the other side of the Caucasus, we weave in and out of the villages and towns of two new countries, Azerbajian and Armenia --tied to Russia for centuries, just now making their way in the modern world--less visited but utterly compelling cultures and peoples.