Proposed 2013 Rose-Hulman Alumni Reunion Tour - Quick Facts

Moscow

• 79 billionaires (59 in New York, 41 in London (Forbes2011);
• More people speaking English on the streets
• Tallest building in Europe, Russia’s own twin towers (93 and 67 floors) the Federation Buildings in a brand-new skyscraper complex of the International Business Center, scheduled for completion in 2013.
• An explosion of recently-opened churches, synagogues, temple, houses of prayer (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, especially, Pentecostal, Baptists, Lutheran, Methodist), Jewish, Messianic Jews, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Muslim, Buddhists’, and most other major faiths and cults.
• 10,464,816 million inhabitants (Jan 2012)
• More cars, more traffic jams than ever before.
• 350 legitimate theaters (more than New York or London),
• The most palatial and the 2nd most heavily used underground metro system with 185 luxurious stations (2010); best place in the world, day or night, great for people watching.
• Newer and bigger shopping malls than you have at home;
• Enormous independent bazaars operated by traders from Turkey, Poland, Viet Nam, India, China, etc.
• More private colleges and universities, more new programs and courses. Most if not all have switched over to 4-year baccalaureate degree programs away from the European model;
• Plenty of American and European medical and dental clinics (and hospitals!);

Sapsan Train

The Sapsan Train is fastest train in Russia. It runs from Moscow to St Petersburg and cuts in half the eight hours it takes ordinary trains to get there, running at 250 kph (155 mph). "Sapsan" is the Russian word for the bird Peregrine Falcon.

St. Petersburg

• The capital of Tsarist Russia from 1703 to 1918.
• A population of around 5 million
• 50 theaters including the Mariinsky (formerly the Kirov)
• 20 museums including a toy museum, optical technology museum, Kunstkamera Museum of Oddities, the Arctic and Antarctic museum and of course, the Hermitage.