Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Monday, 26 May 2008
Russian retrospective
It's taken me a while to post but here it is....
So come one, come all to the land of the mullets.....and by mullets I mean some hardcore ones - on males, females and children. Russians can't seem to get enough of it and they wear it with pride !
Rather than go it alone through Russia, we organised our trip through a travel company that was recommended by someone's someone. This is mainly because Russia is notorious for its difficult entry and exit procedures - basically a visa had to be organised, following a rather convoluted process. Not something we're used to on the Aussie passport I suppose. The trip covered Moscow and St. Petersburg , with a bit of Pskov thrown in. Although we went in mid-March... the weather was still icy and snowy. Never have I been more grateful for the puffa jacket!! I stand corrected that it is indeed the cold weather's treasured friend, though I maintain that it looks fug.
One weird thing I noticed about being in Russia was the amazing amount of static that was easily generated!! See evidence below!
Moscow
Of course it's the capital of Russia and it shows, somewhat like Canberra. The buildings are fairly regimental, soldiers everywhere and there seems to be this faint oppressive feel to things.... maybe it was just the grim weather ? There were occasional spots of NOT-COLD but in general, it was either icy or snowy or hail-y or sleety or rainy... I can go on and on but you get the gist.
The hotel was OK, it was part of a complex of accommodation built for the Olympics (?) and is now used as business hotels - yep, meaning it isn't very close to the city centre. Our room smelt of smoke and the water was this pale brown colour and tasted faintly of rust(!). I guess that's what you get on a package tour, accommodation really means just a place to sleep.
Despite the location, we made our way around Moscow without too much issue - thanks mainly to the fabulous Moscow metro system. The underground stations are quite attractive, boasting impressive statues and architecture. We were even told to take Moscow's 'circle' line to see some of the best of the stations - unfortunately I had to pass on that adventure because I hurt my ankle early into the trip and it was doing its achy malarkey.
St. Basil's Church
The evocative sight of Russia, with it's brightly coloured architecture and prominent placement within the Red Square. Russian churches are quite unique with their onion domes, and a lot of the churches have their domes covered in gold. St. Basil's is a beautiful little church and inside it has a warren of chambers (half of which seemed to be under restoration) - a nice way to spend part of the day.
Red Square
The square has political history behind it (being next to the Kremlin) and is very red :P Within it are St. Basil's, Lenin's tomb, a church, an big & fancy shopping centre and a museum. The museum was like the National History museum but EVERYTHING is in Russian - we had no idea what things referred to and so I spent my time staring at the various skeletons and skulls.
Lenin's Tomb
Looks somewhat like a Lego sculpture - we weren't allowed in so I wonder if Lenin would have been a sight for sore eyes? Apparently guards hustle you through the tomb area and you barely have a second to glance at his mummified face.
Kremlin
We had a guided tour of the Kremlin area and it being a government area meant the requisite checking of bags before entry and also whistling abruptly at people who dared to step onto the wide streets - haha. The guard/soldier got a few people with that whistle! Of the sights within the Kremlin, I enjoyed the churches the most.
Sculpture Park
An eerie memorial to Soviet leaders and other figures. It seems that all the statues that were pulled down after the various political upheavals were then lovingly placed in this park. The entrance to the park is guarded by a bunch of statues, artistically carrying machine guns :P It should have given us an indication as to what was actually inside...
Pskov
We took an overnight train from Moscow to Pskov (haven't done that since I was a kid!) and woke up to the amazing sight of proper snow. It was beautiful and COLD. We stomped our way out of the station and onto our tour bus - we went on to get some brekkie (meh) at a cafe in Pskov town. After brekkie, it was time to head to our accommodation. It was the nicest bit of accommodation during the whole trip - we were all in cabins dotted around a lake !!! The lake had frozen over and it was pristine white everywhere, with the bare trees poking upward.
We were then given a tour of a nearby monastery by this hilarious old lady called Lidia, who had the most random toasts about men and women. The monastery and surrounds were made even prettier by the covering of beautiful and dazzling white snow.
Then it was time for banya. We were told to bring swimmers for this authentico Russian sauna experience. The banya consists of steaming yourself with fricking hot steam and then getting 'whipped' by birch twigs, before running out and rolling around in the snow.... I flopped more than rolled though. Some brave folk even ran further away to jump into a frozen lake, I believe one of the guys said that he broke the ice with his ass!
St Petersburg
St Petersburg is a much more 'European' city and is definitely much more pretty and colourful than Moscow. I think I would have preferred one less day in Moscow to spend in St. Petersburg.
We arrived by coach from Pskov and went to the dingiest building that I've ever stayed in! At least the inside was OK but of course, our room smelt of smoke and needed to be aired out regularly.
We learnt a lot more about Russian history here, especially about Peter the Great and the royal line that followed from him, and their antics. In fact, Peter and Paul Cathedral contains all of the tombs of the central figures - kinda cool.
We visited the Hermitage museum and we were lucky enough to get tickets to see a ballet production at the Hermitage theatre - the guys decided against Romeo & Juliet and indulged me with Swan Lake, hooray!
St. Petersburg has an abundance of beautiful churches and buildings. One of my favourite sights was the Church on Spilled Blood (mmm morbid) and it is a pretty reminder of St Basil's church.
St Isaac's Cathedral looks imposing from the outside (the effects of the wars haven't been entirely concealed) but is quite beautiful inside. I decided against going up into the bell tower and listened to the service and choir instead.
Smolny Cathedral is a distinctive sky blue in colour and although I can't remember the history behind it, it is very pretty against the sun and snow.
Last but not least, we visited the bright blue Winter Palace and thankfully the day wasn't so bad at all. There was still a lot of blinding white snow and I had to be careful of the iced pavements but at least it was sunny!
All in all, the trip was GREAT! And importantly, the food was surprisingly good - I had no problems at all and I'm considered a fussy eater! We even had really nice sushi!
Lovely St. Petersburg sunset
So come one, come all to the land of the mullets.....and by mullets I mean some hardcore ones - on males, females and children. Russians can't seem to get enough of it and they wear it with pride !
Rather than go it alone through Russia, we organised our trip through a travel company that was recommended by someone's someone. This is mainly because Russia is notorious for its difficult entry and exit procedures - basically a visa had to be organised, following a rather convoluted process. Not something we're used to on the Aussie passport I suppose. The trip covered Moscow and St. Petersburg , with a bit of Pskov thrown in. Although we went in mid-March... the weather was still icy and snowy. Never have I been more grateful for the puffa jacket!! I stand corrected that it is indeed the cold weather's treasured friend, though I maintain that it looks fug.
One weird thing I noticed about being in Russia was the amazing amount of static that was easily generated!! See evidence below!
Eeeeeeeee
Moscow
Of course it's the capital of Russia and it shows, somewhat like Canberra. The buildings are fairly regimental, soldiers everywhere and there seems to be this faint oppressive feel to things.... maybe it was just the grim weather ? There were occasional spots of NOT-COLD but in general, it was either icy or snowy or hail-y or sleety or rainy... I can go on and on but you get the gist.
The hotel was OK, it was part of a complex of accommodation built for the Olympics (?) and is now used as business hotels - yep, meaning it isn't very close to the city centre. Our room smelt of smoke and the water was this pale brown colour and tasted faintly of rust(!). I guess that's what you get on a package tour, accommodation really means just a place to sleep.
Nick knacks from the market nearby
Despite the location, we made our way around Moscow without too much issue - thanks mainly to the fabulous Moscow metro system. The underground stations are quite attractive, boasting impressive statues and architecture. We were even told to take Moscow's 'circle' line to see some of the best of the stations - unfortunately I had to pass on that adventure because I hurt my ankle early into the trip and it was doing its achy malarkey.
A mural ode to Stalin in one of the metro stations
St. Basil's Church
The evocative sight of Russia, with it's brightly coloured architecture and prominent placement within the Red Square. Russian churches are quite unique with their onion domes, and a lot of the churches have their domes covered in gold. St. Basil's is a beautiful little church and inside it has a warren of chambers (half of which seemed to be under restoration) - a nice way to spend part of the day.
Pretty
Red Square
The square has political history behind it (being next to the Kremlin) and is very red :P Within it are St. Basil's, Lenin's tomb, a church, an big & fancy shopping centre and a museum. The museum was like the National History museum but EVERYTHING is in Russian - we had no idea what things referred to and so I spent my time staring at the various skeletons and skulls.
Lenin's Tomb
Looks somewhat like a Lego sculpture - we weren't allowed in so I wonder if Lenin would have been a sight for sore eyes? Apparently guards hustle you through the tomb area and you barely have a second to glance at his mummified face.
Kremlin
We had a guided tour of the Kremlin area and it being a government area meant the requisite checking of bags before entry and also whistling abruptly at people who dared to step onto the wide streets - haha. The guard/soldier got a few people with that whistle! Of the sights within the Kremlin, I enjoyed the churches the most.
Sculpture Park
An eerie memorial to Soviet leaders and other figures. It seems that all the statues that were pulled down after the various political upheavals were then lovingly placed in this park. The entrance to the park is guarded by a bunch of statues, artistically carrying machine guns :P It should have given us an indication as to what was actually inside...
Me and the big boy
Pskov
We took an overnight train from Moscow to Pskov (haven't done that since I was a kid!) and woke up to the amazing sight of proper snow. It was beautiful and COLD. We stomped our way out of the station and onto our tour bus - we went on to get some brekkie (meh) at a cafe in Pskov town. After brekkie, it was time to head to our accommodation. It was the nicest bit of accommodation during the whole trip - we were all in cabins dotted around a lake !!! The lake had frozen over and it was pristine white everywhere, with the bare trees poking upward.
View from our cabin - frozen lake beyond the trees!
A novel way to keep the vodka and beers icy cold....
Rugged up against the cold
We were then given a tour of a nearby monastery by this hilarious old lady called Lidia, who had the most random toasts about men and women. The monastery and surrounds were made even prettier by the covering of beautiful and dazzling white snow.
View of Pskov and the monastery
Smiling despite the cold...
Then it was time for banya. We were told to bring swimmers for this authentico Russian sauna experience. The banya consists of steaming yourself with fricking hot steam and then getting 'whipped' by birch twigs, before running out and rolling around in the snow.... I flopped more than rolled though. Some brave folk even ran further away to jump into a frozen lake, I believe one of the guys said that he broke the ice with his ass!
St Petersburg
St Petersburg is a much more 'European' city and is definitely much more pretty and colourful than Moscow. I think I would have preferred one less day in Moscow to spend in St. Petersburg.
We arrived by coach from Pskov and went to the dingiest building that I've ever stayed in! At least the inside was OK but of course, our room smelt of smoke and needed to be aired out regularly.
We learnt a lot more about Russian history here, especially about Peter the Great and the royal line that followed from him, and their antics. In fact, Peter and Paul Cathedral contains all of the tombs of the central figures - kinda cool.
We visited the Hermitage museum and we were lucky enough to get tickets to see a ballet production at the Hermitage theatre - the guys decided against Romeo & Juliet and indulged me with Swan Lake, hooray!
St. Petersburg has an abundance of beautiful churches and buildings. One of my favourite sights was the Church on Spilled Blood (mmm morbid) and it is a pretty reminder of St Basil's church.
What a difference a day makes! From snowy to bright sunlight...
St Isaac's Cathedral looks imposing from the outside (the effects of the wars haven't been entirely concealed) but is quite beautiful inside. I decided against going up into the bell tower and listened to the service and choir instead.
Smolny Cathedral is a distinctive sky blue in colour and although I can't remember the history behind it, it is very pretty against the sun and snow.
Group shot!
Last but not least, we visited the bright blue Winter Palace and thankfully the day wasn't so bad at all. There was still a lot of blinding white snow and I had to be careful of the iced pavements but at least it was sunny!
Being bollywood at the Winter Palace...
All in all, the trip was GREAT! And importantly, the food was surprisingly good - I had no problems at all and I'm considered a fussy eater! We even had really nice sushi!
Lovely St. Petersburg sunset
I'm back!
Three weeks away in Aus and they were mainly fab!
The weddings were great and it was nice to see the happy couples finally wed, hilarious to see the uncles on the dance floor too. I had to field the question of when I'll return to Aus many times and I realise that it's nice to be back in the UK - seems a lot more familiar right now.
The weddings were great and it was nice to see the happy couples finally wed, hilarious to see the uncles on the dance floor too. I had to field the question of when I'll return to Aus many times and I realise that it's nice to be back in the UK - seems a lot more familiar right now.
Saturday, 3 May 2008
Saturday, 26 April 2008
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