Blogs from Belarus, Europe

As usual here in Belarus, the train left right on time, just before midnight the train started the 4 hour journey to Minsk, the night trip here are always sleepers, they did not give you a choice for just seats, which was fine, the ticket is so cheap anyway. We discovered we have the right side of the cabin, so one of us have to sleep on the upper deck, I volunteered. They provided you with pillow, mattress and blanket if you so chose to use it, but the bed/seat is cushioned already so I decided just grab a blanket and pass out. The problem is how to get up to my bed, there is only probably 3 feet of space between my bed and another bed on top of me, which is not used, I ... read more

Woke up with the sun poking through a gap in the curtains of the dorm room, looks like it is going to be a nice day, Mindas and I got ready to start the day, we decided to visit the little town of Mir, where they have a castle sitting atop a small hill, we saw the fotos from a book in the hostel, looked nice. But then Andrew(the cuckoo) invited himself and his girlfriend! But at least he was the one who figured out the schedule and which bus to take etc, so we all got ready, the girlfriend Tania arrived on a taxi and we came down to meet her at the front of the hostel, but aside from Andrew, me and Mindas, Andrei from Gomel who is also staying in the hostel wants ... read more

Такси прибыло ровно в 11 как и договаривались. Все же некоторые умудрились остаться после новогодней ночи способными на дальние поездки за рулем. Скажу спасибо таксисту за сдержанное слово и пожелаю удачи в новом году. В аэропорту было совершенно нечем занятся и соответственно скучно. Хорошо что хоть выехали не очень рано а то заплесневели бы в ожидании рейса. Минский аэропорт весьма мал и поэтому прохождение всех формальностей не затянулось. 15 минут и мы оказались в крохотном зале ож... read more

Communist Symbols All over Belarus there are Lenin statues, murals of proud workers, nationalist symbols and hammer and sickle symbols. I have a soft spot for these various communist symbols. I am not a communist, but I do like the symbols from an artistic point of view. In the years prior to the fall of the Soviet Union people in the communist world had to be constantly reminded of how great a system communism is. Therefore every town had a Lenin statue, there were always streets in each town named after Lenin and Karl Marx, statues of war heroes dotted the cities and on city walls you could find plaques commemorating communist leaders or perhaps a visit by Lenin a long time ago. There was frequent use of the hammer and sickle symbol and sometimes even ... read more

Imposing buildings, majestic subway stations and various memorials A few years ago I, Ake, and my friend Juha talked about Belarus and realised that we both wanted to go there. It took some time before we finally got there but in July this year we did. It has also taken some time for me to get down to finally updating the blog with photos and stories from this trip. But now, somewhat late, you can read the first of the blog entries from Belarus. For us to get the visa to visit Belarus was not as easy as you might think. We had to in advance book hotel for every night we wanted to stay in the country and we had to include a copy of the booking confirmation in our application. This paperwork made us ... read more