Blogs from Suzdal, Centre, Russia, Europe

Day 12 We were supposed to be in the lobby to meet our tour group at 8 AM. We had breakfast at the hotel, which was fine except there is something weird about coffee in Russia. Maybe chicory? It was so bad that even with a ton of sugar, neither of us could drink it. During breakfast I kept looking around the dining room for couples thinking I would see other people on the tour, but I only saw 1 woman. I dashed out in the rain to get a sim card for our phone but had to turn around before finding the shop. When I got to the lobby, Jack was standing there with the guide, the driver and one other couple which is close to a private tour. The couple are a neo-natologist and ... read more

Suzdal... read more

Our train journey was a brief one today,only an hour and a quarter,from Nizhny Novgorod to Vladimir and our visit to the Golden Ring.This is the area Northeast of Moscow that contains some of the countries oldest towns,Kremlins and an amazing array of spectacular onion domes. We were met by a lovely driver who drove us straight to Suzdal,35km away, which really is a beautiful town. The railway goes through Vladimir and not Suzdal so the town remains largely untouched.At one time there was a church for every 12 of it's citizens and there are still over 40 old religious buildings left in this small town. It was a royal capital and became infamous in the times of Ivan The Terrible. It was like stepping back in time visiting here and our 3 night break was ... read more

5 décembre 2012, Moscou Snif snif! Le train est fini… déjà! Depuis le temps qu’on rêvait au Trans-Sibérien, c’est déjà terminé, je n’en reviens pas comme ça va vite. D’ailleurs, on a passé le cap du 300 jours de voyage! Mais je ne pourrai pas dire que j’ai fait le TransMongolien au complet puisque nous sommes arrêtés un arrêt avant Moscou, à Vladimir, pour aller à Suzdal. En campagne! Pendant le trajet de bus d’une heure, j’avais l’impression de me balader dans la campagne québécoise. Des fermes par-ci par-là, dans des champs de foin séché, couverts d’une mince couche de neige balayée par le vent. Avec des gens qui embarquent et débarquent aux croisements de deux rangs, sortis de nulle-part. En débarquant du bus, au croisement d’un rang-pis-d’la-main, je me pensais presqu’à St-Anselme, 20 ... read more

Suzdal (of many churches) We’d decided on Suzdal to get away from the hustle and bustle of Moscow. The suburban train from Moscow was an interesting experience – 3 1/2 hour journey with no toilets. Fortunately Vitali – an ex army local explained that we could use the gap between the carriages. We declined, but struck up a friendly conversation with him and he shared with us a strange alcoholic grape juice as well as a pocket full of roasted sunflower seeds. He was also determined to leave us his address, phone number and children’s details and so did. Meanwhile another local, Elza, had been roped in to translate. Her English was very good and we spent the rest of the journey chatting with her. Elza is a director of HR in Moscow and going to ... read more