Blogs from Nizhny Novgorod, Volga, Russia, Europe
Nizhny Novgorod - the One with Medwedew…
Published: June 18th 2011Europe » Russia » Volga » Nizhny Novgorod
June 18th 2011
After a night spent in the train – without any special events probably due to the average age of the passengers in my ‘wagon’ – I was looking forward to a shower in Olga’s apartment. In her apartment this meant, putting water to boil, pour the hot water into a big pot, mix it with cold water from the tap, take a hug cup and off you go pouring the water over your body. In summer in Russia the government usually turns off the hot water for about two weeks by district or street in order to fix the pipes . I told Olga not to worry – the first time I went to Russia/St.Petersburg I stayed two weeks with a host family – guess which two weeks the hot water was turned off in their ... read more
May 30th 2010
This was in summer of 2009. I was going to Saint Petersburg for the Global Gathering party, and it so happened that I did not manage to buy train tickets for the usual route, Yanaul-Moscow-Petersburg, so I devised a modified route: Yanaul-Kazan-Nizhny Novgorod-Moscow-Petersburg. There was only 30 minutes between the train from Yanaul and that to Nizhny Novgorod. Fortunately, there were no delays. When I came to Nizhny Novgorod, I bought a map - this is the first thing I usually do when I arrive to a place. By the way, geography was one of my favourite subjects at school. To see the sights, I had very little time - four or five hours, and now I will speak of a thing not so pleasant to myself… I always try to do my best using maps, ... read more
April 14th 2010
C'est la tres grande forme du jeu de mots, comme vos prunelles que je devine deja chatoyantes peuvent le constater, et nous voici donc dans la ville qui donne son nom a l'Област (oblast), qui signifie region. Le decoupage administratif de la Russie est a l'image de sa langue : fruit de siecles d'histoire, et bien complexe tant pour le profane que pour le non-specialiste. Il y a les republiques, les regions autonomes et les oblast, qui existent eux-memes en 3 parfums (classique, autonome et fraise-pistache). Mais je m'egare, voici donc Ни́жний Но́вгород (Nizhny Novgorod, qui sera NN dans tout cet article), ville prestigieuse bordant la Volga et riche d'histoire, puisqu'elle a tour a tour ete residence princiere, forteresse inexpugnable (elle a repousse les assauts tatars venus des fameuses...steppes tatares merci, je vois qu'il y en ... read more
September 16th 2008
Hey everyone, guess what. Unfortunately, I am still winning against Russia. They tried to off me a couple times. On the metro, on the train, in a massive McDonald's, the internet cafe lady tried to kill me by staring, the toilets try to kill you from squatting so much, and the food is similar to someone punching you in the stomach, having the food come out, and then trying to eat it again. All in all, I am really enjoying my time!! So what to say... first off the internet here has a monthly limit of data that we are allowed to send/recieve. So I will not be posting very often. Probably once a week or so. And I will have to keep pictures relatively small. We have arrived here in Nizhni Novgorod about a week ... read more
September 16th 2008
Two drunkards in one day. How can things get more exciting? I recall at home once trying to define what 'being drunk' meant. Some of us thought that being drunk was simply having a buzz. I firmly disagreed then, and I still stick with my definition. Drunk, is being on a russian bus and getting your butt thrown off of it. Literally. So the night was young. Our plan was to hit up the banya, basically the Russian version of really hot, steamy room with naked men everywhere. And we have birch branches to hit each other with. Well, it turns out that we couldn't get into the banya due to it being ladies night only. Disappointing? Nah, we took Debbie's 2,000 ruples and went out for dinner. So our local guide was Andrew, who wasn't ... read more
September 14th 2008
Hey everyone. Lots have been going on and plenty to talk about. The internet here is wack so I am beginning to figure out a system of when to use it. So expect some amazing posts tomorrow or the next day. In the mean time I hope everyone is well. ... read more
Church in Russia or How to yell at a Cat in Russian
Published: September 1st 2008Europe » Russia » Volga » Nizhny Novgorod
September 1st 2008
The hotel lobby bodyguard guy keeps staring at me as if I were a dirty American and this were Soviet Russia. If you stare back he just stares harder. I find the best approach is to offer him food and then he smiles. Food makes everyone smile. Normally when you take an escalator down to the subway its about a 5 minute ride one way. Rather creepy how far down you go, and how fast. Everyone stands on the right side so those in a hurry can run down the left. Andrew really wanted to run down the Escalator and since I get really tired of watching the couples tongue diving, I took off after him. Which started a chain reaction that had 5 Americans sprinting down the elevator. Echoing shouts of glee and yeehaas! much ... read more
August 29th 2008
Well I have officially been in Russia for 2 days and 3 nights now. We arrived around supper time on Wednesday and were promptly told that we were in the most beautiful city in Russia then stuffed into a bus for a ride to our hotel. At first the city was really butt ugly. It wasn't until you got downtown that you could really appreciate it's beauty, especially when the sun comes out. Which happens only 60 days out of the year. The first night was rather uneventful. We met our director Harley and he is a short, quiet man, balding and very friendly. He isn't married and has only a goddaughter which I believe he loves dearly. He has spent the past 15 years here in Russia but goes home during the summers. He is ... read more
August 28th 2008
How many planes can one person be on in one day is the question I asked myself as I entered my fourth plane from Frankfurt, Germany to Saint Petersburg, Russia. Most of the plane rides were uneventful. The German airport sucks and we had to go through security twice and get our passpors stamped twice all because someone left some unattended bagged in the only hallway that leads to our Gate. Chicago was interesting with business men making private part jokes loudly in the bathroom and I got ambushed by an Indian family as I ate my last meal in the USA. Big Mac baby. Until I got to New York and I met my fellow classmates. In which I then had Pizza. But it was the thought that counts anyway. I arrived in JFK around ... read more
August 25th 2008
It is August 25, 2008. I leave for Russia tomorrow. I am starting this blog for a number of reasons. Most important I think is it will hopefully be an easy way for everyone back home to keep up on what I am doing and quite frankly I fully plan on embarassing myself and enjoying every moment of foreign international travel that I possibly can. So if nothing else this should be an entertaining read I hope. Tonight the guys in the house threw me one last little party before I left. Jeremiah made some wonderful fondue stuff and everyone came by. It was good to see everyone before I left and I really appreciated the overall attitude that everyone had tonight. Really could not have gone any better. My truck is taken care of thanks ... read more
