Blogs from Russia, Europe - page 18

Our stopover was Heathrow, which is a fantastic shopping mall, it's also an airport but that is secondary to the shopping. Our Aeroflot flight from Heathrow to Moscow was an older plane (so much for what I read that Areoflot has one of the newest fleets. The breakfast was inedible, but at least we got little salt and pepper shakers with the hammer and sickle. We arrived in Moscow about 2:30. As the plane pulled in, it was apparent that 80-90% of the planes on the tarmac were Aeroflot and unlike airports in the US a lot of the operational equipment like empty luggage carriers were sort of piled up in plain site. had read that passport control could be a mad-house. Instead, there were at least 24 queue and 20 of them were empty. Needless ... read more

A captivating diversion from the main sights of Moscow is the open air Muzeon Park of Arts (formerly the Park of the Fallen Heroes or Fallen Monument Park). It is located across the road (Krimsky Val) from Gorky Park. it is around the side and the rear of the Krymsky Val building in Moscow shared by the modern art division of Tretyakov Gallery and Central House of Artists. The park often turns up on dark tourism blogs and it is easy to understand why. It is both incredibly atmospheric and wonderfully photogenic. The irregular and rather chaotic display is very arresting and provokes a strange range of feelings. The iconography used during the soviet era provides for a sense of nostalgic isolation, the sense of isolation further compounded by the few, fellow lonely tourists rapidly traversing ... read more

As of today, January 2, 2018, forty of our fifty states are under a severe weather warning. Here are a few cold places I have visited: Vladivostok is in url=https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F07%2F24%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Fvladivostok-china-haishenwai-tourists.html%3F_r%3D0&data=02%7C01%7C%7C84fb850128614f95ce0508d552b76efe%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636505870162792546&sdata=TYuCIis%2BRLA1Y4tjfvT83VcEHrmuLqXMk2%2BIh1PfkeI%3D&reserved=0Russia’s Far East, near the country’s border with China. Average January temperatures reach url=https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yr.no%2Fplace%2FRussia%2FPrimorsky%2FVladivostok%2Fstatistics.html&data=02%7C01%7C%7C84fb850128614f95ce0508d552b76efe%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636505870162792546&sdata=nHn5zPoPE... read more

We took a well-deserved sleep-in and almost missed breakfast. After yesterdays experience - I was not getting excited about pickled herrings, pickled cabbage, dubious looking meat cold cuts. Just stuck to the water scrambles eggs, overcooked bacon and toast. In "western" hotels - I hate it when they water down all the juices. It was no different here. Watered down orange, apple and multi-vitamin juices. Still - I need to have some to wash down the aforementioned food. Decided on tea this morning instead of the extra strong coffee. We decided to try the "Metro" and go to St. Isaacs church. I did not try the Metro in 1980 - but I knew that the Metro in Moscow was spotless so knew it would be the same in St. Petersburg. 45 rubles (1AU$) let's you ride ... read more

Our Austrian White Christmas tour finished after breakfast this morning - and we had to depart the hotel early to get to Munich Airport by 09.30am for check-in on our flight to St. Petersburg. I was last in this city (when it was known as Leningrad) in August 1980. I was a Tour Manager (then called "courier") for NAT Eurotours. My special areas of guiding beforehand had been Europe and North Africa. As the company was winding down it's camping tours - I was advised that as the particular tour called Scandinavia, Russia and the Greek Islands would be the last offered - I should do it. It was not a hard decision to make! My driver for this tour would be Neil H. - who had done this particular tour earlier in the year. He ... read more