Blogs from Russia, Europe - page 25

Putin-faced matryoshkas, golden onion-domed churches, and Hermitage artwork galore. One day in Russia, why not? That’s what I thought. Since I was living in Estonia this year we thought that we might as well take advantage of the opportunity. St. Peter’s Line cruises offers a trip that enables tourists to visit St. Petersburg for one day without a visa. So, we took it as an experiment to get a small glimpse of Russia and life on the cruise boat for two days. I would say ‘thumbs up’ to the experience of St. Petersburg but I would recommend other options for getting there and maximizing your 72 hours of visa-free time. Our itinerary was to take the Silja Europa boat (Tallink company) out of Tallinn at 12:30pm on Saturday to Helsinki. The, we left Helsinki on the ... read more

Дoбpый дeнь (Dobri dyen) Good day. Education is light. The lack of it is darkness. Russian Proverb. The Provodnitsa (attendant) is the boss. She’ll ensure that all will be well and that all will comply. Resistance is futile. She must be obeyed… Our favourite Provodnitsa was during our first-class train trip from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok. She was our travel mom, our carriage attendant, she checked on us, gave us food and towels. She even told Theresa to get her shoes off the bed, keeping with the standards of first class travel and first class riders. Behave or be disciplined. And never stare her in the eyes! Riding first class is the way to go. We had our own comfortable cabin for our train rides as we trundled across Siberia. Many an hour was spent looking out ... read more

Firstly, Irkutsk (Иpкyтcк) is not to be confused with Yakutsk (Якyтcк). Irkutsk (south of Yakutsk), a vibrant, artsy city dotted with beautiful and fun sculptures was where we spent a lot of our time wandering along the waterfront admiring the Angara River. The city told a story of shiny, golden-domed cathedrals, glittering marble buildings and collapsing wooden houses that were being consumed by permafrost deterioration. Fishermen lined the river banks, while young cadets marched by the war memorial. Vibrant outdoor markets pulsed in the city centre. As we prepared to order food in Russian at the fashionable Irish Pub in the flashy, yet unimaginatively named, 130-Kvartal Neighbourhood, we were pleasantly surprised as to the waiter’s English-speaking ability, and the English menu that he presented to us after he heard us struggling with what to say in ... read more

"You know it's cold outside when you go outside and it's cold" A seven hour overnight flight and a six hour time difference from Moscow is the Far Eastern city of Yakutsk, in Russia’s Sakha Republic. Yakutsk (Якyтcк) is a city of quarter of a million people, and is the coldest city in the world, regularly dipping below minus 50ºC in the winter (occasionally below minus 60ºC). It was, however, a relatively mild minus 37ºC or so for most of the time we were there. The cold felt very comfortable actually, due to the fact that we were prepared for it and there was no wind (unlike a brutal arctic northwesterly back home in Churchill). We were bundled up in many layers of down and fleece, we donned mighty mittens, clumsy boots and thick woolly hats. ... read more

Today I have been celebrating Russian Christmas with my friends Laura and Terry (see pictures). I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen cooking. Some of my fondest memories of being in Russia are from in the kitchen. In particular, being with my friend Anna's family... but more about her later. I managed to bake pirozhki from scratch, something I've never done before, and they were pretty damn good. I will be making them again. (I will put the recipe at the end, and the website I got it from where it's written in Russian). I also made a vinegret salad and an olivier salad, which came out pretty good, and bought some typical Russia/Slavic food from the Polish/Russian shops in Glasgow. Pierogi, tvorog, beer cheese (I don't know what this is called in either ... read more