Blogs from Russia, Europe - page 291

Hi all. Actually I'm still in Helsinki (woops) Having had two different Finish Guys in my room so far, I arrived back yesterday afternoon to find an Aussie guy called Jeremy who was visiting Helsinki while his dad gave a speach at the Uni. I optomistically set my alarm for 6.30 and we headed off to the bars. Seeing as I didnt get in till 4.30 there was litttle chance of making the train; waking up still drunk and an hr late I ran to the Railway station only to find the next train to Russia was not till 5pm. So I have spent today sleeping the Helsinki Station and bumming round this internet cafe. Lesson learned, again.... read more

I will tell people that a positive part of staying in Tver is how relatively close it is to Moscow, meaning it's easy to go there for the day whenever you feel like it. Having said that, every time I had been so far it had been planned a few days before, and I had someone to go with or meet me on the other side. So this morning when I woke up and had nothing to do I decided to buck the trend and go spontaneously, on my own. Luck was with me as I got to Tver station at 2 o'clock, only 7 minutes before the next elektrichka. The only thing I brought with me was my book, as three hours with nothing to do was bound to make me work. And work I ... read more

First call on our rtw trip had to be Russia, starting nice and easy eh? After the introduction of Russian culture and attitude we encoutered at the Russian Embassy in London, we knew Russia would be somewhat different to our usual trips! Flew in to St Petersburg, rather nervous having our visa's checked in Stockholm enroute, but all was fine - we even remained optimistic as the plane was delayed unloading as we awaiting the Russia Interior Minister's arrival to let us out (bloody Russia). After swotting up the guide book about all the paperwork that we MUST get stamped on arrival to avoid problems when leaving the country off we went - and promptly realised that the Russian authorities had no intention of allowing us this stamp - oh well! Hailed a cab (first luxery, ... read more

On Saturday April 29th Patrick and I arrived in Yekaterinburg station at 2am to board the next train on our Trans Siberian adventure. After a late night trip to the supermarket for some provisions we boarded the train at 3.30am. Our cabin was inhabited by two drunk Russians who scarpered when we arrived. They appeared to be having a bit of a party in our cabin so we were relieved that we were not going to be sharing the next 3 nights with them! Given the late departure time, we got down to the business of sorting out our beds and baggage without delay and fell asleep straight away. The next day was spent in leisure in our cabin and around the train. We still had no occupants in our cabin and a day having the ... read more

Today followed the same pattern as the last few. I got up late, and read and wrote a part of my essay in my kitchen without ever really getting anything done. It doesn't help that one of the books I found to research from doesn't have an index, or even chapter headings. I went back to the river with Liisa at 8. We sat on the stone wall for an hour, talked and drank beer, while the sun went down over the bridge. ... read more