Blogs from Russia, Europe - page 298

Was it all a dream? Did we really have six worry free days where all we had to worry about was buying snacks at the train station? Our mid-trip crisis (we've heard from others that this often happens at the three-month mark) began in Beijing and has unfortunately continued in Russia. We were feeling so rested when we got off the train. We found a nice hostel in Moscow and had dinner with our new friends. In the morning we were supposed to get in touch with a Moscow business contact of Justin's father. We should have known that things weren't quite going to go our way when our breakfast included with our room turned out to be a big bowl of plain pasta - not even butter. We set out for Red Square, but before ... read more

WOW! as we flew out of Hungary, you could see the beautiful snow blanketing the mountains! absoloutly breathtaking! as we flew into Milano, Italia it was raining. Customs was hilarious! i stood in a line much quicker than dad's, so i got thru very quickly. as i stood waiting for him, the airline bag checkers came over and started flirting with me and making sexy faces trying to get me to take their picture. i couldnt help but laugh histarically at this steriotypical italian group of men while my dad passed through. my dad was deffinately not terribly thrilled with Italy and the services, since they were so busy being social they didnt have tome to clean anything. i loved it and want to stay there longer some time. Saint Petersbourg is absoloutly amazing! it is ... read more

Huhu, ich habe wieder die Moeglichkeit fuer laengere Zeit ins Internet zu gehen. Ist auch das letzte Mal fuer die naechsten Tage. Ich werde heute abend naemlich wieder im Zug sitzen, 35 Stunden bis Irkutsk. Nun, wenn man sich das mal ueberlegt, 35 Stunden. Einfach mal so. Das sind hier Entfernungen die man sich nicht mehr vorstellen kann. Aber es geht je noch weiter, dadurch dass ich immer so viel Zeit verbracht habe, bin ich nun schon fast am Ende meines Visums, habe aber erst die Haelfte der Strecke zurueckgelegt. (Siehe Karte). Somit werde ich also in den verbleibenden 8 Tagen noch knappe 4500 km zuruecklegen muessen, was bedeuted das ich nur in Irkutsk einen Tag rasten werde, um den Baikalsee zu sehen. Was ich mir davon verspreche? Nun, den tiefsten See der Erde zu sehen. ... read more

There is no word in the Russian language for 'privacy'. It's surprising considering the closed nature of people while they are outside, but the idea of tact doesn't really exist in a personal context. I was having a casual breakfast this morning - breaking off the last square of Babaevskii chocolate and singing along to the latest Russian pop song that is in my head all the time - when a small old woman with teeth missing appeared in my appartment. I suppose she is one of the obshezhitie administrators. She was in the kitchen almost before I heard the knock on the door, and started to yell at me in a way very few people ever have. The reason? I had left my clothes to dry on the window sill at the end of my ... read more

Hallo, Ich bin wieder einmal in der Naehe eines PC’s. Das wichtigste - es geht mir gut. Ich fuehle mich zwar ein wenig schlapp, aber das wird schon. Bin von Ekaterinburg weiter nach Omsk gereist. Ich bin zur Zeit in Novosibirsk. Nun versuche ich hier etwas online zu bringen aber dieser PC stuerzt andauern ab. Weiterhin spinnt die Leertaste auf der Moehre und der pc macht so komische Streifen, welche beim hinschauen schmerzen... Richtig Angst macht mir aber nur das Kabel, welches ohne Isolierung 5 cm neben meiner Maus liegt. Aber keine Angst, so wie ich Russland kenne ist da bestimmt sowieso kein Strom drauf weil irgendwo etwas nicht funktioniert. Was kann ich ueber Omsk sagen, irgendwie verschlafen. Aber ich habe bei drei sehr netten Maedels aus Kasachstan gewohnt, und wieder eine dieser endlosen Kuechendiskussionen gehabt, ... read more