Blogs from Russia, Europe - page 32

Quick, write something.....I heard him say. 6 hours to kill at the beautifully archaic, baroque-ish, multi faceted Yaroslavsky railway station Luckily there's a bar across the street....although somewhat odd...in the way that everything in Russia is 'somewhat odd' gotta try and put my finger on it... And, I thought it odd, there's not a map to be bought within 1,500 metres of this major railway station, now here's a business idea...... The God of travelling companions is smiling on me again! Finally onboard and meet my rolling railway roommate, a 55 yo Russian doctor, he tells me his name is Vova , short for Vladimir! A neurologist, he works in Moscow and every 3 months makes this trip to somewhere east of Irkutsk to a regional hospital. He takes the train because he has a big ... read more

First impression........ incomprehension......nothing is understandable, Cyrillic script is doing me in. This is hard. But, I've done this before, I think. A double shot espresso, shot of voddy and I'm off to face the Metro. It is a fantastic system. Fast!.......the old and new trains hurtle through the dark tunnels, I never wait more than 1 minute on any platform for a train. 196 stations, 237kms, 74m deep at best....you can google the details, it's huge! Some of the stations are like art galleries, incredible murals, statues, gigantic chandeliers, stained glass panels, surfaces of wood, ceramics, mosaics, slate, steel, bronze, marble, plaster. And it's all spotlessly clean, the trains too. I've not seen more than a couple of cleaners in the whole city but it's all really clean....and everyone is very conscientious about binning their litter! ... read more

Les chapitres précédents sur Saint-Pétersbourg et Moscou donnent une certaine vision de la Russie : la vision européenne. Si la majorité de la population et le centre de gravité du pays restent fortement ancrés à l’Ouest, on ne peut réduire la Russie à sa partie occidentale. En effet, si l’on prend l’Oural comme limite de la frontière entre l’Europe et l’Asie, la Russie possède la majorité de son territoire en Asie. En outre, le plus grand pays du monde est frontalier avec une quinzaine d’autres Etats qui influencent le pays en termes de flux de traditions, de d’idées ou de populations. Que ce soit avec les Européens à l’Ouest, les Caucasiens dans le Sud-Ouest, les Centrasiatiques dans le Sud ou les Mongols et les Chinois dans le Sud-Est, le pays subit une forte influence de ses ... read more

Je reprends la plume, cette fois depuis ma chambre d’hôtel. Grâce aux bons soins de Yanna, mon hôtesse je réside maintenant dans un hôtel quatre étoiles. Plutôt incongrue comme situation, mais assez plaisant à vrai dire. Je rentre d’un bowling avec Yanna et ses collègues, en charge des réservations de l’hôtel. Et je m’apprête à rejoindre Alexis pour entamer mon périple eurasien à bord du plus long train du monde. Plutôt excitant, plutôt effrayant. Je me rends compte que j’ai tout le temps peur pendant ce voyage. Peur, crainte ou inquiétude, cela varie, mais j’appréhende toujours le futur. Cet Inconnu qui fera de moi ce qu’il voudra, et me ballotera à son gré. Et moi, pauvre saumon, essaierai de me frayer un chemin à travers le courant contraire pour arriver à bon port. Globalement, je pense ... read more

We arrived early as planned in Murmansk before they closed off the harbour area for their Naval parade as today is a special day for the Navy. Murmansk is a city and seaport in the extreme north west part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, 12 miles from the Barents Sea not far from the borders with Norway and Finland. The port remains free of ice all year round due to the warm North Atlantic Drift ocean current. It is the largest city north of the Arctic Circle and was the last town founded in the Russian Empire being founded October 4 1916. Once again there was no rush to be anywhere. We had lost an hour overnight as we had changed time zones. We were being pushed in position by tugs when I looked out ... read more