2 weeks, 5 countries...finally RUSSIA!

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2 weeks - 2 long weeks (probably seem longer to me than to anyone reading this because so much has happened) since my last blog post.

Having left the safety and happiness of Ukraine, I ventured across the border - with the cigarette smugglers - to the Disneyland style touristness of Krakow.
I'm sad to admit, but it wore me out pretty quickly. After a day of 'come on my tour, buy my stuff, come and drink my expensive beer' I was almost done!
I don't think that mid-summer isn't the best time to visit Poland. The locals seemed tired of tourists (there's nothing like walking into a shop and asking for something and having the shopkeeper say NIET! and then walk away), and the town seemed full of people doing the Prague, Krakow, Budapest loop, stopping only in their hungover state to pop in a quick tour to Auschwitz.

Having said all that - Krakow was beautiful, and it had a real fire breathing dragon! It is also a lovely town to see on a bike, and there is HUGE amounts of history. I'd go back, but probably in winter.

Lacking time, I did a quick tour up through the capitals:

Warsaw - LOVED it. I wish I'd spent less time in Krakow and more in Warsaw. I think its the only city in the world where they have bears in an enclosure ON the main street. Fantastic!
They also have the only 'wild' river running through a capital city in Europe, and following massive flooding, it did look pretty wild. The old town was also lovely, though it seemed slightly museumesque having been completely destroyed and rebuilt. There was an excellent photo exhibition which superimposed old bombed out buildings onto the new cityscape, and I was lucky enough to be there for the 1st August Warsaw uprising celebration where ALL the air raid sirens (that they still have in operation just in case I guess) went off at 5pm. Everyone froze in the streets, (2 mins silence I found out later) but all the old people seemed to huddle in the doorways. It was pretty scary - but then they had massive parties afterwards.

Villnius: Following an overnight bus and a 5.45am arrival, Villnius was another city that I managed not to do justice. I walked around the old town and down to the river. It is done up beautifully - with almost a surreal cleanness, but the effect is spoiled somewhat when walking anywhere just out of the old town - when I realised that the entire rest of the city (and the country) is crumbling and incredibly poor.
So - I slept for 20 hours and went to...

Riga: Which was a LOT more fun. Meeting up with some other travel buddies from previous countries, I went to the last beach that I'll see for at least a month (it was raining, but the sand was beautiful and soft). Riga is the capital city of choice for stag-dos and there weren't many men on the streets, allegedly because they were all in the strip-clubs. YAY!
Following the museum of the occupation, I was feeling a little cultural and decided to ascend the bell tower of the cathedral to get a birds-eye view of the city. Having bought a ticket, and then realising that the line for the lift was an hour long - I felt less cultural, cashed the ticket back in and went to see Batman! Excellent film, and VERY cultural.

Tallinn: Was probably the loveliest of the 3 Baltic capitals. It has a much more scandinavian feel (almost like Finland) and the people were very friendly.
We went on a random bike tour, and I watched a music video being filmed in the old prison - and f

St Petersberg: Is gorgeous - and it was my birthday! 😊
I arrived quite late at night and immediately felt like I was back home (in Kiev) as the metro system is exactly the same. AH lovely!
Walking around the city, it is interesting to see all the buildings that have obviously been copied in other cities in Eastern Europe. Even the plinths of the statues and the moldings on the buildings are identical and its hard to know whether they were copied FROM those cities or the cities copied from here.
I spent HOURS in the Hermitage (of course) and I would recommend listening to random songs on an ipod if you ever have the chance to see the museum. Nothing like 'Modern Art' by Art Brut randomly coming on while you're walking through a room of Picassos

I head to Moscow tonight and the TRANS SIBERIAN RAILWAY WILL BEGIN!

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Comments

[Flic]

HAPPY Birthday!!!!!!!!!!
Hope you had a great one gorgeous!! can't wait to see you back in OZ!