http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Russia , Northwest , Moscow en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:01:48 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:01:48 BST Back once again with the blogging master And you thought you'd heard the last of me ha ha no chanceSo here I am in deepest darkest Russia. Well Moscow to be precise. Not very deep and not at all dark last night it was light until 11ish. Even though I'm here for work and not holiday I thought that doing a blog would still be a good idea as it might be of interest to some people well http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-302739.html Slitne rygger skitne klaer. Troette foetter sure taer.Det tar paa aa vaere turist i Russland. Det er lenge siden sist jeg skrev noe og siden den gang har vi forflyttet oss langt vestover og befinner oss naa i Russlands hovedstad og Europas stoerste by Moskva. Fra Tomsk gikk turen ut av Sibir og til Uralfjellene og til Jekaterinburg den stoerste byen i regionen. Jekaterinburg er kjent for aa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-301790.html Uncivilized Mother Land and how not to travel in Russia A word of advice for anyone considering traveling by RailRoad in the Russian Federation and are looking to purchasing tickets through Russia's Rail Road's official site. First and foremost do not purchase tickets on trains entering Russia from another country. I made that mistake planning to enter Russia from LithuaniaVilnius by train. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-296062.html And so we left the land of cavier and Stroganov. When we checked our bags the lady at the desk told us they were oversize. Our bags were the same as just about everyone elses on the tour. But clearly ours were ... marked for something higher. We were forced to go to another desk and then farewelled our bags into an elevator. I wonder if we'll ever see them again. Later on the flight one of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-296008.html To begin with we visited Gorky Park. Already famous however our reason for visiting was that many of the statues and symbols of the old communist regime had been thrown here once they gave up on the great expeirment. The statue park was quite impressive old soviet stars and statues of lenin and stalin. We paid 100 roubles each to enter the park but the entrance we left by didn't even have a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-296005.html Moscow being a little more Westernised that the rest of Russia had a slightly more western breakfast. Pancakes and hamburger patties. mmm patties and mustard for me.This morning we meat Karina near the Kremlin where she gave us directions on where to buy our tickets how to buy them where to check our bags where to use our tickets and where to meet for lunch.The entrance to the Kremlin had a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-296004.html Knock knock knock Knock knock knock All to soon the guard was running down the hall knocking on each cabin door waking us for our approach to Moscow. The toilets empty directly on to the track. This kind of thing is not really all that neat when you're in a train station so they are closed half an hour before each station. We were woken with an hour to go in case we had to... go. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-296003.html Most indulunk fel kettokor a vonattal.Kedden reggel erunk oda.Tegnap megvolt a BURAN meg a strandroplabdavilagbajnoksag.Nezzetek Eurosportot.szasztok http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-295176.html Die Moskauer mgen ja stolz sein. Aber so unfreundlich wie ihr Ruf sind sie nun auch nicht. Man muss die Dienstleister eben betteln. Aber man kommt zum Ziel. Eine Dienstleisterin suchte sogar innigen Blickkontakt. Als sich mir wenige Minuten spter ihr Freund Gernot vorstellte und im gleichen Satz erwhnte er sei von der Air Force Russia nun ja da entspannte sich die Situation nicht gerade. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-294832.html After our few days in St. Petersburg we took the overnight train to Moscow. The Russians made it very dramatic by broadcasting old marching music over the loud speakers as the train pulled in to the platform. I felt like I was part of one of those old black and white movies where people run along the platform chasing a loved one as the train chugs out of the station. The music lasted about 10 minu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-294514.html 19 ora platzkartnij vagonos vonatut utan platzkartnijegybenyitott vagon olyan mint a kupes csak ajtok nelkul plusz a folyoson is vannak agyak megjuttunk Moszkva Kurszkij vokzalra.Utunk legexecutiveosabb szallasan haromcsillagos hotelban ugyesen inteztuk keltegetjuk ejjelente hazajovet a gyezsurnajakat portasokat..Ma megvettuk a jegyeket Irkutszkba. penteken indulunk delbe keddre ottvag http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-294360.html Hi All Moscow What a town it is so much more than we were expecting and told to expect by jealous St. Petersburgers. St. Petersburg is beautiful of that there is no doubt but it is very uniform the buildings look stunning but the same the streets are straight in a grid pattern and boring God forbid there might be a bend. Moscow is just as beautiful but much more quirky interesting and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-291931.html Sunday June 22 2008I knew Vladdie was a commie. His grandmother was a sniper in the Red Army and his grandfather was in Berlin in 1945 chasing SS guys through the woods until 1949. We are heading for the museum of Armed Forces. Military band greets us at the front steps of the museum. they play the US anthem Russian anthem and When the Saints come Marching In. Originally opened as a museum http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-291846.html Despite advice from others we flew Aeroflot to Moscow and indeed the warnings are correct. Two days before the departure date we received an email that the flight was moved to a day later and the only option was a refund. By then it was too late to move our hotel reservation so we missed a day of vacation and paid for a hotel we could not use. Don't trust the Internet either when you book a ho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-291024.html Goodayright now I am in Moscow with Bird. We are at some hostel called the comrade hostel and it is pretty relaxing. The 5 and a half days on the transsiberian day went by faster than expected. The train ride was loaded with experiences and I am happy that I made that trip.Day 1 18th JuneWe get on the train at about 7 AM and it leaves at 7 45. We get settled in our cabin and start listening to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-290781.html Hi everyone Just a few pictures from our stint in Moscow and St Petersburg. We are finding it incredibly difficult to find internet cafes where we can upload photos here in central asia. We had an interesting time in Russia. The majority of people in the cities weren't overly friendly but nicer out of town. Moscow was a bit more exciting and edgier than St Petersburg but bloody expensive We di http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-290272.html So an update from your favourite Moscow Blogger. Had I published this on Saturday as originally intended I wouldn't be about to write about the scenes from that night after Russia's victory over Holland in Euro 2008. It produced some amazing scenes on Tverskaya Road and Red Square. The road was gridlocked with cars beeping their horns passengers leaning out their windows with huge flags and wom http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-289576.html Nous y voila dans le coeur de l ame russe Quelle magnifique ville que StPetersbourg Completement magique et disproportionnee dans sa splendeur Alors que Moscou plus cosmopolite ne connait jamais le repos de ses travailleurs ... ils sont plus de 10 millions a y vivre. D ailleurs il nous a semble que la grande majorite de la ville etait reveillee et prete des 6 heures du matin Si vous voyez http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-288999.html We arrived into Moscow station very early in the morning tired but in one piece. After getting off the train we were met by our russian driver with our names on a card. He spoke no English and motioned for us to follow him to his car. He looked like a stern version of Borat hastily smoking cigarette as we walked behind him out of the station. We were quickly bundled into his car and taken to t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-288837.html Hi AllIve been to Moscow before but as it was in winter it was dark in The Red Square. I headed thre this time and was still daylight so photo ops were high xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-287129.html Our train departure time was 2330 so we got to the station at around 1030 with bags full and cup a soups and noodles coming out of our earsAll set for the train we boarded onto what we could only describe as very hot and foosty smelling It got betterSo a little anxious but very excited we took our cabin which was very tight and we soon knew whoever the other people were we would ge http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-287106.html Hello everyone Currently sitting in Irkutsk.... the capital of eastern siberia. The internet cafe is roasting hot as outside it is bloody roasting too Hope its pissing down back homeAnyway..... our short stay in Moscow was ok. Our driver was waiting for us at the airport how posh are we....that will soon change and we got to out hotel around 2100 local time. The driving is mad in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-287100.html Pictures from my last 2 voyages to Moscow summer 2007 and spring 2008.Conclusion inferior goods are very cheap but when it comes for going out in general or nightlife Moscow is a very expensive place with not as much glamour as it's told on TV. The real estate prices rised so preposterously high it's nearly impossible to get a flat in Moscow unless you are very high paid and we arent talkin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-286582.html The trip to moscow finally arrived Usually things like this tend to generate lots of hype and then possibly disappoint in the end. There was none of that though because I think I was sceptical of the whole trip from the very beginning. Ok so the background story to Moscow... Back in February when I was playing some pickup soccer at Gezira club one of the guys asked if I wanted to play in a gir http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-279296.html When I came to Moscow I was looking for a challenge something different and this city has certainly provided that so far. I'm really not sure what to make of this place. People say 'you love it or hate it' and I'm currently erring to the latter. That's not to say it isn't an interesting place far from it. But I can't feel any warm fuzziness here the kind that makes you feel at home. Moscow http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-277885.html This is it After more than four weeks on the road I will finally start the Trans Siberian Railway today. My train leaves at 1620h from Moscow's Yaroslavl station and I am heading for Yekaterinburg arriving there some 26h later. I am traveling with Alex a Dutch guy I met in Moscow for this leg of the journey who his on is way to Iran through Kazakhstan Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.The epic T http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-274839.html The last time I was in Moscow was in 1999 on a stopover coming from Hong Kong. Now 9 years later I arrived in the city by overnight train from St. Petersburg just after 0900h on May 9th right on time for the Victory Day celebrations on that same day. My stay in Moscow was marked by the revisiting of my old Russian universityfriend Oksana we studied together back in 1998 in London who also i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-274237.html At last I saw the city which I wished to see for a long time and I was on my way to Moscow. This time my ticket was for a 4 bed compartment in the train. I was expecting to travel with males but again Russian culture which does not distinguish between genders surprised me. My room mate was Tanya a lady in her 50's. She was very talkative and nice. She asked me a lot about Turkey and life there. T http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-273807.html So I survived the awful train r305de back from St. Petersburg where I was squished between 2 fat Russian ladies all night who kept elbowing me. I hardly slept a wink it was brutal..and worst of all...the one smelled like a hundred cats peed on her. It was disgust305ng and she seemed to be drunk. I noticed the vodka bottle in the morning and she was kept getting this young guy to fill up h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-273723.html