Blogs from Moscow, Northwest, Russia, Europe - page 72

And so to the current Russian Capital, transport care of an overnight sleeper train, greeted at each carriage by a uniformed babuska. Our hopes of local banter hit a dead end when the two girls in our cabin spoke no English, and spent the night whispering to each other - they must have thought from the 4 words we knew in Russian (Yes, No, Thanks and Cheers!) that we were fluent. Jumped on the underground - I cannot emphasize how good it is compared to the London, and the architecture puts Tottenham Court Road Station to shame! Other than having to count the stations and pretty much guess where to get on and off (The Russians have no intention of making this easy and everything is in cryllic) the journey was relatively simple. Everything we have ... read more

I went back to Moscow with Liisa this morning, to take the photos that I should have taken on saturday. We took the early elektrichka at 8.30 and were so tired that we barely said a word to each other for the three hour journey. For as long as my eyes were open the scenic route made a pleasant change to the industrial one, especially when we crossed over the lake. My first chore was to buy my ticket to Lugansk on the 17th, from Kievskii vokzal. Travelling from and around Russia is very affordable, so much so that a journey of about twenty two hours in a sleeping train with a bed cost me less than 500 roubles. Having said that I did ask for a place in the most simple carriage, so it will ... read more

Hi Folks, Well a lot has happened since last we posted. We left you on our first day in Moscow and this city is in stark contrast to the Czarist splendour of St. Petersburg. While the streets are grand and imposing - the architecture is strictly soviet and almost entirely grey. This time we were staying a little out of town and had to make use of the impressive Moscow Metro to get around. More on this later.... Our first stop in Moscow was to the Bolshoi New Stage. This was an absolutely amazing spectacle to see. We watched The Nutcracker ballet with the music of Tchaikovsky and I think we were both shocked at how much we enjoyed it. The theatre was stunning. The performance was under two hours, but we could have stayed forever, ... read more

I will be in Kazan for a week with Liisa, Kaisa and Ella. It is an attractive town of a million people, Russia's muslim capital. There won't be a chance to go to an internet café so I will write up everything when I get back. I hope that my writing and photograph taking will have improved since the last time I was there; it will certainly be a better opportunity to really see the town now that I am six months older and speak better Russian - and won't be relying on a witch-doctor guide for information! Our elektrichka to Moscow is at 2.30 this afternoon, and our 12 hour journey to Tatarstan starts from Moscow Kazanskii vokzal at 7.30 in the evening. ... read more

Well, moscow is deffinately very different than Saint Petersburg. We had a great time exploring the Kremlin. in one of the museums, i met a businessman from Vladivostock (near Japan) who was describing the differences between moscow and vladivostock. it was interesting to listen to a russian's opinion of the differences in cultural areas (very similar to the differences in different parts of the US). we went to a cathedral where i also met a young russian named Vladmir, who gave me his number and a cassette of russian church music to remember him by. i have yet to meet an american man who was so sweet andfawning- keep that in mind, boys!! ;) we also took a tour around sergeiv passat. this is an active orthodox monestary where we got a private tour of the ... read more