Blogs from Northwest, Russia, Europe - page 2

Fear is like a gas...a cloud that can linger...weakening if breathed in. Being an anticipation...like a gas it can be blown or simply drift away. I have often experienced fear...but rarely terror. Terror is like a liquid...beyond anticipation...beyond fear...helpless...nothing more I can do here...resigned to my fate. Only when the cause departs does terror slither away. If catastrophe is the solid...I would not be here to tell this tale. Yet at the time I could see no chance that we would survive without injury that day. Uzbekistan flight to Moscow to catch our 11:55pm plane home...our double entry Russian visa expiring 5 minutes later at 12 midnight. Train travellers from Russia to Ukraine caught as their train delayed before the border...detained by boarding police as their visas expired during the delay. Surely can't happen to us! ... read more

I stayed at the hotel in Moscow for the rest of the morning and got good sleep. My friend Ben had suggested that I take the overnight train, Red Arrow (?), VIP class with full Russian music at the platforms, to St Petersburg which was super tempting. However, what I mostly needed was sleep and was worried I would not sleep on the train and would get in too early to check into the hotel. So, I just booked business class on the train that left around 10am and took my time to pack up and relax. The train station was just steps from the hotel, but lugging my giant suitcase around in that heat is never fun. I found the business class lounge and was able to get a bit of breakfast and tea before ... read more

Kronstadt https://www.heygo.com/annaylevina Alongside establishing the city of Saint Petersburg in the spring of 1703, emperor Peter the Great commissioned to build fortifications on Kotlin to make sure no invader could get in. Very quickly a little town of Kronstadt would be founded Kronstadt is a town and naval base on Kotlin Island, just west of St. Petersburg, Russia. Anchor Square is dotted with military memorials. On the square, the 20th-century Byzantine-style Naval Cathedral has an ornate interior. Tree-lined Petrovskiy Park is home to the 19th-century Monument to Peter the Great. Kronstadt History Museum displays regional artifacts. Offshore is the man-made island of Fort Alexander. The beautiful St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral - the biggest church built for the navy. It is a memor... read more

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Peter the Great was designing the city as another Amsterdam & Venice with canals instead of streets. Initially, there were only about ten bridges constructed in the city, mainly across ditches and minor creeks. By Peter's plans, in the summer months, the citizens were supposed to move around in boats, and in the winter months when the water froze to move in sledges. However, after Peter's death, new bridges were built, as it was a much easier way of transportation. Temporary ponton bridges were used in the summertime. The first permanent bridge of bricks and stones across the main branch of the Neva river appeared in 1850. Today, there are more 342 bridges over canals and rivers of various sizes, styles and constructions, built at different periods. Some of them are small pedestrian bridges, others are ... read more