Blogs from Nizhny Novgorod, Volga, Russia, Europe

After Moscow I’ve had to get used to driving alone, and I've missed Anya sitting next to me entertaining me with conversation and feeding me cheese sandwiches. I like the word Shturman the Russians use to describe co-passenger map-reader; I suffered the challenge of reading my new but already slightly outdated road atlas while driving. I found distraction in singing along to my collection of Bob Dylan songs, listening to the whole of Brave New Worldand picking up a couple of hitch-hikers. They turned out to be from St. Petersburg and we had a cheerful but slightly predictable conversation about the differences between England and Russia. I spent a night in Nizhny Novgorod before coming here to Cheboksary to visit Marina, a colleague from the university where I taught in St. Petersburg. Russia is a federal ... read more

Today was one of those days where things didn't really go our way. Our big plan for the day was to visit Gorodets by ferry, a trip that particularly appealed to us because of being so enamoured with the Volga, as well as the novelty value of a sail, something we haven't done in Russia yet. But when we got to the station, no ferries (don't start until May, apparently). We then decided to take the cable car across the Volga, but after an hour's walk uphill to the terminus, were faced with a closed sign and several disgruntled-looking Russians complaining it wasn't working (for what reason, we never discovered). Feeling defeated, we returned to the Kremlin, and ended up making an unplanned visit to the State Art Museum. Expectations were low but the gallery turned ... read more

After a break,determined to complete the Russia blogs before the anniversary of the trip. We arrived in NN and the driver who met us took off at a fast pace to his car which was parked some distance from the station.It was grey,cold and raining,a real shock after the warmth of Yekaterinburg.We checked into our huge hotel situated next to the Lenin statue and near the bridge over the Oka river to the old town and the famous Kremlin.Maxim Gorky, the famous Russian playwright, was born here and it is still listed as Gorky on railway timetables. We caught a bus into town as it was so wet and headed to the Kremlin.It dates back to the 15th century,has 12metre high walls,13 towers and overlooks the point where the Oka and Volga rivers meet.It is largely ... read more

C'est la tres grande forme du jeu de mots, comme vos prunelles que je devine deja chatoyantes peuvent le constater, et nous voici donc dans la ville qui donne son nom a l'Област (oblast), qui signifie region. Le decoupage administratif de la Russie est a l'image de sa langue : fruit de siecles d'histoire, et bien complexe tant pour le profane que pour le non-specialiste. Il y a les republiques, les regions autonomes et les oblast, qui existent eux-memes en 3 parfums (classique, autonome et fraise-pistache). Mais je m'egare, voici donc Ни́жний Но́вгород (Nizhny Novgorod, qui sera NN dans tout cet article), ville prestigieuse bordant la Volga et riche d'histoire, puisqu'elle a tour a tour ete residence princiere, forteresse inexpugnable (elle a repousse les assauts tatars venus des fameuses...steppes tatares merci, je vois qu'il y en ... read more

Two drunkards in one day. How can things get more exciting? I recall at home once trying to define what 'being drunk' meant. Some of us thought that being drunk was simply having a buzz. I firmly disagreed then, and I still stick with my definition. Drunk, is being on a russian bus and getting your butt thrown off of it. Literally. So the night was young. Our plan was to hit up the banya, basically the Russian version of really hot, steamy room with naked men everywhere. And we have birch branches to hit each other with. Well, it turns out that we couldn't get into the banya due to it being ladies night only. Disappointing? Nah, we took Debbie's 2,000 ruples and went out for dinner. So our local guide was Andrew, who wasn't ... read more