Russia

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RUSSIA;

An overnight train from St. Petersburg had me in Moscow at sunrise. I was on Bol Moskvorstsay bridge, the perfect viewing point for the Kremlin.Surrounded by a huge garrison style red wall, every brick immaculate. In Red Square armed guards stand outside the Lenin mausoleum. Inside more guards where one can view the first leader of communism. At the rear of the mausoleum is the resting place of other Soviet leaders and top government officials................



Russia 2;

Famous for it's theater, Saint Petersburg has many shows. Admittance for foreigners is a much higher price, so get a local to buy the ticket and do not talk when entering. 'Swan Lake.' cost ninety rubbles, such elegance and panache. Another show I went to had ten different acts of music, acrobatics, dance and singing, ticket price thirty rubbles. I paid more for a beer at the interval............





Russia 3;

In St. Petersburg there were blocks of flats stretching to the horizon. Flats, flats and more flats. Turn off the main street, a maze of narrow drive-ways, winding and twisting through the residential areas. The playgrounds were in a mess, long grass, abandoned cars, over-flowing dumpsters. It seemed no one cared, enough. Potholes everywhere, "filled in November by snow and ice, one good thing about the harsh Russian winter," a local joked.

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Photos

Red square, Moscow
Behind me is Lenin's mausoleum.

St. Petersburg,residential area
Dilapidated playgrounds. I rented one of these flats.

The Kremlin
Surrounded by it's garrison-style red wall. Russian government headquarters.

brides day in moscow
It's traditional for brides to visit the tomb of the 'unknown soldier' at the Kremlin wall, Red square

Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Lots of famous paintings, sculpturing and mural's. With Elena, a local friend.

Inside the Hermitage
Fabulous art

World-war-two cemetery
Mass burial grounds, Mounds 45 meters, by 15 meters.
There were many, quite moving.

St.Petersburg
Flats, flats and more flats. Lada cars also which are disappearing. With Dennis, a local resident.

'Vodka in the woods'
'Hanging loose and full of juice,' partying with locals in Pertrozavodsk, northern Russia.