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Published: July 17th 2011
I arrived in Moscow at 5:15am, before the metro opens. By the time I found the metro station it should have opened but there was such an enourmous crowd of people waiting that I didn't really want to join the stampede so I walked to my hostel. It wasn't too far and quite easy to find but it was raining and I got pretty wet. I got myself organised and really took my time since not much opens before 10am. I walked towards the center and wandered around the outside of Red Square and then went to the Kremlin. Unfortunately I forgot to charge my camera battery so it dies and I only got a few photos. The Kremlin wasn't as big as I expected but I think it's just because alot of the area is off limits. I wandered around the big spacious streets thinking what to do next but felt increadibly uncomfortable. The number of police often outnumber pedestrians and the way they look at you then talk on their walkie talkies as you go past makes you feel like the closest 4 might pounce on you at any second and demand to see your documentation (like my registration
which I don't have...).
I had lunch at this vegetarian place. It felt really expensive but thats just because I'm still stuck on Asian food prices. Since my camera died I decided to leave sight seeing for the next day and instead went to the Izmaylovo markets and wandered round for a few hours. It was a really random place - it was like a little Disney Land with old wooden buildings and castles and sales people with crazy hair dos. It mainly had souvineirs but also alot of old things, possibly classified as antiques like ancient samovas and irons and other cool metal things. I went back to the hostel and tried to have a power nap before cooking then going to the balet. The Bolshoi theatre was closed for the summer but there were still a few performances at a (very) small theatre across the road from it. I was worried I would be too under dressed to get in but I had nothing to worry about. Although the Russians were very dressed up, there were also (clearly tourists) people with backpacks and others with titster jeans and fanny packs to match. It was 'Sleeping Beauty' apparently,
although I struggled to follow the story line and was a bit disappointed in the beginning by the low dancing to bad acting whilst gracefully running ratio. It got much better after the interval though.
On my second day I went to the sculpture park in the morning which is full of all the old communist statues from around the city but also heaps of new and weird sculptures. It was nice and almost deserted. I walked along the river to this massive church and then to the Arbat district. I had a five use metro ticket so I tried to take the metro back but went to one of the few 'double' stations that wasn't actually a double station so I was on the wrong line. I also accidentally beeped my card twice so I payed for two rides and got absolutely nowhere. So, I stuck to good old walking. I walked further along the river, went to Red Square (yesterday I wasn't actually there, I just thought I was) and admired St Basils cathedral which looks more like a gingerbread house. After this there wasn't quite enough time to do anything else big but too early to
go back to the hostel so I went to the supermarket but its not as fun anymore. Now that I'm in European Russia there's alot of imported stuff and I've seen all the Russian stuff before. There is a much larger range of vegetables though, even some greens!
I had to travel kupe to Saint Petersburg since it was all that was available and this time I had bad luck. I was in a compartment with 2 older Russian men who smelt like metal and cigarrettes and kept looking at me then laughing and talking to the male provodnitza who seemed to be very chummy with them. I was a little worried and just sat in the corner with my head in my book avoiding eye contact but I was just being paranoid. Apart from offering me some lollies and biscuits they left me alone. I did not like the provodnitza though. He was big and loud and was obviously making fun of me. He would keep coming up to my face and yelling 'Schvetsia, Schvetsia, da, da. Nye Paneemayete, ahhahaha' and tried to force me to buy tea and sugar from him. In the morning he also made
me get up an hour before we were arriving (so at 4am) and took my hand towel before I was ready. gggrrr. Everybody else still had their towels. I would have thought trains running between Moscow and St Petersburg would have been the most used to foreigners but then again, the train had come all the way from Vlavidostok.
Once we arrived I had to wait at the station for about 40 minutes for the metro to open then joined the masses and squeezed my way through. The Saint Petersburg metro system is the deepest in the world and you really really notice it. The escalators go on for ever, you can barely see the end! My couch surfing host, Xenia, met me at her metro station and we walked back to her flat. She is a freelance English teacher and doesn't have much work in the summer as most of her students go away so she had a lot of time to spend with me. We had breakfast then she left for work and I had a long sleep since I hadn't slept well the last 3 nights and was pretty exhausted. Xenia came home at about 2pm
and we had lunch and hung out chatting until she had to leave again for some more classes. I caught the metro with her to the center and walked to a few free galleries but they were both closed so I continued on to the river, walked and sat in some nice parks, saw the St Isaacs Cathedral, the Winter Palace, and a few more sights before meeting Xenia. Too bad there are 2 big cathedrals with pillars by the river with a fountain close by so we were at different places but we met up eventually. We walked some more, along the river, through another park to the Church of Spilled Blood (which looks alot like St Basils in Moscow), another big Cathedral, and then along Nevskiy Prospect, the main street, before heading home just before the metro closed.
We slept quite late the next day then went to the train station to book my ticket. It was really expensive, about 4 times the price of any of my other tickets and the trip only takes 3 hours. It started to pour while we were waiting for our turn so we almost went straight home but it eased
up so we figured it might clear up. It did and by the time we were in the center the sun was out again. We went to a whole bunch of second hand shops but just like in Krasnoyarsk the clothes are just as expensive as if they were new, but the shops were still cool to look in. The last one we went to was more like the second hand shops I'm used to. The prices were much better plus they had a 60% off sale and I found a nearly perfectly fitting pair of jeans for 180 roubles! After this we had to rush home and made Gazpacho for dinner (Xenia is a raw foodist so we only ate salads and smoothies and then this soup). Xenia had some students coming to her place for classes and Valentina (my host from Zlatoust) had arrived that morning and was staying with a friend at the same metro area so we met up and went back into the center and walked around abit on the other side of the river. We didn't stay out very late since she'd been up early so I met Xenia back home and hung out
drinking tea. There was alot of tea drinking and heaps of Russians are really into tea and know alot about different types and how they should be served, etc. I got pretty into it.
We met Valentina at the metro the next morning and while Xenia went to work we wandered round another big park, walked to a big blue church, sat by the river, then met Xenia at a vegetarian cafe for lunch. In the afternoon we walked some more, across the bridge to the fortress and looked around until Xenia had to go to another lesson. Valentina and I went back to Pushkinskaya 10, one of the galleries that was closed on my first day. It was small but the whole area was pretty cool. Alot of unusual art and alot just in the stairwell of the apartment building or in apartments themselves. It used to be a squat but I guess the artists who live there pay rent now. We also went to one of the massive shopping centers (not my idea) and suddenly I was exhausted. Shopping centers have that effect on me. We also went for a quick walk down Nevskiy Prospekt to get
some info on a film festival and at this time of day it was so crowded it was hard to move and I felt claustrophobic and miserable so was really relieved when we found the cinema and Valentina suggested we go home. I stopped off at the supermarket and bought some food for the trip to Karlskrona and managed to use up all my Russian money. I did this deliberately since I was worried about hassles at the border due to my failure to register so if they tried to give me a 'fine' they wouldn't get very much. I had abit of American money and 1 rouble and 20 kupeek.
I swapped some music and photos with Xenia that night then we tried to get an early night but I didn't sleep very well. I think I was a little too excited. We got up at 4am so we would have time to make and eat breakfast and drink tea without stressing then went to the train station. My train left at 6:40 and it was a flashy expensive European super train. It moved at least twice as fast as the trains I'm used to. The border crossing
was so easy I didn't even realise it was happening. The border officials get on the train with you and stamp your passport and everything while its moving. I didn't even have to leave my seat. So this is why the train was so expensive - luxury border crossing. They didn't ask about registration, about foreign currency, or even to see my train tickets which I'd been told to keep as proof of where I'd been. They also all spoke English and smiled!
I got to Helsinki at 9:30am and almost died when I found English speaking tourist information booths. I decided to go to Turku (Åbo) and catch a ferry from there. I'd heard from this Estonian guy that it was much cheaper although I didn't think it would be after paying for a train ticket to get there but I've been to Helsinki before so thought it would be cool to see something new. The ferry from Turku is much faster since the route is more direct and I also hoped it would be less of a trashy drunkard boat. I spent an hour or so in Helsinki at the public library using their free internet then
caught the train to Turku. The woman sitting by my window pulled the blind down so I couldn't exactly enjoy the scenery but the train moves so fast it makes you feel dizzy if you look out for too long anyway! The screen showed it goes as fast as 160km/hr at times so no wonder I can't handle it. I'm used to 60 km/hr max. It took 2 hours so I arrived around lunch time. I walked to the center, bought my ferry ticket, wandered round the market and went to the library again. I walked to the harbour and sat on the grass outside the castle for the last few hours which was nice apart from the swarms of Chinese tour groups running and jumping and taking photos all over the place.
I boarded the ferry just before 9pm and found a room with chairs for all the people who only had deck tickets. I didn't get much sleep since it was uncomfortable and cold (couldn't be bothered getting my sleeping bag out so I can only blame myself for that) and they was a champion snorer in the room. We arrived in Stockholm at 6:30 the next
morning to some wonderful Swedish summer weather - grey, wind, and rain. I had to wear my jacket. I went straight to the train station and got a ticket to Karlskrona which left in 2 hours. It took about 6 hours but I had to change trains twice and wait inbetween. I got some sleep though and kept catching myself doing the baby bird open mouth sleep. Awkward. Lucky I wasn't drooling at least. I took a bus from town to my grandmas house in Lyckeby and luckily she was home. So now I'm settling in in Sweden for about 2 months before making the last stretch over to England.
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m.i.a.
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every one of those buildings in st petersburg/moscow looked like it was either from disneyland or edible! oh are you going to miss lenin being everywhere? and what about the reaction of the fam when you arrive out of nowhere??? where are the details madeleine - how else is hannah going to get her blog to tv series child!!!