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Published: September 24th 2006
Hi Guys!
Well, my trip to Russia went well, but it was odd to go without Vaughan, especially to such a ‘foreign’ place! It really was quite difficult at times with the language barrier, as well as not knowing where I was going, or really anything about the place at all - most Russians don’t speak English, & they don’t care at all about tourism, & hence, they also don’t care about tourists. It was certainly an adventure & a half though, & I was glad I went, especially to see all the shit-box Ladas everywhere - even the most wrecked of Ladas seemed to have a car alarm worth more than the car itself! Such a crack up! Here’s some more information about my trip for anyone who is interested……
Day One - I headed to Moscow on the plane, flying AeroFlot, a dodgy Russian airline with very few English-speaking staff. I managed to make it safely through immigration (which was easy, although I had heard it to be long & brutal, which many other people from my tour experienced!) & was met by the contact person for the tour, who was in fact, just a driver who
didn’t speak any English. After a few minutes we were met by another girl who had arrived on a different flight, but it was nice to have someone to travel to the hotel with. Her name was Narelle & she was from Melbourne. The drive was pretty funny - heaps of traffic on the motorway, with 2 or 3 cars to a lane, no one indicating, people reversing up the motorway to reach their missed exit, just a total free-for-all! It was madness!
When we got to the hotel we were checked into a twin room together as I guess they thought we were friends, but that was OK. When we got to the room we were a bit astounded, as it was a complete dump, although many of the other rooms in the hotel were refurbished & nice. At least we could crank the window open a little to try & rid the room of some of the smells of decay - nice! By the time everything was sorted out it was dinner time so we headed out to find a place that was recommended in the guidebook, but got caught in a thunderstorm & I was saturated
- it was warm so it didn’t matter, but Narelle (who had an umbrella & was dry) wanted to go back to the hotel to get changed, & eventually we got to go back out, suss out the metro system (quite hard as everything is written in Russian - no English signage anywhere) & get some dinner, which was a buffet of local dishes. My favourite was the meat stew, but I stayed away from the cheese pie after just one taste (it’s not as nice as it sounds, considering I love both cheese & pies!). We made it back to the room but had no idea what rooms anyone else from our tour might be in, so just called it a night.
Day 2 - The next day we got up to meet everyone in the lobby at 10am, including (finally) our actual guide, Pasha. There were only 12 of us altogether, with half of the people traveling in a couple, who chose mostly to stick to themselves. The group wasn’t very cohesive, & I found some of the members to be quite blasé about making friends or even talking to anyone else - it was a bit
weird, & not at all like any of the other tours I have ever been on. We made it into the city & had a walk around, seeing the outside of the Kremlin (walled citadel thing), as well as Lenin’s Mausoleum (important dead guy), Red Square (which isn’t red), & St Basil’s - a cathedral formed by a bizarre concoction of coloured domes. We learned a few things but weren’t overly impressed with our guide as she rushed us around & seemed to have better things to do afterwards. We got to see the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour & Arbat Street, the main tourist area with tons of market stalls mostly selling dolls & crazy Russian hats. Narelle took over an hour to decide on which silly Russian hat she was going to have & I almost died of boredom in the meantime (sorry love, but Russian hats only look good on Russians). In the afternoon Narelle & I went back to take photos of the important buildings that Pasha had rushed us around, & generally just strolled. After going back to the hotel to get changed for dinner, Narelle declared that she had chafing on her legs (nice!),
& didn’t want to go out anymore. I just bit the bullet & went out by myself & had something to eat, trying a Russian kebab, which has a sausage in it instead of kebab meat - very yummy! I got back & just watched MTV in the room, as I didn’t really want to keep wandering around in the dark.
Moscow was certainly strange although I did enjoy all the markets - you could score quite a few things for very little money. They had a lot of pastry goods, but it was hard to tell what was inside (sweet or savoury). The buildings themselves were quite dull & dirty. There wasn’t much colour at all except on the important buildings, but it was interesting to see some of the after-effects of Communism - many of the buildings still have red stars decorating the spires up on top, & the double-headed eagle still adorns all kinds of things, including buildings (usually gold in colour) - apparently Russians do not want to get rid of these symbols because they don’t want to be ashamed of their history. They seem to enjoy looking forward but don’t deny their past, which
I found quite a contrast to such cities as Berlin (Germany). Although the cathedrals were quite amazing, Moscow itself was a bit bleak, the people pushy & unfriendly (they don’t know any different & aren’t doing it on purpose), & in general it was very difficult to get around, with very little assistance for foreigners. However, it was still very interesting & it was crazy to be in a culture so far removed from New Zealand/London.
Day 3 - Today Pasha had organized to meet us to help us get tickets into the Kremlin, so we all met & then got the metro there. In fact, Pasha just stood there & pointed to the cashiers that were free so that we could buy our tickets. It was actually quite a complicated process but we had to figure it all out ourselves. We went inside the big citadel walls to have a look at all the cathedrals & stuff. I made an effort to make some non-whining friends & ended up hanging out with a Kiwi couple, Renee & Deon, as well as another single traveller, Sharon, who were really nice. There were quite a few cathedrals inside, as well
as many government buildings (although you weren't allowed inside these ones). Many of the cathedrals were under restoration so we couldn’t go inside, but it was still good & the buildings were amazing! There were all kinds of Police/guards around (who could tell? I saw about 30 different uniforms when I was in Russia & had no idea who was actually who). If you stepped off the footpath they blew a whistle at you & shouted - I felt like we were in the Sound of Music, with Captain Von Trapp blowing a whistle to control his kids! Very weird! While we were there, there seemed to be some kind of ceremony taking place, with TV cameras everywhere. The main church was Russian Orthodox (I think) & they were all dressed up in fancy robes, carrying special bits & bobs & blessing the crowd. One ancient guy got a new crown & they had a big wander around the church all chanting & singing. There were many Russian women there who followed the group around - they seemed almost obsessed & it turned into a bit of a riot, with them all rushing forward to get the best view. Kind
of funny to watch - obviously we didn’t understand the significance!
After we had looked at most of the buildings there we went over to a place called the Armoury, which is a special building built on the side of the Kremlin, which you have to reach from the outside of the walls. It’s essentially a museum of precious Russian objects & I thought it would be boring but I loved every second of it - it didn’t drag on & there wasn’t an overload of any one item/group of objects. We got to see jewelled books, fancy crockery, all kinds of swords & armour (including for battle horses), Faberge eggs, carriages used for transport, clothing & all kinds of things. It was all so opulent - it is easy to see that the Russians certainly have some incredible valuables. Many of the items are not found elsewhere in the world, even in museums - it was really interesting & it’s not normally my kind of thing!
When we had finished in there we went for lunch at a place called Moo Moo’s, over on Arbat Street - all Russian cuisine where you just point to what you
want & they will dish it up for you - very reasonably priced as well, & the outdoor tables were a nice touch. In the evening we went to Renee & Deon’s room which had a lounge area, & had a few Russian vodkas. Apparently you are meant to do it in shots but I’m not that brave, although some of the others gave it a go. It was nice to socialise a bit more with some of the others.
Day 4 - Today was a completely free day where we could choose to do what we wanted. We watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (there is an Eternal Flame there as well) & then lined up to see inside Lenin’s Mausoleum. It was very serious & sombre inside - I got told off for laughing, but it really was quite over the top! You were also wandering around in virtual darkness & crashing into stuff (including the guards) - quite a crack up! From there we went inside St Basil’s to see all the art painted on the interior walls - it was quite amazing although very worn. There were a
group of guys there who sang in harmony & their voices bounced around all the stone rooms - it sounded amazing! From there we caught the metro out to one end of town & then did a river cruise out to the other end of town - you could see all the main sights from the river as well & it was nice to have a different view. It was a really nice day & it was nice to see the sun after the rain we had had on most other days. In the late afternoon we met Sharon back at Moo Moo’s & had some early dinner, making it back to the hotel in time to catch our night train to St Petersburg with all the others.
The night train was OK but we didn’t get to sleep much. The whole journey was only about 7 hours so by the time you mess around a bit & have a chat, it wasn’t really possible to have a decent sleep. The conditions were quite cramped, with 4 beds to a cabin, & about 2 feet of space down the middle of the two sets of bunks. The toilets were
so bad - in fact, it was a common theme in Russia & some were seriously disgusting, even in places you wouldn’t expect them to be. Perhaps it has something to do with the national shortage of toilet paper - haha!
Day 5 - We arrived in St Petersburg at 6am & were taken to our accommodation, which was a university hostel, empty for the Summer holidays. The rooms were small but very nice, & there were heaps of toilets & showers on each floor, making it very easy to do what you wanted, as the place wasn’t even half full! At least it was new & didn’t smell this time - unfortunately though, St Petersburg is built on swampland & there was a ridiculous amount of mosquitoes, but I survived intact with only 3 bites the whole time - others weren’t so lucky. We had about 3 hours until we were met by our new guide, so everyone had a wee sleep & a shower. Ready for the walking tour we were pleasantly surprised by our guide, Alex, who was knowledgeable & friendly - the walking tour was excellent & we learned a lot, seeing much more of St
Petersburg with him than we had of Moscow with Pasha. We walked down the main street (Nevsky Prospekt), past a huge posh boutique shopping mall (where the average Russian could never afford to shop - weird!), through Pushkin/Arts Square (he’s a famous Russian poet) , down to Mars Field where there is an Eternal Flame. From there we went past a few ore monuments & learned about the people (Catherine the Great, Alexander II & III), & around the Hermitage/Winter Palace. This Palace was where Catherine the Great had lived & it is so incredibly massive. The Hermitage is a small portion of this palace, but the whole thing has now been turned into an art gallery (well, it’s got some museum stuff too) - it’s one of the largest collections in the world, with over 3 millions pieces!! They say it would take days to see everything if you looked at every items for 30 seconds. We had some lunch & Alex set up tickets to the ballet for the people who wanted to go (not me - it’s not my thing) - he was incredibly helpful. I went to St Isaac’s to take some photos but it started
to rain so I went back to the hotel (it rained most of my time in Russia, but especially in St Petersburg).
I was interested by the architecture there - the buildings were built almost in Tudor style (with big columns out the front like the White House), with white edging/detailing, but bright walls, usually oranges, yellows & greens. The whole city had a more upbeat & positive air than Moscow - the people looked happier & dressed brighter, & the buildings looked cared for & more exciting. You could also go on canal rides here too, but I gave it a miss this time. In the evening I got some dinner with another couple of girls on the trip, & was grateful for some space from Narelle, who had turned into the Whinging Psycho from Oz (“It’s too hot/It’s too cold/I’m sunburned/It’s raining/My legs are chafed/I’m tired/I’m hungry/I’m thirsty/My bed is uncomfortable/My pillow is uncomfortable/My clothes need washing/My feet hurt/My legs hurt/My stomach hurts/I don’t have enough money” & my own personal favourite, on repeat about every 20 minutes or so - “I need to go to the toilet”) - I just about died when I found out
she was the same age as me. I began to wonder how she had travelled to so many countries & actually enjoyed herself!! The time to myself was awesome! When she got back I got to listen to her complain about the ballet, but it didn't seem so bad after a break & my sanity remained intact!
Day 6 - Today we had organised to go to the Hermitage/Winter Palace. Alex got us all sorted out & we went inside, looking around for about 4 hours. It really was awesome - there were all kinds of examples of palace interiors, foreign art, sculptures (including one by Michelangelo), local art & general historical objects. I generally enjoyed looking at the amazing floors & ceilings - some of the paintings & woodwork on them was just incredible. I lost Narelle (yes, it actually was an accident), but caught up with Sharon, & we charged around together, which I enjoyed much more. In the afternoon I went off with Sharon to the Church of the Spilled Blood, similar-looking to St Basil’s in Moscow, but we didn’t go inside. We checked out some markets but they were a bit posh & not really
what we were looking for , after having a wander through some supermarkets & looking for presents to take back for Vaughan (lucky for some!), we headed back to the hotel, where we met up with Narelle again & went out for some Italian food just up the road. It was hard to go much further as it was just so wet all the time, but it was good.
Day 7 - Today was our free day in Moscow & I started off by having my first sleep in since the start of the trip. Narelle wanted to go & take photos of all the things I had already taken photos of, so I walked up the road with her just for a while & then went off to do something else. I managed to get all my tourist stuff sorted out & just had a general wander & took a few last photos. Narelle had asked me to meet her back at the hostel at 2pm so we could go out & see something different, but she showed up at 3:30pm complaining she was tired & didn’t want to go out, which I was a bit annoyed about
after waiting so long. I decided to go out anyway & had a look down the other end of the main street that I hadn’t seen yet, plus I made it up to a large monastery for a bit of a look, but it was mostly being restored so I didn’t go inside, but it looked amazing from the outside.
I made it back to the hostel in time to meet with everyone so we could go out for dinner on our last night. One weird lady who was a single traveller (Charlotte) said she was too tired to go (I actually think she had trouble eating in front of people), & one of the other couples piked out, which kind of illustrates the way in which people didn’t really make an effort to be friends on the trip. The rest of us went out to a restaurant off the main street called Propaganda, which looked like it was set in a war bunker - there was crazy stuff on all the walls & it was really quite funky - I thought it was great! Most people had a vodka shot but I had a cocktail which was nice
(I know, I know, I didn’t really do the ‘Russia’ thing that much). It was a good night but we didn’t stay out for very long as people were leaving at various times the next day, including before 7am. I had Beef Stroganoff which was really nice! It was a lot of fun & I enjoyed being out with everyone.
Day 8 - I made it back to London safely after a long trip. I had to fly out via Moscow, but messed around a bit changing from the domestic to international airports. It was pretty tough since people didn’t really speak English, even at the airport. I had a 6 hour wait in Moscow airport which was pretty boring, (& just about had a heart attack flying there on this tiny plane that freaked me out!). Eventually I made it to Heathrow, just in time for a ton of international flights & had to stand in the immigration line for ages - the price you pay for not having a British passport. The weirdest thing about flying Aeroflot was that everyone clapped everytime we landed, as if it's not common to land successfully - DODGY! It was great
to be back after all the recent travelling though & although I have still been on Russia time since my return, I have still enjoyed every second of it. The Summer of 2006 has certainly been something to remember!
Thanks for reading - I’m hoping our next adventure will be in just a few weeks to the D-Day beaches at Normandy, but we will see if I can be bothered organising something again so soon. Perhaps I deserve a bit of time out, but of course, no rest for the wicked.
Miss you all heaps - look forward to hearing from you, & hope you’re safe & well.
Until next time.... xxxx
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Marianne
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Wow, think you have missed your calling Toni, travel writing is your thing, What a great trip I've had around Europe, once again it amazes me to hear how mich you manage to do on your trips, in spite of having shorter legs!!! you do really manage to make your trips come alive. Thankyou Marianne