Blogs from Russia, Europe - page 7

If it was not for Corona we were booked for our annual holiday starting today. The trip that could have been! Virtual is the new world, so I thought I would travel virtual and take the readers on this holiday with me. 28 Apr – Flight from New Delhi in the morning and here we are in Moscow at 5.25 am . First things first- Bought a SIM card From Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO) took the airport train to Kursky Station and then a train from the left side of the station to Vladimir . We plan to do the golden triangle before doing Moscow. Checked into the hotel and by 12 noon we were good to go! Took a taxi to go around the main sights in Vladimir . The Golden Gates built in 1164 ... read more

Icy gusts rush over the great steppe; snow laden, barren, endless. The moon having never risen gives the stars their meagre chance to light the blanched plains. A man is running seemingly from nowhere. His pace slows as he runs out of breath. Panting and now walking, eventually his energy is depleted and he collapses. Within an hour his skin is frozen solid, paused in time at his final solitary moment. Then as the long night wears on, drifts of snow build up, first against him, then over him shrouding his corpse. His footprints are filled. The final flake of snow floats gently downwards and no trace is left. The sun casts a furtive beam of light over the horizon. A technicolour display that no living creature will observe. This is the story of many men ... read more

My Great Uncle Cyril stowed on a ship as a lad...discovered and made cabin boy...arrived in Canada and spawned. Met him on a visit to Australia where he enchanted me with the way he said "Hi"...or was it his 17 year old granddaughter that caught my eye? One of his daughters represented Canada in the Winter Olympics in Curling..."What's that?" I remember asking. He smoked a pipe so I made him a pottery ashtray. Years later I heard he had become blind and was responsible for burning down his retirement home in Canada...some mishap with his pipe in bed...or was it 'cos of my ashtray? As we cruise the Volga-Baltic Waterway in Vologda Oblast of northern Russia...crossing Beloye Lake (White Lake) where the Sheksna River joins the flow...another Cyril is about to enter my life...St Cyril ... read more

When I started my first job after leaving school, all the men save one, smoked cigarettes...and all of the female staff. But in those enlightened days...everyone who had a TV knew that cigarettes were cool...and most importantly...they were good for you! When I left there 9 years later...none of the men smoked...not one...but many of the women still did. And that was before laws forbidding smoking in many public spaces including restaurants. 'Cos someone let the cat out of the bag...the cigarette companies knew all along...that cigarettes were not good for you...in fact they could ultimately kill you. In my travels in China...16 provinces so quite extensive...most of the men seemed to smoke...so I guess Chinese cigarettes are different...or the message had not yet got out that they are not good for you! Yet in Russia ... read more

When we flew away from Krasnoyarsk after our last bicycle tour, something felt unfinished. We had made a few friends and become comfortable with the neighborhood. We knew where to go for a nice run, a beautiful hike, the cities best espresso machiatto, and the best bowl of noodles we have ever had in Russia....maybe anywhere. Fate doubled down on our departure anxiety with a two hour delay on the tarmac. We waited in a long queue with the seatbelt light on trying to think about anything besides urinating. Finally, one of us rushed the bathroom and used the "I'm a girl in a chivalrous country" ploy, while the other nearly overflowed an empty bike bottle under an in-flight blanket. One would think that a couple of weeks in a smoggy, Siberian city would leave ... read more