Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Yekaterinburg
Our next adventure started in the train to Yekaterinburg. We were in the same compartement as Yura and Vova, 2 fellows from Cheboksary, in the Chuvach Republic. The first was heading up north towards the arctic circle to a town near Salekhard where he works as an electrical security engineer for Lukoil. The latter was going back to his family in Yekaterinburg.
Stacked with homemade pies and cranberry schnaps by his wife for his 3 day journey, Yura generously shared his provisions. They could speak a few words of german and english, and with our 5 words of Russian and the liquor, we established communication. Vova then called his daughter Irina who studies french in gymnasium...
On arrival in Yekaterinburg, it was raining. Vova's wife and daughter were at the station and helped us out with our onward train tickets, then very kindly invited us to stay at their place.
The next 2 days were probably the most memorable we had so far on our trip: fully pampered and catered for! We ate like kings and were offered a full guided tour around Yekaterinburg, with chauffeur (Larissa, a friend of the family) and translator.
Amongst the sights were the Romanov Cathedral where the last tsar and his family were murdered, the wooden church complex to their memory in the forest where they were buried, the statue of Sverdlov (the Bolshevik who ordered their execution), the Romanov's Faberge eggs exhibition, the impressive memorial for the local Afghanistan war casualties, the tower with panoramic view of the city, the Europe-Asia border line, the photograph museum and it's pictures of old Yekaterinburg and the Ural.
... comrade Sverdlov:
... on the Asia-Europe border:
Stacked with homemade pies and cranberry schnaps by his wife for his 3 day journey, Yura generously shared his provisions. They could speak a few words of german and english, and with our 5 words of Russian and the liquor, we established communication. Vova then called his daughter Irina who studies french in gymnasium...
On arrival in Yekaterinburg, it was raining. Vova's wife and daughter were at the station and helped us out with our onward train tickets, then very kindly invited us to stay at their place.
The next 2 days were probably the most memorable we had so far on our trip: fully pampered and catered for! We ate like kings and were offered a full guided tour around Yekaterinburg, with chauffeur (Larissa, a friend of the family) and translator.
Amongst the sights were the Romanov Cathedral where the last tsar and his family were murdered, the wooden church complex to their memory in the forest where they were buried, the statue of Sverdlov (the Bolshevik who ordered their execution), the Romanov's Faberge eggs exhibition, the impressive memorial for the local Afghanistan war casualties, the tower with panoramic view of the city, the Europe-Asia border line, the photograph museum and it's pictures of old Yekaterinburg and the Ural.
... comrade Sverdlov:
... on the Asia-Europe border:
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Kazan
After a night's ride in the train with a bunch of beer drinking teenage Dynamo Moscow fans, we got to Kazan.
Kazan is the capital of Tatartan, a semi-autonomous, oil-rich region of the Russian federation, south-west of Moscow. Nowadays, the descendants of the fierce Golden Hordes are much tamer than when Ivan the Terrible met them. They even seem to live in harmony with the Russians, as mosques and orthodox churches stand side by side.
The city was much less oriental than we expected. Besides a lively market, and a "unesco world heritage" historical white kremlin, there is not much to say about it. Most of the town is under renovation, or construction, for Kazan's 1000th anniversary next year. And it was raining most of the time... But the people were very nice and helpful: independant travellers are apparently still not such a common sight round here!
This left us enough time to do our washing by hand. In Russia, it just seems much easier to find Louis Vuitton, Cacharel and Rolex boutiques than laundry services and decent food!
Kazan is the capital of Tatartan, a semi-autonomous, oil-rich region of the Russian federation, south-west of Moscow. Nowadays, the descendants of the fierce Golden Hordes are much tamer than when Ivan the Terrible met them. They even seem to live in harmony with the Russians, as mosques and orthodox churches stand side by side.
The city was much less oriental than we expected. Besides a lively market, and a "unesco world heritage" historical white kremlin, there is not much to say about it. Most of the town is under renovation, or construction, for Kazan's 1000th anniversary next year. And it was raining most of the time... But the people were very nice and helpful: independant travellers are apparently still not such a common sight round here!
This left us enough time to do our washing by hand. In Russia, it just seems much easier to find Louis Vuitton, Cacharel and Rolex boutiques than laundry services and decent food!
Monday, September 20, 2004
Moscow
Big city, big prices. On the whole, the city has turned into a busy modern metropole with still enough russian (and sovietic) particularities to keep it from being bland.
Of course, we did our tourist duties. First the Red Square and St-Basil's Cathedral:
Then the Tetryakov gallery (huge collection of Russian pre-revolutionary art, starting with 10s century icons), the sovietic All-Russia Exhibition Center, the tsarist GUM shopping center, the metro with which we rode many kilometers, and eventually even got inside the Kremlin!
... tourists inside the Kremlin:
... horse on parade inside the Kremlin:
But there is much more to Moscow than this. Many other churches have been rebuilt or renovated lately and the street are well kept, so it was agreable enough just to walk around.
Of course, we did our tourist duties. First the Red Square and St-Basil's Cathedral:
Then the Tetryakov gallery (huge collection of Russian pre-revolutionary art, starting with 10s century icons), the sovietic All-Russia Exhibition Center, the tsarist GUM shopping center, the metro with which we rode many kilometers, and eventually even got inside the Kremlin!
... tourists inside the Kremlin:
... horse on parade inside the Kremlin:
But there is much more to Moscow than this. Many other churches have been rebuilt or renovated lately and the street are well kept, so it was agreable enough just to walk around.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
St-Petersburg
So now, serious travelling starts as we leave the European Union for Russia.
St-Petersburg, the capital of the tsars, is an amazing city. It's huge in all senses of the term. Majestic boulevards, imposing buildings, palaces, canals... During our 4 day stay, we could barely see a fraction of it.
On the first day, we walked across the center. Kilometers of boulevards and streets to explore.
...another horse statue:
On the second, we visited the summer palace in Pushkin, with it's famous amber room. A good half day was needed to explore the palace surroundings: the hanging gardens, the sculpture gallery, the park, it's big pond, kitchen, bath, temple, dog burial pyramid, etc. The palace in itself was impressive, although slightly crowded...
On the third day, it rained. So we took this opportunity to stroll across the hermitage state museum, which is in the big green winter palace.
The museum is so big, one can easily get lost, carried away by the beauty of the rooms. Else, paintings and sculptures gathered by the tsars before the revolution, or looted by the Soviets in Germany.
Besides, we also got our first train tickets from the central booking office. To Moscow. Quite an experience!
St-Petersburg, the capital of the tsars, is an amazing city. It's huge in all senses of the term. Majestic boulevards, imposing buildings, palaces, canals... During our 4 day stay, we could barely see a fraction of it.
On the first day, we walked across the center. Kilometers of boulevards and streets to explore.
...another horse statue:
On the second, we visited the summer palace in Pushkin, with it's famous amber room. A good half day was needed to explore the palace surroundings: the hanging gardens, the sculpture gallery, the park, it's big pond, kitchen, bath, temple, dog burial pyramid, etc. The palace in itself was impressive, although slightly crowded...
On the third day, it rained. So we took this opportunity to stroll across the hermitage state museum, which is in the big green winter palace.
The museum is so big, one can easily get lost, carried away by the beauty of the rooms. Else, paintings and sculptures gathered by the tsars before the revolution, or looted by the Soviets in Germany.
Besides, we also got our first train tickets from the central booking office. To Moscow. Quite an experience!
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Tour of Estonia: Tartu and Viljandi
While waiting for our Russian visas, which was a lengthy 5 working days affair, we did a little trip to south Estonia.
First, we stayed two nights in Tartu, the heart of Estonian culture. This universtity town is where the Estonian national identity emerged in the mid 19th century. Amongst others, there is a good national museum to be seen there.
During our stay in Tartu, there also was a theater festival. Due to the linguistic barrier, we couldn´t really follow the plays, but we did enjoy some open air folk concerts.
After this, we spent the remaining two nights in Viljandi, a nice little town beside a lake. Autumn already started here, so the colour were beautiful, especially around the old castle´s ruins.
... more Viljandi photos:
First, we stayed two nights in Tartu, the heart of Estonian culture. This universtity town is where the Estonian national identity emerged in the mid 19th century. Amongst others, there is a good national museum to be seen there.
During our stay in Tartu, there also was a theater festival. Due to the linguistic barrier, we couldn´t really follow the plays, but we did enjoy some open air folk concerts.
After this, we spent the remaining two nights in Viljandi, a nice little town beside a lake. Autumn already started here, so the colour were beautiful, especially around the old castle´s ruins.
... more Viljandi photos:
Monday, September 06, 2004
Tallinn
It was already a month on the road as we arrived in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. From a linguistic point of view, something totally new for us: Estonian being an uralic language close to Finnish, it has nothing to do with our usual indo-european stuff.
The old town of Tallin is very pretty, with it´s late medieval/hanseatic buildings and winding cobbled streets.
The higher old town offer some nice viewpoints:
But besides sightseeing, we also had some more serious matters to look after, like applying for our visas to Russia and get a replacement for a defect bank card.
Through this, we met Mr.Keerov, a colleague of Claudia´s father, who very kindly drove us around and introduced us to his son Artur. Then Artur and his girlfriend Eva guided us in and around the town and provided us with good insider tips to Estonia. A great pleasure meeting them all!
The old town of Tallin is very pretty, with it´s late medieval/hanseatic buildings and winding cobbled streets.
The higher old town offer some nice viewpoints:
But besides sightseeing, we also had some more serious matters to look after, like applying for our visas to Russia and get a replacement for a defect bank card.
Through this, we met Mr.Keerov, a colleague of Claudia´s father, who very kindly drove us around and introduced us to his son Artur. Then Artur and his girlfriend Eva guided us in and around the town and provided us with good insider tips to Estonia. A great pleasure meeting them all!
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Riga
Riga, capital of Latvia. Unlike Vilnius, who was cosy and relaxed, Riga has this big city feel to it. People running around, Britney Spears wannabees, 24 hours shopping, casinos and big german cars with dark windows.
Architecturally speaking, Riga is stunning: hanseatic style old city and whole "art nouveau" quarters.
... and by night:
A very welcome change to travel our routine: our man in Frankfurt, who flew over for a short inspection and a Vodka.
Architecturally speaking, Riga is stunning: hanseatic style old city and whole "art nouveau" quarters.
... and by night:
A very welcome change to travel our routine: our man in Frankfurt, who flew over for a short inspection and a Vodka.
