The Soviet bureaucracy is still very much alive and kicking at the Church of the Spilled Blood in St Petersburg!  We had already experienced "Red" tape on our trip ... for example, our whole experience of applying for the visa, getting the official invitation, and registering the visas when we arrived..... and our latest example of this bureaucracy came at the Russian/Mongolian border last night on the train when it took us SIX hours to get through customs.

    But....back to the Church of the Spilled Blood, and my episode with the "Stalinesque" lady at the door. The sign at the front ticket booth read that foreigners needed to purchase their tickets inside the church.  No problem..... it's quite common for them to charge foreigners a higher price, and so I went inside the church ready to pay the $12. admission (everything is expensive in Russia). There, the lady rudely told me that I couldn't buy my ticket with her...that I needed to buy my ticket at the front ticket booth. No room for discussion with her!  She dismissed me and sent me and a French couple quickly out the door. So..... back I went to the counter outside where, despite my arguments (and pointing to their sign), the agent proceeded to tell me that I had to go inside the church to buy my tickets no matter what the sign said.  Of course, this was after waiting for a good bit of time in each of the lines (and Russians don't seem to understand the concept of orderly queuing up in a line!). A sympathetic person in line at the next ticket window heard my problem, and fortunately decided to help me, explaining that since this was Russia, there were always "new rules... for today."  It turned out that she was a Tour Guide for a group of Italians, and she told me to mingle in the middle of her group and she would sneak me into the church, but I had to "be very quiet" about it.  So as we single-filed into the church,  I was trying desperately not to be too conspicuous, pretending to chat with my "fellow Italians" as we walked past the lady at the door.  That's when I dropped my glasses  (.... and, of course, in MY mind, the clatter of my glasses echoed throughout the chamber, and nearly woke up the saints inside!!!!)  I picked them up directly in front of her, quickly scooted inside, and avoided any eye contact (and avoiding certain imprisonment and banishment to Siberia!!!!)    Well.... I got away with it..... even though I did go to Siberia myself on the train a few days later. 

    Despite the very cool and somewhat inhospitable reception we received from the Russian people initially, I found that once we got away from the cities, the townsfolk were very nice.  Galina, the lady who welcomed us into her home for two nights in Listvyanka, was very dear.  Both Alec and Alex on the train to Yekaterinberg were very friendly once we broke through the language barrier.  My discussions with Alex were extensive..... talking about politics, economics, family etc.   I guess that is part of what traveling is all about  ...... reserving judgement of other people until you've had the chance to really dig a little bit deeper than just an initial impression.  The lesson that both Alex and I came away with after our discussions was that "people are really the same everywhere."  .... and my travels have reinforced that belief.

Posted by Walt at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Mongolia is AWESOME! Great people, great food, and great entertainment. Before I get too carried away, I'll start with our ride in on the trans-siberian. The lush, forested greenery of Russia gave way while we were sleeping to a drier climate. Smaller shrubs, very sparse tree cover, and rocky terrain were lit up at sunrise. Gradually we began to see the characteristic "ger" houses of Mongolia. Our guide book said it would be difficult to get around Mongolia without your own horse. Not a problem, everyone had at least a few. Also, even though we didn't see anything resembling a road, most gers also had SUVs or motorcycles nearby!

In such a sparsely populated country, pollution doesn't seem to be a problem. However, the train curved around to reveal a thick haze. Ulaan Baator. Cough...cough..wheez. The impact of diesel engines on this valley capitol is visible from a distance, and I pity the smaller villages downwind. Wearied from Russian "service with a shrug," I was immediately awestruck by the professional and gracious representative from our Hostel that greeted us at the train station. We didn't even arrange for a train station pick-up service, but there it was!

The service didn't end there. The Nassan hostel, only 5 USD per person per night, offers excursions to the Gobi desert, which we will do in a couple of days (yay!) and even gave me one free night at the hostel for being their 400th registered guest of the year! Ok, admittedy it's only a 5 dollar value, BUT  I still feel like I won the lottery :). It's also extremely well situated near internet cafes, a wonderful German bakery (mmm...Berliners), and only a 10 minute walk to the Naadam Festival. Speaking of which...

The Naadam Festival is like our July 4th, only, being Mongolia, this is their 800 year anniversary! The streets were riddled with policemen on the walk to the stadium. We were herded into section 3, squashed among foreigners, locals, and not so local Mongolians. Lining up is not a popular concept here, but we found good seats and the opening ceremonies began. We will post some videos to give a better idea, but imagine a show worthy of the Olympic games. People were doing amazing horse riding tricks, dancing in large and synchronized groups, and there was an orchestra of hundreds people playing oddly shaped stringed instruments. It was a show of nationalism and cultural heritage that I will not soon forget.

From here we will take an excursion through the country side for 4 nights, 5 days. We'll be trekking through the Gobi on camels and horseback, and internet access will be...shall we say...limited...to none. Expect a post on the 17th when I'll describe my excursion to the ancient capitol of Karakoram and the Gobi desert. Thanks to all posting and emailing - Keep them coming!

Posted by Nelle at 05:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)

   Whenever I go to an unfamiliar city, I enjoy just walking down random streets and being surprised at what I find.  We spent the last couple of days in the village of Listvyanka, on the shores of Lake Baikal (beautiful...... but more about that in another blog) where I walked for miles along the back streets. Cows walking across my path.... the community well where they still pull their drinking water up with a bucket.... women working in their vegetable gardens and tending their chickens, wildflowers, butterflies.....  I "discovered" a quaint church (Church of St Nicholas) by a stream. It was an absolutely beautiful day.

    Today we are in the city of Irkutsk, the "Paris of Siberia," and I've spent the afternoon (in the rain) walking up and down the boulevards, amazed at the pre-Soviet architecture of the homes.  Lots of fancy woodwork around the windows, doors and eves of the houses.  Lots of onion dome churches.... some in the early stages of restoration.

   My wanderings in Moscow, took me along a very busy boulevard along the backside of the Kremlin. I was attempting to cross because I saw an interesting looking building down a side street.  Moscow is not a tourist friendly city and it is usually very difficult to find crossings on many of their streets.  So you can imagine my surprise when all six lanes of this busy thoroughfare became clear for me to cross.  I ran across thinking that some madman driver would soon cut me down (they don't seem to have any speed limits here) but no cars came along at all...... in either direction..... and for a long time as I walked along the other side of the street.  When I came to a major intersection behind the Kremlin and their wasn't a single car anywhere..... it was completely clear.... I knew that something must be happening.  I noticed the police holding back all traffic coming from all directions into the plaza.  So I climbed up some stairs to get a more stategic look, and pulled out my camera to take some pictures.  Then suddenly, out of the Kremlin speeds a motorcade of police cars, motorcyles and black Hummers.  No sooner had I snapped my picture, did I hear a very angry voice yell out "No Photos.... no photos."  A VERY LARGE man in a black suit quickly came up to me and, despite the language difference, made it very clear that I was doing something I was not supposed to do.  He demanded that I delete the photo while he waited, which I quickly did (with a very contrite look on my face, of course).  I smiled and shrugged my shoulders while he scowled at me and walked away...... I'm sure he must have been thinking "stupidsky Americansky".... or something appropriate like that. 

  This is the photo that I took of the empty plaza.....before the deleted picture.  President Putin, who lives in Moscow, must have needed something at the supermarket, so he took his motorcade to get it.  I guess you never know what you might find when you wander down some random streets in a foreign country.

Posted by Walt at 06:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (25) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, I have been in Russia for a whopping 10 days now and there is much to report. So much in fact that I am going to be breaking up my thoughts into several entries. (Hopefully I will be able to make more regular blog postings from now on.) Anyway, I shall naturally begin with the first city of Russia: Moscow.

Stepping from the luxury and safety of Delta business-class and into the noisy, bureaucratic, and curiously labeled (cyrillic) Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport marked the beginning of a new and exciting chapter of the trip: the first one. Apart from a strange inability of Russians to queue correctly in lines without cutting in front of me, and some lengthy scrutiny of my dark terrorist-esque passport photo and driver's license by the border guard, I immigrated into Russia without a hitch.

We got to our hostel "Godzilla's Hostel" (yes, that's the name) after proudly conquering local transportation, as Nelle earlier explained in her entry about Moscow. It was quite a rush, let me tell you. The metros here are pretty intimidating. If you don't insert your fare card correctly (or if you try to go through without paying), motion sensors in the turnstile set off a REALLY loud alarm and these gates swing in and hit you in the thigh to block you from continuing. You then need to back up and try again, more slowly, as other commuters wait impatiently (they certainly are called "Rushin's" for a reason!), and the guard-babushka looks on disapprovingly. Once you pass through, you are unshered into these giant tunnels and onto the world's longest and fastest escalators that whisk you to the metro level, ~100ft or more below the ground.

Most other aspects of the metro were fairly routine, except for the whole 'other language and alphabet' thing. Although it was quite remarkable how frequently the trains run. They have a clock running at the end of the metro station which marks the interval between trains in minutes in seconds. During peak times it rarely broke 2 minutes, and all other times it was usually less than 5 minutes. This, a far cry from the 25 minutes I routinely waited for the Orange line of the T in Boston.

Anyway, after settling in the first night at Godzilla's we hiked down to Red Square and checked out the scenery. It was pretty incredible, standing at the very heart of the cold war bogeyman. At least, that's what Dad said. I was impressed with St. Basil's, but somehow I imagined it would be bigger than it was, and the interior, as we discovered the next day, was nothing to write home about. We cruised into a Russian cafe and a Mc Donald's and ordered no problem (Mc D's charges for ketchup here! wtf?). Back at the hostel I met and talked to several other travelers who were in various states of coming and going via the Trans-siberian railway, and all had interesting stories and advice about what to do and what not to do, what to see and what not to see. It seemed so effortless to navigate through Moscow, make friends at the hostel, and do this whole traveling on the cheap thing. "This is easy," I thought to myself.

Reality hit us like...err, a sack of Russian potatoes. General rudeness, difficulty of reading and speaking Russian, lack of traffic rules, long walking distances, noxious pollution, expensive and bland restaurants, random closures of museums, rigidly gestapo local police and military, unhelpful hostel staff, and my first case of Traveler's D all conspired to make our first stop on this world tour my least favorite city I've ever been to. I really think the aggressive and disinterested vibe we got from most people in Moscow is a holdover from the USSR, where "service with a shrug" was the order of the day, according to our guidebook. Pity, really, given all the great attractions and the incredible first impression we received. Save our one good meal at TGI Friday's with a zealous english-speaking waitress, we could not wait to move on.

Posted by Aaron at 04:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (24) | TrackBacks (0)

It's great to be an American in Siberia on the 4th of July!

Posted by Walt at 04:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBacks (0)

We heard that we got the best train in all of Russia. Our car is a pleasant pastel green, moderately comfortable to sleep in with 4 bunks. Our fourth bunkmate, Alec speaks some German. Aaron also speaks some German, though both speak very little. Even so, this made the awkwardness of such a small space MUCH more pleasant. Also, Alec had a friend, Alex who spoke some English as well and told us much about the "real Russia.";

"One big country," he said to describe the Soviet Union. "Before we live in one big country. After, my mother, she live in Ukraine, no understand why she live in different country. Same way all over. Families live in different country. Before, better. Better one big country." Our conversation, though interesting, was difficult with the time delay of translation, and I often found my gaze wandering towards the window or the lemon cookies on the table. Alexander's frustration was apparent from the grimace of his face he made at every attempt to express a thought. It did become easier though, and the next day he seemed eager to practice his English some more. Walt spent the most time talking with him about children, life, humanity, and mother Russia.

We have three more days on the train to Irkutsk, and for me it could not go by fast enough. I am pathetically afflicted with a sensitivity to motion. I am sitting in an internet cafe hours after disembarking the train and I feel like I'm still riding it! From experience I know this will last for weeks after I finally end my train travel. Anyway, it builds character.

It will be some time before I am able to post again. I probably won't get to use an internet cafe again until I reach Mongolia. I wanted to add a few things to recap on my time in Russia. I know now that the general opinion of Russians (which I surmised from the opnion on one Russian man on a train, bien sur!) is that Moscow is not the "real Russia". This knowlegde, coupled with the sort of smearing effect of human memory, relegates my time in Moscow to the "interesting cultural experience" rather than the "worst vacation ever" category. The rigid rules of the Kremlin, the frightening stance and attitude of the guards, the brisk and dismissive metro station attendants. Sigh. Again, it's much more fun to remember them than to experience them.

I wish I had spent more time in St. Petersburg, and I recommend that city to anyone for a different kind of destination. You could, of course spend days in the hermitage, even if I was content with mere hours. It would be so much more fun to hire a guide and get to appreciate the history of it all. Also, if I didn't mention it before, we went to the opera and saw Nabucco by Verdi. What a treasure. Admittedly I slept for most of the Act I, but I really enjoyed Acts II through IV. And it was only about 6 USD. Now that's the kind of cultural experience you can hang your hat on! The most recent travel lesson learned has been that you can be in a place, see it, smell it, and spend all of your money in it, without actually understanding it. The most rewarding moments so far have been my interactions with the people of Russia. It is difficult to make connections with the language barrier, but it is possible and well worth the effort.

Thanks for everyone who is commenting and staying in touch! I'll catch up with you again in Mongolia!

Posted by Nelle at 02:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (31) | TrackBacks (0)

A day in St. Petersburg felt like a week anywhere else! Each minute was full with sights, sounds, and activity of all kinds. Not just the tourists, we must have seen 6 or 7 couples taking their wedding pictures. Artists young and old peppered the streets, sketching and painting the sights.

The church of the spilled blood, St Isaac's cathedral, Mariinsky theater, Mariinsky Palace, Decemberist's Square, Neva River. The list goes on. I really only spent one day walking around the city, but I really think I got at least the feeling of the city. Despite the many tourist attractions, and the large crowds, it felt like a quiet, civilized, metropolitan city. Nothing like the rigid and hostile vibe I got from Moscow! I didn't feel so much on the outside looking in. The locals were more welcoming of tourists in general. I would love to come back here some day and spend much more time getting to know this culturally rich city.

Information for other travelers: We also stayed at Metro-Tour hostel for 13 USD per person per night. It was a great place. Nice bathroom accomodations, good beds, friendly and helpful staff. It's 5 metro stops from Nevsky Prospect. Across the street the supermarket provided cheap and filling food for our stay. A great success over all, for those interested in a low budget stay in St. Petersburg.

Posted by Nelle at 05:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)