So I have come back after 2 months of travelling. We tired to cover as many places as we could because 1) Australia is soooo far away from the rest of the world and 2) my daughter starts senior school next year and taking too much time off will just not be feasible. I thought I would post a bit of the places we went to and some of the adventures we had along the way... :)
RUSSIA
We started our trip in Moscow, had 2 days here with a local guide. Loved seeing the Red Square, the Kremlin and all its cathedrals, St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow University, some of the glorious parks and monuments dotted all across the city. It was very daunting with the language barrier, especially as the Russian script is so different. Nonetheless, we threw ourselves in to the deep end, and caught the metro on our first night (successfully but with much accompanying trepidation!) to the Old Arabat- a lovely pedestrian street with performers, shops, restaurants and historic buildings. It was interesting to hear our guide talk about life in Soviet times, how hard things were back then. She felt that while things were on the improve, living conditions were still hard, and she seemed to have a very guarded prognosis about Putin as President. I didn't want to press her more on the issue, but I thought it quite curious.
Speaking of the Moscow Metro, it is one of the most efficient transport systems (trains come every 2 minutes) I have been on, with many stunning stations full of statues, monuments, mosaic artworks and paintings.
Temperatures here in late August were quite warm, considering I'd always thought of Russia as being really cold most of the time. They do get a summer- it was 26 degrees C both days in Moscow and we were so hot walking around! We were trying to imagine it covered in snow, with all the people wearing those gorgeous Russian hats and fur coats. I thought the women were gorgeous, and always modestly if not beautifully and elegantly dressed. Maybe it was because we were mainly in the city and the historic parts, and perhaps it's different in the suburbs, but even driving around and noting the way people carried themselves, it was nice to see girls and women dressed so well (rather than baring as much skin and flesh which seems to be the unfortunate trend in most Western countries
)
From Moscow we went to Sergiev Possad, Vladimir and Suzdal, to look at more amazing cathedrals and monasteries dotted in smaller towns away from the bustle of Moscow, steeped in so much history. Our guide for this part funnily enough, was a lovely Russian lady who is married to an Australian man and lives 1 hour away from me in Australia! She spends some of the year in Russia catching up with friends and family, and the rest of the time in Australia with her husband.
She was lovely to talk to, and she felt relieved at our opinions of Russia not being the bad cop, and our ability to see past the lies peddled by the Western media. Interestingly, she was not convinced of Russia in Putin's hands as President initially, but his annexing Crimea sealed the deal for her. As she recalled, she has family in Crimea, it has always been Russian and the people there are strongly aligned to Russia. The population of Crimea generally seem really happy to be part of Russia again., from what she says. She also talked about the sanctions and how it has helped the Ruskies look at developing their own agriculture and internal infrastructure. She took us to their hyper-market (a supermarket which is so huge, it spans a block, and there are hundreds of varieties of all sorts of food and groceries). Let me assure you, the Russians are far from going without, judging by the 1000s of varieties of various products and foods and deli goods on offer.
Sergiev Posad Vladimir Suzdal
We absolutely loved Moscow and the Golden cities- the traditional shawls, the babushka dolls, the wooden boxes so intricately painted in Vladimir, the traditional folk embroidery of the region had me in awe. There was also a lot of restoration of monuments, roads and pavements in progress, a reflection of tax payers money going where it should (OSIT). I found Moscow really interesting in architecture from the Russian Czars to the Soviet times to just modern apartments all juxtaposed... A city I would be quite happy to visit again and in more detail.
We then caught an overnight train to St. Petersburg, which I will continue in my next post.....
RUSSIA
We started our trip in Moscow, had 2 days here with a local guide. Loved seeing the Red Square, the Kremlin and all its cathedrals, St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow University, some of the glorious parks and monuments dotted all across the city. It was very daunting with the language barrier, especially as the Russian script is so different. Nonetheless, we threw ourselves in to the deep end, and caught the metro on our first night (successfully but with much accompanying trepidation!) to the Old Arabat- a lovely pedestrian street with performers, shops, restaurants and historic buildings. It was interesting to hear our guide talk about life in Soviet times, how hard things were back then. She felt that while things were on the improve, living conditions were still hard, and she seemed to have a very guarded prognosis about Putin as President. I didn't want to press her more on the issue, but I thought it quite curious.
Speaking of the Moscow Metro, it is one of the most efficient transport systems (trains come every 2 minutes) I have been on, with many stunning stations full of statues, monuments, mosaic artworks and paintings.
Temperatures here in late August were quite warm, considering I'd always thought of Russia as being really cold most of the time. They do get a summer- it was 26 degrees C both days in Moscow and we were so hot walking around! We were trying to imagine it covered in snow, with all the people wearing those gorgeous Russian hats and fur coats. I thought the women were gorgeous, and always modestly if not beautifully and elegantly dressed. Maybe it was because we were mainly in the city and the historic parts, and perhaps it's different in the suburbs, but even driving around and noting the way people carried themselves, it was nice to see girls and women dressed so well (rather than baring as much skin and flesh which seems to be the unfortunate trend in most Western countries
)From Moscow we went to Sergiev Possad, Vladimir and Suzdal, to look at more amazing cathedrals and monasteries dotted in smaller towns away from the bustle of Moscow, steeped in so much history. Our guide for this part funnily enough, was a lovely Russian lady who is married to an Australian man and lives 1 hour away from me in Australia! She spends some of the year in Russia catching up with friends and family, and the rest of the time in Australia with her husband.
She was lovely to talk to, and she felt relieved at our opinions of Russia not being the bad cop, and our ability to see past the lies peddled by the Western media. Interestingly, she was not convinced of Russia in Putin's hands as President initially, but his annexing Crimea sealed the deal for her. As she recalled, she has family in Crimea, it has always been Russian and the people there are strongly aligned to Russia. The population of Crimea generally seem really happy to be part of Russia again., from what she says. She also talked about the sanctions and how it has helped the Ruskies look at developing their own agriculture and internal infrastructure. She took us to their hyper-market (a supermarket which is so huge, it spans a block, and there are hundreds of varieties of all sorts of food and groceries). Let me assure you, the Russians are far from going without, judging by the 1000s of varieties of various products and foods and deli goods on offer.
Sergiev Posad Vladimir Suzdal
We absolutely loved Moscow and the Golden cities- the traditional shawls, the babushka dolls, the wooden boxes so intricately painted in Vladimir, the traditional folk embroidery of the region had me in awe. There was also a lot of restoration of monuments, roads and pavements in progress, a reflection of tax payers money going where it should (OSIT). I found Moscow really interesting in architecture from the Russian Czars to the Soviet times to just modern apartments all juxtaposed... A city I would be quite happy to visit again and in more detail.
We then caught an overnight train to St. Petersburg, which I will continue in my next post.....
