Actually got the photos up...more from moscow, kazan, the train rides, and novosibirsk...enjoy!
click the link below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mattdeleo76
Friday, July 31, 2009
Quick update...
Hi! I wanted to put up new photos, but the hostel computer can't support my flash. I can't stay on long, so i'm not writing any more details, only wanted to tell you that for the next 10 days i will be going on a jeep tour in northern mongolia. Jeep rental and gas, driver, sleeping in ger tent and eating with nomadic families, horse and camel riding, lake fishing, visiting mountain, desert, archaelogial sites and beautiful nature...all for 250 dollars(180 euro)!!!! I'll write again soon!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Train ride, St. Petersburg-Moscow
On July 11th, I boarded an over night train for Moscow...Because of the lack of darkness, it was difficult to sleep, so i put pearl jam on the ipod, and stared out the window from my bed...the others in the compartment didn't sleep either, but seemed not to speak a conversationable english...so i kept to myself. From the window, throughout the trip, I saw trees. Trees, trees and trees. But every so often the trees broke to reveal tiny villages hugging the rail lines. An isolated group of 5 to 20 small wooden homes, led to by faded dirt roads. I wondered, what do these people do?...I saw very few cars, so they probably don't get out of town often...I saw neither animals nor fields, so they weren't farmers...only small gardens beside the house. Hmmm? I wanted to get off the train to ask them, but there were no stations...
Later on, as I dozed in and out of a light sleep, I felt a tap on my arm. Waking to find my ipod had long since stopped playing, I looked down from my top bunk at my Asian-looking 'room mate', probably Siberian, holding out an ice-cream cone. Welcome relief for the overly-warm train car..I gave him my best 'spasibo' (thank you in Russian), chomped it down, and returned to 'Benaroya hall' and the acoustic ballads of vedder....
Later on, as I dozed in and out of a light sleep, I felt a tap on my arm. Waking to find my ipod had long since stopped playing, I looked down from my top bunk at my Asian-looking 'room mate', probably Siberian, holding out an ice-cream cone. Welcome relief for the overly-warm train car..I gave him my best 'spasibo' (thank you in Russian), chomped it down, and returned to 'Benaroya hall' and the acoustic ballads of vedder....
Map update
I've updated my map! Check it out here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=us&ptab=2&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=110087376724794924774.00046d83e27421193854b
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=us&ptab=2&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=110087376724794924774.00046d83e27421193854b
St. Petersburg
As far as i can understand, sitting here in an internet cafe in Ulan-Ude, Buryatia (Eastern Siberia), I've just paid $3 for unlimited time. So, although I'm a bit tired and hungry, I'm taking the opportunity to write as much as possible. Just a reminder: If you don't visit the site frequently (kind of like me recently), don't read from the top down as the posts are chronological from the bottom up!!
The center of St. Petersburg used to be filled with what we might call townhouse apartments, some of which were grand penthouses with multiple bedrooms. Obviously, living conditions for the rich; aristocrats and others belonging to the elite classes of European Russia...Then along comes a revolution! Under communism, being rich, (overly) educated and cultured didn't exactly fit in the big picture. So what happens? Many of these people are sent packing, ironically to Siberia, where I currently sit. Beautiful in July 2009, probably less so sitting in prison, or in work camps in winter (temperatures can reach -40). With these people gone, what becomes of these luxury apartments? Communal housing! Each family (of the working class) was given a room, with as many as 5 families in 1 apartment, sharing a bathroom, kitchen and entrance. As nuvou rich Russians have been popping up at fast rate (a bit less so in the current crisis), many of these apartments are being refurbished and built back again to their original granduer and purpose. Some however have yet to be 'saved'. Anatoly lives in one such apartment. Anatoly is a friend of Elena and Oleg, and currently working as an english teacher, after working for 3 years in english call center, which has given him a bit of an interesting british accent. The building entrance is like any other Soviet style block building, big heavy door with a mechanical button code. Making your way up the delapidated stairway and into the hallway, you can see that this was (many years ago) a place of elegance. Intricate carvings on the door frames and ceiling, now with faded or cracking paint. Beautiful light fixtures, hanging by rusty chains. Hard wood floors, ravaged by time and the elements, now resembling the inside of a fun house...bumpy, wavy, cracked and creaky. It was late and the other tenants were alseep as far as we could figure, we tip-toed into the communal kitchen where Oleg and Anatoly made a wonderful dish of cooked buckwheat (a staple grain in Russia, and really quite delicious!), mixed with beans and tomato sauce, then topped with a cold sour cream and herb (similar to parsley, but stronger) mixture. We gobbled it down between sips of Baltika 7 (a St. Petersburg local beer, there are 9 varieties) and chatted untyil 4am)
Other Highlights of St. Petersburg:
The Hermitage museum, 2 hour wait to get in, but filled with more picasso's, monet's and matisse's than you could imagine. But for me the highlights were the rooms themselves. The Hermitage is located in the tsar's old winter palace(look at the photo link). And a globe from 1733!
The Church on spilled blood (see photo)
An Expressive dance performance, an invitation by couchsurfer Katherine. A really nice girl, who along with her friend, brought me to see an interesting performance by an American dance troupe...lots of eggs! hmm?
A walk in Yeragin Park, a small island north of the center, where there are no cars, and from the western edge, you can look out on the Gulf of Finland.
The Potato Joint! After being advised to try them for the first several nights, finally on the 5th, we stopped at this fast food place, specializing in baked potatoes. They open it up and mash up the potato with cheese, and then give you a choice of topping. I got Mushroom in a sour cream sauce...Delicious!!!!
Next Update: Moscow!!!!
The center of St. Petersburg used to be filled with what we might call townhouse apartments, some of which were grand penthouses with multiple bedrooms. Obviously, living conditions for the rich; aristocrats and others belonging to the elite classes of European Russia...Then along comes a revolution! Under communism, being rich, (overly) educated and cultured didn't exactly fit in the big picture. So what happens? Many of these people are sent packing, ironically to Siberia, where I currently sit. Beautiful in July 2009, probably less so sitting in prison, or in work camps in winter (temperatures can reach -40). With these people gone, what becomes of these luxury apartments? Communal housing! Each family (of the working class) was given a room, with as many as 5 families in 1 apartment, sharing a bathroom, kitchen and entrance. As nuvou rich Russians have been popping up at fast rate (a bit less so in the current crisis), many of these apartments are being refurbished and built back again to their original granduer and purpose. Some however have yet to be 'saved'. Anatoly lives in one such apartment. Anatoly is a friend of Elena and Oleg, and currently working as an english teacher, after working for 3 years in english call center, which has given him a bit of an interesting british accent. The building entrance is like any other Soviet style block building, big heavy door with a mechanical button code. Making your way up the delapidated stairway and into the hallway, you can see that this was (many years ago) a place of elegance. Intricate carvings on the door frames and ceiling, now with faded or cracking paint. Beautiful light fixtures, hanging by rusty chains. Hard wood floors, ravaged by time and the elements, now resembling the inside of a fun house...bumpy, wavy, cracked and creaky. It was late and the other tenants were alseep as far as we could figure, we tip-toed into the communal kitchen where Oleg and Anatoly made a wonderful dish of cooked buckwheat (a staple grain in Russia, and really quite delicious!), mixed with beans and tomato sauce, then topped with a cold sour cream and herb (similar to parsley, but stronger) mixture. We gobbled it down between sips of Baltika 7 (a St. Petersburg local beer, there are 9 varieties) and chatted untyil 4am)
Other Highlights of St. Petersburg:
The Hermitage museum, 2 hour wait to get in, but filled with more picasso's, monet's and matisse's than you could imagine. But for me the highlights were the rooms themselves. The Hermitage is located in the tsar's old winter palace(look at the photo link). And a globe from 1733!
The Church on spilled blood (see photo)
An Expressive dance performance, an invitation by couchsurfer Katherine. A really nice girl, who along with her friend, brought me to see an interesting performance by an American dance troupe...lots of eggs! hmm?
A walk in Yeragin Park, a small island north of the center, where there are no cars, and from the western edge, you can look out on the Gulf of Finland.
The Potato Joint! After being advised to try them for the first several nights, finally on the 5th, we stopped at this fast food place, specializing in baked potatoes. They open it up and mash up the potato with cheese, and then give you a choice of topping. I got Mushroom in a sour cream sauce...Delicious!!!!
Next Update: Moscow!!!!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
No rest for the weary!
After a rather enjoyable 38 hours on the train (spent mostly eating and playing cards with a group of Ukrainians), i finally settled for a hotel last night.....warm shower and real bed! However, my comfort is short lived as tonight i will agian board a train, this time for the lake baikal region and the city of Irkutsk (if you've played RISK, you know this place). The ride is only 31 hours....My days in Siberia have really been adventurous...but being that i haven't even written about days 2-16, I'll continue to keep you waiting. In Irkutsk, i'll be staying in a hostel that has free internet, and i PROMISE to at least finish the stories from St. Petersburg! Take it easy----Matt
Sunday, July 19, 2009
short update
So now i'm in Kazan, Tatarstan Republic....I'm using a public computer and have limited time...Tonite i'm getting on a train to Siberia, it will take 38 hours, so don't expect any news in the next 2-3 days. As soon as I settle down somewhere, I'm gonna write about my days in St. Petersburg and eventually about Moscow too. Please have patience, and in the meantime check out the pics. Thanks!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
First day in Russia.....
Russia...what comes to mind? Communism? Snow? Super hot chicks? Well, communism ended in 1991, it doesn't snow in here in july (unless you're in the mountains), so if you said super hot chicks, you were on the money! Let me tell you, although what I've seen of the monuments so far is beautiful, it's hard to keep my eyes off these northern beauties....but i digress....Upon landing in St. petersburg, i really didn't know what to expect. I had set up accomodation through couchsurfing with Elena, and was off from the airport to find her boyfriend Oleg, who was to meet me at a certain bus stop. Using my basic knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet, I was able to read the street signs that led me to my destination...after having taken about 10 steps off the bus I passed a person meeting Oleg's description, and I guess I met mine, as we both turned simultaneously towards eachother, saying one another's name. A great start, I'd say, especially learning that he had never received my phone message advising him of my arrival! My first real experience was taking the metro. If the soviets did anything right, it was certainly building amazing subway stations, each one is uniquely decorated with paintings, murals and mosaics, chandeliers and extremely long escalators to reach depths of what seem like middle earth.
After a shower and a cup of tea (boy, do Russians love their tea), we (oleg, his friend sasha and I) headed off to the city center....A massive blue mosque caught my eye first, rising above the 3 and 4 story apartment blocks (think of them as a cross between victorians and brownstones), about 200 meters further up we ascended a bridge that led to the old city center....Walking acroos the bridge, I immediately realized the sheer beauty of St. Petersburg. You see, the city is trasversed by the Neva river, which splits in two as it arrives at the center, creating a series of small islands, and then breaks off into a dozen or so canals, which spread out through the city. The view from this particular bridge allows one to see the fortress of peter and paul in one direction, and the hermitage (winterplace) and other victorian age buildings lining the riverside in another. We crossed Mars field, and came into view of the totally cool Church of spilled blood(see my photo link for a pic), thusly named because it was built on the site in which Alexander II was blown up in a terrorist attack in the early 19th century....Later that evening we met up with some other of their friends for foosball and beer in a bar in the city center. At that point the realisation that I was in Russia came to the forefront. Growing up during the cold war, Russia was always 'the enemy', now being amongst 'the enemy' became a quite surreal experience, as I could not distinguish any difference between a night hanging with them, and a night hanging out in centrefields with my oldest, dearest and nearest friends....like the Disney song...it's a small world afer all....My hosts lived on one of the islands of St. Petersburg, and bridges are the only means to reach them, however St.petersburg is also a busy seaport, and cargo ships need to make some deliveries further inland...so what happens? Every night at 1.30 am the bridges rise to allow the ships clearance. This lasts for about 3 hours, and means whoever doesn't make it back across the bridge is stuck! Did I mention that St. Petersburg in this period never sees darkness...the famous white nights! This makes it ever harder to understand what time it is. So, controlling our watches intently, we wait until the last possible moment to leave the bar, and make a run for the bridge...being the very last ones to cross. All in all, a very exciting and interesting first day to my long, long trip......
After a shower and a cup of tea (boy, do Russians love their tea), we (oleg, his friend sasha and I) headed off to the city center....A massive blue mosque caught my eye first, rising above the 3 and 4 story apartment blocks (think of them as a cross between victorians and brownstones), about 200 meters further up we ascended a bridge that led to the old city center....Walking acroos the bridge, I immediately realized the sheer beauty of St. Petersburg. You see, the city is trasversed by the Neva river, which splits in two as it arrives at the center, creating a series of small islands, and then breaks off into a dozen or so canals, which spread out through the city. The view from this particular bridge allows one to see the fortress of peter and paul in one direction, and the hermitage (winterplace) and other victorian age buildings lining the riverside in another. We crossed Mars field, and came into view of the totally cool Church of spilled blood(see my photo link for a pic), thusly named because it was built on the site in which Alexander II was blown up in a terrorist attack in the early 19th century....Later that evening we met up with some other of their friends for foosball and beer in a bar in the city center. At that point the realisation that I was in Russia came to the forefront. Growing up during the cold war, Russia was always 'the enemy', now being amongst 'the enemy' became a quite surreal experience, as I could not distinguish any difference between a night hanging with them, and a night hanging out in centrefields with my oldest, dearest and nearest friends....like the Disney song...it's a small world afer all....My hosts lived on one of the islands of St. Petersburg, and bridges are the only means to reach them, however St.petersburg is also a busy seaport, and cargo ships need to make some deliveries further inland...so what happens? Every night at 1.30 am the bridges rise to allow the ships clearance. This lasts for about 3 hours, and means whoever doesn't make it back across the bridge is stuck! Did I mention that St. Petersburg in this period never sees darkness...the famous white nights! This makes it ever harder to understand what time it is. So, controlling our watches intently, we wait until the last possible moment to leave the bar, and make a run for the bridge...being the very last ones to cross. All in all, a very exciting and interesting first day to my long, long trip......
Monday, July 13, 2009
Che stanchezza!
I'm too tired to write tonight, but i'll do it tomorrow(maybe), i swear!!!! Enjoy the pics, more to come! I've also updated the map....just scroll down for the link! A prestissimo!
Friday, July 10, 2009
UPDATE
Hey everyone,
I'm really enjoying myself here in St. Petersburg! On sunday I'll arrive in Moscow, where I'm staying at my cousins apartment, therefore I'll soon be able to really sit down in front of a keyboard and give some details of the trip.
I'm really enjoying myself here in St. Petersburg! On sunday I'll arrive in Moscow, where I'm staying at my cousins apartment, therefore I'll soon be able to really sit down in front of a keyboard and give some details of the trip.
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