Locals – theplaceswe

September 7, 2016September 7, 2016

Lunch in Milan please

We spent the day walking around Verona and of course we checked out Casa di Guilietta (Juliet’s house) and walked to the top of Castel San Pietro to admire the view of all of Verona. While doing all of this I was messaging a cousin of mine who lives in Milan and was trying to organise a time to see her. We quickly realised that it wasn’t going to be possible unless we went the next day for lunch. So that’s what we did. The next day we ditched our train to Bologna, booked a train to Milan and made our way to the university where she works. She’s originally from Sydney so it was odd when I heard her say hello because it was Australian. We meet a lot of people who speak English as a second or third (sometimes even more) language and everyone has their accent but in the end there is no mistaking an Australian accent, especially when you haven’t heard another in a while.

Mark found the whole situation funny because I had never actually met Maria prior to our lunch in Milan. Yes she’s from Sydney but she’s been living in Italy for years and our paths just never crossed but in the end it doesn’t matter. Family is family and it was nice to meet her and catch up, we did also try to plan some other possibilities of us meeting later in the year but what will happen will happen. It was amusing to see how quickly word spreads back home. I told my mum we had had lunch with Maria and an hour or so later she sent me the photo we took of us together. My mum had got the photo from my aunty who got the photo from Maria’s brother who I had sent the photo to. When my mum sent it to me I just laughed. At lunch we were also reminded just how small the world can be sometimes because when Mark mentioned a project he worked on in Sydney and the man he dealt with Maria knew exactly who he was because she grew up with his children and calls him uncle. Ahhh Italians. After lunch we made our way back to the train station to wait for our new train to Bologna. The rest of the day and night was very uneventful as was our next day there. Neither of us really enjoyed Bologna and looked forward to leaving after just 1 full day there.

We left Bologna to go to Ferrara to meet Mark’s cousins (this time) Carmelo & Mirko. We spent 2 days there hanging out with them and enjoying the Annual Buskers Festival. At the end it was sad saying goodbye to them. When we said goodbye in Sicily it wasn’t “Goodbye” it was “See you later in Ferrara”, this time it was “See you later, sometime, somewhere” and because no matter what everyone’s intentions are sometimes life gets in the way and it can become 10 years or more before you see them again. I hope that doesn’t happen in this instance!

Another train, this time for 6 hours from Ferrara to Bari which is where we are now, inside a semi-rundown hotel, scratching the mosquito bites we got on our walk to get pizza. On the plus side the pizza is good and I’m full.

mariafotor — The infamous photo of Maria and me

August 29, 2016August 28, 2016

Meet the Relatives. Part 2

We finished our time in Sicily with a first birthday party which was nice because it gave us the opportunity to see everyone one last time and say thank you and goodbye. We were dropped at the bus stop early in the morning and arrived at the airport 2.5 hours later. After a flight to Rome and a train to Ancona we arrived at my cousin’s house, said hello and went to go get dinner. It felt easy being back in Ancona and was nice to see family again. We spent the next 2 weeks there between 2 houses, one in the city centre and another 45 minutes south in a small town. Our 2 weeks were filled with relaxing days, day trips and catching up with family.

The first few days we spent with my cousins who are the same age as me which was nice because we got to hang out with them and their friends. We would meet up with their friends for lunch or at night after dinner for a few drinks. Luckily for us pretty much all of their friends spoke English which made things easier for us. They were all so nice and welcoming towards us and it was interesting speaking to a lot of them who had family or friends in Australia at the moment. We’ve learnt that Italians love Australia!

A trip we took out to Due Sorelle beach with my cousins

It is an odd thing knowing you have family in another country – especially ones you have never seen before. Back home I know all of my nonno’s family there, after all, it’s just us, so it was so strange sitting down at dinner one night with more than one of my nonno’s brothers. It was even stranger when we grabbed a pen and starting writing out the family tree on the paper place mats. There were so many names it was ridiculous and then all of a sudden cousins showed up during desert and one of them knew every name and connection so she helped us write it all down. It was a pretty productive dinner. It’s also nice having the opportunity to look at photos and read letters I had never seen before. My Zio was really happy to show me everything. We spent a couple hours one afternoon going through some photos and letters.

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We went on a few day trips, one to Grotte di Frasassi, which is the largest series of caves in Europe, we went to the Olive Festival in Ascoli, spent the day in San Marino on Ferragosto and drove to Assisi to see where St. Frances was from. Every part of Italy is different to the one before it. Even if at first glance it looks the same it isn’t, and even if you can’t actually see any differences there are differences in the way people go about their lives there. From eating habits, festivals and even dialects, Italy is so diverse.

DSC00773_Fotor — View from our day trip to San Marino

I really enjoyed spending time with my relatives especially for 2 weeks. We were able to get to know each other a lot better and learn things that wouldn’t have been possible during one meal. Saying goodbye to my uncle and aunty was really hard. I couldn’t look at them for very long after saying goodbye even though I know I’ll see them again in October. After a second hug goodbye I had to turn around and leave otherwise I would have been a blubbering mess. 2 days later when we were dropped at the train station the same thing happened when we said goodbye to my cousin and her family. They looked after us so much that it was like we had always been there.

On the train leaving Ancona we had a bag full of food that was to get us through our trip. Within half an hour we had eating half of it and forced ourselves to eat the other half on the next train, which we did as soon as we sat down. We arrived in Verona quite late and went to sleep straight away.

When we woke up this morning we had a mountain of messages from people asking where we were and we didn’t know why until we checked the news and saw the story about the earthquake. It was just a sad thing to read first thing in the morning but it was amazing to see how many people were checking up on us. So as I’m writing this Mark is replying to everyone’s messages, telling them we are all ok.

So, until next time, a safe Mark & B xxx

August 28, 2016

Meet the Relatives. Part 1

We left Ancona Central Station at 8am – 11 hours later, we arrived in Tonnarella, Sicily. It was a long journey from Ancona. But… it was worth it.

After collecting our bags at Catania airport, we walked out into the arrivals hall, and waiting for us was none other than my cousin, Carmelo – I hadn’t seen him for years.

We waited at the airport for another hour or so as my father, Gregory (or Gregorio as he calls himself in Italy) was on his way from Rome. We spent the hour catching up with Carmelo over coffee and pizza.

Gregory arrived, strolled out into arrivals with his friend Kevin (photo below), very pale white skin and a cool hat – he was in holiday mode. It was interesting waiting for my dad to arrive, perspective wise. Only an hour ago my perspective was that of Greg’s, now it was the opposite – this was the first time in months that someone, a group of people were coming to visit us.

13754535_661355790683239_5888046046424096889_n — This is Kevin

My Mum was already in Italy – she flew the ‘kids,’ my Nonno and Nonna over a few weeks prior so they could acclimatise (which they did thank god!). Mum was waiting at Tonnarella – it was so nice to be with my folks again. I’d only spent just under 2 weeks with them in 7 months.

We spent the next few days exploring my Nonno’s old stomping ground – the Island of Salina. It’s probably my favourite or top three islands in the world. It’s simply beautiful and so local. It was nice having my Nonno talk to us about where he was born – there was and still is a real sense of pride about where he came from and who he is now; his journey. Both Dad and I spoke about the this bar we went to years ago weeks before he got to Italy, it was our sole mission of the trip to reacquaint ourselves with this bar overlooking the med. We’d been there 15 years prior and wanted to relive the memory. We found it, it was still open and the granite was just as good.

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Carmelo had lived with my folks in Australia for over a year so there was a pre-existing connection between the three of them. Carmelo’s parents took a few days off to spend some time with us – we made our way to San Vito lo Capo and spent a few days there relaxing, eating and exploring. Carmelo’s brother, Mirko also met us there – I hadn’t seen him for 15 years. It was a holiday within a holiday.

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After returning from San Vito lo Capo, Carmelo only had a few days left before he started a new job up north in Turin. He only had a week or so off – I was pretty keen to spend us much time with him as possible. Carmelo is from Bafia, a tiny village (<500 people) about an hour from the beach in the mountains – we spent a few nights up there, drinking and chilling out with Carmelo, his brother and their friends. Their usual hangout was a friend‘s ancestor’s deserted house. It was horror movie cool. I even managed to quickly learn a few Italian songs on the guitar so they had some music to sing along to.

Carmelo and I made plans to catch up one more time in Italy – maybe Ferrara or Turin, not sure where yet, but it was going to happen. After Carmelo left my attention moved to my folks and spending some quality time with them.

We made our way over to Lipari, where my Mum was born, and spent a night there. I’d been to Lipari when I was a youngster, and it was nice being back there with my folks as an adult this time, I was excited. We cruised around parts of the Island on my cousin’s boat, visited different towns on the island, had dinner with the relatives etc, it was a busy day. The highlight was watching my Nonno try to contain one of the cousin’s mischievous 4 year olds that was walking all over him… she even threatened him with a fork. I’m not joking. It was hilarious and nice to see my Nonno interact (negotiate) with children that spoke his language.

After getting back to the mainland, the four of us (Bianca, Mum, Dad and I) finally had a few days were we could chill on the beach and spend some quality time together. And that we did. It was interesting listening to what they had to say about what was going on back in Australia: The Election, news, family updates, what they were up to. I noticed how things essentially don’t really change back home… we all do the same thing, follow the same path, and talk about and do the same things. Hell, I was doing it before I left. It’s just what you do. And now, here we were traveling the world doing something different, it reminded me to be grateful for the opportunity we had.

Mum and Dad left early in the morning to make the +2hr journey back to the airport – we woke up early to say our goodbyes. We wouldn’t seem them for maybe +7 months. It was difficult saying goodbye. I’ll miss them but I’m grateful for them coming to see us and for the memories we created together.

Mark

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August 3, 2016

La mia famiglia

We left Cinque Terre after a few days to catch 3 trains to Ancona, on the east coast of Italy, where my relatives live. We arrived at 10.40pm and there they were with a Welcome sign waiting for us. Mind you we didn’t see them at first and they ended up running down escalators trying to get our attention. And so there we all were – me, Mark, and my dad’s aunty, uncle and cousins. It was so surreal standing there looking at them knowing that they probably knew more about me than I knew about them. After meeting we all went out for pizza and then were in bed by 2am. The next day we went to lunch at my uncle’s house and stayed there for hours. We FaceTimed back home and my dad spoke to his uncle for the first time in years. It was only a quick chat but they spoke about how excited they were to be meeting again in October and at this stage we all had tears in our eyes as we watched them speak. Apart from eating way too much we spoke a lot and I listened to a lot of stories about my Nonno (grandfather) and his family and their reasons for leaving Italy or going back in the case of my uncle. There were so many stories I hadn’t heard before and I sat there listening trying to take it all in, making sure I didn’t forget anything. We went out that night with my cousins and their friends and it was the first time in a couple of months we had been out like that. It was so nice being with a group of people our age especially because so many of them speak English – lucky for us, otherwise we would be the 2 Australian mutes. Getting home at 6am was a shock to our system so we slept in and eventually got up and made our way to the beach where we soaked up not just the sun but the Italian lifestyle.

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The next 2 days we spent with family, relaxing, eating of course, talking, listening to stories and even stopping by the local shoe and handbag factories! One of my favourite parts was our last night where we had dinner at the beach with even more relatives and sat and talked. By this stage our Italian had improved dramatically and both Mark and I were able to keep track of other conversations and what was going on around us. At one point during the dinner I stopped and looked around and felt homesick for my family back home but also so comfortable with my family there that I felt at peace. Mark was joking around with a cousin – eating and drinking, some others were talking in smaller groups and my uncle was telling a story of his time in Australia and all I could do was smile at him while he spoke a mixture of English and Italian while telling us about how he loved to dance especially when he was young and in Australia. I had the most amazing few days and I am looking forward to spending even more time with them in August and again in October.

July 25, 2016July 27, 2016

Island time

After spending 2 days at a hotel near the airport we decided it was best we utilised our time in Sardinia so we booked an apartment and hired a car for the drive there. Our car was of course the quintessential Italian Fiat 500. It was a tiny car so we had to put the back seats down just to fit our backpacks in but after doing so we drove for 2.5 hours to Cala Gonone. We arrived, got the keys to our apartment and went straight to the supermarket to buy groceries for the next 4 days. After eating our lunch of bread, prosciutto and mozzarella we went straight to the beach. This was pretty much our schedule everyday in Sardinia. Wake up, eat, go to the beach, eat, go back to the apartment, eat, go for a walk, and then finally eat gelato to finish our day.

The only day that was different for us was when we hired a boat to go and explore the coast line. Driving around was so amazing because we were able to look back at the island instead of looking out to the sea. We spent 6 hours driving the boat around a small strip of water. Looking back on the island of Sardinia was breathtaking. The colours changed along the whole strip but everything blended in so well. At one section the plants on top of the cliff were a grey-green colour, with some being so close to silver that they shone in the sunlight. The water also changed going from a turquoise blue to a rich sapphire blue, but either way it was so clear, allowing us to feel like we were in the shallows. We anchored a couple of times to stop and enjoy our surroundings and also to jump in and swim. The water was so refreshing it took away the scorching heat from the sun. We didn’t just drive around though or anchor to swim we also anchored close to a private beach where we didn’t stay for long because ants swarmed all over our beach towels and a group of kayakers rocked up taking up half of the beach so it gave us a good reason to get moving and to go check out one of the caves. Mark dropped me off at the beach and then drove the boat out to deeper water to anchor and then swam back. The beaches either had sand or rocks and this particular beach had rocks which either swallowed your feet or made you feel so unbalanced while walking that you looked like a baby deer walking. After our day on the boat we went back to our apartment to cook dinner where I discovered that I had heat stroke after spending an entire day in the sun. Yay for me!

DSC07769_Fotor — We splurged on ourselves and hired a boat 🙂

We enjoyed our time in Sardinia so much even though we did very little in comparison to some of the other places we have been to. It felt like we had a little bit of normality in our crazy world.

DSC07730_Fotor — Cooking – a little bit of normality for our lives.

We left Sardinia for Cinque Terre which I was really looking forward to because so many people raved about it. We stayed in the smallest of the 5 towns which is also on top of 360+ stairs. I had to psych myself up once we arrived to climb the stairs in 30 degree heat with our backpacks but thankfully before we started we bought some bottles of water and noticed some people standing around what looked like a bus stop and sure enough a minute later a bus drove up and would easily take us up the top in 5 minutes for 2.50 Euro. We were straight on the bus happily standing because there were no seats. Our days in Cinque Terre were spent pretty much in the exact same way as Sardinia. And, just like in Sardinia we spent our days relaxing and one day out exploring which was just as well because all of the other towns were so full of people that there was no way we would have relaxed in them. We loved Corniglia and would recommend it to anyone staying in the Cinque Terre. The day we spent exploring was amazing though and Mark took so many unbelievable photos that when he first showed me some of them I thought he had just googled some.

DSC08352_Fotor — One of the most amazing photos! Courtesy of Mark.

One of the other reasons I think we’ve spent the past 12 days relaxing is because we didn’t have any internet and I’ve been writing this on a word document waiting for internet, and not just any internet but internet that is strong enough to open up a website. That means that this post will be delayed and you’ll know we finally have a strong wifi connection somewhere.

July 10, 2016July 10, 2016

Hello & Goodbye

After a rather wet and windy time in Ireland we were looking forward to getting back to London because the weather forecast had said it would be sunny for most of our time there. We got to our guesthouse at about 10.40pm and met a guy from the holiday company who gave us the keys and showed us around, not that there was much to show in our room. The room was a futon, folded out as a bed which we could normally handle but the one thing that was a bit frustrating was the lack of space. By the time we put our bags in the room and closed the door there was only enough room for us to stand next to each other in the corner or to sit on the edge of the bed (sorry futon). Had we not been meeting up with friends during our stay I think we would have been very unhappy campers.

2 and half years ago while on a train in Russia we met Tom & Kirsty who we would travel across the Trans Siberian Railway with. We instantly had a connection back then and when we saw them for the first time since saying goodbye in Beijing years ago it was as if we had never said goodbye. We simply picked up from where we left off. The 2 days we spent with Tom & Kirsty were so nice. They took us on a tour of London, showing us all of the sites and catching us up on everything they had been up to in the past couple of years and when it was our turn we did the same, updating them on our travels and everything that lead us to be where we were. I’ve learnt that in life you meet so many people and those that are meant to be in your life will be, no matter how far away they are or how long it is between seeing them. Tom & Kirsty are those types of friends. They understood us when we spoke about issues we had while travelling (they had travelled extensively themselves) and we understood them when they spoke about their jobs and home lives. On our 2nd and last day with them they treated us to the London Bridge Experience which is a horror attraction that takes you through the history of the famous London Bridge and then scares the s**t out of you. At one point in the attraction the whole group is sitting in a room made into a chapel. We were in the second row of pews and the actor was telling us about the witches and drownings that took place there years ago. If you were thought to be a witch you were tied up and thrown in the river Thames, if you floated to the top it meant you were a witch and you would then be burned at the stake, if you drowned it meant that you were innocent but dead. Out of the entire group the man suddenly points to me and asks my name to which I reply “Bianca”. He then got the entire group chanting “Burn the witch” while pointing at me. I sat there stunned and slightly freaked out that they were going to make me get up and actually do something. Mark, Tom & Kirsty all thought it was hilarious. I believe everyone else there thought it was quite funny too. After the factual part of the experience they make you watch a video warning you of the horror that lies ahead. The main part of it is actually quite terrifying and at one point Tom had run off while Kirsty, Mark & I were left running after him and then being completely scared when an actor jumped out at us from around the corner. After the experience ended we were all laughing at each other and how we all reacted. After this we had to say goodbye and there were tears from Kirsty and I but we all spoke about when we will see each other next, not if.

DCIM102GOPRO — Rain couldn’t stop us from enjoying our time with friends.

After saying goodbye we headed out to see a friend of Mark’s that he hadn’t seen since she left Melbourne for London years ago and who is a musician. We caught up over coffee (I had tea) and drinks afterwards and I know Mark really enjoyed being able to properly talk to someone about music but also about how much their lives had changed since high school. As we did with Tom and Kirsty we spoke about the next time we will see her and promised to stay in touch between now and then. The day after we were on our own again but only for a few hours before we caught up with Mark’s cousin who is now living in London. He showed us around different parts of London and it was nice speaking to him and hearing about how much his life had changed since leaving Italy for Australia and then leaving Australia to go back to Italy and onto London. It was a bit sad saying goodbye to Giuseppe as well. It’s always so hard knowing when we will see people again and no matter how many promises and plans are made sometimes life simply gets in the way and it becomes years before you are able to see someone again. It’s one of the reasons why being online has helped us so much during this trip. Even though we are away we still feel so connected to everyone all around the world.

We had an amazing time in London despite all of the rain and will definitely be back there in our lifetime, maybe even on this trip!

July 8, 2016July 8, 2016

The land of a thousand smiles

Hello Ireland. Looks like there’s a bit of rain here. Any chance of it stopping over the next few days?

Just like our day in London, Ireland wanted to show us what it was like for locals for a large part of the year, so it rained and then barely stopped for our 4 days there.

We spent our first day in Dublin and our first stop was a pub where we had fish & chips and a pint. Well, Mark had a pint, I had a coke and to be honest we didn’t do much after that.

The next day we walked to the car hire office and picked up our car so that we could start our short road trip. We drove from Dublin to Middleton so that we could stop off at the Jameson Distillery and check out where all of the whiskey that Mark loves is made. We arrived just as a tour was starting so we caught up to the group and wandered around listening to how all of the different types of whiskey were made. Mark seemed to be off in his own little world and didn’t seem to be paying much attention to what was happening until I called him over and he was picked to be a part of a whiskey tasting lesson and I thought he would be excited after that but he still seemed odd right up until the tour finished and we got our free drink. He seemed all fidgety and he was finally annoying me enough that I asked him what was wrong, to be which he replied “nothing’s wrong I just really want to go into the shop”. So I finished as much of my drink as I could (I don’t drink whiskey) and we went to the Jameson Distillery Shop. Mark was like a kid at Disneyland. He ran around looking at all of different types of whiskey he could buy and within 10 minutes we had walked away having bought 5 bottles to be sent back home. This resulted in a very happy Mark driving further onto Cork where he spent the whole night talking about the different types of whiskey he had bought and when he thought he would open each bottle.

Driving the next day from Cork to Galway was pretty easy except it just continued to rain with some occasion pauses for the sun to shine through. Did you know that the weather forecasts on the radio in Ireland don’t tell you when it’s going to rain, they tell you when it’s going to be sunny, or at least if they think the rain will stop. We stopped at the Cliffs of Moher on our way and when we pulled into the carpark to buy tickets the lady asked us if we still wanted to go in even though there was “zero visibility”. And so I replied “ok but what does that mean?” To which she replied that we wouldn’t be able to see anything. We decided to go anyway considering we had driven so far. When we parked and walked into the national park we could see the cliffs and although there was a bit of fog it wasn’t as bad as the lady made it out to be. After getting a couple of photos we thought it would be better to walk up the hill to see them better. After walking about 100m we turned around to see if this was a better spot and they were gone! It was just like the lady said – zero visibility. Luckily we had seen them for that brief moment! We were pretty tired once we left and continued into Galway and the mood in the car dropped significantly when we made it into town only to find most of the roads closed because of a marathon. Safe to say Mark was not a happy driver when a 7 minute drive turned into an hour of being stuck. Dinner that night consisted of a bottle of wine.

DSC07367_Fotor — Before zero visibility became a reality

Our time in Ireland flew and when we left Galway to drive back to Dublin for our flight to London we managed to fit a couple more sites in along the way. We kissed the Blarbey Rock which is said to give you the ability to tell great stories and we went to the Guinness Storehouse because you can’t go to Dublin without drinking a Guinness.

The main thing we realised during our time in Ireland was just our friendly everyone was. People who had no real reason to be extra nice to us just were. It was just so nice to meet people who were happy to help us.

July 5, 2016July 3, 2016

It’s Voting Day

Arriving into London was amazing, mainly because it felt a lot like home. We woke up early because we only had one day there and had a lot of things to do. First thing was to catch up with an old colleague of Marks who is now living in London. Although I was just meeting her for the first time I know Mark really enjoyed being able to talk to someone about the difference he felt in himself after leaving work. She also told us about how she had just voted in Brexit because she was an Australian citizen living in London. From our point of view that seemed odd. She has only been living there for less than a year but had a right to vote in one of the UK’s most life-changing referendums. Lunch was really nice but by the end we had spent our entire days budget on one meal and it was then that we realised just how expensive London could be if we didn’t watch what we were spending our money on. London’s gift to us was making sure we experienced London as it is for the locals – rainy.

DSC07442_Fotor — Before it started pouring rain and we stopped by Buckingham Palace

It rained for the rest of the day and we were soaked by the time we made it to the Australian High Commission so we could vote in the Australian Election. The High Commission is a beautiful building in the heart of London. As soon as I saw the building I got a little bit excited and blurted “Do you think they will have a sausage sizzle like they do back home?” Mark rolled his eyes at me as we walked closer but I think he was secretly hoping there was one too. It was so weird stepping into a building and hearing so many Australian accents. We were greeted by a man who said we were a very “colourful looking couple” and I took that as a compliment as I assumed he was talking about my yellow rain jacket, not us being weird. He directed us over to the VIC line where we were marked off and given our voting papers. The process was so quick that we thought it would be quicker to fly to London and vote in future elections instead of waiting in line at home. The only downside of course is the lack of sausage sizzles in London. Feeling very proud of ourselves we went to the British Library simply because I love libraries and could spend hours in them just looking at books. The British Library is spectacular. To access what they call ‘reading rooms’ which is where most of the books are kept, you need to register and show documentation of a local address so we were unable to go and actually read the books but they have collections throughout the library that you can go and see. We spent most of our time looking at the amazing historical collection containing all different types of documents, from all different parts of the world, from all different periods in history. It would take an entire day, if not longer to look at each item and understand the enormity a lot of the items had on history. There were spiritual documents, original Beatles lyrics, scientific documents, literature and writings from artists. It was an amazing room that wowed me at every turn. The first thing I would do if I ever lived in London would be to go to the library and register.

After being in the library we headed out to dinner to catch up with another friend from home and we caught up on her time living in London and the differences she has found between London and Melbourne and had generally a really good night that felt really normal which was just what we needed after quite a few days of travelling.

We are at the airport now though taking in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. When we went to bed last night the news was saying that the UK was to remain in the EU, however when we checked XE this morning for exchange rates the site crashed which prompted us to check the news and what do you know? the UK has voted out of the EU. I won’t bore you readers with my detailed view on why I thought the result was a good one but simply say that travelling around a lot of Europe recently has shown me that change in the region was needed and the UK has just began this change. A defining moment in history and I hope only positive things come from the Brexit vote. We have friends and family all over the UK and Europe and even though I imagine things may become difficult for a short time I hope in the end the UK and eventually Europe are better off.

June 19, 2016

It’s raining, it’s pouring

The weather leaving St Petersburg matched our mood – dreary. We took the most famous overnight Red Arrow train to Moscow and arrived early in the morning to rain. Rain was pretty much a constant while we were in Moscow. It was ok from our point of view because we had been to Moscow before and there were things we could miss because we had already seen them on our previous trip to Russia. When it stopped raining we would venture outside (with our raincoats just in case) and check out a few of the sites. On our previous trip to Moscow we had walked inside the Kremlin, however this time we decided to walk around it. We forgot how big it was but luckily made it back to Red Square in time to check out St Basil’s Cathedral before it started pouring rain again. The one thing we noticed different about our time in Moscow compared to last time was this white pollen ‘stuff’ floating in the air everywhere. We asked our hotel receptionist what it was and he told us it was from a tree that is all over Moscow. He then added “it snows the entire year in Moscow”. We gathered he was talking about how much of this white pollen that seemed to be everywhere – he didn’t look too happy when he spoke about it and I could understand why. It got in everywhere! As soon as we opened the door to our hotel it would fly in and just form clumps all over the ground. It would be a constant job just trying to get rid of it all which is why I imagine they just left it. On our last day we got caught out in the rain so we decided to run into a huge shopping centre we saw. When we first walked in we noticed that all of the stores were for kids and there was a huge play area for them so we made our way up through all of the levels and at each level there were more and more kids shops until we worked out that the entire shopping centre was purely for children. It was amazing. It had everything from baby furniture stores to H&M for kids and even jewellery stores just for children! To make the shopping centre even more grand there was this ginormous gold clock mechanism that hung from the roof, all the way down to the ground level. Mark especially loved the Legoland creations and as he said “we got to see Moscow in miniature form”.

IMG_9493_Fotor — Miniature Moscow in Legoland

We left Moscow after a few days to get another train but this time to Kazan. We hadn’t been to Kazan before so were excited to see another part of Russia. Arriving at the train station in Kazan, the maps on our phones weren’t working properly so we couldn’t see where our hotel was in the city. After walking around a bit trying to see if there was somewhere we could go to get WiFi we decided to just get a taxi because it was pouring rain and all of our bags were getting soaked. Walking up to a taxi driver we had the address out and were asking how much to take us there. He was looking at us in a slightly odd way but we just figured it was the language barrier so Mark tried to explain slowly what we wanted. The taxi driver just looked at us and said “Crystal Hotel?” to which we replied “Yes!” he then looked at us with a smile on his face, turned around and pointed across the road. We looked up to see a huge hotel with the name sprawled across the top in English and Russian. We just laughed with the taxi driver and walked across the slightly flooded roads to our hotel. We had the option of waiting 5 hours until check in or we could pay more to check in early and considering I had stepped in a massive puddle and one of my shoes was soaked all the way through we opted to pay some more and check in early. It rained for our entire 3 days in Kazan with the occasional dry spell (mainly at night though). Because we hadn’t been there before we braved the rain as much as we could and walked around to check out the sites which lucky for us are all pretty much in the one area. When it’s raining that much it makes it difficult to really look at many of the things a city or place has to offer but we are glad we went out anyway, even if we weren’t out for as long as we would have liked. After days of rain we got up at 2am for our flight to Minsk and what do you know? Clear skies everywhere. Thanks Kazan!

DSC06389_Fotor — Kul Sharif Mosque in Kazan. The photo doesn’t do it justice!

As Russia & Belarus are 2 different countries we had read that we required visas to enter both. We knew this of course for Russia and it didn’t surprise us when we read this about Belarus. What we didn’t realise though, and what we still don’t totally understand, is that there seems to be open travel between the 2 countries, even for foreigners. What this pretty much means is that we left Russia to fly to Belarus on what is considered a domestic flight. We still don’t know if we even needed our Belarussian visa but are glad we had one. Imagine getting detained in Russia or Belarus for not having the right visa… no thank you.
Minsk was pretty much like a country town of Russia. 2 thirds of the country is actually covered in woods and forests and Minsk seems to just pop up out of nowhere after driving for about 45 minutes from the airport. It was slightly chilly when we arrived but we were so glad it wasn’t raining that we went and sat in a park for a while and watched some artists paint. After a little bit the sun started to get really warm so I laid down on a park bench and rested my head on Mark’s lap while we just enjoyed the warmth on our faces. After about an hour of this we went to check into our hotel. On the walk back I started to get a bit itchy and I thought it was just the heat and me wearing too many clothes so once we got to our hotel I went to our room to change into a t-shirt and it was then that I found the cause of my itchiness. I had these hive-like lumps and bites all over me and more and more were starting to show and get even itchier. So, like I would back home, first thing I did was take a photo and send it to my mum asking her what she thought it was. She told me she thought they were bites of some sort and to get an antihistamine. It took a full 12 hours after taking the antihistamine for everything to go away which was annoying but I was glad it was gone! Today was our only full day in Minsk and we spent it checking out some of the sites before heading to the airport later in the afternoon for our flight to Poland. One of the first things we are going to do when we get to Warsaw is eat Pierogi! – It’s always about food!

DSC06439_Fotor — Artists in Minsk enjoying the sun and clear skies.

B xx

June 11, 2016

White Nights of St Petersburg

There are some things you should know about me.

1. My favourite book is The Bronze Horseman.
2. Subsequently my favourite author is Paullina Simons.
3. I automatically love anyone who loves The Bronze Horseman as much as me.
4. Our first trip to St Petersburg a couple of years ago was because I wanted to see the city she writes about.
5. Our trip to St Petersburg this time was because we loved it the first time.
6. St Petersburg is now one of our favourite cities in the World. I may be slightly blinded by my love for the book but I don’t care.

Arriving in St Petersburg in the afternoon was a bit exciting for us. It was the first time we had ever re-visited a city in Europe. We got to our room which was really bright and clean and because it was a part of a huge apartment it felt like it could easily be home for a while. For this reason we decided to go grocery shopping so that we could cook for a change, instead of eating out constantly. We bought enough food for breakfast everyday and some dinners. By the end of the day we felt like we had accomplished a lot – checked into our room, went grocery shopping, put on a load of washing and went out for a walk.

The first time we visited Russia was during winter so it was very cold and dark, this time however it is summer which means White Nights in St Petersburg. Because of St Petersburg’s geographical location, during summer the sun never really drops below the horizon which means that although the sun has ‘set’ it’s still light outside. There are always people out on the streets during summer and at 2am, although it’s quiet it’s not deserted by any means. It was nice knowing we had been to St Petersburg before because it meant we could spend more of our time outside, instead of inside museums and cathedrals. We checked out some of our favourites of course, but only from the outside. The Hermitage & the Winter Palace which never disappoint as well as The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood and St Isaac’s Cathedral. We spent most of our time though walking around the Summer Garden, checking out the Bronze Horseman and pushing through crowds on Nevsky Prospect.

IMG_9377_Fotor — Forcing Mark to take a tourist photo with The Bronze Horseman

During this visit we did 2 things we didn’t do on our previous trip. The first was going to the Ballet. I’d always wanted to go to see the Russian Ballet in Russia but last time we just didn’t have the time, this time around, thinking we could book last minute tickets to the famous Bolshoi in Moscow we were told that everything was sold out! So we thought “not to worry we will just go here in St Petersburg”. “Sorry, everything is also sold out for the time you’re here” WHAT?! Turns out that wasn’t the case, it was just that new shows were opening a couple of days after we left and these were sold out. After being sent on a mission around St Petersburg we finally found one of the authorised sellers we were after and it was meant to be! There were 2 tickets left on the day we wanted, but for a different, smaller theatre. We bought them because there was no way I was going to Russia twice and not seeing the Ballet. The ballet culture in Russia is huge! Everyone gets dressed up, arrives early for drinks and canapés and then heads out for dinner after the show.

We got to the theatre super early and had some drinks and food while we waited, just before going into the show our waiter asked if we would like to pre-order some drinks for the intermission “Of course we would – 2 of the same please”. We walked into the theatre to look for our seats and were told we were at the end, so we walk all the way to the end until we can’t go any further and there is no entrance which is when we were given our our swipe card to a private room. Crazy I know. So we go through one door, into a small waiting room with private bathrooms, through another door into a private sitting room and then finally through another door onto a private balcony. We were shocked. And then, to top it all off, it looked like we had gate-crashed a small party, because the other 6 people all knew each other and had booked the entire balcony, or so they thought. We then discussed that they probably assumed no-one would buy 2 tickets, one in front of the other, but they didn’t count on us doing just that! They were lovely people who made us feel really welcome and I get the impression they were regulars at the ballet. So there we are in our fancy seats watching the ballet and then at intermission we walk out and think “Hmmm how do we get our drinks we ordered, we didn’t get a ticket or receipt” we didn’t even have to worry because as soon as we walked out, our waiter found us and took us over to our old table which was now reserved for us. Our entire experience of the ballet was a positive one, maybe because of our seats, maybe because of our reserved table, but mainly it was because of the formality and tradition behind the way everyone acted and the respect everyone had towards the art of ballet. We can’t wait to go again, although next time we will book well in advance so that we can go to the Bolshoi in Moscow!

The other thing we did this time was visit Peterhof which is the Summer Palace of Peter the Great. This place was ridiculous. It is called by some as the Fountain Capital of the World and once you’re there you can understand why. Everywhere you turn there is a fountain, either big or small, real or trick. The real fountains are quite obvious but the trick ones can get you, however you can usually spot them from a far by the crowds of kids running and squealing. The trick fountains just mean that the can shoot out water at anytime, and some that are hidden in the ground can catch you off guard completely. It was nice watching families running around these areas just enjoying the time outside. Sometimes we forget how much joy can arise from a water fountain or sprinkler. Besides the thousands of fountains at Peterhof, the gardens are simply breathtaking. My brother is a landscape gardener so pretty much the entire time we were walking around we kept saying “Chris would love this place” “Imagine what Chris would say if he was here” “We should take a photo and send it to Chris” “We should tell Chris to come here”.
We had been told to pack a lunch so we sat by the waters edge, looked out towards Kotlin Island, St Petersburg, ate chicken salad rolls and watched a newly married couple celebrate with what we imagine were 8 of their closest friends. It really was a nice way to end our time in St Petersburg.

DSC06297_Fotor — Peterhof Palace / Summer Palace. Amazing weather and sites for our last day!