Russia – theplaceswe

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

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!

Tag: Russia

It’s raining, it’s pouring

White Nights of St Petersburg