Wednesday, September 26, 2018

She's Back

But not by much.  The trip home was uneventful, but it was 24 hours long.....

If I have recovered, and if I can solve my technical difficulties, I will be back at you tomorrow.  For now, suffice it to say, it was a wonderful trip...

Friday, September 14, 2018

Warning - this space will be going dark for about a week

Apparently we are headed for the boat tomorrow evening, and the boat has no internet connection.  I'm tired - it has been another long day - but I will at least try to bring you up to date on the last three days.

Wednesday, I hoped to use my newly honed skills on the public transit.  I waited and waited - together with what seemed like half of St. Petersburg - and no buses.  I started walking - and walking - and walking - and still no buses.  And then there were no cars.  And then, at the Kazan Cathedral, a religious procession filling all twelve lanes of Nevsky Prospect - for miles.

Well, it put paid to my  tourist plans, but a religious procession in St. Petersburg is not bad.  And I did get to sneak in a visit to the Stroganov Palace, a part of the Russian History Museum.

And I did get to experience some of the infamous wind off the Baltic Sea.  No rain, but the wind certainly howled...

I managed to get buffeted back to the hotel, and met with my new group, with whom I'll share part 2 of my adventure.  At first blush, they don't seem as lively as the train bunch.  The composition is certainly different.  On the train, only three couples, two assorted pairs (one pair of sisters and one of friends) and nine singles, five women and four men.  Of course, the fewer the number of couples, the more overall mingling.  The next leg, there are only two singles, a man from Utah and myself, and ten couples.  Everyone is nice enough, of course....  Well, it is early days yet...

Yesterday, we went as a group to see the infamous Fabrege Museum.  I have always been fascinated by the eggs and it was lovely to see them live - those that are back in Russia (8 in all).  The story is that the Soviets sold them all to (as they still say here) pay for building a new country.  However, one of the oligarchs (they call him the Russian Rockefeller) bought as many of them back as he could, together with a lot of other Fabrege works, restored an old palace, and, voila.....

The group was doing the impressionists in the afternoon, so I broke off and managed to knock off two of my personal agenda items - The Pushkin House and The Dostoeyevsky Museum.  I was worried that there would not be enough English signage for me to make heads or tails out of anything.  Instead, both had the best audio guides I've ever experienced in a museum, and I came away touched, really, and with a much deeper understanding of both authors' lives and works.  I will certainly have my reading cut out for me when I get home.  Certainly two highlights....worth the trouble finding them - it was not easy - and the long walk back, which included a demonstration (yes, in Russia) about Putin's proposed increase in the retirement, and a street rock concert (America's gift to the world - rock concerts!)

Factoid - Peter the Great introduced potatoes to Russia (prior to that, they ate turnips.  Turnip pancakes?  Doesn't have quite the same ring...).  Did you know that?  I didn't know that.....  He also brought coffee, to which Catherine the Great later became addicted.  And yes, before you ask, there are, indeed, Starbucks here....

Today, we went to the Peterhof, Peter's summer palace on the Baltic, 29 km from the city.  He wanted it to be the Versailles of the East, and the grounds and fountains are pretty spectacular. 

The day ended with a five course Russian dinner (Russian salad, a mushroom dish from the time of Napoleon, borscht, chicken Kiev, and cake) followed by a concert of Russian folk music in the hall of yet another restored royal palace.  It was actually a pretty spectacular concert, music, singing, dancing and costumes all first rate - and bubbly and nibblies at intermission!

A few more factoids and I will call it quits.  The population of St. Petersburg is about 5 million.  And apparently the 5,000 square kilometers of the center city have been designated as a UNESCO heritage site, hence the 18th and 19th century architecture and the lack of skyscrapers.

We still have another few days, but the jury is back.  St. Petersburg wins over Moscow by a country mile....

If I was misinformed, you will hear from me sooner rather than later.  Otherwise, ta ta till Moscow...

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

St. Petersburg, continued....

I'm not doing so well on my own, so I thought I would try the Hop On/Hop Off bus to get the lay of the land.  It is, of course, only as good as the input.  For example, It didn't stop at the Pushkin House, or the Dostoyevsky Museum, or the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, where the likes of Tchaikovsky are buried.

I did see St. Isaacs (he was apparently the patron saint of Peter the Great, the battleship Aurora of revolutionary fame (beautifully preserved) and the Kazan Cathedral.  (There is no shortage of churches; those that did not survive the revolution have been - or are being - rebuilt.)

Out with the red star and hammer and sickle and the double headed eagle!

The next day was decidedly better.  I learned to negotiate public transit (just the buses - I haven't yet dared the metro here on my own), admittedly with the help of the concierge.  It is cheap - about the equivalent of 50 cents US - frequent, and flexible (by which I mean the buses will stop at places not designated as a stop, and open already closed doors for a late arriving passenger).  Polite, too, and I no longer refuse a seat when it is offered.

In one case. a conductor, who spoke not one word of English, was so concerned that I wouldn't get off at the right stop, that she rousted out an English speaking kid, whose phone translated for me - get off at the stop after mine, she said.....

And what did I see after all that?  The Grand Choral Synagogue, apparently the biggest (but not the only) one in St. Petersburg.  It is a huge and lavish building - apparently the Jews were important in St. Petersburg in the time of Nicholas II - well kept.  It is, of course, Orthodox, and, while not filled, certainly full enough (probably because we are in the High Holy Days.  There is a Kosher restaurant attached, but it was closed, so I was unable to confirm the Lonly Planet's high praise.

And in the afternoon, I finally went to see the Impressionists at the Hermitage.  They are housed in a separate building, and while the Hermitage itself was chock-a-block full of people (I stopped counting after 22 huge tour buses), there was almost noone visiting the Impressionists.  I spent four hours with them, and only stopped because it was closing, and my feet were giving out.

Interesting fact about the collection.  It came mostly from two German industrialists.  What is not mentioned is that they had all been looted from rich German (and Austrian and Hungarian and Polish) Jews before they were killed.  Whether the Russians ever tried to return them to the descendants, who knows?

Even found that one (of the many, I must say) book stores on Nevsky Prospect had some books in English, so I stocked up for the upcoming boat ride....

I managed to negotiate my way through a nice meal at a Greek restaurant near my hotel (assisted by a very handsome young greek orthodox man) before falling exhausted into my bed.  All in all, a good day touring!

Sunday, September 9, 2018

First Impressions

Not good.  My hotel is steps away from the infamous Nevsky Prospect, and I was very much looking forward to strolling on it.  Very sad - it reminds me of nothing so much as Times Square pre-Disney.  The whole place needs some paint, not to mention a street sweeper.  And I've found the homeless and beggars.

Then there was the issue of the ballet.  The music to Swan Lake, of course, is glorious, but it was a second rate production with second tier dancers, apparently put on for tourists.  The tourists were all Chinese, pushing and shoving and coming late and talking through the production and taking pictures throughout.

I left at intermission.

Then, to add insult to injury, a cab driver tried to rip me off big time, and I had to rely on the kindness of strangers to call a cab for me, wait till he came, and negotiate the price for me.   (Apparently that's what they do to tourists....)   It would have been worth it to have a phone just for the Uber app.

We'll see if I have better luck tomorrow at the opera.

On the bright side, the hotel is great, and I will have clean clothes tomorrow.  And I needed an early night!

Safe in St. Petersburg

...and just so you know, not only do they have Macdonalds, KFC and Subway, they have Uber too.

Negotiated the airport, flight, and taxi to the hotel, and have already scored a ticket for an opera at the Marinski theater for tomorrow night.  I might even go to the ballet tonight.

But first, shower, laundry and a nap....

Saturday, September 8, 2018

The metro, the Metropole, and the Arbat

I always thought I would like St. Petersburg better than Moscow.  I may still, but Moscow is certainly wonderful.  It is a huge city, 12,000,000 souls - not Beijing's 21,000,000, but pretty big.  With the emphasis on pretty.  an amazing blend of old and new, recently tarted up for the FIFA games, but with wonderful bones beneath it all.  They are trying to get rid of all the Kruschev style apartments (what we think of as Soviet architecture) by 2022.  Meanwhile, the new ones being built are spectacular - fabulous architecture, and massive.  The big, wide boulevards put me in mind of nothing so much as Madrid.

There are traffic jams, all right - massive ones - but no horns, and incredibly clean. And where are the homeless people?

And the Metro!!  I can't wait to show you the pictures.  It is beautiful, the stations decorated with frescoes and semi precious paneling and stained glass and art deco (depending on the station).  And also amazingly clean - apparently they are not allowed to eat on the metro - and way more user friendly than New York.

Not that I had to negotiate it myself.  We actually did a group (17) guided tour!  It was truly an amazing feat of organization - our guides deserved their pay for that one alone!

Along the way we saw three "literary: sites: the Metropole Hotel (think Gentleman in Moscow, people), the shopping street of Arbat (think Children of Arbat), where we ended up strolling for several hours before our farewell dinner, and Gorky Park (think Gorky Park - no spies in evidence, though...).

And this is farewell.  Sort of.  This is the end of the first part of my journey,  and the start of my second.  The rest of the group is dispersing for parts unknown today, and I am heading for St. Petersburg for three free days (think Hermitage and the Impressionists, guys), and then joining a second Road Scholar trip for the boat ride down the Volga back to Moscow.  I hope I am up to another two weeks of touring.....

Meanwhile, the farewell dinner was fabulous - at a Bylorussian restaurant feature potato pancakes and Chicket Kiev, lots of toasts and exchange of cards, and good cheer all around.  It was over-all a good group, with at least three folks that I hope to see again (including a Wagner groupie with whom a Russian opera trip may be in the offing). 

Traveling day today, so the anxiety level is fairly high.  I am leaving the hotel at 6:30 A.M. for the airport.  The transfer to the airport itself has been taken care of.  I only have to negotiate the airport itself - a nightmare even in your own language, as we all know - and then negotiate the airport to the hotel in St. Petersburg (which, by the by, is still called Leningrad by most Russians.  It was changed pre-Soviet times, as St. Petersburg sounded too Germanic, there being a war going on and all.)

Wish me luck!

Friday, September 7, 2018

Greetings from Moscow

Technical difficulties continue, so no new pictures.  And I am still (it seems perpetually on this trip) exhausted, so not much of a post, I'm afraid.  But, for those of you kind enough to worry about me, I thought I would check in with a few more general observations.

Have I told you about the concerts?  We have had at least six or seven, from the Chinese opera to several folk concerts (Mongolian and Russian) to three classical concerts.  This is one of the things that Road Scholar prides itself on, and they have been woven seamlessly into our touring opportunities.

So, from Irkutsk, known as the Paris of Siberia, a few days on the train brought us to Novosibersk (you can almost tell it means New Siberia, can't you), another wonderful city.  The cities have been very different from my expectations.  I'm not sure what I expected - maybe wooden huts and peasants in the fields (I have been reading way too many Russian novels), but these cities are a fascinating blend of old and new, and the new is as breathtaking as the old (wait until you see the pictures....), great architecture and bustling people - and, of course, traffic jams.  In Siberia!

A few general observations, and I am done...

The Russians I have spoken to seem to think the oligarchs have stolen their country.

Out guide voted for Putin, and was emphatic about the amount of freedom they have...

Some (but by no means all) of the lectures since my last post:  Russia, Soviet to Modern; Culture of Russia, or why Russians don't smile; Russian Language Lesson; Populating Siberia; the Gulag; the Ronanovs; and many more.

Ykaterinberg was amazingly touching - the Russiaphiles among you will know that as the place where the last tsar and his family were murdered.  They have now proved that the bodies found were those of the royal family, and a church has been placed on the site of the home where they were killed.

Speaking of churches, there are an amazing number of them, and the church - all religions, not just orthodox - is having a big revival.  Not one of the big successes of the Soviet Union, stamping out religion.

There is now  Memorial to the Victims of Stalin's Repression in Ykaterinbert (which, by the way, is considered the border between European (Western) Russia and Siberia (Eastern Russia).

No-one want to talk about the Ukraine....

Next up was Kazan, the only time we hit the "Stans".  A Muslin state, but, as our guide put it, "we are pretty relaxed about it) - i.e., pork is prominent, as is drinking.  Another beautiful city, of which its inhabitants are most proud.

And yesterday, we left the train, and arrived in Moscow.

Wow.  What a spectacular city.  I am way too tired to even start, but we will still be here in Internet land tomorrow, to I will do my best to convey the beauties and wonders of Moscow then.

Meanwhile, no proofreading tonight, so please forgive my errors and tune in again tomorrow.

Saturday, September 1, 2018

Greetings from Irkutsk, Siberia

Here's the bad news.  I am still having technical difficulties, and so still can't download pictures.  And out internet access is spotty - this is my first blogging opportunity since the last time, what, five days ago.  So I have decided to forego the day to day log until I can get home and download pictures at the same time.

The good news is that I am having a fabulous time, even better than I expected.

Some general observations.  Starting with the Chinese train and now the Russian one, the facilities are good (although the bathrooms are a bit primitive) and the food is downright fabulous.

Far from being bored, it has been non-stop information and activities, both on the train and off, from lectures (Ghengis Khan, the History of Siberia) to tea ceremony to Vodka Tasting.

I managed to score a compartment to myself, which is a plus.

So far, we have crossed from China (a bureaucrat's wet dream) to Mongolia (much more relaxed) to Russia (very, very serious) without issue.

There are still nomads and horses and camels in Mongolia - as well as incredible traffic jams in the cities.

I had no idea that Mongolia was Buddhist!

Mongolia exchanges is 2400 local units (as Hank would say) to the dollar - too much mathematics.

Lake Baikal was as incredible as advertised - it is 400 miles long and fifteen miles wide, clear and cold and (mostly) pure.

And now, finally, we are truly in Siberia.  I made the mistake of calling out local guide "Russian" today.  He immediately corrected me:"no, I am Siberian".  (Much like the whole Hong Kong/Mainland China thing, I think.)  By the way, just so you know, China is buying up much of Mongolia and Siberia, and there is just as much resentment about it!

After 21,000,000 people in Beijing, there are 4 people per square meter in Siberia, although Irkutsk itself has 600,000.  (it is a charming city).

The culture is changing from East to West before my very eyes.

We are doing our first time zone change tomorrow - there are seven in total, so a long way to go yet.

Sorry about the lack of detail, but I promise I will back fill later, with pictures.  For now, suffice it to say I am having a wonderful time.  The group is pretty well matched in terms of physical abilities and interests, and they are very solicitous of our needs, from (clean and western) bathroom breaks to water and food. 

We will, I think,have another Internet opportunity in two or three days, and I will check in then,  Meanwhile,, I am exhausted.  Good night.