Velikiy
Novgorod was an enjoyable little town. Smaller than either St. Petersburg or
Moscow, Novgorod still holds an important place in Russia's history: it was the
cradle of Russia. It was where the country began. We did a tour of the Kremlin
(fortress) and learned much from our local guide, Irina. I could see
myself living there. It was a quiet, attractive town with several things to see
and do.
Worst sleep in Novgorod, though. We accidentally left the windows open and there were mosquitoes in our room. Did they bother S? Nope, just me. I was covered in bites when I woke up. No air conditioning in our room and the blanket was scratchy, but I had tried to stay covered up. Obviously to no avail. I had even woken up several times in the night because they were buzzing around my ears. Ahhhh! No sleep made for a very long day.
Although the drivers are crazy, driving in Russia is relatively peaceful because nobody uses their horns. Although many people do use their cell phones - Goran says that it is not allowed, but obviously they are still working on that. :)
The first night we arrived in Moscow, we had dinner at our hotel and then went out for our first excursion: to tour the metro. During Soviet rule, the metro was designed to be the "working man's paradise," and you can see how. Elaborate chandeliers for lighting, sculptures, mosaics and paintings. It makes you feel as if you are in a museum (but like anywhere with crowds, when you are standing around staring up at things, you have to keep your bags secure to avoid pickpockets).
We ended our excursion by walking to Red Square. As we walked along, we saw the department stores lit up in lights (Gum {pronounced Goom} being the most dominant and extravagant), the new pedestrian walkway, the towers of the Kremlin, and the church with the golden "flames" on top. So beautiful!
But then we turned the corner.
St. Basil's Cathedral is simply amazing. I was totally dumbstruck by the sight of it down at the far end of Red Square, and I think I ceased to hear anything that the guide was saying at that point. I just kept walking forward. The colours, the shapes, the design and patterns are so unique and distinctive. So many of our group said that THIS is what they came to see. It was so exciting, and our group celebrated with, yes, you guessed it, champagne and vodka. I took a lot of photos and I'm pretty sure that I had a grin on my face for the rest of the day (maybe that celebration helped a little, ha!).
Lenin's tomb is in Red Square too, but you cannot see it anymore. You used to be able to go in and look at him because he was embalmed, but supposedly he's being moved to the family plot soon.
The next day was a full day in Moscow with our local guide, Vera. She was born and raised in Moscow and had so much information about the city and the rest of Russia; I learned so much and came away with a different impression altogether (as I thought I would). All of the stories I'd heard about Russia were generally negative. Now, seeing it from another insider's point of view, I was impressed and enlightened again.
Worst sleep in Novgorod, though. We accidentally left the windows open and there were mosquitoes in our room. Did they bother S? Nope, just me. I was covered in bites when I woke up. No air conditioning in our room and the blanket was scratchy, but I had tried to stay covered up. Obviously to no avail. I had even woken up several times in the night because they were buzzing around my ears. Ahhhh! No sleep made for a very long day.
Although the drivers are crazy, driving in Russia is relatively peaceful because nobody uses their horns. Although many people do use their cell phones - Goran says that it is not allowed, but obviously they are still working on that. :)
The first night we arrived in Moscow, we had dinner at our hotel and then went out for our first excursion: to tour the metro. During Soviet rule, the metro was designed to be the "working man's paradise," and you can see how. Elaborate chandeliers for lighting, sculptures, mosaics and paintings. It makes you feel as if you are in a museum (but like anywhere with crowds, when you are standing around staring up at things, you have to keep your bags secure to avoid pickpockets).
We ended our excursion by walking to Red Square. As we walked along, we saw the department stores lit up in lights (Gum {pronounced Goom} being the most dominant and extravagant), the new pedestrian walkway, the towers of the Kremlin, and the church with the golden "flames" on top. So beautiful!
But then we turned the corner.
St. Basil's Cathedral is simply amazing. I was totally dumbstruck by the sight of it down at the far end of Red Square, and I think I ceased to hear anything that the guide was saying at that point. I just kept walking forward. The colours, the shapes, the design and patterns are so unique and distinctive. So many of our group said that THIS is what they came to see. It was so exciting, and our group celebrated with, yes, you guessed it, champagne and vodka. I took a lot of photos and I'm pretty sure that I had a grin on my face for the rest of the day (maybe that celebration helped a little, ha!).
Lenin's tomb is in Red Square too, but you cannot see it anymore. You used to be able to go in and look at him because he was embalmed, but supposedly he's being moved to the family plot soon.
The next day was a full day in Moscow with our local guide, Vera. She was born and raised in Moscow and had so much information about the city and the rest of Russia; I learned so much and came away with a different impression altogether (as I thought I would). All of the stories I'd heard about Russia were generally negative. Now, seeing it from another insider's point of view, I was impressed and enlightened again.
Moscow
is pretty awesome! Despite not being able to drink the water (as with anywhere
in Russia), it is very clean. There is only 1% of unemployment (compared
to 15-20% in the rest of Russia) and there are 250 McDonalds! That's a true
measure of success, no? ;) Some of the main streets had eight lanes on each
side! Talk about busy. Traffic is a problem in Moscow, but not one that we
experienced, luckily.
Before the trip, I didn't know much about Russia's history, politics, relations with other countries, government, or standard of living. We are given so much information and it's pretty fascinating! There are many perspectives that I was surprised to hear. For example, apparently the Russians did not like Gorbachev very much. We were told 3 reasons for this:
1) When changing from a communist system to a market economy, people suffered because they could not buy food. They would have to line up from 6am at a store just to get any food they could. People didn't care about democracy, they just wanted to eat. People were starving under this poorly effected changeover.
2) Gorbachev put an anti-alcohol law in place that limited the amount a family could buy in a month to a ridiculously small amount. So people went from buying and drinking freely (which apparently was quite common during Soviet rule), to having almost nothing, overnight. Again, the consequences of this poor transition were dire; people suffered and in the worst cases, died from ingesting toxic substitutes. Viktor in St. Petersburg told us that after Gorbachev closed bars and liquor stores, there were more casualties in lineups for alcohol than there were in the Russian troops sent to Afghanistan in 1979 (perhaps an exaggerated remark, but still, it was significant).
3) Gorbechev's wife, Raisa, appeared with him everywhere. This had never happened before in Russia. No former leaders' wives made any public appearances. The Russian people felt as if it was inappropriate and "showing off."
Something else I learned was that many Russians are quite liberal, but due to the size of the country and the population, they struggle to make change. For example, the populations of St. Petersburg and Moscow are apparently quite liberal, but the rest of the country are not. The people who live in the country and in remote villages are quite orthodox and conservative (in both their religion and politics). And the country is so large that even though Moscow and St. Petersburg have a combined population of about 20 million, it is still outweighed by the rest (another 120 million).
When we went to the armoury section of the Kremlin, I was pretty blown away. There are so many authentic artifacts in there it is mind-boggling. Most amazing were the ten Faberge Eggs, and the actual carriages used hundreds of years ago to transport Catherine the Great and other leaders. There were also dishes, elaborate coronation outfits, crowns, costumes and thrones. All original, hundreds of years old, and in wonderful condition. In times of invasion, these items were moved to Siberia so that they escaped destruction and plundering.
We also did a tour of the famous Novodevichi convent and cemetery. The cemetery was run by the government who decided which people would be interred there. There were many famous Russians in there, like Boris Yeltsin, Raisa Gorbachev, government ministers, military leaders, scientists, artists, and the like. What is different about this cemetery is that it was basically a sculpture park. Each tombstone was a work of art, most of which were sculptures or images of the person's face or body. It was very different. I enjoyed it very much, though.
Before the trip, I didn't know much about Russia's history, politics, relations with other countries, government, or standard of living. We are given so much information and it's pretty fascinating! There are many perspectives that I was surprised to hear. For example, apparently the Russians did not like Gorbachev very much. We were told 3 reasons for this:
1) When changing from a communist system to a market economy, people suffered because they could not buy food. They would have to line up from 6am at a store just to get any food they could. People didn't care about democracy, they just wanted to eat. People were starving under this poorly effected changeover.
2) Gorbachev put an anti-alcohol law in place that limited the amount a family could buy in a month to a ridiculously small amount. So people went from buying and drinking freely (which apparently was quite common during Soviet rule), to having almost nothing, overnight. Again, the consequences of this poor transition were dire; people suffered and in the worst cases, died from ingesting toxic substitutes. Viktor in St. Petersburg told us that after Gorbachev closed bars and liquor stores, there were more casualties in lineups for alcohol than there were in the Russian troops sent to Afghanistan in 1979 (perhaps an exaggerated remark, but still, it was significant).
3) Gorbechev's wife, Raisa, appeared with him everywhere. This had never happened before in Russia. No former leaders' wives made any public appearances. The Russian people felt as if it was inappropriate and "showing off."
Something else I learned was that many Russians are quite liberal, but due to the size of the country and the population, they struggle to make change. For example, the populations of St. Petersburg and Moscow are apparently quite liberal, but the rest of the country are not. The people who live in the country and in remote villages are quite orthodox and conservative (in both their religion and politics). And the country is so large that even though Moscow and St. Petersburg have a combined population of about 20 million, it is still outweighed by the rest (another 120 million).
When we went to the armoury section of the Kremlin, I was pretty blown away. There are so many authentic artifacts in there it is mind-boggling. Most amazing were the ten Faberge Eggs, and the actual carriages used hundreds of years ago to transport Catherine the Great and other leaders. There were also dishes, elaborate coronation outfits, crowns, costumes and thrones. All original, hundreds of years old, and in wonderful condition. In times of invasion, these items were moved to Siberia so that they escaped destruction and plundering.
We also did a tour of the famous Novodevichi convent and cemetery. The cemetery was run by the government who decided which people would be interred there. There were many famous Russians in there, like Boris Yeltsin, Raisa Gorbachev, government ministers, military leaders, scientists, artists, and the like. What is different about this cemetery is that it was basically a sculpture park. Each tombstone was a work of art, most of which were sculptures or images of the person's face or body. It was very different. I enjoyed it very much, though.
Russia has so many beautiful buildings, museums, artifacts, parks and special attractions. I can't forget, however, that all of it came at a cost. Most of this beauty came off the backs of the people, by taxing or withholding or punishing. And sometimes it cost human lives too, as in the example Goran told us: There is a tower on St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg which is gilded with gold, and the method of infusing the gold was deadly (it used mercury) and killed over 60 workers before it was finished. But, if the leader in the 1830's wanted a gold tower, so be it.
I don't pretend that this only happens in Russia (indeed it has happened every place in history, and still happens today!) but when you find yourself surrounded by so much extravagance and opulence, you can't help but think about it. I can see why communist theory was such an attractive one.
Dinner was rushed, and the clutz in me came out when I was going up stairs in my flip-flops and tripped on the top step. I literally fell into the arms of the woman leaving the restaurant (to everyone's delight) but not before I had bashed my foot (to my dismay). I went to the washroom to clean off my foot but there were no paper towels and only a Dyson airblade hand dryer - you know, the kind where you put your hands in vertically, up and down, and it dries them in 10 seconds? Well let me tell you, it is rather difficult to get a foot in there! Yup, that was me in the WC, with my foot in the dryer. :) I think I surprised the next woman that came in.
Our last evening in Moscow took us to the circus, which was quite different than I was expecting. It was a show of acrobatics, clowns, and animals. At first I thought the animal shows would be like seeing Superdogs at the PNE (which is my favourite!) but alas it was not. The stunts they had the animals doing were certainly impressive from a training point of view, but some of them looked unsafe, and as the evening went on, the "wow" feeling quickly turned sad.
They had all these animals in the lobby and were charging $30 to have your picture taken with a tiger cub, an elephant, Dalmatian dogs, a young jaguar, a muzzled bear tied to a chair, a kangaroo/wallaby (don't know which), exotic birds, a monkey, and more. Just seemed wrong. Not my kinda entertainment. (Although, I do try to suspend judgement where I don't know all the facts and conditions. I remember visiting a zoo in Chicago where I spoke to an employee who gave me much more information than I knew about zoos and it totally changed my perspective.)
Next
we are off to Belarus, and as far as I can tell, it's mainly a stop on our
travels. We travel all day from Moscow to Minsk (Belarus), and the next day we
travel all day from Minsk to Warsaw (Poland). Two long travel days!
Cheers,
Xo
Elaan
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