united kingdom: england: chester and the canals

Chester is a walled city in England, a city with a long history. Wikipedia tells me it first existed as early as 79 AD, when it was founded as a Roman fort called Deva Victrix. This fort was bigger than others in the area, and some people think the Romans originally intended this area to become the capital of the Britannia Superior province. In some ways the original city design still stands, as the main roads of the modern city follow the same routes in which they were first laid out. None of the roads were completely straight, but that wasn't a thing back then.

After a while the fort turned into a settlement with civilians, not just soldiers. At some point the town became the 'possession' of what is now England. (I would assume this was when The Romans walked away, in 410.) Even though it was no longer officially Roman, it took a while for it to become properly English, but that's not a surprise.

As the city is really close to the border with Wales, a lot of the history has Welsh influence, though I don't understand all of it. And I can't pronounce the names to save my life.

Most of the city walls still exist, and are Grade 1 listed. (Meaning they are protected by legislation, and not up for sale or redevelopment or anything making changes.) You can walk along the top of parts of the wall, which is pretty neat.

Chester was granted official town status in 1541, and now has an official population of almost 80,000 people. Because of the walls, much of the city center has remained as it was back in the day. There is an area called Chester Rows, which is a series of streets with buildings that look just as they did centuries ago. 

I believe these buildings are also protected, so any renovations keep the look just as it was several centuries ago. We didn't go in any of the shops, as shopping is not something I typically enjoy, nor something I typically do while traveling.

The cathedral in the city (having a cathedral is what makes Chester officially a city, as opposed to a town; it isn't size/population that makes the designation,) was founded all the way back in 689. It is huge, with soaring vaulted ceilings, stained glass, gorgeous carved wood, etc...

I had never heard of Chester until September of this year. That was when my friend Claire boat a longboat, which is something she has wanted to do for a long time. As she says, people find you much more interesting when they find out you own a boat. I have to admit, I was much more keen to visit when I found out about her boat. 

I booked my flights to and from the nearby airport in Manchester, then took trains to and from Chester. Side note for anyone who cares: the Manchester airport is neither aesthetically appealing nor particularly easy for visitors to navigate. 

Going both ways one of my trains was delayed, but Claire told me that delays and cancellations are really common in England's privately owned train system. (Such a huge change from the system in Russia, which is amazing.)

I was in the area for 3.5 days. The day I arrived Claire and her partner Karl picked me up at the train station. We walked back to where they'd moored the boat, so I could drop my stuff. I had just a snackbag and backpack, but I'd been carrying them for a while and was ready to let go. 

We also ate lunch, which was nice. Buying the cheap ticket often means ridiculous layovers, and budget airlines, which also means no real food for long periods of time.

After eating we walked around Chester for a while. We walked along the city walls for a bit, which was fun. There are hills in the area, but nothing crazy, so the view from the tops of the walls isn't anything memorable. Claire laughed when I said everything was very cute, and very stereotypical, but to me it looked as English towns always do in movies and TV shows. 

We also visited the cathedral, because such things always catch my eye. It was well worth a visit, as it is beautiful. The ceilings in each area were well done, and still in good shape. There were giant stained glass windows all over, and I imagine the interior feels amazing on a sunny day.

The front areas had wooden pews/seats for the chorus, (at least I think that is who sits there? I could be totally wrong,) with some intricate wood carving. The end of each pew has a different wood carving. 

The carving of note was done back in the 15^th or 16^th century. It is an elephant, and was carved by someone who had never seen an elephant in real life. When you first see it you giggle to yourself, because it isn't quite accurate, but then you think about how hard it is to describe an elephant so that someone else could picture it properly.

Since this is England, the sun goes down around 1600. By the time we exited the church it was getting dark outside. We started to head home, with a stop at the grocery store. 

Even though I'd picked up snacks in the grocery store, I still wanted more 'real' food for dinner.

Or, as Claire called it, tea. I'm still confused as to what the names of English meals are. I think dinner comes at what I would call lunchtime, then there is tea, and late night food is supper? Anywho, we opted to have a chippy tea, which means we went to a takeaways place to get fish and chips and sausage for what I would call dinner. We only got two portions of chips (what Americans call French fries,) but that still more than enough for the three of us adults.

The next morning we started moving not long after it was officially daylight. Part of the reason Claire wanted a boat was to be able to cruise on canals. England has a great system of canals, and cruising was something I really wanted to do during my visit.

The weather started out gray, but with no wind, so I thought everything was beautiful. The clouds slowly gave way to a mostly blue skies, I was in heaven the entire time. There were lovely reflections of the skies and boats in the water as we cruised along. 

We ended up cruising for a bit over four hours before turning around and coming part of the way back toward Chester. I got to drive for a while, which was fun too. 

We moored in the middle of nowhere, then Claire cooked tea. I think it was quite traditional, as we had bacon, eggs, beans, and blood pudding. It was a first time to have blood pudding for me; I don't dislike it but I don't love it. Claire is a good cook, I've always enjoyed what she makes. 

As we'd moored in the middle of nowhere we had an unobstructed view of the lovely sunset. If I had a boat I'd hope for that kind of experience every day.

The next day we had a bit of an unintended adventure, as a band in the engine broke not too long after we started cruising back toward Chester. It took some time, but Karl was able to sort everything out, and used the spare belt to get us going again. I'm glad he figured out what to do, as I would've called the rescue service to have them take care of us.

Not long after tying off in Chester Claire and I got off the boat and walked back to the train station. Another reason I'd wanted to come visit Claire was the chance to meet her mom. Since Claire and I had traveled together over the past couple years, I knew Jenny had seen a bunch of my photos. I'd heard stories about her and wanted to put a face to the name.

The three of us met up at the train station, then walked through the city center, back to the cathedral. 

I hadn't seen it during our visit on my first day, but there is a cafe in the refectory area of the cathedral. The refectory ceiling is just as high as the rest of the cathedral, and it has stained glass windows as well. We had tea (the drink, not the meal,) and chatted for a while. It was a nice way to get to know Jenny.

On the way to getting Jenny back to the train station we stopped at the grocery store again. I picked up more snacks, including ingredients for tea (the meal, not the drink,) that night. I'd go to a grocery store every day if I could.

That was my last night in Chester. While we were relaxing in the evening I sorted out checking in online for my flights, which wasn't the easiest, as I'd made the bookings through a travel company.

The next morning I packed everything up, and the three of us went to breakfast. Going out to breakfast is a modern thing, and probably comes from American influence. The cafe we visited was called Hanky Panky Pancakes, so it definitely comes from American influences. What Americans would call a pancake is what the English would call a Scotch pancake.

After eating we went by a bakery so I could pick up snacks for my flights back to Moscow. I had tickets for budget airlines for both flights, and I didn't want to go hungry. Plus it was a chance to have food from an English bakery, which is completely different from what you'd get from an American bakery. I ended up loving my curry rolls, and pasties.

I opted to take an earlier train than I'd originally planned to get back to the airport, and that ended up being a good thing. It was 20 minutes late, but starting out ealier meant I still had plenty of time for transferring to my second train, which was on time.

Getting through security at the airport took quite a while, as they were opening up a lot of bags. The lady in front of me had to wait for a special check because the holiday gnome she'd bought had been flagged by the machine. I was glad I'd gotten there three hours before departure.

I'm definitely going back to see Claire and her boat again :)

russia: kursk

Kursk is a city people outside of Russia have actually heard of, mostly if they are interested in WW2. The city and surrounding area were the sight of a huge tank battle during the war; its actually the largest tank battle ever to take place. (How that is measured, I'm not sure. Number of tanks? Number of soldiers? Geographic area? How long it lasted?) The entire battle was about six weeks long, with the Germans charging for the first week, and the Soviets charging back the next five weeks.

Kursk is a city of more than 415,000 residents, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. Archaelogists have found evidence that Kursk was first settled as long ago as the 5^th century BCE. The first written record of Kursk dates back to 1032.

Like many other cities in what is now Russia, Kursk was destroyed by the Golden Horde in 1237, but was rebuilt in about 50 years. Kursk officially became part of Russia in the early 16^th century, then a fortress was built by the end of the century. It's a good thing the fortress was built, as the city was attacked by Polish Lithuania, the Crimean Tatars, and the Nogai Horde in 1612, 1616, 1617, and 1634. The fortress of Kursk never fell during any of these battles. (Though I think other parts of the area were under control of some of the attackers for a while?)

As far as I can tell, the Red Army took control of Kursk in 1919, after which the city followed Soviet history for everything. Rebuilding of Kursk started in 1944, not long after the end of the big tank battle.

The current economy of Kursk is based on the iron industry, chemical plants, and food processing.

I'm not sure why I chose the train I did, as it was 12 hours long, which was longer than most of the trains take going from Moscow to Kursk. It took a detour of sorts along the way, I guess most of the trains don't do that. Oh well.

The train station in Kursk was interesting to see. There is one area with a hole in the second floor, so the first floor can see all the way to the ceiling. There are WW2 based decorations in the waiting rooms, which have really high ceilings. There are statues of people on the outside of the station, and the whole exterior is painted red.

The train station of Kursk is not terribly convenient for walking to the city center, but I didn't let that stop me from trying. I walked along until I got to a park with the first Lenin statue I wanted to see. 

This statue had the man in a seated position, it was one of the more awkward Lenin statues I've seen.

After the park I walked further into the city until I got to an area with a bunch of public transport stops, then hopped on a marshrutka that would take me to my accomodation. The lady who checked me into my room was surprised to have a foreigner, which surprised me. Kursk is known because of WW2, I would expect more visitors. But maybe it doesn't get as many because it isn't on the regular Transsiberian rail route. Hmm.

It was not a warm day when I arrived in Kursk, and I was practically frozen by the time I got to my accomodation. I stayed inside for a couple hours to warm up and charge my phone. I really need to stop wasting so much time when I travel, especially at the times of year when daylight isn't nearly long enough.

My first sight was one of many WW2 memorials I would end up seeing over the weekend. This one had a large statue of a woman laying down, presumably she was suffering the loss of someone during the war. There were a number of fresh flowers on the memorial, which was nice to see. It means people remember.

Further along that street I was able to see the circus, a building which seems to exist in many Russian cities. This one looked the same as they all do, like a permanent (concrete) version of a big top tent. They're circular, but otherwise boring on the outside.

The circus was close to the second monument I saw, the one had a solid big red flag with a gold hammer and sickle. The monument sat in a small spot between a park platz and the street, there really wasn't a space for anyone to sit there and appreciate what the monument honoured.

Continuing along I eventually got to the Kursk Cathedral which is painted a dark sea green colour. Unlike many churches, this one did not have an open area around the church. The fence surrounding the whole thing had an open gate, thank goodness, the front door was tucked around to the side.

I really liked the interior of the cathedral, as the whole thing was painted with frescoes, and there was a giant rotunda over the main section. Always look up.

Outside the fenced in area of the church was a bus/trolley/marshrutka stop. It was actually a cul-de-sac, and seemed to be the stop where all the public transport turns around to go back north through the city. 

I got to see a couple trolleybuses reattach their 'antennae' to the wires overhead.

Just north of this turn around was the dom Sovietov, one of the main governmental buildings of the city. It looked like so many others I've seen, huge and rather boring. The second Lenin statue of the city was in front of this building, there were a few wreaths and such laid at the bottom of the pedestal on which he stood.

As sunset was already starting, I ended up taking one of those buses up the street, all the way to a mall. 

I paid attention along the way to what the bus was passing, making notes for what to see the next day. In the mall I got dinner from Dodo Pizza, a chain I've found all over the country.

It was only the end of November, but the city had already put up holiday lights. I'm not a huge fan of holiday decorations being up for 25% of the year, but having those lights to see made the walk back to the city center after dinner a lot nicer. In the city center I caught transport back to my room, as I had zero desire to walk the entire way.

The next morning I packed up and checked out, taking my backpack with me. I much prefer to leave my pack where I've stayed, but it wasn't going to be at all convenient to come back and get it, so I took it with me.

I walked back to the second Lenin I'd seen the day before to take a photo with the man, as the sun was in a better position to do so this time around.

I spent the rest of my day walking up Lenin and Marx streets, stopping at various points along the way. It was a gorgous (but still quite cold,) day, with nothing but blue skies as far as I could see.

One of my stops was to walk through Victory Park, which had more memorials for the Great Patriotic War, as well as a section with gravestones. Some of the gravestones were vertical, and had carvings on both the front and back. I don't think I've seen anything like that before. This park had the requisite eternal flame at one of the memorials.

Another stop was to take a closer look at a large mosaic on the side of a building. Very neat. I'll always admire anyone who has the patience to put something like that together. The pieces were a bit over 1cm square, and the whole thing was at least two meters high! 

Based on the style, it was done back in Soviet times.

As I walked past another mall I took a photo with the city sign located on one end. Who doesn't love a city sign? I also stepped into another church. This one was classic blue on the outside, and had enough space for a cemetery, but no open platz within the walled in area. The inside wasn't all that interesting.

I walked all the way to the biggest memorial area, on the northern end of the city. It's a pedestrian area in the middle of a two way street, the memorial area stretches out quite a bit. 

There is a section with helicopters and tanks, each with informational signs in front. I don't know or care enough about particular styles of helicopters or tanks to read the signs, but I did appreciate that they were there.

In the middle of this memorial area is a chapel/church. The outside was off white, with a bell tower over the front entrance. The interior wasn't big, but the ceiling was awesome. Gold, colour, lots of paint. Always look up.

On the other end of the memorial area were a big victory arch, a statue of Zhukov, and a stelae designating Kursk as a city of military glory. 

I wouldn't expect anything less, given the fighting that took place in this area in WW2. The arch is huge, and the view of the church through the arch is neat to see.

After going all the way to the end of the memorial area, I walked back to the mall where I'd eaten pizza the night before, and went back for more. I killed a couple hours there, then caught a tram back to the train station before hopping on the train to go home to Moscow.

I don't think I missed anything major in Kursk, so I don't think I'll be back.

russia: a moscow monastery and old house

I'm not sure how I got motivated on a Monday morning to go see something, but I did. Not surprisingly, I got started later than I should have, but oh well, life goes on. The place I wanted to see was just a small house, called Pogodinskaya Izba. 

The name doesn't really translate, other than izba meaning the word hut.

It's a cute, wooden house, painted blue. I suppose what makes it aesthetically interesting is that it's quite small, and is in the middle of a huge, international city.

There are two reasons people want to see this house, based on the google reviews. One, the house dates all the way back to 1856, which is pretty impressive in a city like Moscow. And two, famous writers like Tolstoy and Gogol have visited the house.

Pogodinskaya izba used to be a museum, but from what I can tell, it isn't much of anything anymore, just a blue, wooden house.

Even though I was running late in getting to school, I couldn't help but stop to take a photo of a random war memorial as I ran to the metro station.

The next day was Tuesday, which meant I had the afternoon off. I spent a couple hours at school doing random stuff, but then went to the metro and rode to a stop near Donskoy Monastery.

Donskoy Monastery dates back to the end of the 16^th century, when the first cathedral was consecrated.

Fun fact, years later another cathedral was built; designed by Ukrainian masons and artisans. Another fun fact: the frescoes in the 'new' cathdral were the first in Moscow to be painted by a foreigner, Antonio Claudio.

There are a couple other churches within the walls, I think. One of them seems to be mostly to house the mausoleum of someone, though it does have a small gold iconostasis in its lower level. I will admit to being really cold when I stepped into this church, so some of my time inside was simply to get feeling back in my fingers. 

The whole monastery is surrounded by brick walls, they're really impressive. To get into the property you walk through the base of the bell tower, which is plenty impressive all by itself.

The 20^th century was not a happy one for the monastery. The complex was closed after the October Revolution, in 1917. From 1922 - 1925 Patriarch Tikhon was held in the cloister after his arrest, and he chose to stay there after his release. He was later made a saint by the church, and his relics were found after his canonization, in 1989.

Wikipedia tells me some of the buildings in the monastery served as a penal colony for children. During the Communist years of 1930-1946 the church was closed for services and instead housed a factory. I haven't found a date when the monastery started functioning as a religious organization again, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was sometime in the '90s.

There is a large cemetery area inside the walls of the monastery, some of the grave markers were quite large. I would've walked through a bit more, but everything was still covered in snow. 

Some of those buried here include former noble families like Zubov and Galitzine. (No, I don't know those names, but maybe someone reading this does.) There are no communists buried within the walls, so the families of some Russian Whites decided to have their remains repatriated from other countries and reburied here. Apparently Solzhenitsyn wanted to be buried in this cemetery for the same reason, rather than Novodevichy cemetery, which is associated with Communism.

On my way back home I was 'happy' to see the police officers keeping everyone 'safe' in the metro. 

malta: malta: valletta

Valletta is the capital of both the country of Malta and the island of Malta. According to the official boundaries, Valletta is the smallest capital city of Europe at only .8 square miles and 6500 residents. That being said, when anyone says Valletta, they are referring to the metro area, which includes the suburbs. When including the suburbs, the number of residents goes up to almost 400,000.

Valletta has been associated with the Order of St John, the French Republic, the Protectorate of Malta, the Crown Colony of Malta, the State of Malta, and the Republic of Malta. 

Because Malta is a set of islands in the Mediterranean Sea, it has been fought on and over many times throughout its history. From what I've learned, many of the cities around the country were founded as forts, and many of those forts are still standing in some form.

Valletta is one of those cities. There are several fortifications around the city, protecting the harbour in particular. I stayed in one of the suburbs, and to get into the city proper it was a long walk or a bus ride, both of which went around a small marina.

When I first looked at my phone to figure out how to get to the city center it said I could take one of the small ferries that leave just as often as buses come by. When I got to the spot from which the ferry was supposed to leave I found a sign saying the ferries were closed for the day due to wind. I looked out at the water and saw small waves, but it didn't seem that bad, but since I'm not the one driving the ferry I don't get to decide. I didn't see the ferries sailing at any time during my four days in the area, I have no clue how smooth everything needs to be for them to sail. 

I took the bus instead, getting off when I saw something interesting. The interesting thing seemed to be an abandoned fort of some kind, I'm a sucker for anything that looks abandoned. I walked around and took a few photos, then kept walking in the direction in which the bus had gone.

Next up was a giant church. By this point I'd figured out that pretty much every church in the country was huge, regardless of whether it was a cathedral, or 'just' a regular church. St Publius had an open door, so I walked in. 

I was going in as a couple was coming out, and about a minute later I realized the priest had shut the door behind them. It turned out the church wasn't really open for the public to be wandering around, but since I'd walked in through an open door it was okay for me to finish up.

St Publius was a lovely church. A great ceiling, a beautiful altar, a tall vaulted ceiling, and stained glass windows. The best part: I had it all to myself. If only I could get lucky like that all the time.

From there I continued toward the city center, to see the sights listed as worth seeing. I finally found the major cathedral, only to find out that there was a steep entrance fee: 10 euro!! Call me crazy, but that's ridiculous, especially when I saw how many people were queued up to go inside. At least you get a brochure with a lot of information about the church.

Even with the queue and and ridiculous price, I paid to go inside St John's co Cathedral. It was just as big as other churches I'd already seen, and just as fancy. Unlike the other churches I'd seen, I was not allowed to wander all over. 

Most of the sanctuary was blocked off by ropes, so I wasn't able to stand under the center of the ceiling.

Another difference was that this cathedral had a whole lot of side chapels. None of them were super amazing, but with how much I'd paid, I took the time to look at every single one. Toward the back of the sanctuary was a set of steps, which I followed up to get to a balcony at the back of the sanctuary. I felt as if I was looking out and down over the rest of the world, which was fun.

The cathedral with crowded, it is not a place I'd go to again.

Much of the central area is a pedestrian zone, which I loved. All my wandering took me past a number of traditional Maltese balconies, which are mostly covered, and painted. When you have a building full of these balconies it catches the eye of every photographer.

Another thing that caught my eye was a reserved parking spot. It was held for members of a convent, with a simple chair.

My self guided tour kept going by heading toward the grand harbour, a sight on many postcards of the city. This is where cruise boats pull in, it's huge. It is better seen from the other side of the water, but you can still appreciate the size when your in the middle of the whole thing.

From there I walked until I found a bus stop where I could catch a bus back to my neighborhood. Earlier in the day I'd noticed an Indian restaurant very close to my accomodation, and it turned out to be an excellent choice for dinner :)

The next morning I got going quite a bit earlier in the day, and started with a long walk. Over two hours I think, to get to my first sight of the day. It was warm and sunny, I wanted to enjoy that as much as possible.

I passed a few churches, walked over a bridge, saw a LOT of sandstone coloured buildings, and small shops along the way.

Finally I got to a proper sight: a set of old temples, a UNESCO designated spot. The Tarxien temples are dated all the way back to 3150 BC.

The temples were 'discovered' in 1914 by a farmer tilling his fields. From what I've been able to find, archaeologists aren't completely sure about the use of these temples either, though they think animal sacrifices might've happened here.

Archaeologists also learned a bit of how these types of temples were constructed because those who did the constructing this time left stone rollers outside. The skills of engineers back in the day were just as good as they are now, and they didn't have computers.

The ruins are now under a giant tarp of sorts, to help protect the stones from the elements. Since I'm not good at imagining how things could've been, all I saw was a bunch of big stones and rocks. (Then again, this is pretty typical of lots of ruins I've seen, though I can always appreciate seeing history, and its value.)

From the temples I walked down toward the water, through the suburb of Birgu. I wanted to get all the way to the edge so I could look across at the Grand Harbour. To get there I passed under one of the old city gates, which stretches across the whole road. Quite impressive.

By this point I was in dire need of shade, which was not anywhere to be found. Am I a horrible person for getting tired of the direct sun and heat by that point? Hee hee. While searching for shade I walked past a marina, which was quite photogenic with all the sailboats lined up. I also saw outside the walls of a fort, which to be honest looked the same as every other fort I'd already seen in Malta.

Finally I found a small tree, which provided a wee bit of shade. I stood there for ten minutes, then found a nearby bus stop and started making my way back to my neighborhood. 

As I'd enjoyed the Indian restaurant so much the night before, I went back for more. After the main course I walked down the street to have dessert: gelato and mini pastries from a gelateria. YUM.

After a day trip the next day I went back to the Indian restaurant and gelateria. And again after the next day trip as well. Why fix something that isn't broken?

I don't know that I feel the need to come back to Valletta in particular, but there is good transport around the island, so if I come back to Malta, this is where I'd start.