russia: priozersk and st petersburg

 

September is a lovely time to travel north to St Petersburg. I don't think there is really a bad time of year to go to St Petersburg, but September is particularly lovely, because the trees are starting to change colours.

My train arrived on time at the early hour of 0539. It wasn't completely dark, but it wasn't light yet either. Even so, I felt comfortable starting to walk, because I've been to the city a number of times. My walk took me from one train station to another: Moscow station to Finland station. As it was still pretty early, there was very little traffic, neither foot nor vehicular.

When I got to Finland station it was easy enough to buy a ticket for the next train to a city called Priozersk. The cities are around 150 kilometers from each other, a two hour drive. The train ride was around 3 hours. The station building itself in Priozersk sits at one end of the tracks, I didn't even see it for a while.

On one side of the tracks you see water, on the other side you see woods. It's quiet and peaceful.

What is now known as Priozersk is a small town of less than 20,000 residents. In its history, it has been known as Kakisalmi and Kexholm, when the Finns and Swedes were in charge. This region has been part of several wars between empires, so the names switched regularly for a while. During WW2 it was mostly part of Finland, with a bit of Russia thrown in at times. The Russian name at the time was Korela, it wasn't changed to Priozersk until 1948, several years after the war.

Wikipedia tells me Priozersk was officially founded in 1295. Documents from the year 1500 show there were probably 1500-2000 residents at the time. The population of the city grew regularly, though there were five major fires, which always considerably shrunk the population. When the first courthouse was built (in the year 1800,) there were only 400 residents.

The main industry of the current city is a furniture production plant, which was originally a paper mill. If I dug around I could probably figure out other parts of the economy, but I don't care enough to do so.

After getting off the train I climbed down from the end of the train tracks, and found a path toward the city center. The path quickly connected to a road, which I only had to follow for 5 minutes or so to get right to the city center.

The city center is a platz, which at the time was covered with various stalls. It didn't take a genius to figure out Priozersk was celebrating its city birthday. (There were a couple signs telling me so, hee hee.) There was also a Lenin statue, which I intended to come back to soon enough. I always take a photo with Lenin, whether at the beginning of a city visit, or later on.

My first sight was an old Lutheran church. The signs out front give the history of the church, and also told me it is no longer in use. I was sad to read this, because I really wanted to go inside the old church, but that wasn't possible with locked doors. I wonder who has the key.

After my quick glance at the former church I walked back to the city center (a whopping 5-10 minute walk.) I wanted to take my photo with Lenin, and see if any of the booths set up for City Day had anything I wanted to buy. None of them did, but it was fun to wander around anywho.

On the other end of the main platz was a series of military vehicles for people to see and take photos. There were also a few men standing around in military clothing, though I have no way of knowing if they were active duty servicemembers or just wearing the clothing.

I kept going, another 10 minutes or so, to the main tourist sight in the city: the remains of a fortress. The Russian/Novgorodian name is Korela, the Finns called it Kakisalmi, and the Swedes called it Kexholm. When those names are used it is almost always the fortress that is being referred to, not the city.

The fortress sits between one side of a small inlet and Lake Ladoga, it's really photogenic. I walked around the entire exterior, which didn't take long. It's small, and I don't envy anyone who ever had to live inside the fortress. Entry into the area was 100 rubles, with no extra fee for foreigners, woo hoo.

The entry fee basically paid for the small museum in one building. The museum had uniforms and clothing worn back in the day, as well as maps and other items of use in the daily life of the fortress. I've seen so many local/regional history museums around Russia that they all tend to blend together. I only spent about ten minutes inside, it wasn't worth more than that.

After going back outside I walked up to the top of the fortress walls, and was able to walk all the way around. As I said earlier the fortress was quite small, so the only reason it took me longer than five minutes was because I stopped to take photos a few times.

Next up was a short walk along the part of the lake that the fortress sits on. Very pretty, especially because it was September. It didn't take long, again because the area is so small.

From there I intended to walk back to the train station, because I thought I'd seen everything there was to see. As I walked along I spied another Lenin statue!! This one wasn't marked on Google maps or Yandex maps, so I was proud of myself for finding it. He sits, leaning over a book to study.

Also on the way back I walked along a pedestrian zone in between two sides of a street.

There wasn't much to it, but the weather was lovely so I sat on one of the benches for a few minutes.

Then, I really had seen everything. I walked back to the train station, and didn't have to wait more than thirty minutes to hop on the next train.

When I arrived back in Moscow I had the choice between walking or taking the metro. Since the weather was good, I chose to walk. I think it was about an hour to get to my hostel, since I stopped to take a few photos. (Walking times are always longer for me because of my taking photos.)

The next morning I was quite proud of myself, as I got out the door of the hostel a little after 0900; this is at least two hours earlier than I normally get moving on the second day of a weekend trip. Part of the reason is that I knew the weather was good, and the first photos I wanted to take were at a spot I knew would have other visitors showing up sooner rather than later.

The first photos I wanted to take were at a pedestrian bridge with gold painted flying animals on either side. Not a spot that would make you think of St. Petersburg, or even Russia in general, but oh well.

It was still early enough on a Sunday for me to take pictures of the main side of a building called Gostiny Dvor without any people in the photo. This building is huge, and the street it is on is a main street, so it's rare to have a photo without anyone else in the background or on the side.

From there I walked to the front of another building in hopes of a good picture, but here my hopes were dashed. Not by people, but by a vehicle. It was parked just in front of the building, there was no way I could keep it out of the photo. This particular building is actually a hotel, with beautiful mosaic decoration on the exterior of the street level.

Next, I found my way to 'Friendship Square', which isn't a square at all. More like a small area that would more accurately be called a park, but it isn't that either. There was a so-called 'Chinese Gate' painted mostly red, with a few stone characters in front.

There was also a short wall of sorts, with mosaic tile decoration. I'm not sure what that was, but I loved the colours.

While looking at the map on my phone I noticed something listed as Mosaic Palace, or something along those lines. Wondering what it was, I decided to make that my next stop. It turned out to be a garden area between several apartment buildings, with each thing totally covered in mosaic tiles. It was really colourful, I loved the whole thing. I definitely want to go back in future trips to St Petersburg.

I kept walking, making my way to the Summer Garden, which is around the Summer Palace Museum. The museum used to be a royal residence, used in summers. (Which should be obvious from the name.) The museum wasn't open (probably for Covid reasons?) but the gardens were, and I enjoyed walking around.

There were various busts and statues placed around the garden. I took some photos of them, but I didn't find any of them very engaging. I know that's the architectural style of planned/royal gardens, but it doesn't do anything for me.

The pathways in the garden were made of tall hedges, which also created a bit of a labyrinth atmosphere. It was always obvious where to go, but there was also a sense of privacy.

After figuring out how to leave the garden, I walked across one of the many bridges in the city, stopping at the Solovetsky Stone. It came from the Solovetsky Islands, in the north of Russia, where the first Soviet gulag camps were created. The stone honours those who died in those camps. There is at least one 'partner' stone, located in Moscow.

One of the places I'd marked on my map of places I wanted to see in St Petersburg came up as being close by, so I walked over there. It was marked at the House of Peter 1^st, who was a pretty powerful character in Russian history. I was disappointed when I got there, because the entire building was surrounded by a construction fence. Clearly it was all under renovation, I have no idea when it started, and when it is expected to be finished.

I made my way to another spot I had marked on my map, a Lenin monument. This one ended up being just a bust, but I took my photos anywho. Across the street was a bakery, so I stopped for a break. Unfortunately the goodies looked far better than they tasted.

After that I made the long walk back to my hostel. It was a bit earlier than I originally would've called it a day, but my feet were swelling, which doesn't usually happen, even on a long walk day.

Even so, I still felt as if I'd seen enough, so it wasn't a horrible thing to go to bed.

The next day I left the hostel at my normal time, around 1130. My first sight of the day was another Lenin. I was happy to see that this one was a full statue, on top of a pedestal with propaganda carved into it. I've seen this phrase before, it translates to 'proletarians of the world unite.' While I don't agree with it, I love seeing this kind of stuff as a tourist.

Near the statue was a pretty church, this one was painted light pink on the outside, with a nice wood iconostasis inside.

Since this was Monday morning, it was a very quiet time to visit a church.

Next up was another church. This one was not small, and not simple. The name translates to Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, quite a mouthful. The sanctuary was really big, with a high ceiling, and colourful frescoes all over the entire interior. There were a couple signs saying photos were not permitted during services, but overall it seemed as if photos at other times were okay. Absolutely lovely. One of those places where you can really 'feel' faith.

This second church was close to a pavement that followed the closest canal for a while. Since the weather was gorgeous, I walked along the water for a while. I would be happy to do this in every city I visit, all over the world. There is something about water that calms me, every time.

There was one other big sight I wanted to see that day, so I started walking. It took me over an hour to get there, but I didn't care. I had been to Tikhvin Cemetery previously, but had only visited one side. This time I opted to enter the 'art and cultural masters' side. There were burial plots of famous musicians and writers, including Dostoyevsky and Tchaikovsky.

The monuments at those spots were big, but no more ornate than any of the others in that cemetery. They were howeva, more spaced out than the graves on the 18^th century side of the cemetery.

After getting my fill of the cemetery, I stopped at a random Korean cafe for dinner. Not the most amazing I've ever had, but Korean food always makes me happy. From there I walked back to my hostel to pick up my bag, then made my way to the train station.
This will not be my last visit to St Petersburg. I love this city.

russia: walking in Moscow

 

At the beginning of June the city of Moscow created an official schedule, allowing residents outside to go for walks and/or exercise on specific days for the first half of the month. Until then, all of us (except essential workers, of course,) were supposed to stay home.

From mid March until the end of May, we were allowed out only to walk to our nearest grocery store or pharmacy, to take out rubbish, or to walk a dog within 100 meters of home. For most people, this meant very little walking, as there are grocery stores and pharmacies in every neighborhood, on many blocks.

I was thrilled to have official permission to go outside for walking and exercising. Each building was given specific days for walking, I walked as much as I could. At that point, I didn't care if Google maps said it would take me two hours to get somewhere, I was all in.

And usually when Google maps says it will take me two hours to walk somewhere, I'll take three hours, because I stop so often for photos.)I went from taking 500-1000 steps a day for more than two months to taking 20,000-25,000 steps a day, which wore me out at first but also felt really really good.

I walked to a few historical train stations around the city. I walked to churches. I walked to parks. I walked to a building decorated in 'Chinese' style. I walked along Moscow River in both daytime and after dark. I walked to several monasteries. I walked to a couple Lenin statues. I walked to various buildings with grafitti murals.

I walked to Red Square, which is even more impressive than normal when it isn't chock full of tourists. I was able to take a photo of St. Basil's Cathedral without anyone else in the photo. I walked in the central neighbourhood of Arbat. I found heaps of supermarkets I hadn't known about previously. I walked to a number of war memorials.

I walked to a fancy bridge, one that has a restaurant hanging under the peak of the arch, over the roads below. I walked to apartment blocks with huge faces/people painted on them. I walked to the victory arch in Park Pobedy.

I suppose I could've summed up the first half of June by saying this: I walked.

Once the digital pass system was stopped, I started riding the metro again. (Wearing a mask, of course.) I worked all the way through the end of the month, but my work from home schedule gave me more free time, so I went further around the city. (Always wearing a mask in public indoor places.)

One day I was heading for an Orthodox Church when I spotted Buddhist prayer flags. I ended up skipping the church and visiting a stupa instead. Much more interesting, and much more unique. Curiously, there was a mosque not too far away. Most of Russia is Orthodox, but other religions are represented all over the country.

One day I rode the metro to VDNKh, walking all over the area. City workers had been kept busy during this time, everything was super CLEAN. I went back to the ecowalk I'd first seen in October, and took more photos. (It looks much better without other people ;)

Another day I went to 'new' metro stations, they'd been officially opened the first week I worked from home. As usual, each station was decorated differently, all of them interesting. If I remember correctly, Moscow now has more than 250 metro stations, and the system is still being expanded.

A few days I went to a beach. Definitely not a pretty beach, but being outside and in the warm sun felt good. Like so many others, I was probably lacking in vitamin D during months of staying home/indoors.

Near the end of June, I learned about a war memorial event about to take place along the banks of the Moscow River not far from Gorky Park. During the event a small flag was hung along the banks of the river for each day of WW2. (According to the official count by Russia.) There were 1418 flags, each accompanied by a candle. The candles were lit just before sunset, making the whole thing really photogenic. I don't know for sure if this memorial takes place every year, but I imagine it does. I just need to figure out if the June day is normal, or whether it is also a normal May event. 

Due to the pandemic, this year's Victory Day tank parade was postponed from 9 May to 24 June. It turns out that 24 June was the anniversary of the first ever Victory Parade in Moscow, so the specific date made sense. Even though the pandemic was still very much happening, and there were supposed to be restrictions about big gatherings, all that seemed to go out the window for the parade.

There were several dress rehearsals in the days before the parade, I was able to see them from my balcony and the streets nearby. Very cool, though I didn't love all the people standing around to watch. At that point I was normally wearing a mask only when indoors in a public space, but when I was on the street for parade rehearsals I wore the mask then too.

June was certainly an interesting month this year. Though I was happy to walk all over Moscow, I'd much rather have a 'normal' June next year and foreva after.

russia: rostov Veliky

We added Rostov Veliky to our travel calendar because the guidebook said it was cute. Booking train tickets was easy, as was booking a place to stay.

We met up on Saturday morning at 0700 (okay, okay, I was 2 miutes late, which is really good for me,) at one of the metro stations in Moscow, then went to find our train. There are three massive train stations close to each other in Moscow, so we start our weekend trips from these stations most of the time.

Our train left at 0735, and not long after departure a waitress came through and asked what we wanted to eat. When I booked our train tickets I guess I chose a ticket that included food, which I've never done before. As far as I could see our tickets didn't look any different than previous tickets I've booked, but oh well. All three of us chose blinis with ham and cheese inside.

The food was pretty good, and a nice way to start the day. That being said, I didn't have much of an appetite, so I wasn't able to finish the hot food. The meals also included bread rolls, candy bars, and small bottles of water. There were also travel sets with slippers, eye masks, shoe horns, and shoe wipes.

We arrived in Rostov (it's usually shorted to just Rostov,) about three minutes late, obviously not a big deal. As has become my habit, I got a hot chocolate from a machine in the train station. These hot chocolates are always cheap, and the right size for kicking my craving.

From there we walked to the accomodation I'd booked. The walk wasn't long, but we started to realize the weather wasn't going to be great for walking all day as we usually do. Blowing wind and snow, and it was cold :)

Checking in was easy, and we were able to do so straightaway. We had a room with three single beds (mine was actually a foldout chair.) It also had a small kitchenette with a kettle and some cups for coffee/tea.

After relaxing for quite a while we finally walked out the door to start exploring. We'd checked the guidebook and online, and knew there wasn't a huge list of sights to see so we weren't in a huge hurry to get started.

At the beginning of the walk we started questioning if we were going to be able to see anything at all. The wind was blowing, and the snow was falling, basically right into our faces. This meant we were walking with our heads down, not really able to look up and see where we were going. There were drifts everywhere: on roofs, on cars, in front of doors, etc...

Eventually we got to our first sight. At least we thought so, until we realized the way we approached was not to an entrance gate. The kremlin in Rostov is surrounded by long white walls, I imagine it is quite picturesque in non blizzard weather. Going the wrong way to find the entrance didn't seem like a small mistake, which is normally what it would be.

We walked around to the other side, and found a small-ish gate to walk through. This gate took us into what must've been a side courtyard of sorts, which is totally dominated by the Church of the Assumption. The guidebook says this church is quite fantastic, but we weren't super impressed. It currently seems to be under renovation inside, with scaffolding everywhere. 
The iconostasis was empty, and scaffolding blocked what could still be seen of the frescoes. We were able to see some wood carving, which seemed to be columns of wood grapes.

After exiting the church, we walked out another side of the courtyard, which was a tunnel of sorts through one of the Kremlin walls. Just at the point where the tunnel exited into the Kremlin we had to pay a fee to enter the grounds, which was super cheap. The cashier said there was another, main ticket office, but I was totally mixed up when she gave directions.

In the middle of the Kremlin territory is a pond, which was very frozen during our visit. We saw people sliding across the ice in tubes, which looked fun. Also in the middle of the territory was an ice maze, though the walls were really short. 
We also found a throne built of ice, and the year 2019 formed in ice.

We found a souvenir shop in the basement of a church, one of the major reasons for stepping in was to warm up. The wind and cold had started to hurt my fingers, eeep. We all bought magnets, and I bought postcards as well.

We finally found the main ticket office, we stayed inside there for longer than people usually do in a ticket office. There were a couple benches to sit on, and a hot chocolate machine, how could we say no?

After warming up we bought tickets to the one museum we wanted to see, and walked in that direction. The museum of enamel is not huge, but we really liked it. There were about four rooms of different displays of enameled items. 
There was a room that showed a bit more of the history of the art of enameling, the other rooms showed enameled items. We saw religious items, treasure sort of items, and jewelry. It was a neat museum, showing off a form of art I'm sure most people have never seen much. 

Even though we didn't see much that day, all three of us were done for the day. We walked out of the Kremlin, across the street, and into a cafe for dinner. I didn't have an appetite so I stuck with soup, while the girls had 'real food.'

On the way back to our room we stopped at the grocery store to pick up snacks for the next day.

Normally I wouldn't mention curtains, but the curtains in our room were good curtains that actually blocked the light. We all slept off and on until 0915 Sunday morning, which is way later than normal. We did the same thing we normally do on Sunday mornings of our weekend trips: play around online.

We finally checked out around noon, all bundled up for the day. It was still snowing and blowing, but it was a few degrees warmer ('only' -10C,) which made a huge difference.

On the way to our first sight, I spotted a church that had a big snow drift near an entrance. We were all curious how deep the drifts were, so I decided to explore. I took a few steps, the snow was up to my thighs. As I started to walk up the steps (I think?) I fell backwards, ending up on my back like a turtle. I laughed at myself, as it was rather funny. Angela took photos while laughing, Claire laughed too. I didn't expect any different, I know I looked funny.

We found an open entrance of the church on another side (after brushing off the snow all over me,) and walked in. The advantage to wearing a hat in winter is that it also serves as a head covering in a church, you don't have to pull out a headscarf to enter a church.

The inside of this church was rather dark, and the frescoes weren't very bright. It seemed like incense had been burned for years and years and years, and the smoke had darkened the paint. :(

We continued walking, at one point going up a rather steep hill, which ended up being the wrong way. Getting up the hill was a struggle, and since it ended up being the wrong way to go, we sort of skied back down on our feet.

We entered another church, another old church. There was a lit chandelier, which made this church a lot brighter than the first one we'd seen. A woman working in the church (a nun? A volunteer?) gave us a mini tour, which was awesome. She really wanted us to know about the church, despite the fact that she didn't speak any English, and we only understood a little of what she was saying.

She also handed out brochures for the church. It's a very small church, we were surprised by the brochures.

We finally arrived at the first sight we'd planned to see, Lake Nero. Rostov lines the lake, and I think the views would normally be beautiful. Since we were visiting town in a mini blizzard, we could hardly see. We knew there was a lake out there, but we couldn't really see it. There were blocks of ice stuck up in one area, but that was it. While we were watching the lake we saw a guy on a snow machine speeding across the lake, it looked like fun. (And really cold.)

We took a team photo by a big cross, which would normally have given us a pretty view of the water. Angela noticed what looked like runes on the cross, it was pretty.

From there we walked to our next sight, a museum. The museum of the frog princess is based on a legend, a rather long one.

To visit this museum, you're supposed to take a tour, in Russian. This is because there are a few interative parts of the museum, to go with parts of the story. We participated in these games, even though we didn't completely understand what we were doing until we looked up the story online.

The rest of the museum (which was only one room,) was filled with frogs. Stuffed frogs, glass frogs, etc... Big, small, medium, etc... SO MANY FROGS.

At the end of the visit they handed us a coupon for tea at the restaurant across the street. We'd already been planning to go there, so this worked out really well. We had our tea, and each of us added food.

After being in the cafe for a while we walked down the street a little more, to a monastery. The monastery of St Jacob the Saviour. There was no entry fee and walking in was easy. We entered the main church of the monastery, and loved it. Even though it was started to get dark outside, there was still a decent amount of light inside. Great church, if that makes sense.

When we walked back outside the sun had set, so we started walking. It took longer than we'd expected, and our legs were super tired by the time we got to the grocery store. Walking through the snow and wind, and over all the snow was exhausting.

After the grocery store we walked to another cafe, about three minutes away. Despite having the name of cafe, this place was clearly not expecting walk in customers off the street. I was pretty sure it was clear that we wanted three pots of tea, as there were three of us. Instead, they served us two pots, one of green tea and one of black tea. This place didn't really want us around, as they brought us the check before we asked for it, but that didn't make us pay any sooner or get out any faster.

We got from there to the train station, arriving about an hour before the train departed. The train on the way back was as nice as the day before. The food choices were the same, and we each got another set of slippers and such.

Another successful weekend :)

russia: moscow in april

As with February and March, I didn't spend too much weekend time in Moscow during April.

On Easter Sunday I met up with Claire and Caroline, we wanted to get outside and enjoy the city. The weather was amazing that day, which meant the entire city was out walking with us. Not only was the weather great, it was the first great weather in quite a while.

The three of us met at Mayakovskaya station, one of the best stations in the Moscow metro system. On the green line platform, we looked up at the ceiling, there are a number of mini cupolas, each with a different mosaic design. Love it.

We went up to street level, and found sets of adult sized swings on a platz. Too bad all of them were being used at the moment.

We walked to an area called Patriarch's Ponds, a nice area of Moscow. All around the pond are restaurants and cafes, and more expensive apartments. I still haven't figured out what makes these ponds so important, but it was nice to walk around them.

After the ponds we kept walking, stopping for a quick treat from a French bakery along the way. We walked up a street that took us to Pushkin Square, which I think of as Pushkin Platz. Since it was Easter weekend, we saw decorations, including giant eggs. 

There were trees decorated with mini eggs too.

Not long after we got to Pushkin Platz Caroline had to leave, so Claire and I walked down Tverskaya street to Manezhnaya Square. Like everywhere else, it was covered in Easter/spring decorations. It was also covered in people taking photos.

We ended up leaving because we were annoyed with people trying to take photos everywhere, and went to dinner at a Korean restaurant. Yum.

The next day Claire was sick, so I met up with Caroline at a metro station and we walked to Red Square. 

We joined the queue for the Lenin mausoleum. Even though we got there before the time it opened there was a queue, nearly all of Chinese tourists.

Once the mausoleum opened, the queue started moving, and moved quickly. When I visited the mausoleum in 2003 I remember you weren't allowed to bring anything in with you. You're now allowed to bring your purse, but you're still not allowed to take photos. There are soldiers stationed approximately every 2 meters, you're not going to be able to sneak photos.

As we walked through, one of the soldiers shushed a group of people who were speaking. 

It is a place where total silence is demanded. It's a dark room, except for the body, which is lit up. Intense. I wonder how long they'll keep him there. I read somewhere that he is re-embalmed every 18 months or so, and the scientists in charge of him check on him every 2-3 days.

After exiting the mausoleum we looked at all the memorials along the walls of the Kremlin. Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space is among the people buried there.

We walked out the other side of Red Square to see a 'new' park, Zaryadye Park. There isn't a lot of green space exactly, but it is a park. 

There is also a walkway that goes out over the river, it is the defining part of the park. Nice view over the river and back toward the Kremlin.

After enjoying the views for a while, we started walking again, our next stop was at a candy store. I have a hard time saying no in this kind of store, ooops. I ended up buying gummies with chili spice, gummy strawberries, and ginger infused chocolate. (The chocolate turned out to be the spiciest.)

We meandered along a bunch of streets, going whicheva way struck our fancy. We saw the so called Clean Ponds, which didn't look so great at that time of year. 

April isn't a pretty month in Moscow, it's the end of winter more than spring.

We stopped at a place that called itself a french bakery, though the items for sale didn't seem terribly French. Oh well, it was nice to try a new place. Our next 'sight' was just an architecturally interesting building, called the Egg House. It really does look like a giant egg. I think it's an apartment building, but I don't know.

We went to the nearest metro station, and made our way out to a part of town called VDNKh. I'm pretty sure I've described it previously, or at least tried to do so. Like other parts of the city, it was under massive renovation, hopefully to be done in time before the World Cup football tournament starts. We walked all the way through the area, the entire middle looked like the apocolypse had just happened. Construction mess everywhere.

Even though April isn't a pretty month here, everything got a little better day by day as the month went on. May is bound to be gorgeous!!