4 day train ride into Siberia...

Written on the trian November 29th
****
Our cozy little 5x6 foot room on the train we call home for 4 straight days - transporting us from Moscow to Irkustks. We are lucky no one is sleeping above us, our 4 bed room is to ourselves. We try to read our books, but the train rocks us to sleep without us even noticing we are tired. Not that it is really a problem, no agenda, no plans, no alarm clock. It is a bit foreign to us. We are crossing 5 time zones in 4 days.

Our Russian neighbours offer us Vodka at 12pm, "later!" we say. Then again at 3pm "later!" we say, "its too early for us to be drinking Vodka!". They laugh.

At every stop, those brave enough to leave their warm rooms to venture outside take a look at what the local baboushka's are selling on the platform; food, juice, nuts, wool socks.

It is pitch black outside and it is only 2pm, and then I realized my watch is still on Moscow time, it is really 5pm.

The snow outside gets higher the futher we travel. The ice on our window growing thicker as the days pass. Strange to be completley secluded for 4 days straight, mobile with no reception, no news about the world. This is definitely a different kind of travelling, but i'm enjoying it.

Moscow, Russia

Well...it is not my favourite...although it was a great experience to stay with a Russian family in Moscow instead of a hostel. The husband spoke little English, but drew us out a very sweet map of the area around their apartment and spoke to us for extended durations of time in Russian while we pretended to understand every word. The wife spoke fairly good English and mothered us as we left each morning.."did you remember the key? Do you have all your documents with you?". You get in BIG trouble in Russia if you dont have your passport and migration card on you at all times. Who wants to be dragged into the police station by scary Russian Military Police who dont speak any English? Not us!

The Metro stations, 60m undergroud (the deepest in the world!) surprised us at every stop. Massive chandaleirs, mosaics, sculptures, stain glass...if it werent for the hords of people pushing around we could have been in a museum! In Soviet times, it was illegal for Russian to tell foreigners where the Metro stations were for fear they would be targeted and bombed. This means that even now, it is difficult to spot the Metro stations. "Really, The Metro station is in that church?" It is still illegal to take pictures down there, big fines if we did and got caught! And again....scary Russian Military Police....

We explored the Kremlin, Red Square, and St. Basil's Cathedral. It rained and rained and rained somemore. So it became a game of not only people dodging on the streets, but also puddle dodging too. Puddles often the size of small lakes. We could have made the Russians hate us more if we brought our rubber boots and splashed away...but I think it would have made them frown more, if that is even possible.

However, just as the sun was setting at 4pm, a full rainbow appeared over the Kremlin, and that is the first time I saw Russians smiling on the street as they looked skyward.

The 4 day train ride to Siberia starts tonight, maybe we are crazy!

St. Petersburg, Russia

The train from Helsinki to Russia was great, although it worried us that everyone around us was decked out in fur coats and hats...and here we were with running shoes, and no proper winter coat. Hmm...no snow when we arrived in St. Petersburg though, and for November it was quite mild being above zero. Lucky ducks we are! I'm sure we will have no such luck in Siberia though! For a few days, I'm secretly not upset about global warming.

Russia is like no other country...I can't compare it. It has a climate similar to Canada, a business similar to London, and architecture with Italian and French undertones. Its chaotic though, with all the military and police around, one would think there would be more organized order - some sort of flow.

Expensive cafes and stores line the main street Nevskij Prospekt. Everywhere you look is another gorgeous building, statue, or church. At night time, the buildings are so well lit that the city glows.

It is difficult to get by here with just English, hardly anyone speaks it, and the Russian Alphabet is very different from our own. Even letters that are the same mean something entirely different. B is really pronounced R, etc etc. авлыжд лыдфолдо you get the picture? We feel like we are illiterate. Looking at pictures of food on restaurant menus (if there are pictures!), counting the stops on the Metro, a short escalator up is to another line, a long one is the exit. Difficult is an understatement, but we manage.

The Hermitage Museum was unreal. 2.6 million pieces of Art, impossible to get though it all. The building and the rooms are just as jaw dropping as the art on the walls. Rooms full of Picasso, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Gauguin, Cezanne, Matisse. You could spend weeks here!

We climb St. Isaac's Cathedral for a view of the city. In 1931 the Soviet regime converted it into an anti-religious museum (only in the former USSR could a church be converted into an atheist museum!).

The colourful candy-like onion domes of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ are spectacular. Maybe the 1st image that comes to mind when thinking of Russian architecture...more to see of this in Moscow!

We met some interesting travelers at our hostel. Virginia, an American travel writer working in Iceland, Jean-Marc, a Montrealer into month 2 of a 13 month world trip, and Alexander, a cancer-research lab technician from Amsterdam on a weeks holiday. We all enjoyed some sushi and then some drinks at an underground bar, as well as some English-speaking company!

Together, we did a walking tour around the city guided by a Russian girl who was born in St. Petersburg. It was so interesting and eye-opening to hear more about the history and culture. There really is no middle class in Russia, most people consider themselves middle class if they can scrape by and pay rent and buy food, all while living 10 people in a run down flat. In Canada, their middle class would be seen as poor. There are the very very well of Russians (who are few) and the rest who scrape by (which are the majority). The corruption in the police, healthcare, and education system are out of control. It is no wonder happy people are hard to find on the street...not a smiling face in sight. You really can't blame them though!

Helsinki, Finland

Arrived in snow covered Tempere, Finland this morning...haven't seen snow since I left Canada! The two hour bus ride into Helsinki passed relatively quickly...eating a delicious lunch made by my cousin Ana packed for me (thanks!) while trying to figure our why all the houses had ladders to the rooftops (which I later learned from Aurelia's friend Anti was so people could shovel snow off the roof).

Aurelia sweetly met me at the bus stop when I arrived...no snow left in the city though...so sad! I was looking forward to having a few snowball fights and testing out my running shoes in the snow (for Russia!).

Us being away from each other for over a week meant a full day of playing catch-up...new stories to tell one another! It doesn't happen often, as we are usually together all the time!

We wandered around the city, checked out a market by the water, a photo exhibition about street-style, wandered the pedestrian shopping streets and warmed ourselves up in cute cafes.

I also indulged in my black licorice addiction, for possibly the last time until I return home (as Scandinavia and Finland are just as crazy for the stuff as I am...like entire sections for it in the grocery store kinda crazy!) Panda Licorice - I love you! You will be missed!

Thanks Anti for letting us stay with you and for making us a fantastically authentic Finnish dinner - fish soup, black bread and carelian pies. Mmmm!

Glasgow, Scotland

The 8 hour night-bus ride from London to Glasgow was not the funnest in the world (a 17 year old puker, and a similar aged London gangster girl who was "getting out of town to stay low for while" since she got into a fight with a girl from another gang), but hey....if you can try sleep through it all...what does it matter...really? Too bad I am incapable of sleeping on a bus or else it would have been alright.

This aside, it by no means foreshadowed the rest of my trip. I met up with my friend Richard who I met in Lagos who showed me the city (which is fantastic by the way! The shopping was too good to be true and it kinda made me depressed I couldnt buy any of it! Well, except for what I needed; hat and mittens for Russia). We checked out the Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow Uni (both of which are gorgeous!!), and did a little road trip up to Loch Lomond where the highlands begin. Can't complain when you're sipping some tea on a big comfy couch overlooking the lake and mountains in the background.

Did i mention how much I love the Scottish accent? So ya, just overhearing people speak was fun for me. Trying to imitate it just made Richard shake his head in disbelief of how silly I sounded, haha!

I went to Edinburgh with my family when I was younger, and I had always heard that Glasgow was a great place as well, so I finally made it there. The bus ride back to London was 100x better as it was pretty much empty...ah, space! I think I was able to sleep for 1 hour, 20 minutes at a time...but not bad for me!

Off for Finland soon!

kickin' it in London

After spending a few great days with my cousin, her husband, and adorable 3 children in Cambridge...I headed to London. It being my...hmmm..5th time (I think!) in the city, I get the luxury of "hanging out", rather than racing to every tourist site in the city...been there, done that! I got a chance to dig a bit deeper...check out some cool cafes and pubs, the Bourough Market which is absolutely fantastic! Chili Chocolate fudge, crazy selection of cheeses, home made puddings, beers from all over the world, marmalades ive never heard of...but sound delicious! How food excites me....it cant be normal.

Enjoyed a fantastic hockey game...where half the team was Canadian! Nowonder it was fantastic!! haha! Lots of expats at the game who were going through hockey withdrawal just like myself.

The Tate Modern was fantastic as ever....they had a special exhibit going on where you could take a slide down to the main floor from the 5th, 4th, and 3rd floor. FUN!!! The 4th floor slide was the fastest for some strange reason...just a tip if you are going!

Also checked out the Medieval Warick Castle, craziness! The torture room was completely disgusting...I wont get into it as I will gross myself out again.

Met up with some friends, enjoyed being able to read everything around me and understand people's conversations around me...oh the little luxuries we forget about!

Off to a spontaneous trip to Scotland! Yeeeha!

Travelling around Portugal! Lisbon, Sintra, Coimbra, & Porto

Wow, it is always a bit of a shock living in a tiny little town...and then going to a big city! Lagos to Lisbon is quite the jump!

We packed up our bags and moved out of our flat on November 1st...and settled into Aurelias uncles flat in Lisbon for 5 days. The weather wasnt exactly fantastic...it was 20 degrees which is nice, but it was raining most of the time. We hiked up hills (Lisbon is full of them!), wandered side streets, saw the sights, laughed at the insane parking rules (there are none! Wherever you want to park...you can park!), went on the rollercoaster-like tram line #28, tested out different port wines, and checked out the lively nightlife in Bairro Alto. Oh, and we managed to get our Chinese visas here as well...damn we are good!

We went to our first Football match (soccer to us Canadians) in Lisbon which was an experience in itself. The fans are crazy!!!! We saw Benfica vs. Beira Mar...Benfica won 3-0. They forgot to put in a parking lot at the stadium (typical Portuguese planning!), so everyone parks on the side of the highway...hillarious!

We also checked out Sintra, a sweet picturesque town outside of Lisbon with the most adorable castle I have EVER EVER seen! (The National Pena Palace). It looks like it came out of a fairytale.

Yesterday we spent a day and a night in Coimbra, a cute and lively university town with lots of history. Even the University had a prision that they used to use for punishing students and professors! The Library there was crazy as well, with walls 2 meters thick, the 250+ year old books are still in good shape.

Porto is where we are currently, (yes, where all the Port wines come from!). It is a great city to spend our last day in Portugal.

Off to London tomorrow for some more travelling fun!