Notes from Russia

Noelle writes:

1. I love Ladas! They are so cool. In the words of Joy Turner (My Name is Earl): I wonnit! So our backup plan for coming home is now to buy a Lada, drive to the northeast tip of Russia, catch a boat to Alaska and drive the Lada to Vancouver.

2. St. Petersburg has over 200 universities.

3. You are not allowed to throw toilet paper down the loo anywhere in Russia so most washrooms stink from the smell of the paper in the baskets next to the toilets.

4. Russian drivers are crazy! As crazy as the Mexicans my family may ask. I'd say they are nearly on par.

5. The food here is really good! Loads of pancakes (that's crepes for the North American readers) and great soups.

6. The Moscow metro has more commuters each day than both London and New York combined. And they are beautiful stations (see pics).

7. Russians love ice cream. It doesn't matter what the temperature, you can find ice cream kiosks everywhere.

Moscow

Simon writes:

We're in Moscow (a couple hours late because some numbnuts, who shall be nameless, had to go back to Suzdal where he forgot his money belt!). Russians are properly into their weddings by the way - bridal parties tour the main historic sites for photo ops, terrorising innocent tourists with their rose petals and their 1980s clothing. Shiny suits everywhere - eww!

The penguins were out on parole in Red Square (pic to follow). Being committed fascists, they weren't very impressed with all the Communist stuff and the glorification of Lenin that still goes on here. The cult of personality is alive and well it seems...

St. Petersburg

Noelle writes:

Wow, St. Petersburg is quite something! The buildings here are amazing and so colourful. Been to the Hermitage this morning and tonight we leave with our tour group for Suzdal, near Moscow.

It's freezing here so we had to go to the market yesterday to buy ourselves more clothes (including my new hat).

Situation resolved

Simon writes:

It wasn't pretty, but the hostage situation has been resolved. The police had to get involved and everything. Fortunately the description of the perps was unique enough for the investigation to be a simple matter for even the most dim-witted of coppers.

The penguins are now in a secure correctional facility / gulag (the bottom of my laundry bag with my dirty socks) until such time as they can prove they are no longer a danger to themselves or society at large. Honestly, bloody penguins! We should have brought pigs instead. They can't fly either and I love pigs.

Anyway, with that all cleared up, here's a few thoughts about Vilnius and Lithuania: Lithuania was the first country in Europe to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces so going out to trendy Vilnius bars was accompanied only by the smells of armpit and ass.

Speaking of "ass", Lithuanian is officially the "ass" languange of the world. According to one city guide we picked up you've got an 18 in 27 chance of adding "as" to the end of English(ish) nouns to get a Lithuanian noun: Baras, Bankas, Restoranas etc.

One particular highlight was "mate". We were in a place that specialises in different kinds of teas. One entry on the menu had a big long discription in Lithuanian with an English translation of "mate". Nothing more, nothing less. Brilliant.

We're in St Petersburg now at the start of the Trans Siberian tour. Very pretty, loads of art, churches etc. I'm a bit churched out to be honest. Looking forward to getting involved with some Siberians. Bye!

Hostage situation!

Simon writes (under duress):

This is an urgent message pleading for help! The penguins, apparently enraged at not having been included in our activities and consequently the blog, have taken us captive and are demanding a ransom! Please please please send 100kg of raw fish to the following address: random hostel in Lithuania. They've demanded that we post this photo of THEM (not us) out having a good time in Vilnius. Please hurry, we don't have much time...

Krakow

Noelle writes:

Krakow is lovely and although it doesn't feel as lively as Wroclaw (this may be because we were in Wroclaw on the weekend and Krakow during the week) it does have a lot of interesting sites to see.

On Monday we took a trip to Auschwitz which was very shocking. It rained most of the day we were there which felt quite fitting, as a place that has experienced such horror I can't imagine it any other way. Auschwitz itself has a museum set up which gives some of the history behind World War II and has memorials for all of the nationalities affected during the Holocaust.

We then went on to Birkenau (Auschwitz II) which was absolutely massive. It was so saddening to see such an enormous camp and to think that over 75% of those who arrived at the camp only lived for a few hours.

In Krakow itself we went to the old Jewish town, Kazimierz, and visited the New Jewish Cemetery which has grave stones dedicated to entire families killed during the Holocaust.

On a lighter and happier note we also visited the Salt Mines outside of Krakow which are over 700 years old. Our tour lasted almost two hours and we saw just 1% of the mines, they are HUGE!! Absolutely everything was made out of salt, the walls, floors, ceilings, sculptures, it even had an underground cathedral.

We are now in Vilnius and it's cold and rainy, but a lovely city nonetheless. We are heading off on the overnight train to St Petersburg tomorrow to start our Trans-Mongolian journey, very exciting!!

Krakow food

Noelle writes:

Simon has finally met his match in Krakow - food-wise that is. There have been a few meals that he just hasn't been able to get through. For those that have eaten with Simon before they will know that this is a first.

There was the 20PLN (less than $8 or 5 pounds) soup starter and then pork, potatoes and cabbage (see photo) and then the 50cm pizza we shared last night (sorry forgot to take a picture).