Moscow

Moscow (Carly): Sun 24/09/2006 7:07 PM

Hi Mum

Thanks for looking into the news for us! We think we'll still go, the hostel in Bangkok is in the outskirts of Bangkok and has swimming pool and gym so worst case we stay in for that week!

just met a Dutch guy here and he said its really easy to get companies to sort out trips to Vietnam for you and that as there are hundreds you can find a good price. so we'll do our visa in Bangkok!

Moscow is pretty cool, we went to red square yesterday even though we were exhausted from the train!

Today we saw the university which is huge and went to the circus which was brilliant!!! We were surprised that they still use a lot of animals, but I have to admit it was cool seeing a bear drive a motorbike and he seemed to be having fun! it was worth the money for the acrobats they were amazing and at one point they changed the floor for ice and had some figure skaters doing cool tricks e.g. the woman with her feet behind the man's head holding on with them (no hands from either of them) and the guy spinning round - pretty impressive!

We both love the website and will send some photos soon as this is a lap top in the hostel and there are not many people staying here!

We have bought tickets for the ballet on Friday night - very cultured of us hey! We thought we should see some while we're here!

We'll have to watch what we say in emails now as Dad will post them on the website!!!

Give our love to Nan and tell her to get well soon! We're very glad that we didn't go to Greece - if that's typical Greece its awful!

We stayed in better hostels, in fact the hostel here is probably better (and its pretty basic) we have a kettle and shower curtain!!!

Ok well I'd best go now but will email again soon!

lots of love Carly

ps. Adam forgot to say Ekene thought her interviews went well and she got her degree result - 2.2.

Moscow (Adam): Sun 24/09/2006 6:13 PM

Hey Mum,

Thanks for that information on Thailand, it sounds fine there at the moment so we are not gonna change our plans as yet. Carly says our hostel there is quite far from the centre so we should be ok even if there is trouble with the government.

Today we had a good day, went to the circus which was pretty awesome. Loads of acrobats doin some incredible stuff like one-handed handstands on each others heads and throwing each other up in the air with seesaws. One of them even went on the seesaw on one stilt and did a double flip and landed on it,

Pretty amazing. The elephants and bears and stuff doing tricks are pretty clever but it seems a bit cruel at the same time. The monkeys were hilarious, they all wore clothes and pulled each other's trousers down and did hurdles, walked tightropes and rode a bicycle!

After that we just walked round the university, it is huge, tons of buildings and a massive one with 5 towers and loads of clocks.

Moscow is pretty good but I think I prefer St Petersburg, the hostel here is good, the manager brought a computer here today so we can use internet for free here!

Anyway there is a few people waiting for the computer so I can't take too long, everything is fine and we are having a good time here. I'll write another long email to everyone later in the week and update u completely.

Loads of love,

Adam xx

Moscow 2 (Carly): Thu 28/09/2006 10:31 PM

Hello again!

Firstly I have to say a big thanks to my Dad who has made a website for us with all of our emails (including a few sent only to him or Mum and so not meant for general release!) and some of the photos from the European stage! We have sent them a couple from Russia too so hopefully they'll be up before long! For anyone who didn't get Dad's email the address is

www.tripsover.co.uk

Right well in my last we were just about to go out drinking with the hostel manager Tim, which we did after a few vodka's in the kitchen! It was lots of fun especially as we were staying with a crazy Aussie who had heard Russians take a slice of coffee covered in coffee after shots. Tim's Russian girlfriend had not heard of this custom but supplied the necessary ingredients and we tried it. What can I say except that it was an experience I will not rush to repeat! In the bar we were amused when the German girls from the hostel beat all of the men of all nations at table football! The next day I was pleased to find everyone else feeling pretty rough while I did not suffer too much! Must be Adam's calming influence!

The overnight train to Moscow was the most comfortable and efficiently laid out train I have ever been on! The beds folded out of the wall complete with sheets, blankets and even a towel! We were sharing with a nice Russian couple who showed us how it all worked and wanted to sleep, meaning we could too! It was so much better than the Budapest-Venice train!

We found our hostel here in Moscow despite rather vague directions to discover that it is more of an apartment with no reception so a fellow guest was woken by our arrival and let us in! Although there are lots of beds, for the most part there have only been 3 other people here, and because of the small size of the place we are all on very friendly terms! The guy from Chile has been traveling for 3 years, learnt his English in Australia and his favourite phrase is "very good"! Roderigo from Brazil is here to learn Russian because he started seeing a Russian girl in Lyon and the Dutch guy is in his 40's and seems to have been everywhere in the world!

We have pretty much seen all the major sights in Moscow. Red Square is huge and really impressive! We were less impressed with the inside of the Kremlin, its a bit strange as there are lots of little churches inside. But any disappointment was probably because the audio guide told us about the Tsars when we had hoped to hear about the Cold War and the KGB!!! The audio guide was also quite annoying as it had to be returned (outside) within 2 hours and so shortened our visit! Though if we hadn't got it 2 hours would have probably been enough to see it all!

St Basil's Cathedral is really beautiful, though the inside is very rough and not a patch on the similar church in St Petersburg! The Church of Christ the Saviour is a huge white and gold church near to the river. Inside was amazing as there are actually two churches and a free museum of religious art. In the lower church was a huge golden iconostasis, the walls and ceiling were plain white but this highlighted the colours in the paintings and icons. I also liked the fresh flowers placed before most of the paintings. In the upper church all of the walls and ceilings were painted with biblical scenes on a huge scale. There was a consistent colour scheme and certain figures, egg the Virgin Mary were displayed with the same characteristics in each which gave the paintings the feeling of belonging to one large picture. We both agreed that it is probably the most impressive church we have ever seen - yes even as good as St Peter's in Rome!!

The highlight of the week so far has to be going to the circus! We went to a matinee performance and after a little difficulty in asking were surprised to find that our seats were in the front row! This was great for the acrobats, clowns and juggler but I was not so keen on them when the dribbling bull dogs playing football came spilling out of the ring and almost onto my lap! We had mixed feelings about the animals involved which included bears, elephants, monkeys, horses, doves, loads of dogs and a rat. But the acrobats and trapeze artists were amazing! My favourite was probably a little couple who did balancing acts on ladders, most impressive of which had the man on top of one unsupported ladder, with another ladder balancing on his forehead and the lady doing a handstand on top of this second ladder! The clowns were very funny too, mostly communicating with a whistle or through mime so that we were at no disadvantage not speaking Russian! I was really surprised when the floor was changed for an ice rink and figure skaters came out and started throwing each other around. Again our front row seats did not seem quite so appealing with ice skates whizzing past at head height as the men twirled the girls over their heads, or when the girls had their feet round the men's necks with neither holding on during more fast spinning!

Today we went to VDKNh a former propaganda park of the Soviet Union. Now the enormous pavilions have mostly been turned into shops, but they are still as imposing as they must have been originally! The huge golden fountain in the centre with women representing the 15 original soviet states had us captivated for ages!

On the whole Moscow is probably not quite as good as St Petersburg but we have had a lot of fun! We have not missed out on culture either, we visited the Chekhov museum yesterday and are going to the ballet tomorrow night! Anyway that is more than enough so until next time....

Love to all,

Carly xx

PS Still no trouble with the police or anyone else and as things seem calm in Thailand we're hoping for similar luck there from Saturday onward!

Stranger in Moscow (Adam): Thu 28/09/2006 8:55 PM

Hey everyone,

Really enjoying it here in Moscow, the weather is surprisingly good considering it we are in Russia. It is actually a lot warmer here than in St Petersburg. Unfortunately there is a bit less to do here than in St P and the city is a LOT bigger. There is somewhere between 11 and 13 million people here in Moscow and u can tell as soon as u get on the underground! It is a bit of an ordeal catching a train here and the metro is busy no matter what time u get on it.

Most of the tourist sites are grouped around the famous Red Square but it only takes a few days at the most to see them. Some of them are really amazing like St Basil's Cathedral but others are a bit of an anticlimax, like the Kremlin. The image that everyone has in their mind of the Kremlin is St Basil's but it is actually just outside the Kremlin walls in Red Square. Inside the Kremlin there are 4 Cathedrals (in the aptly named Cathedral Square) but they are really small and not that impressive. We bought tickets for Cathedral Square and also forked out for the audioguide (and the bag storage, the only one we have had to pay for on the whole trip) and were really disappointed when we got inside. The Cathedrals are quite nice to look at and the insides are covered in paintings and mosaics. However two of them are currently closed to the public for refurbishment so we could not see them as we listened to the audioguide, irritating coz if we had known we prob wouldn't have paid four quid for it. We saw a bit of the Tsars' ceremonial garb in a museum we accidentally strayed into whilst following the extremely vague audio guide. The amount of gold and jewels they had is incredible and some of that stuff is really good to see. The actual Kremlin is not that impressive, besides the Cathedrals there is a museum and a bunch of office blocks.

Red Square on the other hand is a lot better, there is St Basil's, the GUM shopping centre and Lenin's Mausoleum. St Basil's is the most colourful church I've ever seen and completely dominates the square, it is like something out of a cartoon. The inside is a bit unexpected as it is kinda like a cave, the walls are very rough but all painted with vines and flowers but parts of it are very ornate. The GUM centre is a huge shopping arcade with all the posh shops in it, mostly very expensive, the lady that runs the hostel here, Olga, says that none of the Russians ever shop there, only tourists and mega-rich people. We went into the Mausoleum yesterday morning and it is the most surreal experience I have ever had. It is literally like walking into a tomb. Loads of guards are everywhere and they search you on the way in, no bags or cameras are allowed. From this point you walk across Red Square as they close a huge part of it (prob about a 100m square) in front of the Mausoleum when it is open so no noise disturbs Lenin. The Mausoleum is actually like a red stone pyramid and there are several more guards by the entrance. Inside suddenly you can't see anything. Walls, floor and ceiling are all black and there are no lights. The total darkness is not a great idea as there are several steps in the middle of the corridor with no handrails or anything. I almost fell down them and that would have definitely broken the silence. Around the corner there is a glass case with Lenin's embalmed body inside and one light bulb over his face. The rest of the room is all black and I can just make out a couple more guards. The walkway goes around the case past Lenin's feet and then out the opposite side. It is as if they want to remove ur attention from everything else in the world so that u concentrate entirely on Lenin for the time u r in there, strange how they have built a shrine to this man when he was so against religion. Round the back of the Mausoleum are some other famous dead Russians tucked away but the only one I managed to translate and recognise was Josef Stalin.

We also went to the Chekhov Museum which is in the house where the Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov used to live in Moscow. It was pretty interesting although I really know nothing about Chekhov I just thought I should go as I will study some of his work next year. Now I know that he was very patriotic and very prolific.

Today we went to the All Russian Exhibition Centre, basically a huge complex of museums and exhibitions built in the Soviet era to show how great the Soviet Union was. Today all of the museums are full of shops or closed completely. The buildings are incredible, at the entrance there is a metal obelisk representing a space shuttle launch which is as high as a 30 storey building. We saw about 15 buildings, all of which are the size of ur average cathedral and as impressive as most. Each building was built to represent one aspect of soviet achievement egg economics, agriculture, space travel... There is also a huge pond full of fountains and another with gold statues of women representing each of the 15 soviet states. It is really amazing to see and somewhat ironic as it was built as a monument to communism and now houses hundreds of shops and a funfair, u can't really get more capitalist than that.

Best of all so far was the Moscow Circus. Although I don't really agree with the trained animals (elephants doing handstands and such) the acrobats are incredible. U know u've seen everything when u see a man on one stilt get catapulted into the air off a see-saw and complete two backward somersaults before landing perfectly... These guys are unbelievable, a guy balances at the top of a ladder with another ladder in his hands as a girl climbs up it right to the top. One guy does a handstand with one hand on another guy's head and then stands on the other guy's hands and does a backflip! But the thing that really makes it special is when the monkeys pull each other's trousers down for jokes...

I have enjoyed the time we have spent here, Moscow is definitely an experience unlike any other city I have been to. The trouble is it is just so big and there are so many people that it is hard to get around and there is not that much to do compared with St Petersburg. In the hostel there are a few south American guys staying so we have been talking to them a lot, they are both here chasing Russian girls they met in other countries which is pretty funny. One of the guys is from Chile, he just came in the kitchen and asked me how much it costs to rent an apartment in Moscow, apparently his Russian girl will dump him unless he gets his own place! Plus she told him he dresses like a tramp and he will have to buy new clothes. She must be worth it though coz right now he is adding up his possessions back home in Chile to see if he can afford to rent a place here. This guy has been away from home 3 years travelling from place to place non-stop and working (mostly illegally for cash), he was also asking me how easy it is for illegals to get work in London, he doesn't want to go there if he can't get work coz he heard it is really expensive.

Anyway tomorrow we are gonna go check out the fine arts museum coz its on the top ten in our guidebook and then tomorrow night we are goin to the famous Bolshoi Ballet although the Bolshoi is actually closed for refurbishment so its in another theatre... only in Russia.

Russia is a really exciting place to visit but if u ever come here definitely go to St Petersburg first as I think it has made Moscow a lot easier for us, kinda like a gradual descent into the madness...

The next time u all hear from us we'll b in Bangkok next week, hopefully the army will have left by then, if not our visit will b short indeed. If u hear anything about the situation there please do email me or Carly as we will b very happy to know about it, its kinda hard to follow the news in Russia.

I hope everybody is well and to all my friends from school and uni I hope u have all found jobs by now, if not gd luck, until next time

Adam

Moscow 3 (Carly) Sun 08/10/2006 4:41 PM

The ballet was really good, we both enjoyed it and luckily I bought a programme so we knew what was going on!

We made it to the airport in plenty of time and were really impressed by Thai Airways!!! We both watched 4 films, so we didn't get any sleep but it was well worth it!

Carly