Mother Russia

The Trans-Siberian ended up being an okay ride, if a little bit anti-climactic. Siberia IS really beautiful, but the part we saw is pretty much birch forests and wooden houses. . . for three full days. Interesting variety came from the change in seasons as we traveled north and south- some places where still covered in snow while others where quite green with even an occasional patch of flowers (that was exciting).

Monotony aside, there where a few definite highlights. The first day we shared the room with a Major in the Russian Army who is a tank commander. He was friendly and willing to try to communicate with us (he spoke a little English and we have a Russian phrase book). He introduced us to pine nuts eaten out of shell like sunflower seeds, and was generally a really good roommate. The language barrier was frustrating, though. We where so interested in hearing what he had to say, and he seemed interested in us, too- but the scope of conversation was sadly limited by the language.The language barrier continued to be a frustration for the rest of the trip. We ended up taking a local Russian train, which meant a lot of Russians. It was cool, but we wanted to talk to them and there was no way. I interacted most with a little girl from the cabin next door. It took her a little while to get up the courage to talk to me, and probably a full day for her to understand that I didn't speak Russian. But after that she came by a lot just to look (she especially liked watching me play solitaire). She also taught me the names of all the barnyard animals in one of her books in Russian (which I promptly forgot).

Some of the best monotony breakers where the vendors outside the train when we stopped. Women selling a wide variety of interesting food and drinks swarmed the trains with boiled potatoes, whole smoked fish, dumplings, bread, coleslaw, beer, pine nuts, and quite a few things that I could not identify. But it was fun to look, and to supplement our diet of cup-o-noodles.

After four days, we finally reached the big city bravado of Moscow, quite a change from the stiletto heels and mullets of Irkutsk (Scott, if you do ever make it to Baikal you won't need to spend much time in Irkutsk- Dostoevsky in exile and wooden houses aside it is pretty much just like the Big Town). An incredible city, but, unfortunately, also one of the most expensive in the world. We paid way to much for our hostel and, consequently, booked an onward ticket to St. Petersburg after only one day. We were still able to see most of the major attractions including St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square, The Kremlin Armoury, and the Subway Stations. It may sound strange to list the subway as a major attraction, but it was amazing. Elaborate mosaics of Lenin and Soviet era workers line the ceiling of almost all of the major stations. It is easily the most ornate subway I've ever scene and also one of the most effective.We previously mentioned May 1 as a big holiday, but Russia is also in the midst of preparing for the 9th of May - celebrating it's victory over Germany in World War II. It's sort of a combination of Veterans Day and 4th of July. Statues of famous veterans crushing swastikas are all over both Moscow and St. Petersburg. It is understandably a major event considering the massive loss of life during the war (over 23 million as compared to 400,000 Americans). St. Petersburg was under siege for 900 days ; over 1 million people died of starvation. There is also a lot of news related to the Estonia-Russia conflict inflamed by a war memorial being moved out of the Estonian capital city of Tallinn - the Estonians say because it reminds them of Soviet occupation. The timing, however, has led to riots in Tallinn and Moscow as well as most companies in Russia banning Estonian made products.We arrived in St. Petersburg yesterday morning and have thoroughly enjoyed the European vibe of the city. We've spent most of the time walking up and down Nevsky Boulevard and have visited St. Isaac's Cathedral, Peter and Paul Fortress, and The Church of the Savior on Blood. Tomorrow we're going to The Hermitage. So much to do! We plan to stay until the 10th, both to see the rest of the city and to experience the 9th of May festivities. We met up with Stephan and Reinier again - the picture below was taken today in front of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.