GARGANTUAN steps
Saturday, January 03, 2009
new seven wonders of the world: europe
Happy New Year and 2009 to everyone. Time really seems to pass faster as I age and to revive the age old cliche, it seems like yesterday when I first arrived in London. Chinese New Year is just round the corner too! Think looking forward to events just makes time seem to pass much faster.Meanwhile, I've been wanting to get down to typing this entry and I've finally decided to do so! I've always travelled with a purpose (albeit some silly ones at times) and one of them is a plan to see all the nominated New Seven Wonders of the World. I've finally covered the finalists in Europe and it is time to move on to the rest of the world. And I can also concentrate on visiting Europe properly, as opposed to travelling out of the way just to catch one of these sites (which was what happened in my recent trip to Fussen and also previously to Granada). I've put them according to the sites that are the least significant to me to those that I would very much love to visit again. Some of these places are worth the extra effort and cost just to visit.
France - Paris: The Eiffel Tower
France - Paris: The Eiffel Tower
Tour Eiffel
The Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889 and it stands at a height of 325m. I went there at the end of my first year in London with my parents, during the summer holidays, and might be going back to Paris again at the end of my third year. Definitely a remarkable piece of modern-age engineering, it represented nothing more than a global icon to me, with not much history attached to it. Parisians detested it at first, but I think they love the money that it generates. The ride up to the third floor was quite a thrill by itself and the views from there were amazing, though the wind was extremely chilly up there. I don't think anyone would miss it once coming to Paris, and it is apparently the most visited attraction in the world.
Germany - Fussen: The Neuschwanstein Castle
Schloss Neuschwanstein
The Neuschwanstein Castle (New Swan Stone Palace) was the last of the wonders that I visited and I think a few factors added up to it being below my expectations. Firstly, the view of the castle from the Marienbrucke was spoilt by a fence of scaffoldings blocking the southern facade. Secondly, it would definitely have looked much more picturesque with quite a bit more sunshine (but it is my fault for going in the winter). Thirdly, the tour was a hasty half an hour, and though the interior was splendid, I would have liked a bit more time to explore it on my own instead of being rushed with thirty to forty other tourists and a guide with a heavy German accent. The Neuschwanstein Castle was built for the Bavarian King Ludwig II and it was never completed, but formally opened to the public in 1886 after his untimely death. It is apparently the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland and I think this has much more significance to the Americans than to anyone else.
United Kingdom - Amesbury: The Stonehenge
Stonehenge
The construction of the Stonehenge apparently began a few hundred years (3000 B.C.) before the Pyramids of Giza but the huge monolithic rocks were only put in place after the pyramids. As my aunt put it, if you want to see really huge rocks, this is the place to be. I think the circle of stones being enclosed within a 30m perimeter makes it hard to appreciate them. You are handed an audioguide at the ticket office entrance and then you just encircle the stones from a distance, listening to the guide rambling about something which would be much more interesting if you were within 2m of the stones, let alone 30m. But just thinking about how such huge rocks were transported from such a distance (250km) can really make one be impressed with the Brit's human ancestors. I visited the Stonehenge last Summer, together with Raymond and Daryll and I will most probably be going back again with my brother this coming summer, possibly on a road trip from London to Bournemouth for my cousin's wedding.
Italy - Rome: The Colosseum
Colosseo
The Colosseum was built between 70-80 AD and its past depicts a bloody scene. There was once a celebration in it that lasted for 123 days, involving 11000 animals and 10000 gladiators. This is also the only attraction in Europe to be one of finalists of the New Seven Wonders of the World. To me, what it represents is one of the most intact architecture of the Roman Empire in Rome itself, and the true significance of the empire lies actually in the Roman Forum, which is in much ruins, just beside the Colosseum. This battleground for the gladiators of ancient times looks really frail and brittle as compared to what it might actually have looked like in the past, but it still is impressive, considering that it has survived an earthquake, and tourism.
Interior of the Colosseum - The Arena
Greece - Athens: The Acropolis
Acropolis
Nothing symbolises civilisation more than the Parthenon of the Acropolis, and it is a sight to behold to see it towering above the city. What it represents is significant, but it was a pity to have visited it when maintenance works were being made. (I should make it a point not to visit such sites during winter) The Acropolis was built between 450 to 333 BC and it has suffered much since than, being used to store gunpowder during the Morean war which exploded, causing much damage to the buildings. I think an audioguide would have come in very handy there, though I'm not too sure whether we overlooked getting one there or there weren't any there in the first place. Definitely worth a visit, if not to see a pile of ruins, than for the weight of the history that it carries. I have good memories of my second year Christmas holidays there with my brother, Lynette and Fon.
The Parthenon
Turkey - Istanbul: The Hagia Sofia
Ayasofya
The Hagia Sofia (Sancta Sofia) was the second world wonder that I saw on my trip to Greece and Turkey with my brother two christmases ago. One word that describes it is that it is really huge, and it was built way back in 537 AD, only to be replaced as the world's largest church a millenia later by St Peter's Basilica in Rome. This church was converted to a mosque (thus its minarets) during the Ottoman period and is now a museum. One should hire one of the many tour guides prowling the entrance to get a good insight to this building, it was definitely well worth the money when we did so.
Interior of the Hagia Sofia
Russia - Moscow: The Kremlin and Red Square
Moskovskiy Kreml
If the Acropolis symbolises civislisation, than the Kremlin in Moscow symbolises power. I think its reputation precedes it and there is a sense of foreboding walking along the Red Square and going into the Kremlin. I think I was more afraid about being stop by the KGB than anything else. Russia was possibly the toughest place for me to get to, and being within it, you find that the people are as hostile as the country is to the world. However, for the history that it represents, it is definitely one of the top sites that I would like to visit again. One must definitely visit the Armoury, and make sure you don't get ousted away from the exhibits by Russians. St Basil's Cathedral at the end of the Red Square is also to be viewed from all sides, and one can never get enough of it.
St Basil's Cathedral
Spain - Granada: The Alhambra
La Alhambra
It was a tough choice deciding which I enjoyed more, the Alhambra or the Kremlin, but I think the Alhambra just edges it in terms of its beauty. The Alhambra means the 'red one', because it is a fortress built on a cliff with red rocks and it was completed in 1353. It use to be the house of residence of the Muslim rulers in Granada. It is really peaceful and serene in there (if you ignore the crowds there and imagine yourself living there) and the architecture is beautiful, and if I dare say, perfect. I remember going all out just to get there from Seville, buying the Granada Pass and all the additional transport costs, but in the end, even Mike and Fon agreed it was well worth the money paid. I will definitely be back one day.
Inside the Alhambra
It's now time for me to explore the rest of Europe properly, including the big cities Berlin, Milan and Madrid which I would really love to see. A few other places include the Scandinavian countries, Poland, Portugal and Morocco. And I would like to go back to Turkey one day too! School begins tomorrow, so that's really quite a dread, and it's non stop all the way till June, with only a 4 day Easter break. Wish I had more holidays like this one.
Labels: Acropolis, Alhambra, Church, Colosseum, Eiffel Tower, Hagia Sofia, Kremlin, Red Square, Schloss Neuschwanstein, Seven Wonders of the World, St Basil's Cathedral, Stonehenge, Travel
Monday, March 31, 2008
что ад делает это означает?
The main thing about Russia is that it is Russian. I've just returned home from nine days of travel in the land of the Iron Curtain and the land is one of hostility and arrogance, a country still stuck in past glories. That said, there were a small minority of people who helped us along the way and to them I shall be grateful! After lots of 'nyets' (which means no in English) and rejection, I am more than happy to be back in a country which speaks and writes in English and where basic courtesy exists. Pictures of my travel will follow up!
Day 1 and 2 - Tallinn: The Old Town and warnings of the cold ahead
Mike and I stayed at Ben and Zhijing's place the night before we took a plane off from Stansted to Tallinn. We reached Tallinn close to lunch time and when we had reached our hostel, we were informed that there was something wrong with our booking (which was to be a feature of the entire trip) and we were changed to a 4-star hotel for the same price (which was about 14 pounds) slightly further from the city centre instead! That suited us perfectly fine once we had seen the hotel lobby and the hotel rooms! This was too much for Mike who was more used to cramming with five or more others in a single dorm, and this included a buffet breakfast too! We spent the first day exploring the town centre and we had an excellent lunch at this medieval Estonian restaurant, where everything was lit by candle-light and you could barely see your food. You had the waiters and waitresses in traditional medieval costumes, and to sum it up, the toilets were medieval in style too! Mike and I managed to catch Easter Vigil mass at the Dominican Monastry that night too!
The second day was spent visiting more of Old Town and visiting a few churches, of which the most beautiful one was the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which was the first of many Russian Orthodox churches that we were to encounter on this trip! At night, we made our way across the border into Russia and the ride was quite horrendous, but gratefully, we managed to pass through immigration unscathed which was one of my many worries about the picky Russian government personnels looking for a quick buck.
I once asked, when I was young, to have just the opportunity to experience a day of snow and this day, I got my wish in its entirety. It literally snowed non-stop and we could barely navigate our way around and see the sights, so we spent most of it hiding in the warmth of cafes.
We spent the morning visitng St Isaac's Cathedral which was supposedly had the third largest dome in the world, behind St Peter's in Rome and St Paul's in London. The dome was beautiful indeed and there is a picture I took in the interior of it. We climbed the dome after visiting the church and then following that, we made our way to see the Decembrist Square where a Russian revolution occured and where the Bronze Horseman (which is a statue of Peter the Great on a horse) was. We wanted to go and see the Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood but decided against it because the snow was ruining visibility and this was a church to behold in a clear day, so we spent the rest of the afternoon hiding in cafes.
The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood is the St Petersburgian version of St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, though coming much later in time. Equally gaudy though and extremely eye-catching and breath-taking when it first come into view.
After exploring it in the morning, we headed to the nearby souvenir market which did not really live up to its expectations, perhaps because it was still winter and the weather was horrendous. We had lunch, visited the Kazan Cathedral (which had colonades like those in St Peter's Square in Rome) before we spent the afternoon in the warmth of the world famous Hermitage and Winter Palace museums! I had forgotten to bring my student card from London and all of us were to pay adult prices, except for Mike, who brought his, and this proved to be extremely costly for the rest of the trip. This is a definite must-see in St Petersburg, and really a beautiful museum since it once used to exist as a palace.
We were meant to head to Novgorod the previous day if we had seen the Church on Spilled Blood the day before, but since the snow proved to be a hindrance, we didn't go down to the old Russian town and we had a much freer day on our last day in St Petersburg. We spent the morning visiting the Kunstkammer museum which contained various rooms of different cultures and their clothings, artifacts and tools used. There was huge hall of bizarre exhibits of deformed or unusual people (including co-joined foetal twins and various brain deformities). This room wasn't for the faint of heart, but unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures, but I'm sure it would have highly interested my brother.
We then had to make our way to the airport to catch our flight to Moscow, but this time thankfully, the metro wasn't packed and we had a much more comfortable journey instead. We reached Moscow at night and once again, there was a mess up with our hostel booking, this time for Ben and Zhijing and we were all extremely displeased with Ivan the hostel manager, who really was trying to get as much money by cramming as many people into his hostel as possible.
This was suppose to be the highlight of the trip for me, visiting this fortress of power and though impressive and forbidding, I personally believe that there were other much more spectacular fortresses around, and I count the Forbidden City in Beijing as one of the them. Furthermore, I felt like they were really trying to get as much money out of tourists as possible, having to pay for the entrance fees for the Kremlin, the State Armoury and the Diamond Fund Exhibition, though all were in the same compound, which really disgusted me. Furthermore, we decided to use our passports which had our student visas inside but they just refused to look and we got my 'nyet's in our faces.
St Basil's Cathedral and the Monument to Minin and Prince Pozaharskiy, heroes from the Time of Troubles
The Kremlin
St Basil and the Kremlin in the evening
We were back at the Kremlin the next day to visit the State Armoury because we couldn't get tickets the previous day to see the exhibitions. The Faberge eggs were quite the highlight for me and I got one too as a souvenir, back in St Petersburg. Unfortunately, I coulndn't find any opportunity to take photos of it, but I did get one of the Crown of Monomakh, which was used for a few centuries to crown the Tsars.
The Crown of Monomakh
Kievskaya metro station
Mosaic of Lenin in Kievskaya Metro Station
Mayakovskaya station, which won the Grand Prix at the New York World's Fair
Funny little Russian Dolls
The Faberge Egg with a little surprise in it which I shall reveal next time in the future
Day 1 and 2 - Tallinn: The Old Town and warnings of the cold ahead
Mike and I stayed at Ben and Zhijing's place the night before we took a plane off from Stansted to Tallinn. We reached Tallinn close to lunch time and when we had reached our hostel, we were informed that there was something wrong with our booking (which was to be a feature of the entire trip) and we were changed to a 4-star hotel for the same price (which was about 14 pounds) slightly further from the city centre instead! That suited us perfectly fine once we had seen the hotel lobby and the hotel rooms! This was too much for Mike who was more used to cramming with five or more others in a single dorm, and this included a buffet breakfast too! We spent the first day exploring the town centre and we had an excellent lunch at this medieval Estonian restaurant, where everything was lit by candle-light and you could barely see your food. You had the waiters and waitresses in traditional medieval costumes, and to sum it up, the toilets were medieval in style too! Mike and I managed to catch Easter Vigil mass at the Dominican Monastry that night too!
The second day was spent visiting more of Old Town and visiting a few churches, of which the most beautiful one was the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which was the first of many Russian Orthodox churches that we were to encounter on this trip! At night, we made our way across the border into Russia and the ride was quite horrendous, but gratefully, we managed to pass through immigration unscathed which was one of my many worries about the picky Russian government personnels looking for a quick buck.
Me in the Raekoja plats (Town Hall Square) with the Raekoda (town hall) behind Vana Toomas is the little man acting as the wind vale
The four of us enjoying our first meal at Olde Hansa, the oldest medieval restaurant in Tallinn
The four of us enjoying our first meal at Olde Hansa, the oldest medieval restaurant in Tallinn
Easter Vigil with the Bishop carving on the Easter Candle!
Jesus Christ is risen today!
Jesus Christ is risen today!
Zhijing insisted I had to take this photo and so I duly obliged
Someone built a snow man on someone's car
Mike, Ben and Zhijing outside Aleander Nevsky Cathedral
Day 3 - St Petersburg: Peter and Paul Fortress
Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!
Proletarii vsekh stran, soyedinyaytes!
'workers of the world, unite'
- motto of USSR
Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!
Proletarii vsekh stran, soyedinyaytes!
'workers of the world, unite'
- motto of USSR
We reached St Petersburg early in the morning and we had to make our way to our hostel. The bus we were on had some problems and we were deposited somewhere different from where we were originally suppose to drop off from. That spelt trouble as I didn't have the map of the area and did not really know how to make my way to nearest metro. After getting our first few 'nyets' from passers-by, a friendly Russian lady brought us to the metro which was to be another shock. It was rush hour and everyone just shoved their way into the train and I literally had these two old ladys shoving people till they were falling down on me and I was bearing at least three people's weight. We literally only had breathing space in the metro and if I could have reached for my camera to take a shot of the situation, I would have. This first experience on the metro gave us metro-phobia for the rest of the trip, the fear of being pushed around.
The hostel had some problems with our booking once again, but this time, Mike and I shared a two bed dorm instead which was one better from our four bed dorm! We made a beeline towards Peter and Paul Fortress which was where Peter the Great laid the foundations of his new capital. The fortress was quite a beautiful place, especially the cathedral with the tall spire, but it really needed to have much more restoration so that it could be accommodating towards tourist, and that includes the entire city and its people. We spent the entire time in St Petersburg jumping over puddles of water, mud and slush and a few times, my foot was soaked in water and this totally ruined my shoes. SAF boots were really made to survive St Petersburg.
The hostel had some problems with our booking once again, but this time, Mike and I shared a two bed dorm instead which was one better from our four bed dorm! We made a beeline towards Peter and Paul Fortress which was where Peter the Great laid the foundations of his new capital. The fortress was quite a beautiful place, especially the cathedral with the tall spire, but it really needed to have much more restoration so that it could be accommodating towards tourist, and that includes the entire city and its people. We spent the entire time in St Petersburg jumping over puddles of water, mud and slush and a few times, my foot was soaked in water and this totally ruined my shoes. SAF boots were really made to survive St Petersburg.
I would never have known this was Macs if not for the famous golden arches
Ben and Peter and Paul Fortress behind
Me and the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul
Cold day in St Petersburg
Peter and Paul Fortress
Peter and Paul Fortress
KFC in St Petersburg was always going to be an attraction to me
Day 4 - St Peterburg: St Isaac's Cathedral and cafe day
I once asked, when I was young, to have just the opportunity to experience a day of snow and this day, I got my wish in its entirety. It literally snowed non-stop and we could barely navigate our way around and see the sights, so we spent most of it hiding in the warmth of cafes.
We spent the morning visitng St Isaac's Cathedral which was supposedly had the third largest dome in the world, behind St Peter's in Rome and St Paul's in London. The dome was beautiful indeed and there is a picture I took in the interior of it. We climbed the dome after visiting the church and then following that, we made our way to see the Decembrist Square where a Russian revolution occured and where the Bronze Horseman (which is a statue of Peter the Great on a horse) was. We wanted to go and see the Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood but decided against it because the snow was ruining visibility and this was a church to behold in a clear day, so we spent the rest of the afternoon hiding in cafes.
St Isaac's dome
The Bronze Horseman and St Isaac's Cathedral behind
Frozen outside Kazan Cathedral
Day 5 - St Peterburg: Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood and the Hermitage
The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood is the St Petersburgian version of St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, though coming much later in time. Equally gaudy though and extremely eye-catching and breath-taking when it first come into view.
After exploring it in the morning, we headed to the nearby souvenir market which did not really live up to its expectations, perhaps because it was still winter and the weather was horrendous. We had lunch, visited the Kazan Cathedral (which had colonades like those in St Peter's Square in Rome) before we spent the afternoon in the warmth of the world famous Hermitage and Winter Palace museums! I had forgotten to bring my student card from London and all of us were to pay adult prices, except for Mike, who brought his, and this proved to be extremely costly for the rest of the trip. This is a definite must-see in St Petersburg, and really a beautiful museum since it once used to exist as a palace.
Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood (This church was built on the spot where on of the Russian Tsars was murdered, hence the name)
Dome
The Hermitage
Me outside Palace Square, and the Hermitage in the background (This was where the Bolsheviks brought about the revolution)
Hall of St George in the Winter Palace
The Hermitage
Me outside Palace Square, and the Hermitage in the background (This was where the Bolsheviks brought about the revolution)
Hall of St George in the Winter Palace
Day 6 - St Peterburg: Kunstkammer
We were meant to head to Novgorod the previous day if we had seen the Church on Spilled Blood the day before, but since the snow proved to be a hindrance, we didn't go down to the old Russian town and we had a much freer day on our last day in St Petersburg. We spent the morning visiting the Kunstkammer museum which contained various rooms of different cultures and their clothings, artifacts and tools used. There was huge hall of bizarre exhibits of deformed or unusual people (including co-joined foetal twins and various brain deformities). This room wasn't for the faint of heart, but unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures, but I'm sure it would have highly interested my brother.
We then had to make our way to the airport to catch our flight to Moscow, but this time thankfully, the metro wasn't packed and we had a much more comfortable journey instead. We reached Moscow at night and once again, there was a mess up with our hostel booking, this time for Ben and Zhijing and we were all extremely displeased with Ivan the hostel manager, who really was trying to get as much money by cramming as many people into his hostel as possible.
The ancient art of healing in the past
Day 7 - Moscow: The Kremlin, Red Square and St Basil's Cathedral
This was suppose to be the highlight of the trip for me, visiting this fortress of power and though impressive and forbidding, I personally believe that there were other much more spectacular fortresses around, and I count the Forbidden City in Beijing as one of the them. Furthermore, I felt like they were really trying to get as much money out of tourists as possible, having to pay for the entrance fees for the Kremlin, the State Armoury and the Diamond Fund Exhibition, though all were in the same compound, which really disgusted me. Furthermore, we decided to use our passports which had our student visas inside but they just refused to look and we got my 'nyet's in our faces.
Me and the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin
Soldiers marching outside the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Me outside the Kremlin, on the Red Square, with St Basil's Cathedral in the background (This is Russia's entry of the New Seven Wonders of the World but they didn't win)
St Basil's Cathedral
(Ivan the Terrible had the eyes of the builder gorged out so that he couldn't build another church like that)
St Basil's Cathedral
(Ivan the Terrible had the eyes of the builder gorged out so that he couldn't build another church like that)
St Basil's Cathedral, is as they really say, a riot of colours and truly a sight to behold. I would rate it highly in my churches to see in the world, which includes St Peter's Basilica and La Sagrada Familia. The interior was a bit weird though, having to climb a flight of steps and the inside being made up of small chapels, and no central hall of worship.
St Basil's Cathedral and the Monument to Minin and Prince Pozaharskiy, heroes from the Time of Troubles
The Kremlin
St Basil and the Kremlin in the evening
Day 8 and 9 - Moscow: The Kremlin State Armoury, Izmaylovskiy Market, the closed Lenin's Maosoleum and Metro Station hopping
We were back at the Kremlin the next day to visit the State Armoury because we couldn't get tickets the previous day to see the exhibitions. The Faberge eggs were quite the highlight for me and I got one too as a souvenir, back in St Petersburg. Unfortunately, I coulndn't find any opportunity to take photos of it, but I did get one of the Crown of Monomakh, which was used for a few centuries to crown the Tsars.
The Crown of Monomakh
The afternoon was spent buying souvenirs at the souvenir market and I got myself a few Russian dolls as gifts. These dolls open up and the small ones always caused me to laugh because they really look quite hilarious.
Izmaylovskiy Market
We were suppose to see Lenin in his tomb on the last day but we didn't know he was unavailable till 15th April, which was really such a pity, since this means I'll probably have to come back to Moscow and Russia again in the future. We then spent the afternoon metro station hopping and taking photos (because the metro stations in Russia are architectural beauties) which were forbidden before we made our way to the airport to catch our flight back to London. Our indirect flight via Stockholm was cancelled, to the horror of horrors, but thankfully, we were put on a direct flight back to London which suited us even better! I thought I might have had to spend a few more days reading Cyrillic.
Kievskaya metro station
Mosaic of Lenin in Kievskaya Metro Station
Mayakovskaya station, which won the Grand Prix at the New York World's Fair
Funny little Russian Dolls
The Faberge Egg with a little surprise in it which I shall reveal next time in the future
All in all, the trip was good fun with good company! It was really quite a culture shock to see that such rude and surly people existed, it was almost as if they were like aliens from another planet. Meanwhile, I'll probably be back in the future, in better times and weather! Hope all's well back home and that everyone had a blessed and happy Easter!
Labels: Church, Europe, Faberge Egg, History, Kremlin, Moscow, Museum, Red Square, Russia, Seven Wonders of the World, Souvenir, St Basil's Cathedral, St. Petersburg, Travel
