GARGANTUAN steps
Saturday, September 26, 2009
my faberge egg
Thanks to Alex who helped me get this egg whilst he was in Russia! My very own Faberge egg with a miniature model of St Basil's Cathedral within it. Faberge eggs are synonymous with Russia where the Tsar commissioned the House of Faberge to make an egg as a gift for his wife. I believe that those were much larger than the one I possess now. This egg fits in very nicely to my collection of miniature wonders of the world, and soon, I'll need to find a bigger shelf for them all.
Outside
Inside - St Basil's Cathedral
Bird's eye view
My shelf of world wonders
Labels: Faberge Egg, Russia, Souvenir
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
