Photos at last! Moscow metro station, me with a russian hat, cathedral (beautiful!!), a russian McDonalds, the hermitage

Helsinki to Vienna

Helsinki was great. I am really pleased a decided to spend the day there. There was much more I could have done but what I did was good. I wandered around the city and explored the markets and food halls and visited their cathedral. The contrast between the cathedral in Helsinki versus Russian cathedrals couldn't have been greater. In Helsinki the cathedral was simple and very scandinavian as opposed to the Russian cathedrals which were covered in icons and mosiacs.

In keeping with someone's advice to always try the local food, I had reindeer. It was delicious! I could have stayed another day (in Helsinki - definitely not the hostel!!) but I had an early flight to Vienna....

Vienna! It is a beautiful city. When I arrived I was taking so many photos I had to pace myself. I spent the afternoon wandering around and getting lost which sounds very carefree but it was more because I have no sense of direction so kept getting lost. Maybe it was a bit of a reaction to the hostel but I decided to check in to a nice hotel in the centre of town and it was a good decision. I have a really cute attic room (so a bit cheaper!) and I slept well. The breakfasts are great but they had scroggin! I am not complaining about this however because I wrapped some in a serviette and had it for lunch.

The galleries are great. I went to an exhibition of a private collection. It was one couple who donated their collection. Now I'll emphasise this - it was ONE couple and in their collection they had paintings by many famous artists including Monet, Matisse, Cezanne, Chagall, Miro, Picasso and Kandinsky. I picked a few I wanted to take home but chose to buy the catalogue instead. The catalogue was so heavy I had to drop by the hotel so I didn't have to carry it around. Why did I buy it??? I will have to post it home. I won't detail the whole day but after this I went for a ride on the ferris wheel that featured in 'The Third Man' (with Orsen Welles if you don't know it). I like ferris wheels anyway but this was especially fun because of the movie. They also have great museums. I went to a music one which was crowded but a nice canadian man offered to share his headphones with me so I went around the exhibition with him.

In terms of food - yes I am in Vienna so I had a wienner schnitzel for dinner last night and this afternoon I had a hot chocolate with cardamom which was delicious and will probably be my dinner.

The updates are getting longer but that's the advantage of a blog - only the people who are interested have to read it.

Russia and then...

I loved Saint Petersburg! It was definitely the highlight for me. Saint Petersburg is called the Paris of the east and the Venice of the west. When I heard this I thought they were being a little over the top (but Russians can be very intimidating so I didn't say anything) but it is true. Canals and rivers move through the city unobtrusively and the bridges are all beautiful and unique. Walking down a street is a treat with each building being a different colour (pink, white, blue etc) or slightly different design. One of my favourite buildings was the Singer building. It was the building that the singer sewing machine was invented and is now a big book shop. So imagine walking down streets enjoying the scenery and then turn a corner and see the Church of the Saviour on the Spilt Blood (I am sorry for the lack of photos but in a few weeks I will update the posts with some pictures.) The church is based on St Basils Cathedral in Moscow but I think it much better. The domes are all bright blue and greens with tiles and gold. The inside is spectacular with gold mosaics all over the walls. I took heaps of photos but unfortunately I don't think they will do them justice.

I did the Russian thing and had vodka and caviar on my last night. I will post this picture as well!

I could have spent some extra days in Saint Petersburg but maybe that means I will go back again sometime.

I am now in Helsinki and pleased I spent an extra day here exploring even though I have mostly been spending it in a internet cafe!!

Opening chapter...Russia part 1

Hi everyone! I am in Russia and I love it. The airport and drive to the hotel was chaos. I learned that Russians don't believe in queues or being friendly to strangers (or road rules!) but once I knew these things I could settle into discovering the country and it is fantastic. The tour group is small but we all get along well and hae nejoyed travelling together. Moscow was first and is easy to navigate with regular trains. While I am talking about trains I should tell you about the stations. Each station is a work of art and while they mostly dwell on military victories or happy farmers (propaganda perhaps??) they are really interesting. During the cold war it was illegal to take photos of stations and this law has never been reversed so me and I girl on the tour had to take photos by stealth. We cleverly avoided the patrolling officers and managed to get some good photos (will post soon). To all of you (and you know who you are!) who have scoffed at the idea of me potentially being a good spy you will have to eat your words!

We were in Moscow for a few days and saw the Red Square (wow!) and St Basil's Cathedral (WOW!) and also Lenin's tomb. Lenin's tomb was a bit creepy. The guards were quite menacing and I got cross about how revered he is but I got over it! We saw lots of other things in Moscow but I won't bore you. I am in Novgorod at the moment after travelling around the Golden Circle. Tomorrow we go to St Petersburg which I am very excited about! I hope everyone is well. Thanks all for the emails. Internet cafes are hard to come by here so you may not get a reply until I am in Helsinki later this week.

Kimberly

The countdown begins...

Only a few more days to go - I can't believe I am finally going. First stop is Moscow so stay tuned for more updates!