A high and dry, wild and wet, majestic history medley – RTW 2018

[RooFlyer]

Did they explain the significance of the iconostasis? ( And no, I won't )

 

[JohnM]

Did they explain the significance of the iconostasis? ( And no, I won't )

No. But I was just wandering around and taking random pics. There aren’t many signs in English.

 

[RooFlyer]

I did a tour once of a cluster of churches, each with at least one iconostasis. At each one, we were given a detailed description of each individual icon, and the relevance of its position in the iconostasis After the 4th one it got a tad tedious.

 

[juddles]

Russia seems great, but will be happier when I hear your first post after leaving there.

 

[JohnM]

The weather is excellent. Clear skies, little to no wind and temperatures in the mid-high 20s. There is just the first suggestion of autumn with pleasantly cool nights and the first signs of leaves turning.

Suzdal has a very deep history with churches and monasteries dating back to the 12th century. It was once a major centre, exceeding in size major cities of today. Today, it is a small town of only about 10,000 people. The number of churches is extraordinary; some come in pairs of different architecture - one for winter and another for summer, plus a separate belltower. It is World Heritage listed.

The traditional building method is (thick) log and timber construction.

The pleasant and cosy guesthouse where I stayed.







Last night at the home of a lovely lady who has a business doing home-cooked meals.





The monastery has an interesting bell arrangement, played in a very orchestral way by a sole operator (in the shadows in the left section) using one foot and both hands with a cluster of cords.



An interesting snippet for WW2 history buffs: this part of the monastery was used as a prison and naz_ General Paulus who capitulated at Stalingrad initially spent some time here.



And the inside of the church. The shadowy figure is a restorer at work,

 

[JohnM]

Russia seems great, but will be happier when I hear your first post after leaving there.

It’s benign. The biggest danger is getting run over by a Porsche, Range Rover, Audi, Merc, BMW...

Right now sitting in the Vladimir railway station with fast free WiFi waiting for the fast train back to Moscow.

 

[JohnM]

After the monastery, it was over to the wooden architecture museum which has reconstructed examples of the traditional wood houses and churches.

I particularly liked the shingled domes on the churches.



We also have a particularly cute guide....

 

[JohnM]

Then on to the local Kremlin (meaning a fort - and BTW, ‘red’ in Russian means ‘beautiful’. Hence Red Square is ‘beautiful square’ - not a place of ‘commie rats’).





And another church with a very shiny dome as I was walking back to the lodging to collect my bag for transfer to Vladimir to catch the express train back to Moscow.



And a nice wooden house on the way.



A very tall-steepled church in Vladimir.



At the station in Vladimir (a large city) waiting for the express and fairly fast train (up to 160 kph) to Moscow, there was free blazingly fast WiFi. Hmmm - I don’t know about eastern Australia, but I don’t get that at the Perth train stations...

About 1.5hand we’re back in Moscow and a two-stop Metro ride. The station vestibule.





I mean, why do these people put up with such cough, I wonder . PER Central is just SO much more sophisticated....

The Metro is easy to use. The stops are all sub-titled in English and the (very clear) audio announcements are sub-announced in perfect BBC English. You can’t go wrong. It’s simply a pleasure - and an experience - to use.

Honestly, Russia and Moscow, is just wonderful. It is certainly not oppressive. As our lovely hostess last night said: “See, Russian people really can smile!” Taking the p!ss so well...

Yet again, as I am constantly discovering, put the stereotypes well away... They are constantly wrong.

It is true that the bureaucracy is a PITA, but until someone here has the guts to say to the boss one day: “Hey boss, WTF are we doing this for?”, just suck it up and go with the flow.

 

[JohnM]

OK, back in Moscow fairly late tonight, so a few of us walk just down the street to a Georgian-based restaurant. Good choice!

Grilled sea bass and a bottle of the famed Georgian Tsinandali white wine. Tsinandali is an appellation; the grape varieties that make up the wine are Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane Kakhuri.

A very good wine, and certainly from varieties not grown in Australia, so this time I can safely say you won’t get anything like it in Australia. Crisp and clean. It is one of those white wines, unlike many (particularly lower-end) Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs, that works well as both an aperitif and with food. It was a bit like an extremely good Pinot Gris/Grigio.

 

[RooFlyer]

The English subtitling of the metro stations in Moscow is relatively recent. My first time, only Russian. Took very careful planning each day to get our map marked at the hotel and then carefully compare the map scripts to the Russian scripts on the walls as we went. And then careful counting of stations. Subsequent time they were starting to add English and even local area maps in the stations!

Try reading the ads in the metro carriages phonetically, sound by sound by letter. Amazingly, we found many made sense, so they were actually English words, converted into Russian. I guess not much history of phone deals, beauty treatments and bank loans in Russia!

St Petersburg always more tourist- friendly I recommend the Soviet Cafe on Nevsky Prospect for an immersive Soviet dining experience. (Seriously, it was a lot of fun.) You absolutely shouldn't miss the Singer Cafe, also on Nevsky Prospect.

 

[VPS]

When I was in Moscow in 2009 there weren't any English signs on the Metro so glad that has changed. It is interesting what you could work out - it didn't take long to work out bank and restaurant. We had a lovely lunch at the Singer Cafe. The other thing that made it a little more challenging was the same station had different names depending on which line it was on. Thanks for the trip down memory lane

 

[JohnM]

Hopefully these sorts of improvements may extend to making the visa process less of a PITA. Having to specify in advance exactly where you will be day-by-day and when you will leave provides no flexibility.

 

[RooFlyer]

Of course there are some 'work arounds' - such as explained here.

 

[JohnM]

This morning was spent inside the Kremlin, which covers almost 28 hectares. The main visit points are Lenin’s tomb, the cathedrals and the museum. Photography is not permitted inside any of those, so here are a few pics outside.

Lenin’s tomb, which is directly beneath the saluting platform on the Red Square wall, so it’s actually just outside the Kremlin. It’s really a bit of a non-event that has become an institution.



Then the entry to the Kremlin.







A view of the Kremlin from a bridge on the river. The large building is the museum.



Then a brief stroll through GUM and its high-end stores. I had thought it was a department store but it’s a roofed multiple and multi-level arcade.





Tonight is on the overnight train north to Veliky Novgorod for tomorrow, before moving on to St Petersburg on Monday for two nights.

 

[JohnM]

Departed Moscow by train at 2200h yesterday for the 8 hour journey N to the ancient town of Veliky Novograd, considered the birthplace of Russia.

The train departures screen scrolled through in Russian, English - and Chinese.

We travelled 2nd class in cabins of four. Compact, but quite OK. I can sleep anywhere.

The train ran express but did have a few brief stops during the night, I guess for operational reasons.

 

[juddles]

Of course there are some 'work arounds' - such as explained here.

One day I will have to get to Russia - when that time comes I will be asking you both for advice!

 

[RooFlyer]

You won't regret it. St Petersburg is my favourite city anywhere, full stop. I'm about to make my third tourism visit to Russia, whereas one is all most get these days.

 

[JohnM]

Russia is fascinating so far - and I haven’t yet reached St Petersburg.

I’ve just completed a morning walking tour of Veliky Novgorod. Too much extraordinary history dating back at least to the late 900s CE to summarise.

The Millennium of Russia, erected in 1862, and inside the Kremlin, gives an extraordinary portrayal of the previous 1000 years of core documented Russian history, in which this place is steeped.



Cathedral of St Sophia.



Other buildings inside the Kremlin.







Absolutely fascinating stuff. Don’t miss this place if you come to Russia.

For anyone interested: Veliky Novgorod - Wikipedia.

 

[juddles]

Those bells are incredible!! Can you grab me one for my village

 

[RooFlyer]

Sorry juddles, that's not a bell: THIS is a bell (Tsar bell, Moscow kremlin - sorry JohnM, couldn't resist). And nothing a bit of araldite won't fix.