Bring on the bling – Baltics and Russia on AY in J (plus ferries and a coach)

[sergeyvzn]

It's got nothing to do with tobacco. Bad translation. The name comes from 'chicken tapaka' where 'tapaka' is the Georgian for a big frying pan used to fry the chicken. It's actually a Georgian dish but it's been around for many years in Russia so the Russians think of it as a Russian dish now

 

[RooFlyer]

It's got nothing to do with tobacco. Bad translation. The name comes from 'chicken tapaka' where 'tapaka' is the Georgian for a big frying pan used to fry the chicken. It's actually a Georgian dish but it's been around for many years in Russia so the Russians think of it as a Russian dish now

Thanks sergeyvzn. Actually, we went to a fantastic Georgian restaurant in Moscow, but didn't get the name and its not on Trip Advisor. Just down a lane opposite the Novotel and Mendeleevskaya Station entrance on Dmitrovskoye St. Edit: Just found it on a Russian restaurant site; its called Batoni. Hmmm ... just tried to put the URL of "restoran.ru" but AFF definitely didn't like it!

The think I was most looking forward to seeing in Moscow was the Intercession Cathedral AKA St Basil's Cathedral. It was created in the mid 1500s to celebrate the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. Its a wonderful sight by day and night. Unfortunately for us, Moscow Day the previous Sunday meant that Red Square was full of marquees and even a temporary equestrian ring (lots of corporate hospitality ) Behind the cathedral was a small tent city, apparently housing security and members of a number of bands who were performing in some sort of competition. It made the pics a bit cluttered, but nothing could overshadow St Basil's!






Another thing the Russians do well are war memorials. We went out to Park Pobedy (Victory Park) to get out of the Red Square district and were met with the expected elaborate commemoration of the Great Patriotic War (WW2 to others). Enormous in scale; a large square lined with fountains; a colonnade of columns topped with renditions of the Soviet flag and stars in iron; an enormous oblisk with patriotic war scenes and we think the names of battles at the base and tracing up the column and a vast museum building, which we ran out of time to properly see, let alone visit. Its at the back of the following pic; the scale of the building can't nearly be gained here.




Base of obelisk. Its amazing where St George pops up.



Lastly for Moscow, a pic from Gorky Park. A nice park by the river, good for a recovery beer after a long walk around central Moscow. What we didn't expect was a space shuttle:




We had completely forgotten that the Russians did once fly a shuttle. This is a prototype, not capable of launch.

 

[RooFlyer]

Sadly, our time in Moscow was at an end.

A morning taxi to Belorussky Station and choice between normal ticket on the Aeroexpress train to Sheremetyevo Airport (600 Roubles; $20) or 'business class (900 Roubles, $30) found us disposing of surplus roubles and going business

30 minutes by comfortable rail to the airport. A warning announcement made just before we arrived was inaudible and concerned us a bit - but it apparently was only about needing a rail ticket for the gates on arrival. Then a tentative initial walk into the airport building(s); no idea where we are going and signs not great. Then a sign pointing to Terminal D. Long walk. Check in at Finnair and through security then 'where's the lounge?'

Answer is either the 'Jazz' or 'Blues' lounge, depending on which way you turn after immigration & security.

I chose 'Blues' - its an Aeroflot lounge. Hmmm ... Well, OK, I've been in much worse!





Although I wasn't game to try these offerings ...



But neither did I get anything off the pay menu:



We were on AY 154 to Helsinki, en route to Hong Kong, with a 9 hour stopover. Bloody 'eurobusiness' again, oh well, it was only 1.5 hrs.

Landing again at HEL, we braced for another execrable immigration experience. Fortunately this time the queues were shorter and there were more counters open, so we only spent about 10 mins through immigration. Our luggage had been checked through to HKG. so we breezed out of the arrivals area and went to the hire car area. We had booked a car and were heading for Porvoo, an old town along the coast from Helsinki.

 

[drron]

Still loving it.
But you should have tried the cakes with meat-piroshkis/pirozhkis.My best man who went through Medicine with me is Ukrainian.his mother always made us piroshkis and I loved them.
Pirozhki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[RooFlyer]

Still loving it.
But you should have tried the cakes with meat-piroshkis/pirozhkis.My best man who went through Medicine with me is Ukrainian.his mother always made us piroshkis and I loved them.
Pirozhki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ah! We did have some of the Estonian variety in Tallinn. A bit ambivalent to them. It was the 'cake' aspect that put me off the airport lounge variety (and of course the proper word was written in Cyrillic, so not recognized).

 

[RooFlyer]

Porvoo is a town established in the mid 1300s about 50km NE of Helsinki and about the same distance from Helsinki airport. We hired a car and drove down to kill the majority of the afternoon and evening before our flight to Hong Kong.

There weren't many tourists about and the 'old town' seemed a bit desolate without them, although pretty enough.



Along the river are the old warehouses for the significant trade along the coast in former times.




And of course before long the need for a beer came upon us and it wasn't difficult to find a great riverside café. Very expensive though! About 8 euro for a beer.




Walking about the old town, we came across this restaurant, Wanha Laamanni. It was one of the few that looked like it was going to be open, so notwithstanding it didn't look much on the outside, we made a mental note to return later if we couldn't find anything better.



Turned out to be a good choice. Inside the dining is reasonably formal, with a short menu. Small portions too, but delicious and beautifully presented. here is the duck main courtse:



Oh, pretty expensive too! But a nice final meal in Finland. We then hit the road back to the airport and a bit of lounge time before our Finnair flight to Hong Kong.

 

[RooFlyer]

We got back to Helsinki airport at about 8pm for our 11:40 flight to Hong Kong (AY69), so we did a very thorough go-through of the duty free shops. I was keen to buy some iittala or Marimekko glassware, and were told by iittala in Helsinki that they had a shop at the airport. The latter turned out to be a corner of a general duty free store and the selection was both limited and very expensive (from memory, possibly more expensive than I town??). The Marimekko selection just didn't appeal. So, disappointed we headed into the non Schengen zone and the Finnair lounge. This had recently been named amongst the world's top 10 'fanciest' lounges.

I also wanted to guest both my friends into the lounge, but was prepared for a knock-back, knowing the rules. Sure enough, the answer was a 'no', notwithstanding the lounge was (and continued to be) no more than 10% occupied. The lounge agent did offer admission for my one non guest 45 euro !!! (from memory ). With a couple of hours to kill, we accepted that through gritted teeth.

Right - now to get money's worth, I sought out the Champagne. The set up was that drinks and food are laid out in the usual way, but spirits and the Champagne is behind a 'bar'. I was puzzling how to get at this stuff, when one of the staff happened by. Turns out that on presentation of BP, showing either cabin status of 1W status, the good stuff flowed. We kept it flowing for the next 1.5 hours (Joseph Perrier Brut) !!

General lounge pics. The lounge is well laid out, and stylish, so yes, you could call it 'fancy'. It was VERY quiet though.






The bar! Note the Champagne behind the Perspex ...



Finally on the A340 to Hong Kong. A strange arrangement. Conventional 2-2-2 lay-out in Business, but there are no overhead bins above the middle 2. Elsewhere in the AFF forum, I was told that these were ex Virgin birds (?Virgin America?). Anyway, it made for quite a crush of gear and its not great to have to go hunting up the cabin to access your carry-on and loom over a passenger as you access the bin above them. Angled flat beds.
Having had a proper dinner earlier, and some snacking in the lounge, I didn't have any dinner but turned in, but here's what was on offer:

 

[RooFlyer]

I've been to Hong Kong maybe a dozen times over the past 10 years, mainly on business when I was in banking, or a 'quick overnight' stop on my way back from Nth America on a 'Circle Pacific' fare. Usually stay at the Mira on Nathan Rd in Kowloon. So I guess I had gotten into the habit of just doing comfortable things in the usual places.

The two friends I was travelling with had never been to HKG. In addition, as her 18th birthday present, I had bought their daughter a ticket to HKG to join us for the weekend and she'd return to Oz with us. So I knew I was in for a few new experiences!

Anyone out there ever set an 18yo loose in HKG with the only objective being shopping :shock: :shock: :shock: . Its a contact sport!

Day 1 with just the parents we did the core touristy things, and I really enjoyed renewing my acquaintance with a bunch of experiences some of which I hadn't done for about 10 years - Star Ferry; city view from Kowloon, The Peak tram; Hong Kong Park; Kowloon markets. Plus Stanley which is one of my usual hang-outs.




Of course its not the type of place where you can 'get away' with much




And some of the sights we managed not to go into:



Then ... the shopping!! OMG I never realized there were so many hand bag shops on this Earth, let alone in one city. Add in the Kowloon Night Market, Stanley Market and all the other ones, .... And that was only one item in the new ensemble ...

Anyway, suffice to say I saw a lot of Hong Kong that I will probably never see again (thank God).

Eventually, all 'good' things have to come to an end. As an additional treat, I took Miss into the CX The Wing First lounge at Changi. I pointed her to the Cabanas and settled down to a long wait. Eventually she re-appeared and we repaired to the Champagne Lounge, then to The Haven for a light dinner and then to generally chill. Took a number of pics to be shown at school on Monday





Finally it was time to get on the QF bird for the overnighter to Melbourne and the sun set on three weeks of a fantastic holiday in Russia and the Balkans. I'm already planning the follow-up trip to Russia!