1st August – 3rd September, 2007
1/8 - Wed: SYDNEY
Sue had a stressful start to her holiday, her washing machine died and she was badly behind schedule, but was ready for her Airport Shuttle and was relieved to arrive at the airport at 19.00 for her 21.55 flight to Hong Kong. It was announced at 23.00 that the flight was had been cancelled, due to engine problems and Sue spent the night at the Novotel, Darling Harbour. It was too late to call Gail, as she was already in transit. Sue called the Oslo Hotel to advise Gail of her delay, but could not leave the message, as Sue did not understand the Norwegian voice mail! Got to bed after midnight tired & frustrated
2 &3/8 – Thurs/Fri: EN ROUTE: Sydney- Hong Kong- London- Oslo
Sue left a message with her travel agent to email Gail, at Oslo City Hotel to advise of Sue’s delay, plus he called Cathay Pacific for new arrangements, as she was no longer flying from Hong Kong to Helsinki, to Oslo, Her 9.5 hour flight to Hong Kong, left at 12.30, she had 4 hours in the airport, them a C P. flight to London (12.10 hours) she had less than 2 hours at Heathrow, with some drama there with terminals. She just made it onto a British Airways flight (2 hours) to Oslo, just shy of 30 hours since departing Sydney! Sue landed at 11.30 Oslo time, to learn her luggage had been lost!, She stood in a queue behind approx. 40 other folk, who had also lost their luggage. Sue was surprised that not much English was spoken at the airport, so hard to get assistance. Sue caught an airport bus downtown, and finally arrived at our hotel at 2.45pm. Sue then went out for food, water and cash and finally, Sue & Gail met up to swap stories. We had a very early supper, then Gail went on a harbour cruise and Sue was keen to shower and get to bed
4/8 Sat. OSLO
We enjoyed a nice breakfast at the City Hotel, which also tided us over for lunch, which set the agenda for our trip. We took the 9.10 ferry across the harbour to the “Fram” Museum, next door to the “Kon-Tiki” Museum. Fram was specifically built to withstand the grinding ice floes by polar explorer Fridtjpof Nansen, for his quest, to be first to the North Pole, in 1893, His idea was get Fram stuck in the ice, which would then drift Fram nearer to the North Pole, After two years aboard ship, he and a companion, tried to reach the North Pole by kayak & sled but he almost died in his unsuccessful quest, he even hibernated in the permafrost! He was out of contact for 3 years and thought to have perished, but he returned to live a long and distinguished life, he later won the Nobel peace Prize. The polar explorer, Raold
Amundsen sailed the Fram, to the Antarctic in 1911, when Amundsen was first to reach the South Pole, much to Robert Scott’s great disappointment. Sue and Gail were amazed to walk on the decks of this small ship and realised how difficult life must have been on board, in such treacherous oceans, as the Arctic and the Antarctic. While in the museum, we were thrilled to see, on a TV monitor, a documentary, on Nansen and the Fram, which Sue had seen at home, the week before!. We then caught a bus to the Permanent exhibition on the Holocaust, at Villa Grande. It told the story of Nazi genocide and mass murder, during WW11, through audio & visual images, which was sobering. Villa Grande is also a Centre for Studies of the Holocaust & Religious Minorities. We took the bus back to the ferry, to cross the harbour and went to the Nobel Peace Museum. It was wonderful and informative museum and we were sorry, that we did not have time, to take the guided tour. Went back to the City Hotel to collect Gail’s luggage (Sue’s still had not arrived) and took the airport train at pensioner prices (half the price of what Sue had paid to get the bus downtown!) We walked the 100 yards, to the Radisson SAS Airport Hotel, to find Sue’s luggage was not there either! She was now in panic mode! Sue ran back to the airport and had the worst “lack of customer service” experience and was getting totally frustrated, After a good hour, her luggage was found, much to her relief, but burst into tears over the tension of it all! At 18.30 we went down for “Welcome drinks” with our fellow passengers, then onto a buffet dinner, where all the Zegrahm staff and lecturers were introduced. It was a hot night and Sue thought she was now getting a cold. No doubt stress induced.
5/8 Sunday - Oslo to Lonyearbyen, Spitsbergen, Norway
Our charter flight was delayed for a half hour while our plane was serviced, but nice friendly hostesses made the journey fun. We arrived in Longyearbyen – population approx. 1500 and half of these, are employed by the coal mining company, first mine opened in 1905. The weather was cold and bleak, which matched Sue’s health, as she was now feeling miserable. Somehow Sue & Gail ended up on different busses, and Sue without her camera for a time, though we meet up for lunch, at the SAS Polar Hotel .Sue’s bus went to the Svalbard Museum, which was opened in 1981, in former days the building served as a shelter for 150 pigs!. The museum of Arctic Exploration and Natural History was actually quite nice, with informative exhibits, then after lunch we had a tour round the small town. We were thrilled to see a small reindeer and a polar bear warning sign!. We boarded “Clipper Adventurer” at 5.00pm and found our cabin 229, quite cosy and comfortable, with twin beds, plus full windows, which gave us a nice bright outlook. Our Expedition Leader, Mike Messick, gave us a talk on “what to expect,” we then we had life boat drill before dinner.
6/8 Monday- Krossfjorden, Kongsfjorden & Ny Alesund, Sunset: None
Were woken via the intercom at 6.00am, advising us to get out on deck as, we had just entered Kross Fjord, which was very picturesque - we cruised there till lunch. After 2.00pm we entered Kongs Fjord, to get up close to the glacier and then came back again, in glorious scenery, in glorious weather, We went via zodiac to have a short-walk on the tundra, with Ian Stone (has degrees in geology, history & maths) on shore, landing on hilly, rocky ground, Ian imparted his knowledge on Artic Explorers and we looked at wildflowers with Kevin Clements, our naturalist, (he lives in Denali National Park, Alaska) both of them very knowledgeable, on many subjects. We arrived at Ny Alesund, l, serving the research station all year round. Ny Alesund is the northernmost permanent settlement in the world. The settlement experiences 4 months of polar nights and 4 months of midnight sun. There were many colourful houses in this wee place and we joined Welsh birder, Rob McCall, for a walk around and some bird-watching For many, the highlight was the famous airship mast, at which Raold Amundsen’s “Norge,” was moored, before its great transpolar flight in 1926 and from which, fellow Italian explorer, Umberto Nobile’s “Italia’ departed on her last tragic journey in 1928 Captain’s cocktail party this evening, where Olga played beautiful music, while we drank champagne. Gail & Sue were invited to dine with Ian and his wife, Olga Stone, they live on the Isle of Man and Olga, is a classical pianist, from the Ukraine. We had interesting table companions for dinner, Morag, from Aberdeen, who happened to know Ros, whom we had met,on our Antarctic journey. Sue full of her cold and started on Disprin.
7/8 Tuesday: Liefdefjorden & Moffen Island. Sunset: none! Cold: One degree!
We were woken at 7.30am via the intercom, to advise that we had arrived at Leifdefjorden (Love Fjord) and that a polar bear had been spotted, approx. one mile ahead!. We scrambled to get dressed, get out on deck ASAP by now, the polar bear was swimming in the water, at quite a distance away. Sue could just see him and his wake, thru binoculars, after several folk pointed her in the right direction. Went down to breakfast at 8.30am when an announcement informed us, another polar bear had been sighted, further ahead in the fjord. We rushed back up on deck, to clearly see the big polar bear, (with binoculars) climbing up the cliff to get away from us. We spent a long time looking, then, we went down, to 2nd attempt, to breakfast, staff had packed most food away! We went for a two-hour zodiac ride on the cold, one-degree morning. We got much closer to the original bear, who was busy eating, a seal carcass! He had taken the seal’s fur coat off, but the carcass was intact. All seven zodiacs approached in silence, (one by one, downwind) to get a closer look, The zodiacs then split up, to explore the icebergs and glaciers, up close and personal. It was such a beautiful place and we were enthralled. Ian Stone gave us mini talks en route plus we enjoyed the company very much, of some of the South African party, it was an exhilarating morning, despite being cold to the bone, the delicious tomato soup at lunch was most welcome. We cruised further back up the fjord, where we had a landing. We chose the medium walk, with Kevin, over the tundra, Kevin was very enthusiastic about all the Arctic flowers & vegetation we found. We saw a cairn of stones, rusted sardine cans, canisters, batteries, which were the remains of a Nazi weather station. We also spotted some beautiful Arctic Terns & Artic Skuas. We hurried back for re-cap at 6.30pm, where Olga played some beautiful music, on the piano. We had dinner with Edna Norvell, a sprightly, 87 year old and her husband, Bob! They told us the most amazing story of how they had been evacuated, from the ship “World Discoverer”(our ship to the Antarctic, in 1997) when the ship was holed on a reef, in the Solomon Islands At 8.50 we stopped offshore, off Moffen Island, to view maybe, 20-30 walrus, at a safe distance, some were swimming in the water, some on the ground. We needed the binoculars to see their big tusks. The home brewed, spicy hot, apple-cider, was most welcome as we stood out on deck, Bed at 11.30 when Sue started her antibiotics. Gail had sought help from Bob Sullivan, he and his wife Jill, were our constant & fun companions, to work how best, to use the camera she had borrowed for the trip,
8/8 Mike woke us at 7.30 and we rushed to breakfast, as we entered Hinlopen Straight in the fog, to explore the side arm of Wahlenbergfjorden, called Palanderbukta. We went ashore approx 10.30 via zodiacs, to land on a beach, we then started the climb to the side of the glacier, with an icy land-mass to our left,, Olga & Ian were our guides, light showers started. so made our way back for a hot cuppa. Kevin gave us a lecture on “Ice – Field guide to Ice” which was quite amusing, though Sue was falling asleep! Straight after lunch, we went for a 2+ hours wonderful zodiac ride, underneath the beautiful seabird cliffs. The cliffs/rocks were an amazing shape, full of possibly a million, nesting birds. We were at Alkefjellet Cliffs, the birds were mostly black guillemots and murres, plus kittiwakes, I think we some saw a puffin or two. The guillemot chicks, after about 10 days or so, glide down to the water (as cant yet fly) as their parents can get up so high to feed them, with full bellies. Of course, not all chicks make it to the water, they crash-land where we saw 3 or 4 Arctic Foxes waiting to devour them, plus a few gulls swoop on the wee chicks, either in the air, or on the ground. Polar bears also come for the pickings. We also saw the fur (no carcass) of a young polar bear, that may also have been feeding off the chicks, but our Russian Guide, Sergey Frolov, was not sure how he died, he may have even fallen down off the high cliffs. Sergey thought the bear, may have been, approx. 2 years old. It truly was a most memorable outing on the zodiacs. We had recap at 6.30pm where there always were pre- dinner snacks, while we listened to the day’s events. We were slow to discover, that freshly baked cookies were put out on the bar, around 4.00pm, for folk to eat. There were always the most delicious chocolate chip cookies (we obtained the recipe) plus, plus another cookie and of course, it became a daily ritual to taste both! We had dinner with John & Serena Morrison, a delightful young couple, John is the WWF representative on board, and he is Deputy Director, of Conservation Science Programme of World Wildlife Fund. We swapped a few travel and animal stores. After dinner, approx 8.30pm we took a zodiac ride to go ashore, to walk 2+km to see approx. 30 walrus, wallowing on the beach. The 80 odd passengers and staff, had to walk in silence, as one group, so as not to upset the walrus. We walked a 100 yards then stopped, for the walrus to “get used to us,” then walk on another 100 yards, till we got within viewing distance. We were excited on our return, to the zodiacs, that we spotted a walrus very close by, swimming along the length of the beach. He swam so fast, Sue, who was running along the beach, could not keep up his pace, to take a photo! Got back on board approx 10.30pm after another exhilarating day.
9/8 Thursday: Edgeoya Island, Svalbard,. Sunset: None, a cool 13 degrees
We had an early breakfast, as boarding of zodiacs was to commence at 8.00am it was a 5 min ride to Edgeoya Island, to disembark at Kapp Lee. We climbed up a hill to observe a half dozen walrus, all huddled in a group, approx 10 meters below us, so was a wonderful viewing, the best of trip in closeness, were all click-happy with our cameras. We went on a short walk, uphill & down dale, with Ian & Olga, over very sponge-like tundra, we saw numerous wild flowers. We also “found” we think, a shed reindeer fur, which was pure white, Sue was back on board around 10.30 Gail sometime later, as the zodiac she was on, would not start! We then attended Rob McCall’s lecture on “Auks: Penguins of the North” which Sue mostly slept thru. We had a coffee break, before Kevin Clement’s presentation on “Grace Under Fire: Wildflowers of the North”. He was very amusing, when he recited a poem about Walrus. Serena & John asked us to dine with them again, to continue our stories. We retuned to the lounge to hear Olga play the piano, while we ate delicious Cherries Jubilee and sip on a so-so, Irish Coffee. We spent over 40 mins trying to get connected to email, all and sundry passing by, tried to help, maybe something to do with the satellite?
10/8 Friday: At Sea. Sunset: none
It was a cold and bleak day, mostly uneventful, till we met gale force winds and rough seas, quite a few people were sea- sick, including Gail. We attended a 9.15am lecture by Jim McCarthy, Professor of Biological Oceanography, at Harvard University. He was also the representative for the folk on board, from the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Jim’s talk was on “Life in the Ice and what is happening to the Ice.” Sue managed to sleep thru this lecture as well! At 11.00am John Morrison, from WWF gave us a presentation on “Global Conservation Strategy” We enjoyed a tasty fish & chip lunch, with Sarah & Chris Stretton, from Wales, and at 2.00pm we put our clocks forward one hour. Gail got talking to Ryan, the Hotel Manager, who told her that they had taken 350 dozen eggs on board, to feed passengers and crew for the voyage! At 3.00pm Olga Stone gave us a presentation on “Millennium of Russian History” mostly dates etc. Sue slept again! At 5.00pm Ian Stone then gave us a presentation on “The Flattening of the Earth” which was a bit beyond our ken. At 6.30pm we had free cocktails and nibbles, while Mike from Zegrahm, John from WWF and Jim, from Harvard Museum of Natural History, give us a promotional talk, to woo us for future travel. Gail not well enough to eat dinner, but Sue enjoyed hers. After dinner Olga gave us an enjoyable recital of Russian music.
11/8 Saturday, At Sea, Sunset: None
We attended the 9.15 presentation by Rob McCall “Poles Apart: The Biography of the Polar Oceans” Sue asleep again! At 11.00 John Morison gave us a talk on “Marine Protected Areas.” Sue enjoyed the delicious prawn- salad lunch and the Blueberry Cobbler, to follow. Her lunch companions were with six American ladies, one was a scientist, with NASA (retired) Her job, was to launch a satellite, into space! These women each seemed to travel about 4 times a year, often with Zegrahm! . At 2.00pm we put our clocks forward another hour. At 3.00pm Kevin Clement talked on “Science and Adventure in the International Polar Year.” At 5.00pm we joined Jim McCarthy for his talk, on “Anthropogenic Climate Change: Where are we Heading” there were a lot of charts, which Sue found hard to see. Before dinner, we had a briefing, on what was ahead in The White Sea. Some tried to see the movie “Dr Zhivago” with popcorn, but there were problems, though, we did see a sunset after midnight!
12/8 Sunday: Dvina River Delta & Mudiug Island, Russia. Sunset: 20.53
Olga gave us a lecture & slide presentation entitled, “The Solovetsky Islands” some of which, went over our heads and there were maps, that we could not see. We learned that the word “Kremlin” means fortress! At 10.00 we were at the Pilot Station, to get the pilot onboard plus the Russian authorities Customs and Immigration, to officially clear us into Russia. The 11.00am lecture was postponed, so as folk could go up on deck, as we cruised up the Dvina River, before lunch. Ian’s delayed lecture was on “Latitude, and Longtitude and other Mysteries” It was hilarious at times, when Ian as a demonstration, was using Olga as “the earth” and Serena as “the sun,” to demonstrate the earth’s rotation. Serena, brought Ian undone, he could not stop looking and laughing, as Serena had her bikini top on, under her open blouse, plus sunglasses, and Ian did not know where to look or touch! Currency exchange was available. At 4.00pm we went ashore at Mudiug Island, with our Russian “observer” for a long walk along a sandy road, with Kevin, it was quite warm and sunny and saw many wildflowers. We explored with Sergey & Olga, what remained of a Russian concentration camp, what may have held as many as 2000 people, built around 1920, there was also, a couple of monuments about, We then entered a small museum full of photos, which recorded the “Intervention Forces” from UK, USA & France, allied to “The White Army” cause. They departed with lots of booty, roubles and gold, in 1922. After a delicious supper, we saw a most colourful sunset at approx 10.00pm, as up until then, we had been experiencing daylight 24/7, it was quite hot night as well
13/8 Monday: Solovetskiy Islands, White Sea, Russia.16 degrees & rain
We had a cultural tour at 8.00 of the Solovki Monastery, founded in the 15th century by two monks. We were told the history of the Solovetskiy Gulag from 1923-1939 showing its history of banishment and imprisonment from the reign of Ivan the Terrible, until Josef Stalin. We heard about the people that were kept there, their lives & their stories, as it was a place of imprisonment and banishment of many famous politicians, clergymen, old believers and intellectuals, starting from the 16th century up to Solovetskiy political prison of 1923-1939. By the 16th century, the abbey had emerged as one of the wealthiest landowners and most influential religious centre of Russia. The monks also formed a network of canals, Unfortunately, our local guide, Paulina, was very hard to understand due to her soft voice & accent. We witnessed part of a church service for approx 5 mins, the walls were all gold, very ornate with numerous icons. Women wore scarves, men were bare-headed, we saw many perform “the sign of the cross” bend to their knees in prayer, head to the floor, in front of an icon, then get up to kiss the painting, of the saint or icon! We also saw the refurbishment of the huge eating hall, in progress, then climbed up to the ramparts and saw the cannon emplacements and canon balls, before going down to the dungeons to see where the prisoners were kept, as the rain showers kept on. We were back on board about 11.00am to have a cuppa, then lunch. After lunch, we walked to town to see the Gulag Museum (now it was very hot inside) with local guide, Alexander, whose English was much better than Paulini’s. We then walked thru the “town.” We were glad we were not dining ashore that night, but seems, those that went, had a great time. We went into a few shops with Bob & Jill, to get the feeling of the place, we were both weary after 3 hours on our feet, we went back on board for our “cookie” fix. We dined with Marty & Linda, from Colorado and we had a chat with the South Africans, before they went to dinner on shore, they told us, the boating thru the canals was beautiful. Our planned BBQ on deck, had to be relocated to the dining room, due to the inclement weather. Gail’s cold was getting worse so we had two hot toddy’s in the bar, at 9.45pm, we were the only two in the bar, apart from the Russian officials that we had taken on board!
14/8 Tues: Anzerskiy Island, White Sea, Russia: Sunset 21.48, 16 degrees
Bit of a asleep-in this morning, so we missed seeing our 6.00am departure, on this sunny day. We attended 9.30am briefing for the days activities, we then went out on deck, to have a group photograph taken at the bow. Anzer Island is the westernmost island – fisheries and salt collection sites have existed there, since the 16th Century, On the far side of the island, there is a small monastery founded in the late 17th Century for monks who wished greater seclusion than that offered by main Kremlin on Soloviki Island. Sue wore the T-shirt (an elephant front and back that Gail had given her, which attracted much comment. At 10.15 we had pre-brunch appetizers of smoked salmon, capers, Spanish onion and egg, plus champagne and orange juice, which they called Mimosa! A buffet brunch was then served in the dining room. At 10.30 we went ashore via zodiac, to Anzer Island, We changed from our rubber boots into our hiking boots, for a 2.5km hike (was much longer) along a boardwalk, and then onto dirt roads. It was quite hot and very sunny, Sue was peeling off layers of clothes, it was very picturesque, many fir trees and a few lakes. It had rained overnight and quite muddy in places & big puddles to avoid. The chapel was used as a concentration camp and held up to 300 prisoners, at a time. The small chapel was very picturesque, but then, it was a long hike up big hill, to view the main church, which was closed for renovations! We were rewarded with a great view from the top over the pine forests and lakes. We met up with the birders, on our fast-paced walk back to the beach, some others hiked the 9km to another monastery, on the other side and our ship collected them, after our return on board. Sue managed to leave her walking pole on shore, when changing boots, but Little John, was able to find it later, phew! Back on board at 4.30 with muddy boots, and time for chocolate- chip cookie- fix and much needed lemonade, to quench our thirst. Recap and briefing at 6.00pm where wed had to fill out immigration forms. At dinner, (a tasty prime rib-roast) our cruise- director, Lynne Greig asked, if the two male, Russian guides, Alexander and Oleg, could sit with us, at our table. It was really hard work to keep the conversation flowing, with their faltering English, though they did ask questions, about South Africa & Australia. Later Lynne promised us a bottle of wine for our “hard work” which she recognised. Some beluga whales were spotted during dinner, but not by Sue. As too far away. At 9,00pm Olga gave us another lovely piano concert where music was played by request. . Nibbles in the bar that night, were white chocolate & cornflake nibbles, Yum! It was a very hot night and Sue was very restless.
15/8 Wed: Zayatskiy Island & Kuzova Archipelago, Russia: Sunset 21.41: 16 degrees
Early breakfast at 6.30 to be ready to disembark, at 7.30, The Zayatsky (Hare) lslands are entirely tundra vegetation, covered with low lying birch and berry bushes, mosses & lichen were in abundance. On the Bolshoi (big) island, the most eye-catching site, on the approach to the island, was the small wooden chapel, commissioned by Peter The Great, Incredibly, the chapel was built in only two weeks and attracted so much interest amongst the pilgrims, that extra slatted windows were cut into the walls, to enable those outside, to see when they were meant to cross themselves. It was a beautiful stunning, sunny morning and reflections on the water, of the chapel, on the island, it was very colourful and it was perfect, for photography. There was a small, defined path to follow, which lead us to the so-called “labyrinths”- mazes, approximately four inches above the ground. There were some 16 such mazes, varying in size from 2.2 to 28 meters across. The mazes were the only ‘sharman’ or pagan sites, not destroyed by the monks, when they took over the island. The mystery remains, as to what the purpose was of the mazes. We saw lots of boulders/stones supposedly from the Ice Age, and some were Viking burial sites. We were back on board about 10.30. Lunch was at noon, which was interrupted several times, by various sightings of Beluga whales, at a distances, Sue did not manage to see any, as really a flash of white, as they are shy creatures. Lunch was a delicious soup, the pork BBQ ribs were so tender, they fell off the bone and the bread & butter pudding was also tasty. After lunch we went via zodiac to Kuzova Archipelago, a myriad of small islands, in the southwest part of The White Sea. We went ashore on one of the larger islands for a walk, we saw flat- top rock that looked like the table had been set for dinner, as many lichens and grass, growing on top, over the years. Very colourful and the 3 Russian Army officers kept a good eye on us the whole time, though, they too, were taking photos. We sat on top of a rocky hill to admire the views of the islands and waterways, while Ian told us stories. We then went for a zodiac excursion, to see the islands, gulls and one lone beared seal, close by, he had a lovely face! We just made it back on board as the rain began at 4.30pm. We really enjoyed our lemonade and chocolate-chip cookie fix.. We showered and changed for the Captain’s Farewell Cocktails. We had had two champagnes, followed by a very nice dinner, cheesey/ale soup starter, Gail requested we get the recipe from the chef and he obliged! The lamb racks with sweet potato and snow peas, was delicious as was, the rich chocolate cake, which was yummy, as were the rice bubble and chocolate nibbles, from the Clipper Bar! Sue bought a Clipper shirt on sale at the shop, for $25 down from $60, she cant pass a bargain!
16/8 Thurs: Kozly River & Arkhangelsk, Russia. Sunrise 5.11: Sunset: 2113
7.00am breakfast, to board the zodiacs at 8.00am.We had a wee excursion up the Kozly River mouth, just as the fog rolled in, to visit this remote, small, Pomor village. The summer population is approx. 15 people and in winter, it is down to three women, two of the older ladies have had a fight, and no longer talk to one another! We “strolled” through the village, fighting thru the long grass, which was hard going, there was approx 40 wooden cottages, some brightly painted, others, drab, but had well kept gardens of flowers & vegetables and there were stacks of freshly chopped wood. one or two cottages had satellite dishes, for TV! The main “population” seemed to be the gigantic mosquitos! We ended our stroll at the village cemetery, which indicated the population was much larger than it is now. Gail was busy rock hunting again along the beach. Kozly River is a summer holiday place, for folk from Arkhangelsk, it takes 3-4 hours to travel via boat. But if you to take 3 months worth of supplies, the journey may take up to 10 hours! The fog was now so thick, the zodiac drivers required GPS, to find our ship and get us back on board! We shared a most enjoyable lunch and good conversation, with Pat & Karen, from South Africa and Chris and Sarah, from Wales, and Russell & his wife, from USA. 2.00pm Lynne Greig gave is a disembarkation briefing, for Arkhangelsk, we were quite sad that our wonderful expedition was almost over. The ship was given a most wonderful welcome to Russia, a brass band was playing for a long time, as we tied up, there was a huge crowd, plus media,. TV and reporters abound. The captain was the first down the gangplank, to be greeted with 3 beautiful Russian ladies, in traditional dress, and then passengers and crew alike, had the traditional Russian welcome, partaking of bread and salt. Sue was upset that her camera was back in her cabin, and she did not want to miss this spectacle! We were back on board for 17.45 Final Recap, all the lecturers were very entertaining with their final “talk” and JD finished off, with a montage/slide- show of many photos, taken from our trip and Gail featured in many, it was a good laugh. Had our “last supper” on board, with Bob & Jill, Sue had to remind Lynne, about the promised bottle of wine, which went down rather well. Then down to our cabin for our final packing. We were sad that the journey was over, yet on the other hand, time had zipped by and we had seen and done so much, the memories will be with us forever.
17/8 Friday: Arkhangelsk to St Petersburg, Russia 22 degrees
Arkhangelsk is the biggest city in the White Sea: Population 350,000.
We got up at 5.00am to be ready to disembark at 7.00am After breakfast we had to collect our boxed lunches, then buses waited to collect us at the wharf, for a short City Highlights Tour We passed a statue of Lenin,, then onto the Museum of Fine Arts, at 8.30am! There were too many religious icons for our liking, but we really enjoyed the bone carving display that had exquisite detail, there was also, a small Jewish section, which surprised us, in the contemporary arts section. There was not really enough time to explore the Museum Shop, but Gail bought herself a nice box .We then traveled on a rough road, to visit the famous, Karely Museum of Wooden Architecture, where village homes and barns were relocated from across the Russian north, offered a representation, of typical regional architecture. We had a guided tour in and around, the many buildings, Sue very taken with the wooden church, with it silver onion-domed cupolas. It was now hot and sunny and the tour of the village was most interesting. We ate our boxed lunch on the bus, en route to the airport. We arrived at 12 noon to board our chartered, Aeroflot plane, a half hour later. It was a bit of a “bun fight” finding a seat, which had been allocated, but the majority, sat where they liked! It was a one hour 20 min flight to St Petersburg and we arrived approx. 2.30pm, to identify our luggage, then board a bus for the 45 min ride to downtown. We arrived at our 5 Star, Hotel Astoria, at 4.15pm which, was just across the road from the most majestic structure in St Petersburg, St Isaac’s Cathedral, It, seats 10,000 folk and was built between the years 1818 –1858 and has 112 granite columns, which stand 17 meters high, it is now a Museum. We found our way to our big room to unpack and have a wee rest. We had dinner at 7.00pm in the Caviar Bar, at the Hotel Angleterre, as it was able to seat all of us, for a buffet dinner. As we looked thru the window, there was St Isaac’s in the frame, just across the road! It had been raining and now was cool, but cleared by the time Bob Sullivan, Gail and I went for a most delightful walk, around St Isaac’s, thru the Admiralty Gardens, with the lovely display of colour in the flower gardens. We took photos of the Bronze Horseman, then past the huge Admiralty Building with it’s huge gold spire, It and the gold dome of St Isaac’s, dominate the sky-line of St P. It was a Friday night, broad daylight and it was wonderful to see many young folk out & about and enjoying themselves. We luxuriated in a hot bath before retiring, not long before midnight, as were trying to retrieve a phone message, without success. We both felt we already had a “love affair” with St P and it’s 4.7 million population, as we looked out our bedroom window, to see “our” square and the historic buildings surrounding, all flood lit, it was a sight to behold.
18/8 Saturday: ST.PETERSBURG - City tour
Were a bit behind schedule this morning, but breakfasted in time for the 8.30 departure. It was quite a cool morning and we were in groups of 10 or 12 folk, with a local guide and ours was marvellous, Larissa, was her name She was very knowledgeable and had a good command of the English language. She commented on Russian weather “9 months of expectation and then 3 months of disappointment” when summer does not live up to expectation! We walked for approx 45 mins more or less, the route that we had walked last night, to end up at Hermitage Museum comprising of nine buildings, once it was the Winter Palace, of the tsars at 9.30am. Our breath was taken away, by the wealth of the collections, (2.7 million exhibits) the opulence and grandeur of the architecture and decorations, each room so different to the other, one had to take in the floors, the walls, wall-paper, the ceilings, as well as the chandeliers! It was mind-boggling! We were snap-happy with our cameras as so many treasures, gold, jewels, crowns, art works, mosaics, malachite, lapis-lazlu, Egyptian Rooms, Impressionist Rooms, Gold Rooms etc. we were overwhelmed! The four hour long tour, was not even scratching the surface, but at least we had a broad overview, and were so glad we had booked another four- hour tour, on another day! It was hard to find our bus, amongst the dozens in the Palace Square, which was huge. The Rolling Stones held a rock concert there, outside The Hermitage. We enjoyed the drive thru the city, to have a traditional Russian lunch (vodka and champers, included) at a local restaurant, where a trio performed music and singing,, they wore traditional costumes, very pleasant. The restaurant was right next door to the colourful, “Church of the Spilled Blood” with its multi-colours & onion- domed cupolas. It was erected between 1883-1907. It is a masterpiece both inside and out, as the mosaics, which cover a vast area, of the outer & inner walls, approx 7,000 square meters in total! The church is a monument of international significance similar to St Basil’s in Moscow. We fell in love with the church, and marveled at it’s magnificence and were snap-happy again, with the camera! We drove along the main shopping street Nevsky Prospect, en route to “Peter & Paul Fortress” which is on an island. The Fortress is where St P, is said to have begun. The dominant part of the cathedral is the gold bell- tower 122.5 meters high, with a weathervane in the shape of an angel. The burial vaults beneath the Cathedral, is where successive Russian tsars have been interred since Peter The Great. The Fortress was once a prison for political prisoners but now is a vast museum complex. We were enchanted, as on the way to make our entrance to the fortress, we saw 3 owls, each on a gloved hand of it’s keepers, they were so delightful and drew a crowd. Back to the Hotel Astoria at 4.30pm after the most stunning day, we had a 20- minute rest, before we decided to go up the ramparts of St Isaac’s, but there was a downpour of heavy rain, as we crossed the street, which drove us back inside, the Hotel Angleterre where Gail did some retail therapy, in the hotel shop. We met up with Bob & Jill for our “last supper” and said “good bye” to many others from our expedition, then to retire as we were exhausted, after a BIG day, mostly on our feet!
19/8 Sunday: ST PETERSBURG - Peterhof Palace, on Gulf of Finland. 23 degrees
Alarm woke us 6.15am as we wanted to have breakfast with Jill & Bob, they gave us two bottles of water and we said ”farewell” to those we had missed. We checked out of the Hotel Astoria as too expensive, and our guide for the two days, Sergey, met us in the foyer, to take us on a 5 hour to, in 1720, on the Gulf of Finland, approx. 29 kms from the city. Peterhof Palace was inspired by Palace of Versailles, in France. The crowds of tourists were already in line, but Sergey got us to the head of the queue quickly, as he guided us thru the numerous lavishly furnished staterooms, once again were overwhelmed by the opulence and grandeur! The grounds of the palace were enormous and Sergey took us on a looong walk, thru the beautiful woods & gardens after first descending, beside the gold fountains of the Grand Cascade, the centerpiece of this magnificent estate, it was a hot day too. We had wanted to see the markets outside the palace, but Sergey insisted, he take us elsewhere, bigger, better, cheaper etc. We had a “photo stop” at the beautifully decorated “Peter & Paul Church at Peterhof. We arrived back in St P at a souvenir shop, where staff greeted us with drinks of Vodka, and/or a cuppa! We felt ambushed and annoyed, as prices were not cheap, in fact, dearer than the hotel gift-shop, plus the staff were always at your side, badgering you to buy! Sue went outside to take photos of gold Cupolas and canals, and had to walk thru a wedding party, on the side of the canal. We saw many weddings in Russia and The Baltic Countries, mostly with the long limos! We and our luggage, were dropped of at our new & far cheaper Hotel Anderson, around 2.30pm, our room smelt of cigarette smoke, but we thought our breakfasts, had a better selection of food than the fancy Astoria! We walked 10-15 min. to the local metro, to get downtown St P. The metro was amazing, 80-100 meters underground, as mostly it was built underneath the Neva River! It was a long ride down the escalators, there was no platform as such,, more like a shopping arcade, where one lines up outside closed metal doors and as the metro train arrives, the metal doors opened, exactly the same spot as the metro doors and we walked onto the train, It was only two stops down to Nevsky Prospect, the main shopping street. We ere thrilled to see when we alighted the metro, we were very close the Church of the Spilled Blood. We checked out price and times of canal tours, then walked along Nevsky Prospect, past a street market where Sue bought a wee painting, then spent just a little time in a HUGE department store complex. We did not have a lot of time, as we were to meet our guide from yesterday, Larissa, back at our Hotel Anderson metro station at 6.00pm as we had invited her out for dinner. We began to think that Larissa had stood us up as she was running over 20 mins late. She apologized, and we want back down to the Metro for one stop (Gorky) then walked about 10 min. to a very nice fish restaurant.. We ate a tasty garlic fish soup ad a most delicious, Sturgeon for mains, while Larissa told us the story of her life. We were both dead- beat and foot-weary and eager to get to bed.
20/8 Monday: HOTEL ANDERSON St P - CATHERINE PALACE, 23 degrees
We were ‘dead to the world’ when the alarm went off at 6.45, Buffet breakfast was excellent, but lots of folk eating, as the hotel was fully booked. Sergey and Andre collected us at 9.30, there was heavy traffic en route to Pushkin, the former aristocratic tsarist village, just a 40 min. drive from St P. Catherine’s Palace is a grand rococo palace, set in vast, European style gardens. With an ornate blue, white a gold façade is nearly 300 meters long and the golden domes of its cathedral, the palace is equally as impressive as Peterhof. The palace was enormous and we visited the famous Amber Room (no photos allowed) it had been fully restored since its mysterious disappearance after WW11. Sergey guided us thru the lavish staterooms and the beautiful gardens. We were very impressed by the big man-made ponds, in front of the palace, which reflected the palace in the water, the sight, was simply stunning, on a glorious “picture-perfect day. We had good shopping at the nearby street markets. It had been a cool morning, but now the sun came out and was hot as Sergey, dropped us off at The Great Synagogue, downtown St P. he was very surprised that we wanted to do “our own thing!” The magnificent synagogue, built in 1893, from the outside, was similar to the huge one we had seen in Budapest last year, but much less ornate inside. It was simple and pleasant, as we sat for a while & reflected. We had been advised to test the wonderful acoustics in the foyer. Gail and Sue stood on opposite sides of the foyer, with their backs to each other. Gail whispered a message, facing the wall, and Sue heard it, far over the other side. It was truly amazing, as we were able to “talk” to each other, in low tones, across a crowded foyer! We had hoped to try the restaurant but it was overcrowded with American tourists, a cruise ship, must have been in port! We got out of there fast and walked around the corner, to a wonderful coffee shop, which specialized in piroshki, a kind of strudel-type pastry, with a filling of sweet or savory. We ate a delicious salmon & dill piroshki, followed by, an also yummy, plum piroshki, for dessert. We also drank a divine cherry juice, new to us, and we tried to have that as our preferred drink, for the rest of our holiday! We enjoyed it all immensely and we went back for second helpings! We would never have found it, had our guide, Larissa, not told us about the shop. Hard to tear ourselves away, we had a long walk back to Nevsky Prospect, in the heat, along and across, many canals. St P, is situated on 44 islands and has 22 canals, no wonder it is called “The Venice of The North!” Gail was incredulous to see a local Russian man, wearing a South African Rugby shirt, we tried to have a conversation, but he did not speak English well, though we did establish, that he had visited South Africa. We wasted time trying to find a canal cruise stop. We ended up back near the Church of the Spilled Blood where Sue was snap happy with her camera, as the church was now bathed in brilliant sunlight. We boarded a canal cruise, which we enjoyed, as we spent a lot of the time on the Neva River and could see many of St P’s magnificent buildings and skyline, at its best. “Our” metro station was closed, so walked along Nevsky Prospect, trying to find an alternative metro, that woud take us back to Hotel Anderson station. We arrived back at our hotel at 5.25pm to find that our driver, Andre, was already there for our 5.30pm pick-up, for our “Russian Folklore Show” performed at Nicholaevsky Palace, at 6.30pm. Andre drove us thru parts of St P that we had not seen before. The palace was a lovely building, inside & out and we had to walk up two long staircases to the performance room. We were greeted by a man and two women dressed in period costumes. The chamber orchestra played classical music beautifully, while we waited for the show to start. The stage was small for Russian dances, though the dancers were colourful, vibrant & full of energy. The musicians, singers and dancing were excellent and a real treat. At interval we were treated to caviar and champagne, vodka and a few nibbles. There were market stalls around the room and Gail and I shopped well again, buying beautiful Russian scarves. Andre, who speaks only few words of English collected us after the show, we were both on a real high, after the most pleasant evening, even so, we did not get to bed till 12.30
21/8 Tuesday HERMITAGE, ST PETERBURG TO NOVGOROD
We were to be collected at 10.30 so had the luxury if a bit of a lie-in and really enjoyed our leisurely breakfast, despite having to wait for a lot of food, as dining room was packed, with German & Japanese tourists. Andre & Natasha, our guide for The Hermitage, (her English not as good as Larissa) collected us, and our luggage. There were light showers as we queued for approx a half hour, to enter The Hermitage. The Museum is 4th largest in the world, The Louvre, the British Museum and the Metropolitan, in New York, are bigger. Larissa told us to see the “Hidden Treasures” exhibit, it was wonderful, full of Impressionist Paintings, Renoir, Monet, Van Gough, Cezanne etc, there were several paintings that Sue would have loved to taker home! We saw many beautiful rooms that we had not seen previously, one room, was full of delightful statues, Cupid, Voltaire etc plus many HUGE beautiful vases. The Russian Culture Room and Malachite Room were closed, unfortunately. We had only passed thru the Egyptian hall previously, we spent time there and it was superb, they had a Mummy from the 10th Century BC which was in extremely good condition, his teeth were shining out of his black head.. The rain was now tumbling down and we figured St P was weeping, as we were departing, we were very sad to leave this magnificent city. Sue had the cheek to ask Andre if she could have a quick 15 min. tour inside St Isaac’s Cathedral, as time and weather did not allow previously, Gail’s feet too sore to do the same. We left at 2.30pm for our 3-hour drive to Novgorod, the ancient capital of Russia, after dropping off Natasha, at a Metro. The traffic and rain were both heavy and we drove for miles thru ugly Stalin-built apartment blocks, on the outskirts of St P. it was such a shock, after all the magnificent buildings, we had seen over the past 4 days! Sue was in the front of the Mercedes, with Andre, both Gail and Sue kept on falling asleep, though Sue was aware, than Andre was also weary, so she kept on feeding him sweets and tried to make conversation, which was wasted, as all she got was “tank-you” when she gave him a sweet. There were many trucks on the highway and was now very hot in the car, we passed many pine forests and wee villages, with tiny wooden houses, seemed to be only one or two rooms in size. We arrived in Novogorod, at Hotel Volkhov, at 5.45, our room was tiny and hot as hell and there was no air-conditioning or fan, and was now over 29 degrees, we went outdoors ASAP. We walked slowly, in the shade and saw a statue of Lenin, on our way to the Kremlin. We saw a magnificent “Millennium of Russia Memorial” with many figures, of course, “Peter The Great” was the centerpiece.. The Kremlin was first mentioned in the Chronicles of 1044 and the most ancient cathedral of Russia, St Sophia, was built inside the Kremlin walls, between 1045-50. We passed thru the opposite gate of the fort, to the one we entered, and came across the most stunning view, it was “picture-postcard” perfect. We were on a bridge, over the Volkhov River, many mature men & woman were playing volley- ball, on the sand, a few were swimming in the river, As we gazed across the other side of the river, over the old marketplace, we saw the magnificent seven, pastel-coloured churches and their cupolas, lit by the sinking sun, it was a most picturesque scene, again, we were click-happy with cameras. There was a tented BBQ restaurant/beer hall to our left, but were disappointed to learn the only meat they served, was pork!. Pity, as we were already salivating! We got a bit lost, trying to find another BBQ restaurant, from the map, when Gail approached a young 18 year old, university student, who guided us to a very posh-looking restaurant, with a string quintet, playing beautiful music. It was an OK meal, but unfortunately, the food did not live up to expectation, but we enjoyed the experience. We walked back to the hotel in the dark after 10.00pm – bed midnight, in our steamy room, The electric plugs did not work either, to charge our camera batteries. Luckily, we were so exhausted, we slept, despite the heat
22/8 Wednesday NOVGOROD – TRAIN TO MOSCOW: hot 30 degrees
Population of Nogorod approx 25,000: We enjoyed our buffet breakfast, stored our luggage for the day. Our guide Gallina, collected us at 10.00, with Alexander, our driver, he drove us to the other side of the river, to se some old churches, We then went onto Yuryev (St George) Monastery and walked outside the walls, down to the river bank. We then went inside the monastery, to the old Cathedral of St George, built in 1119, the frescos were similar to those we had seen elsewhere in Russia. It was very hot and steamy and we drove onto The Museum of Wooden Architecture, which was similar to what we had seen at Arkhangelsk. The rain came after walking around, we explored the Museum shop. Back to the hotel to collect our umbrellas, then went on a walking tour with Gallina. We walked thru the Kremlin onto St Sophia Cathedral, built in the 9thcentury and then, over the bridge to explore the seven churches, built by merchants, within a stone’s throw of each other. These were the churches, which we had been admiring their beauty, last night. Gallina left us at 2.30pm in the heat, to explore further on our own, so made our way to the craft shop, then back thru the Kremlin, to the Market stalls outside, we bought a few things. We ate an early supper of summer borsch, (hardly any beetroot at all) which was delicious, at Detinets Restaurant, on the second floor, of a tower, within the Kremlin walls. Back at our hotel by 6,50pm, it was very hot and nowhere to shower, we killed time in the hotel foyer, till Alexander, collected us, to take us to the train. Alex arrived with his 9 year-old, daughter and 6 year-old son, who helped carry our luggage. They all helped us onto the train, thank goodness, as we were on ground level and had to get our luggage lifted high up several steps. We had numerous bits and pieces and we were worried, we may not fit into the compartment, but Alex found us storage space, by lifting up our mattresses! The radio was blaring loudly and we had no idea how to turn it down or off, we had to get assistance from the porter. We turned out lights off around 10.00pm but it was a restless and bumpy night, on the train and as we pulled up at several stations, during the night, there was a lot of noise!
23/8 Thursday: MOSCOW - hot 30 odd degrees
Alarm aroused us at 5.00am (not that Gail got any sleep) as the woman guard knocked on our door, we arrived dead on time at 5.30am.Thank goodness the train was level with the platform, so not much difficulty getting luggage off, but it was a very long platform and the luggage strap on Gail’s suitcase had broken, so we had difficulty in dragging her suitcase along the platform, we took turns, We were pleased to see our driver waiting for us, as he carried the suitcase (too heavy for us!). We arrived at our Hotel Vega at 6.10am and were mighty relieved, that we could go immediately to our room, for a much-needed nap and a shower. Moscow’s population is 15 million people, 10% of Russia’s entire population! Our Hotel had 900 rooms, it was one of three, in a complex, built for the Olympic Games, in 1980, we were on the 15th floor, it was easy to get lost, in the hotel! We had enough space, for our luggage and had a decent bathroom, plus hairdryer! Were collected at 10.00 by driver Vlad and Olga our guide, for the next 3 days. We had a tour of city of Moscow our first stop was the stunning St Basil’s Cathedral, built in 1552, by Ivan the Terrible. This vivid colourful cathedral with it’s stunning, architecture, with many cupolas, took our breath away. Then walked into the famous Red Square, formed in 1493 which was also very colourful, Kremlin walls on one side, buildings on the other, with numerous different styles of architecture, the old Gums Department Store, Lenin’s Mausoleum etc. we were both totally in awe and snap- happy with our cameras. Olga had trouble extracting us to move on. We next visited the recently renovated, Temple of Christ Our Saviour, a very attractive white church with 5 gold cupolas – Boris Yeltzyn’s funeral service, took place there. It had a nice simple ambience inside, rather than the busy gold icon churches we had seen. We drove by a couple of HUGE hotels, part of what Russians call, the seven sisters, these were originally, Stalin’s skyscraper apartment blocks, to house his intelligentsia, but in the end, Stalin had murdered most! We next visited Novodevichy convent, it is considered as one of the most beautiful in Russia, with 16th & 17th century architecture, the convent was founded in 1524. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The convent became more or less a prison, where the women of the Tsar family, took the veil. The nuns living at the convent were representatives of higher classes of nobility. The widow of the elder son, of Ivan the Terrible, and Peter the Great’s first wife and Boris Godunov’s sister, all came here, to end their days, Often, it was when their husbands wanted to marry someone else! There were lovely rich red, buildings, trimmed with white and the white convent walls were topped with red fortress-like, towers. We drove past Moscow University, the largest of Stalin’s skyscrapers (44000 students enrolled. 50000 rooms), to stop, at Sparrow Hills, for views over Moscow, the river and site of Olympic Stadium. We checked out the market stalls quickly, before being driven back downtown for a very nice lunch, in a restaurant. We ate a delicious borsch, followed by BBQ chicken skewers, with mashed potato, washed-down, with a litre beer stein, full of cranberry. Olga came back to collect us, for a walk along Arbat Street, a pedestrian, shopping street, mostly filled with souvenir shops, paint-your-portrait artists and such. This was a preamble to our 4-hour tour of Metro-Stations, Stalin was determined to build the best public transport system in the world. Many of the stations were built in grand Soviet style with lavish use of marble, mosaics, sculptures and chandeliers. We hopped on an off many metros, and marveled at the lavishness of them, each station so different from the one before, each was like a mini-art gallery! We were told 11 million folk travel on the metro each day, so reasonable and an efficient way to get around, Sometimes, if we missed one train, another would be along in one or two minutes! Olga gave us directions to find our own way “home” on the metro, to “our” station, we were a bit nervous, but as we came out of the metro station, we could see our hotel very close by. We checked out the numerous shops, all appeared to be the same, with the same lay-out, and were open 24/7! We bought yummy tomatoes, nectarines & water, for supper, plus devoured a soft, runny ice cream. Had two hours R & R then Sue needed some eye-drops, so ventured out with her almost empty, eye drop bottle, wanting to purchase the same eye-drops We were successful, after visiting two chemists, where not much English was spoken. We also bought some delicious, dark chocolate! Were pleased to enjoy the lovely red glow of sunset that Moscow “put on” for us. Moscow has so many different nationalities, with different religions, with so many churches of different denominations and has six synagogues and five mosques.
24/8 Friday JEWISH TOUR OF MOSCOW & KREMLIN & ARMOURY TOUR
It was a hot 32 degree day, Collected at 10.00 after a huge & impressive breakfast., there seemed to be food for every meal of the day! We visited 3 synagogues, this tour, was not nearly as interesting as our walking tours of Budapest & Prague, last year. The first was the Choral Synagogue where an old man gave us a talk and Olga translated. It was a fairly ornate synagogue with geometric roof design, with two painted trees on the back wall. The man invited us back for 7.30pm service, this evening, with the choir. Second synagogue was a Lubavicher Synagogue, where we had to go upstairs to watch students/scholars debating the finer points of Jewish Law. We then went onto the Memorial (to the Holocaust) Synagogue, in a peaceful location, in amongst the numerous trees, in a huge park. Lots of bush-land and also in the park, was a Russian Orthodox Church as well as a Mosque, I think it was called Victory Park,. We moved onto the Kremlin, where Olga took us on a walking tour inside the Kremlin grounds, which actually was beautiful and stunning, consisting of Russian architecture monuments from 15th & 16th centuries. Within the walls of the Kremlin are the gold-domed Assumption, Annunciation, & Archangel cathedrals, Ivan the Great bell-tower, palaces, & Senate buildings, as well as other religious, political buildings. We also saw the huge Tsar Cannon (never a shot was fired) from 16th century and the Tsar Bell (world’s largest bell- 18th century), which developed a huge crack. The residence of the President of Russian Federation, is also situated inside the Kremlin. We then walked into the Armoury Museum where no photography was allowed, to see gold jewels, silver, pewter collections,, clothing etc, as well as an opulent collection of the famous Faberge eggs, Royal thrones and crowns and numerous carriages! While in the Armoury, Larissa, our guide from St P. spotted us and we had a chat, amazing timing! We drove past the KGB Building, the Bolshoi Theatre, which was covered in netting for renovations en route, to have a late 4.00pm, buffet style lunch, where we paid for our food by weight. We then enjoyed a Moscow River Cruise, to sit down and kill time, in the heat, and see all the famous buildings from the river, till then, we had not realized the Kremlin, was on the river. Moscow is surrounded by seven hills. We also had a good close look at the huge statue of Peter the Great, which the locals call “Peter Columbus!” We got a little lost, finding our way back to the Choral Synagogue, but got there dead on time, for 7.30pm service, Sue felt a bit disrespectful, that she was in long shorts, but there had been no time to change. The service, the Cantor and the eight- man choir was delightful, though was extremely hot, up in the gallery of the shul. It was 9.00pm and dark, when we came out of shul and we were able to see the bright lights, of Red Square and the Kremlin, so miraculously, we managed find our way there, walking slowly, with a stop to buy more water. St Basil’s, Red Square and the Kremlin are all food-lit at night and looked stunning. We walked thru Gums Dept Store, now full of designer clothing shops. Were rather weary at 10.30pm and found our way to the Metro station, which was like a maze, but we heard the most stunning music being played, in the subway tunnel, by half a dozen young folk, four-buskers on violins, and one each, on bass & cello. They played beautifully, “Vivaldi’s Four Seasons,” we had goose bumps ‘cause it was sooo delightful. We asked a young man “what platform” when an elderly woman motioned, (no English) to follow her! She had us walk up and down many stairs, thru many subway tunnels. In the end, we knew she was lost! We sought further help and got on the right train eventually, and got to bed at 1.00am!
25/8 Saturday SERGIEV POSAD MONASTERY TOUR – RUSSIA: hot again 30+
Alarm woke us at 6.30am after a hot & restless night. We were collected at 9.00 by driver, Victor & Olga for the 1.5 hour drive thru the Russian countryside, to the historic monastery town of Sergiev Posad, the “Vatican” of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was founded in 1340. The monastery grew very wealthy by supporting successful military campaigns. It was closed by the Bolshevicks, and it was re-opened, after WW11 as an Historical Arts Museum and later, as a working monastery and is an intriguing example of the connection between Church & State. The car park was a perfect spot to get a panoramic view of the whole complex. Again, many gold domed cupolas, the blue-topped onion domes, with gold stars, it was a sight to behold. We had a monk, as a tour guide to start, he was telling Sue when & where, to take lots of photos. We saw again, many beautiful churches, with the gold icons inside, some magnificent architecture, but we had reached the stage where we “all churched out!” We are glad we went though, as well worth the visit, as was a very colourful place, We saw where Boris Godunov was buried, plus witnessed, many folk with numerous disabilities, lining up at the Wishing Well, as reported, that there were holy waters in the well, which miraculously, cured folk of their ailments. We found the best market stalls in Russia, were outside the monastery, with good quality crafts and low prices. We both shopped well and could have bought a whole heap more, had we the room in our suitcases! We drove back via the Cosmos Hotel (almost 2000 rooms) to collect our theatre tickets, for that evening, for the Russian National Dance Show. We had hoped to walk around the parks and museums, but we asked to return to our hotel at 3.00pm. as we were hot and tired. We hoped to have a nap, but our room was being serviced, so we sat outside in the shade, for a half hour. We had a chicken kebab for supper and were proud of the fact that we fund out way, back to the Cosmos Hotel after traveling on 3 different lines of the metro, which took one hour. It was a upper- class hotel, with shops and great loos and had a big concert hall. The performance “told” a story in dance, of how Russia evolved, with the coming of the Vikings, the Jews etc combining traditional folk dances and different Russian ethnic groups with contemporary ballet. Some of the dance sketches involved over 50 artists, over 200 unique costumes, decorated with pearls, silver & beads, We thoroughly enjoyed the show, however, it was very LOUD and completely different, to the folklore show, we had seen at St P. We got home safely on the subways without getting lost, got to bed after midnight.
26/8 Sunday MOSCOW – VILNUIS, weather: overcast & cool
A “free” day! It was cool during the night so we both had a good sleep and were up at 7.45. Sue, was trying to find a post office, for the past 3 days without success, even with Olga’s help in translating, as Sue had hoped to mail some of her clothes home, to make suitcase lighter, for travel in the Baltic countries. After breakfast Sue, was informed by the concierge, that there was a post office, in the hotel next door!!! Why was Olga not told this yesterday, when she enquired, on Sue’s behalf? Sue ran to the hotel next door, only to find the post office shut, on Sunday!!!!! We hurriedly packed, as we had to be out of room by noon, or be charged extra! It cost us 300 Rubles (approx $15) to store our luggage the hotel. As we got onto the metro, the train doors closed on Gail half-in, and Sue was stranded on the platform! There was a bit of drama to get Gail out, as she had both tickets, we waited for the next metro. We had to change lines to get to the Pushkin Museum., where they have the biggest collection of Impressionist Paintings, outside of France. We were in 7th heaven as there were rooms full of Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Gauguin, Picasso & others, plus many superb Rodin sculptures. We spent a lot of time just sitting and “drinking it all in!’ It was a grand finale for our time, in Russia. We spent a few hours there and were back at our hotel at 4.45pm to sit outside, in the cool air. Fortunately we retrieved our luggage early, as our driver arrived a half hour early, at 6.00pm. It was a 45 min drive to the airport, a long way out, he was speeding at 140km,and at times we thought he was going to crash into the car in front! We could not check-in for one hour, at 8.00pm so our plane was late in departing It was a small plane carrying about 60 passengers, mostly a Japanese tour group. It was a one hour 40 min flight to Vilnius. Lithuania, arrived at midnight local time, got to bed one hour later, but really 2.00am Moscow time, as we turned the clocks back one hour! Some men from The Commrades, male voice Choir, from the UK were singing in the foyer, as we arrived at Hotel Reval Lietuva, Vilnius.
27/8 Monday, VILNIUS, LITHUANIA: Weather: Cold & rain 15 degrees
The lovely capital of Lithuania is famous for having more than 12000 medieval buildings and 48 churches. We met our guide, Zane Altengura, after breakfast, a little late, as the hotel lifts were extremely slow. We boarded the bus for a sightseeing tour, of Vilnius. We entered Peter & Paul Church, high on a hill, where the Pope, John Paul 11 came to visit in 1993 & he left a gift. The church was beautiful inside, all white and a rare example of 17th century Baroque period. We moved on to climb the uneven cobblestone street to Gediminas Castle, for panoramic views over Vilnius. We then did a couple of hours walking-tour of the Old Town, we saw Vilnius Cathedral, the Gothic St, Anna’s Church, Old University, founded in 1579 and the Gates of Dawn. The tour was beautiful but we felt a little rushed, as we needed more time to look and admire. We ended at 12.30 in the Old Town Square, right near the Tourist Bureau, where Gail, with the help of Zane organised a driver, with a van, to drive us the 100 km. to Kaunas, where Gail’s grandfather came from. It took 1.5 hours to reach Kaunas thru rural countryside and forests, and we met our Jewish Tour guide, Chaim Bargman, who was once, a mathematician. He was a stocky, small man, with a cheeky face, almost pixie-like, but was a wealth of information. Our first stop was a high observation point, to look over the river and Kaunas. We passed a burial mound, from the war against Napoleon. We also visited one of 10 remaining forts that helped, defend Kaunas, from Prussian Armies. There was a huge memorial of rock shapes, to the fallen Soviet troops, in their war against the Germans in WW11. There was also, a memorial plaque, for the Holocaust victims, transported from Munich and were then shot on site! Very sobering. The population of Lithuanian Jews before the war was, 40,000 and now approx only 4,000, of which, 250 now live in Kaunas! We drove thru, what was the small and big ghetto areas and ended up at the house of the Japanese Diplomat, Sugihara. Sugihara personally issued 2500+ visas, handwritten, for Polish Jews fleeing German-occupied Poland, defying his government’s orders With the support of his wife, he personally wrote approx 300 visas a day! We shared the visit to the house, with the Israeli Minster of Religion and his entourage! Our last stop fittingly, was the lone remaining Synagogue, built in 1871. There was a very touching memorial outside, to the 9000 Kaunas children, who were killed, during the war - one day, a staggering 4000 children were shot! We left Kaunas later than we intended and told our driver to hurry. We arrived back at our hotel at 7.15pm and were ready to leave for dinner at 7.30pm. We ate at a Lithuanian Restaurant, “Marceliukes kletis”we had vegetable soup, chicken schnitzel & potato. There were only 5 of us from the tour group, we enjoyed the company of a Spanish couple (wife did not speak English) and a Danish man, as we were serenaded by two men, one with a violin and the other played piano- accordion, with a bit of a singing, We were very tired after our 3 nights in a row, of getting to bed after midnight, but exhilarated after our wonderful day.
28/8 Tuesday VILNIUS – HILLS OF CROSSES- RIGA. Cool day, wind & rain
We felt we did not have enough time in Vilnius, and had to pack up and be at breakfast at 8.00, for 9.00am departure. Must say, we ate excellent breakfasts in The Baltic Countries, a great variety of food on offer. Sue went to the back of the bus for a nap for most of the morning, as we drove thru the countryside. First stop, at noon, was at the Hills of Crosses, one of the most holy relics of Catholic Lithuania. The sky was very dark and overcast, and we were mesmerized but the millions of crosses upon other millions. The Pope had also visited here, in 1993, the surrounding fields held a massive crowd, he left another gift. The Soviets had bulldozed the Hills of Crosses down, but the people were defiant and Hills of Crosses “grew” once again. We were amazed to see a Jewish Star of David, in amongst the crosses. We could not read the inscription, as it was in German. We crossed the border, into Latvia, not long after and passed the Passport Control. Next stop was the Rundale Palace, built by the famous architect, Rastrelli, who also designed Peterhof Palace, in St. P. This was the summer residence of the Duke of Courland, during the 18th century. We had a guided tour thru the palace, which was also beautiful, but we felt “all palaced out!” We drove thru the rolling hills of southern Latvia, it rained heavily, as we got close to Riga, also there was heavy peak-hour traffic, we arrived at the Hotel Domina around 7.30pm. We had to phone our Jewish guide, Elena, for Thursday, as we were staying at a different hotel to our itinerary. Gail had “found” Elena, after emailing the Jewish Museum in Riga. We managed without any local currency in Lithuania, but Sue went to an ATM outside the hotel and drew out too much in error! The amount funded the pair of us, for the rest of our stay, in the Baltic countries, tips, et al!
29/8 RIGA – GAUJA NATIONAL PARK – RIGA: Cold & very wet
We woke with a start, as the alarm did not activate, however we made it on time for the 9.00 departure for Sigulda & Gauja National Park,. The day started off bright and sunny, but then it quickly became very bleak, black, cold and the rain dumped down heavily, all morning. We first stopped at the 13th century town of Sigulda, often called the “Latvian Switzerland” with it’s beautiful & imposing landscapes and visited the ruins of the Episcopal Castle, in the rain. We moved onto Gutman Cave, the roof was full of rock carvings dating back to 12th century. We heard about the medieval legends of the Rose of Turaida and saw Maja’s Tombstone. The cave was linked to a romantic, medieval love legend. The Liv chieftan, Rindaugas, accused his wife of being unfaithful and buried her alive, in the steep bank of the Gauja river. Her tears turned into a stream, which created a cave. We walked on in the heavy rain to the ruins of the 13th century castle, of the Knights of the Sword, Gauja National Park looked simply stunning, lots of lovely trees and bright green vegetation, but as it was so wet, it spoilt the atmosphere. Sue decided she could not negotiate the climb, (in the time we had) what we were told, 300 steep steps, with no handrails, to the top of the tower, but Gail did. It was only 135 steps, sometimes ill lit, to the top and Gail took some lovely photos from there, over the castle, river and beautiful forest of trees. Sue spent her time in and out of the various exhibits, learning the way of life of the Knights. Our shoes and slacks were completely wet throughout. Were pleased to be back at our hotel to dry out and eat our sandwich lunch. Thank goodness there was now blue skies, about 3.00,pm and we ventured out to walk thru 2 parks for approx 15 min. to get to Old Town, Gail’s grandmother came from Riga, so we were ready to explore and “get the feel.” Riga is regarded by historians, to have begun, with the arrival in Latvia, of German traders, mercenaries & religious crusaders, in the 2nd half, of the 12th century. Riga was founded in 1201 by the German Bishop Albert, and is the largest of the 3 Baltic capitals, with a true kaleidoscope of various architectural styles, we were “in love” with the old town from the minute we walked. We bought tickets for an organ recital that night, at the Dome Church. The tickets cost 7 Lats each, approx R100 or AU$17. We could have had cheaper seats, as it turned out, as there was nothing to see! We headed to the “Museum of the Occupation of Latvia” which shows what happened to Latvia, its land and people under two occupying totalitarian regimes, from 1940 to 1991! It is to remind people of the crimes committed by foreign powers, against the state and people of Latvia and to remember the victims of the occupation. Entrance was free, as was our guide, who saw us struggling to read all the information, She was a young gal of about 25-30 years old and she gave us a very passionate tour of the whole museum, about a dozen folk joined in our tour, from time to time, we found the tour very sobering indeed, Riga recently celebrated its 800th anniversary, and the sun was now shining and we were once again, snap-happy with our cameras. We had a nice cup of coffee at 6.00pm before heading off to the concert, which was beautiful at times, and others so-so. We had been informed of the concert, by Trevor, from Canberra, who was an architect, but builds organs as a hobby. We ate at Lido Restaurant, a buffet style, for a quick meal, then got a bit lost, we retraced our steps, back to the Dome Church and more or less, found our way to our hotel. It was a balmy evening and very pleasant walking and was great to see the Old Town at night.
30/8 Thursday RIGA OLD TOWN WALKING TOUR & JEWISH TOUR
We woke to a sunny morning, but a very keen wind, was 14 degrees to start, but warmed up later. Our walking tour of Old Town at 9.00am was simply stunning, walking the picturesque, cobblestone streets, it included Riga Castle, Dome Cathedral, St Peter’s Church, where we took a lift to the top of the spire, to have magnificent 360 degree views over Riga. We also saw the Swedish Gates, the Three Brothers merchant houses, Large & Small Guild Houses, Blackheads House, (or House of Moors) built in 1334 and the majestic, Freedom Monument. We ate a quick sandwich lunch at Town Hall Square, before meeting Elena, our Jewish Guide, at the Opera House, at 1.00pm. We waked back into Old Town to visit the only working synagogue (Peitav) in Latvia, where we had a 10- minute talk, with Michael. We returned to Elena’s car, to continue the Jewish tour in and around Riga, First stop was to see the remaining ruins of a synagogue it was actually, a memorial, to 300 people that were killed there. On the 4/7/1941 when the Germans occupied Riga, they closed the doors and burnt down all the synagogues, often with people inside. This was the first, of many heart-wrenching sites we visited that day, one vaguely knows the history of these countries, but to see the consequences from such ghastly deeds, one realizes the extent of the horrors of those that suffered. We passed an old Jewish cemetery and a ghetto site, before we arrived at a Jewish School, to see some old photographs. We also passed the railway station where many thousands of people from Eastern Europe, Poles, Russians, Germans etc disembarked in am emaciated state, from trains, then marched 8-12km, to the forests, their final destination, where they were shot, on the edge of already dug, massed graves! Many Latvian Jews were also executed here. The Nazis chose these Latvian forests, especially for this purpose and to hide their deadly deeds, as they had the control of the railways and could do as they pleased, the scope of it all was numbing. We heard the story of two women who had escaped to live in the forests. We were very emotional visiting three such sites, in the Rumbula forest, One site was Jewish, with a Jewish candelabra-style statue, surrounded by thousands of rocks, many with people’s names, that had been killed here. We visited a Soviet work/labour camp and saw many depictions of the horrors there, Elena told it was menial work, like shovelling a pile of dirt from here to there, then to shovel it back again. We went onto Bikernieki Forest Memorial, where many more thousands were killed. It was very dark in the thick forest and this time, the memorial rocks, were set out under the names of the European cities that the people had been transported from. The site hit home with us, of the scale of the mass murders, when we saw the thousands and thousands of rocks and the multiple names of cites. Elena was a fountain of information and stories. After all this emotion, we ended of a high note, in Alberta Street, It was an absolutely stunning street, in Riga, for Art Nouveau architecture with Latvian Jewish architect Mikhail Eisenstein houses & the Isaiah Berlin house (Latvian /British political philosopher.) As we were so late, we said goodbye to Elena, in Albert Street and marvelled at all the beautiful architecture, the cameras were working overtime yet again. We checked out the supermarket as to how best to spend the Latvian coins that we had left, after we paid our hotel account. We went out at 8.00 with some of tour group, for a delicious, Baltic Seafood dinner at “La Bohema” restaurant, it was a 15 min. walk. It was a very pleasant evening and a much more up-market restaurant, than in Vilnius.
31/7 Friday: RIGA – PARNU – TALLINN
We had a bit of drama before leaving hotel at 9.00 as seems, when we settled our account last night, they neglected to charge us for a tonic water, from the bar fridge! After lots of haggling and as we no longer had Latvian money, they waived the charge. Out tour continued along the coastal highway 300kms to the Estonian summer resort, of Parnu, where we went thru Passport control, and changed money. We had an hour to explore the pedestrian mall of Parnu, and to lunch, Gail shopped at a market stall. It was now raining and we had a short bus ride to see the beach and the Baltic Sea. The rain was tumbling down now, and quite windy, the beach was very flat, as was the sea, all there was to see, was a pile of plastic lounge chairs, in a stack. We saw the outside of the resort, where, mud baths and pampering were on offer, we also saw some quite colourful houses in Parnu. One Estonian- crown, is equal to one Oz $. We saw many green fields and pine forests en route to Tallinn, we hit heavy traffic on the outskirts and arrived at Hotel Domina Illmarine, on the waterfront, which was right opposite one of the gates, into the Old Town, under the tower of Fat Margaret Cannon Tower, 16th-century! More drama, when we got to our room, which stank of cigarette smoke, there was absolutely no room to for a second suitcase! Sue went down to complain to the manager, he sent her back with a porter, who agreed. there was not enough space, but wanted to charge us an extra 15 euros per night, for a larger room! Sue negotiated with another, this time, female manager who upgraded us to a larger room, at no extra charge. It had a huge bath, it was so tall, that one almost did damage to one-self, climbing in! We enquired at the desk where the new synagogue was? it was too far away to walk and no public transport. The manager then told us to walk thru the Old Town and the shul was ”right there” outside the walls. We strolled the cobblestone streets of Old Town and got lost, once outside the walls, we must have come out a wrong gate! We asked a group of 4 taxi drivers, who gave us incorrect directions, once we got to New Town we asked assistance of numerous folk, not many spoke English. One woman kindly, pointed directions out, on our map and when we checked with the next, younger man, he gave Gail a big hug! It was raining and as we were checking our map again when two young Israeli girls greeted us with “Shabat Shalom!” We realised, we were standing right outside the shul! We had arrived in time for start of service, after walking for two hours! There were only about 10 men downstairs for the service and the same number of ladies upstairs, in the gallery, as we watched the rabbi conduct the service. We were then invited to join the rabbi and congregation, to wash our hands, drink some wine and partake of the freshly cut bread, called, kitka. When we went outside, it was still raining and now dark, and it was easy to spot the floodlit, church spires of the Old Town, and we headed straight for it , via a much shorter route! We found a downstairs bar to have a large and yummy dinner, of chicken schnitzel, with crushed hazelnuts, hot chips and lots of vegetables all freshly cooked, which was not too expensive, it was very pleasant, until the LOUD music started and the strobe lighting, which made us move on, Great have a hot bath and crash for the night around midnight.
1/9 Sunday- TALLINN – KADRIONG PARK – TALLINN
Unfortunately, it was raining at the start of our 3-hour walking tour, of Tallinn Old Town. It was a visual feast of soaring spires, towers & turrets- the legacies of its founders and rulers: the Danes, Swedes, Germans and Russians. Country-wide-pride, has brought about a renaissance in restoration and re-construction since 1991 and Tallinn proudly proclaims itself the finest preserved city in the Baltic. We started our tour in the upper-town, at Palace Square, bordered by the pink baroque Toompea Castle, which now houses the Estonian Parliament, and the magnificent cupola-crowned Russian Orthodox, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. The Palace Square was jam-packed with foreign tourists, as there were 3 cruise-liners in port, we had trouble hearing what our local guide was telling us, due to the cacophony of languages being spoken by the guides! We had a magnificent view from the upper terrace, of the towers & turrets, over the medieval city and out to the ports, as the sun was struggling to break thru the clouds. We also visited the oldest church in Estonia, the Gothic 13th-century Dome Church. In the lower town we visited the Town Hall Square, once a medieval marketplace; one of the oldest pharmacies in Europe founded in 1422. Our guide, Andres, often started giving us information before all of us were present, so we missed a lot, which was annoying. We went inside the Old Town Hall, which had lovely frescoes. We had a 1.5 hour lunch break, so we took the opportunity to visit the excellent Tallinn City Museum, which was well set out and made sense to us, of the information we had been given, but had not completely understood at the time, like the Guildhalls (home of wealthy Merchants Guild) and the Blackheads (young unmarried, German Merchants At 2,00pm we went on excursion, via to bus, to Kadriong Park and Palace, built by Peter The Great, as a summer residence 1718-1728, which was a fine example of Baroque architecture, lovely rooms, but now set up as an art gallery, with very dark and sombre paintings, not our style and we felt a bit of a waste of our time. Again, we saw bridal parties in and around the parks and gardens, We were both very tired an had a wee nap before joining with folk, on other tours, for a meal in a medieval theme restaurant, called “Peppersack,” in the Old Town, there were fist-fights, sword-fights, belly dancing, which left a lot to be desired, as did the food! Back to the hotel at 11.00pm too tired to bath.
2/9 TALLLIN – HELSINI – HONG KONG – SYDNEY: Rain
We were up to shower and to squeeze everything into our heavy suitcases, It was our last day as Sue to fly out at 15.20 and Gail at 19.20. We went in and out of souvenir shops and St Olaf’s Church, 13th century –1267, to keep out of the rain. She left Gail shopping, as she had a 13.30 transfer via a taxi, from the hotel to the airport. There was more drama, as they arrived at the airport, the driver demanded payment, which Sue had pre-paid in Sydney. She showed him, her voucher, which he was not willing to accept, so we had a standoff for time, but his lack of English was also a problem. Sue left him with the voucher, for him to sort out with hotel or the local agent. Sue was now anxious as her flight was delayed (3/4 hour) for the 20 minute “up & down” flight to Helsinki, as she had a very short time to catch her flight, to Hong Kong. Helsinki looked beautiful from the air and Sue had slight regrets not spending time there, but she was exhausted and her brain almost to exploding point, of all the wonders, she had seen and absorbed. Fortunately, Sue was not the only passenger the Finnair flight to Hong Kong, the plane was waiting for, Sue ran up the escalators, to the departure lounge and got the last window seat, which had supposedly been pre-booked from Sydney. Again fortune was with her, as she had 3 seats to herself, so she was able to stretch-out and doze, most of the way to Hong Kong, a 9.5 hour flight. Sue found her way thru the maze of Hong Kong airport, as she had to collect a boarding pass from Cathay Pacific. The 9+hour flight was hot in the plane to start, and one Asian woman, kept yelling out, in a loud voice, ”Hei,” or some such, so was hard to settle, in the two seats that Sue had to herself. Sue landed on time, in Sydney at 2010 and was pleased to be home and that Michael was there to greet her. .She prattled on, about the “wonders of the world” that she had experienced and felt enriched. Gail flew from Tallin to Frankfurt and then onto Johannesburg, This holiday we feel, rated as “one of the best!”
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