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Russia.
October 1994 - St. Petersburg (Hermitage, Aurora, Summer Palace, Petrovoderts), Train, Moscow (Red Square, Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Gorky Park, Gum Department Store, St. Basils Cathedral, Bolshoi Theatre, Mac Donald's).
Strange happenings: New Zealander does Haka on train in middle of night and get's a police kalashnikov pointed at him. Prior to the train journey, we were at a kiosk buying a few bottles of vodka. A local came up and offered myself and the New Zealander money for the services of a woman that was with us.
Propositioned in Red Square at midnight by a couple of prostitutes - even though I was with a group of five women.
Also, here's the cyrillic alphabet to help you - it was devised by St. Cyril and St. Methodius to provide an alphabet for the Russians that were not quite covered by the Greek (no, I've not been to Greece, but it's amazing what you pick up as you go along) or Latin (Western) alphabets.
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| St.
Basils, Moscow
On a nice day, this is a beautiful site, erected on behalf of none other than Ivan the Terrible. Some street traders also gather here, and some reasonable bargains are to be had, but as I said above, it's hard work getting the price down. |
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| Red Square, Moscow
This is a bit of a gathering point for locals (for a certain ex-leader) and tourists alike. Oh, and this is where I got propositioned at midnight after a visit to the Bolshoi theatre (see 'Strange Happenings'). |
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| Inside Kremlin, you make wishes on touching the
bell.
This bell is supposed to be the largest cast bell in the world. The second largest is in Myanmar (Burma). And no, my wish hasn't come true yet (boo hoo). |
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Mac Donald's
How typically Russian... (c) Microsoft Encarta |
Aurora, St. Petersburg.
A single shot from this started the Russian Revolution in October 1917.
Hermitage (Winter Palace), St. Petersburg
This was the scene for the most famous scene of the Russian Revolution, the Storming of the Winter Palace. It also holds one of the greatest collections of art in the world. Oh, if you reach the Malachite Room, one of the rooms off it is where the Provisional Government was arrested in the October Revolution and replaced by the Bolsheviks. Interestingly, after a nine year break during the 1990s, the old guard seem to have sneaked back into the Kremlin.
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