I Don't Feel so Good - Russia

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Russia

July 11
Today was a long, frustrating day. My flight, via Aeroflot, which is the Russian state-owned company, was two hours late. I had been warned by a couple of travel agents not to fly Aeroflot and I heard bad things about them. For instance, once they wouldn't depart until every passenger chipped in $20 for fuel. This flight was $100 cheaper so I figured I'd do it.

I eventually did make it to Moscow. Someone from the hostel was supposed to pick me up and they just decided to go home because I was so late. I found a private taxi and they tried to charge me 70 dollars at first, then it went all the way up to 90. I asked another driver how much it cost and I could see the original taxi driver winking at him, indicating to him to charge me more. I eventually got them down to 45 which was still too much but I got to my hostel.

July 12
Another frustrating day. I figured out that the taxi driver just dropped me off at a hotel, but it wasn't where I was supposed to be. It was tough as no one spoke English at this hotel. I found a bank, got money and went to Red Square. The Kremlin is closed on Thursday, but I went to the Arbat, which is the main pedestrian mall. Then I went to Kitai Gorod, which has a lot of old churches, and to the Bolshoy Theater. I got back to my hotel and tried to explain to the owners that I already paid with my credit card over the Internet. Finally we got someone who spoke English and she did the translating and we figured out that I was in the wrong hotel. So, we called the hostel I was supposed to be at and they were wondering where I was. The Russian woman at reception was really nice; she closed reception and found someone with a car to drive me to my real hostel.

July 13
Today we went to the Kremlin which is what I was most excited to see. We saw the soldier's procession in front of the Unknown Soldier. One thing that stood out in the Kremlin was the Armory Museum that has nine different malls in it. The malls include gold, silver, jewelry, Faberge eggs, Oriental items, Western European armor, and the royal carriages.

We also went past the bell of Ivan the Terrible and the czar cannon. We went to the Annunciation Cathedral and the Cathedral of the Archangel, which has Ivan the Terrible buried behind the altar. The Annunciation Cathedral is mostly a church with some old paintings but the Armory was what dominates the Kremlin area. There's a big park beside the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and there are a couple of gardens, which is nice to walk through. The towers around the Kremlin are interesting to see outside the walls.

July 14
Today I started off at Lenin's grave, as it is not open every day. There was a long queue to get in, but eventually I did see him. They pushed me through fairly quickly. He looked like a mannequin but I could still tell it was Lenin. Basically, I walked down a few steps and it's very dark but there is a spotlight on him. Some of it has been reconstructed, like his hands, even though the Russians swear everything is original. He's in a suit and tie. After the mausoleum I went to Gorky Park, which is a big amusement center, and looked at that for a couple of hours. There is an art museum and an art park across the way. Also interesting is the orange and green onion-domed Church of St. Nicholas of the Weavers, it's one of the churches that the Communists didn't interfere with and also Tolstoy's winter residence.

July 15
I arrived in St. Petersburg and almost went to the wrong hotel again. In the Leningrad Station in Moscow there's still a huge statue of Lenin. There are not too many of these statues, but there are still some around in these huge halls. In St. Petersburg, the trams are old they change the electricity manually by rope and they have camcorders that you stick the whole VHS tape in.

I walked down to the Hermitage, which is the main thing to see in St. Petersburg. The place is massive. There is a lot of the artwork and works that were collected by the czars. It's just a maze of different rooms where you can get lost pretty easily. They have different artwork, Spanish, Dutch - Italian's probably the most common. They also had a couple of old Egyptian works; most of it's closed off as they're renovating.

July 16
My roommate, Paul, and I tried to get out to Catherine's Palace, which is about 15 miles away from St. Petersburg. There are tours there but they're expensive and we didn't think it worthwhile. It was quite an experience. What we ended up doing is getting a suburban train. We were about ready to go, we were packed in the train, and then they told everyone to get off the train and on to another. Luckily, a Russian guy who knew a little English helped us by pushing us in and out of the train. At my stop I got pushed off and fell out of the train and this Russian guy helped us find the bus to Catherine's Palace. After a long wait we made it into the palace and it was pretty impressive to see. We saw a lot of the palace's park where there's a big pond in the middle.
We tried to get to Isaac's Cathedral but it was already closed. We just got to look at the outside of Isaac's Cathedral. We walked back and I could tell I was getting sick and I ended up getting really sick, must have been food poisoning. They serve everything lukewarm here including the milk. I threw up five times and then passed out. I was given a black tablet by the reception at the hostel and was helped by my roommates.

Another roommate of ours, Jason, is traveling around the world for six months too, but he's fishing. He carries all these fishing poles, and actually his last stop is going to be to Mongolia, where he says there's 7-foot trout. Still another roommate is Japanese and is riding his 10-speed back home.

July 17
Today was a waste day, still felt a little ill from food poisoning. There is a couple of other attractions I wanted to see that I didn't get to, but I basically saw the two things I wanted to see, which is the Hermitage and Catherine's. I did get to see the Admiralty and Decemberist's Square, which are both important historically. I met a third Russian person who spoke English. Hope I don't get sick on the train back to Moscow.


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