May 31 St. Petersburg Day 3

Last day of May, it's been quite a month.
The weather continues to be great, 22 and sunny.
I am still suffering from all the walking on Thursday, seven hours, and my body is sore. 
I would like to talk about the subway system here. It's great. I have used it every day, and the longest wait has been just over 2 minutes. It is very well used. This Metro is also the deepest system in the world, because it has to go under all the waterways in the city. The depth of the average station is 105 m. There are no steps, only escalators. I used a stopwatch, and it takes two and a quarter minutes, from top to bottom, at the station nearest to me. I transferred at another stop, and it was another minute and ten seconds to get to that platform. Once you insert your token, cost about one dollar, you can use as many trains, for as long as you want. Some of the stations have beautiful architecture.
I spent the day visiting Peterhof, the Russian tsars summer residence during the 18th and 19th century. It is located about 20 km from the city centre, on the Gulf of Finland. The palace is built on a bluff, overlooking the Gulf. The area between the shore and the bluff are the Lower Gardens, and there are Upper Gardens, behind the Grand Palace.
I decided to go there by hydrofoil. It is billed as "scenic", a great misuse of that word, and it's pricey. You land at the Lower Gardens, which are known for the, almost, 200 fountains. They are spectacular. I arrived just in time to witness the largest of the fountains being turned on, with music. It is quite the show, gorgeous fountains, the palace in the background.
The Lower Gardens are huge, I would guess over a km wide, with lots of paths, smaller palaces, and, of course, fountains. I spent almost three hours walking in those gardens. Another amazing fact is that none of the fountains have pumps, nothing but gravity. Quite an engineering achievement.
I don't know if I'm getting cranky, or just overtired, but, as a tourist attraction, I would like to see some improvements. It would be nice to be given a map of all the big fountains, rather than wandering around. I also think they do too much "nickel and dime" pricing. There is an entry fee to see the gardens. To see the palace is another fee, to see the Grotto is additional. I skipped the palace, probably a tourist "no-no" but I was just too tired. And you weren't allowed to take photos in the Grand Palace.
Coming home was another another "solo traveller, not speaking the language" experience. There are buses that go back to the city, but finding the bus stop took me almost 30 minutes of going back and forth, it's a 10 minute walk from the Peterhof. It turns out it as fast as the hydrofoil, and less than a tenth of the price. And, in my opinion, more scenic. I saw some trolleys, still in use, that looked like they been used since the twenties.
I actually looked at a tour package to see Peterhof, but I am happy I didn't do that. There were a lot of tour groups, at the palace, but, once you walked 5 minutes off the main path, you were alone. The time spent at the site, for tours, is about two and a half hours, and that includes the palace. I spent three hours in the Lower Gardens alone.
My hostess informed me that she and her husband were going to their "dacha", their cottage for the weekend. Home Alone....Party Time!
Ralf

May 30 St. Petersbug Day 2

I finally discovered where all the tour buses have benn; right here in St. Petersburg. There is a multitude, it's like mating season for tour buses.

I did a lot of walking, seven hours on my feet, and I felt it last night.

I started off by visiting two churches. But they are unique. The first one was the Church of the Saviour on the Blood. This is the Russian Orthodox structure that's on all the brochures about St. Petersburg. It is a multicoloured, over the top, sight, with onion domes. The interesting thing is that's it Steve's no religious function. It was built on the spot where Alexander II was assassinated, and even though the inside has many religious figures, and an altar, it is not used as a church. The inside is also spectacular. There are numerous mosaics of saints, all large, all made up of tiny tiles. Spectacular. The only thing more numerous than the mosaics are the tourists. EVERY tour group HAS to see this church. At any one time there are, at least a dozen tour groups inside. I saw Japanes, German, Russian, and English groups.

The other church I visited was Kazan Cathedral. It is the largest Russion Orthodox Church in the city, but it doesn't look like a church. When I first saw it I thought it was a museum, there are no church towers, no onion domes. It was built to commemorate the Russian victory over Napoleon, in the War of 1812. Now this was a real war, no Laura Secord, but real armies, and typically brutal. 

The church, inside, has no pews, like all Russian Ortodox churches, just huge marble columns. It looks like a military palace. There were no tourist groups, but quite a few locals, worshipping at the side altars.

After a coffee break I visited the State Russian Museum. It is site of the largest collection of strictly Russian art. It starts with some beautiful old icons, and then has famous Russian paintings. Famous in Russia, because I didn't recognize any of the artists. There were some individual pieces that were excellent, but it was mostly unimpressive, to me anyway, but I am no art expert. There were some modern art pices, but I still don't get a black square on a white background as art.

 My favourite part, aside from the icons, was the folk art section. Some beautiful lace work, wood carvings, enamel pieces.

The other things I liked were the museum itself, a beautiful palace, and also the fact that you were allowed to take "no flash" photos.

Another aspect of St. Petersburg that I enjoy, are the number of parks, very large, very beautiful, very clean. And there are a lot.

I did encounter an interesting Russian. He was sitting on the sidewalk, with a sign, in English, "Need money for beer and vodka". I wonder if honesty pays?

Time to rest my weary bones,

Ralf

May 29 Arrival in St. Petersburg

I have achieved one of the goals of this trip; I have arrived in St. Petersburg!

Everything went smoothly, but it was a long day. I was up at 5, packed, took a bus to the bus station and was there shortly after 6 for my 7 o'clock bus to St. Petersburg. The management at my apartment even left a breakfast for me in the fridge.

The buses here are great. Complementary water, coffee, a clean toilet, even WiFi all the way. There was even an electric outlet to charge my iPad,

The border crossing, into Russia took about an hour. First we had to have our passports stamped on the Estonian side, then, on the Russian side we all had to get off the bus and go through customs, one by one.

Even with that we arrived in St. Petersburg 40 minutes early. To get to my accommodation I had to take 2 different subway lines, but they are well marked, even in English. The Internet is, again, very helpful. I knew what to expect, and I was ready.

When I got off the Metro I actually found a person who knew the area, and within 10 minutes I was there. Another bonus, the apartment is on the fifth floor, BUT there is an elevator, an Otis, no less.

This accommodation is different in that I am basically occupying a room in an apartment where a Russian couple lives.

The apartment is unbelievable. Absolutely gorgeous. If it were a hotel it would be 5-star. Beautiful furniture, two bathrooms, there is even a sauna off the larger bathroom. The appliances in the kitchen are all Miele. The fridge looks like a wooden cupboard from the outside.

I went for a walk, and this area is very nice. Grand old buildings from the late 1800's, and well maintained. Language is a problem. Since I can't read any signs I don't know what kind of a store it is until I go inside. I have been in hairdressers, computer stores, sushi restaurants, you name it.

St. Petersburg is called the Venice of the north, and there are many bridges and canals, but on a much larger scale than the real Venice. I even saw a couple of ladies, in bikinis, sunning themselves beside one of the canals.

The only negative aspect, so far, is that there is smoking in restaurants. I didn't realize that before I ordered, so I suffered. I will have to deal with that.

My sleep pattern is also off, the length of the day is something I have never experienced. At 11:30 last night it was light enough to be able to read a book, without turning on a light. And, at three, it is bright again. It must be very difficult in winter, when the nights are that long.

Let the fun begin

Ralf

May 28 Tallin Day 3

Another lovely day in Estonia.

I spent most of the day at the Estonian Open Air Museum. This is a pioneer village, representing farms from, mostly, the 1800's. it is about 8 km from the city center, but can be reached by a local bus. You walk, for about 15 minutes, through a lovely forest to get to the museum.

There are a dozen farms, actual old farm buildings, moved from different  locations in Estonia, to this location. Each farm consists of all the buildings it had. There is the main house, barns, storage buildings, smithys, outhouses, wind mills and so on.

There is also a fire station, church, school house, and a store.

The setting is beautiful, right on the water at Kopli Bay, and very peaceful. It takes up 200 acres, which means the buildings are spread out. The nice thing is that it is easy to avoid everybody else who is there, not that there were a lot of people. I saw one tour bus, a couple of school groups, and maybe a dozen or so individual tourists like me.

This museum was part of a Rick Steves show. When he was there there was music, twenty or so dancers; it was quite a party. I did mention I was a personal friend of Rick's, but no luck, no music, no dancers.

There weren't any demonstrations, like we are used to in our pioneer villages, but all the buildings had explanations in Estonian, English, and Russian, that were good.

Aside from the farms the thing I enjoyed the most was the peace and quiet, beautiful forests, lots of birds, I even found some Lily-of-the-Field. Gorgeous little white bells, with a lovely aroma. They are very popular here. In Gdansk, and everywhere since, i have seen numerous ladies selling bunches of them on street corners.

In the late afternoon, after a rest, (there is a lot of walking to cover 200 acres), I went back to the Old Town one more time.

I did learn an interesting fact. In Amsterdam, and Gdansk, the buildings are narrow, because taxes were dependent on frontage. Well, in some Baltic cities, taxes were determined by the size of the windows, so small windows were in style, to save money.

I have read a couple of books by Bill Bryson on this trip....love those ebooks, from the library. One was "The Life And Times Of The Thunderbolt Kid". The other is "At Home". Both of those books fit into this trip. The first one is the story of Bill growing up in Iowa, during the fifties and sixties. Travelling through these countries I couldn't get over the difference between life in Iowa, at the same time as everybody here suffered under the Soviet regime. In North America it was the best of times, in Eastern Europe the worst.

Bryson's other book deals with the evolution of how we live, and I have seen, first hand, some of the developments he documents, especially at the Outdoor Museum.

Interesting.

Tomorrow I have a bus at 7 am to St. Petersburg. My passport and Russian Visa is ready. So am I. I'm down to my two last cities, St. Petersburg, then Warsaw.

Ralf

May 27 Tallin Day 2

What a difference sunshine makes!
It was a gorgeous day for sightseeing, sunny, mid teens in temperature.
Some travel books call Tallin "The Jewel of the Baltics". After today I have to agree. The history is similar to the history of Gdansk and Riga. They are all seaports that were very rich and important during medieval times. They were all ruled by German knights, Sweden, and Russia, and didn't become the countries they are now, until the 20th century. (Except for Poland)
Tallin has some of the best preserved medieval fortifications and buildings in Europe. Half of the original 4 km wall is still there, with, over twenty towers. I have noticed that in most of theses medieval towns there was a moat. Those moats have been filled in, and become parks. So each of these towns has a lovely bit of green space surrounding it.
The Old Town has been beautifully restored.
Tallin also has a hill, where the nobility lived, so you can get lovely views.
I started my walking tour early in the morning. By ten the town is a zoo. Tallin is a port for many cruise ships, similar to Dubrovnik, so between 10 and 4, you encounter dozens of, mostly elderly, tourists, gawking skyward. 
A couple of points of interest, for me, were churches. The first was the "Mary, Mother of God" cathedral. I have never seen a church like it. There wasn't one picture, or statue, of a saint. The only religious figure was Christ on the cross. The walls are covered with beautifully carved wooden coats of arms, belonging to wealthy citizens, who are buried in the cathedral. The are several dozen of these, and the church looks more like a military memorial, than a religious building.
A block away is the Greek Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, another impressive structure.
The other church is visited was Saint Olav's. It's claim to fame was that it was the tallest building in Europe when it was built. For 2 Euros you can climb the 285 steps to the top. It was quite the climb, very narrow, and spiralling. It isn't really wide enough for two people, so it was fun squeezing by the ones coming down. The view was worth it though.
It reminded me of the temple I climbed in Orchha, in India. That one was a lot scarier, because there were no railings, and I was following a guide, who had a flash light. There was no-one else there, and you just have to have faith, that you werent going to be mugged, or worse. The neat thing about the Indian temple was that at the top were birds nests, parrots, bats, even a vulture, with a baby.
Back to Estonia.
Tallin is full of souvenir shops and restaurants. The souvenirs are high quality, but expensive.
My apartment is at the edge of the Old Town, so I went home and 
had a bit of a rest.
Afterwards I decided to head in the opposite direction from yesterday. Yesterday I hit the slums, today I hit the rich part. A world of difference. Lovely parks, beautiful shops. I spent almost 
an hour in a great book store. As big as Chapters, but much nicer. There was also a fantastic supermarket. I drooled all the way home.
I did see a cute sight. I passed the Opera and the parking lot had bars that go up and down for cars. The bars were in the shape of a big pink hand holding a conductor's baton. Very ingenious.
As I travel further north the length of the day is really changing. It is still fairly light at 11, and it gets light by 3. I could be walking Logan at 3 am. 
Ralf

May 26 Tallin Day 1

It stopped raining during the night, and there was even a bit of blue sky this morning. I arrived at the bus station early, and had one of those blissful, peaceful moments. I was enjoying a coffee, not a care In the world. A group of middle aged locals were enjoying their beer, it's 8 on a Sunday morning, and we were all listening to "If you're going to San Francisco be sure to put some flowers in your hair". 

As I said a lovely moment.

I saw my first red head. Very stylish hair cut and hair colour. Too bad the stylishness stopped just below her hair line. The rest was 250 pounds of "Mean Mama". Her dress had horizontal stripes, not a good choice, and she was puffing away on a cigarette. At least she wasn't drinking a beer.

There is still more smoking here than in Canada, but it's a lot better than when I came to Europe 30 years ago. All public places are non-smoking, as are hotels and transportation vehicles. Here are a lot fewer cell phones.

The country is quite attractive. Flat, I haven't seen anything as high as the Hamilton mountain in three weeks, but it is clean and green. Once I went north from Riga there weren't as many farms, but a lot more trees. 

The roads are two-lane, but well maintained. One other difference from Canada, at construction sites there are people actually working. What a novel idea.

I arrived in Tallin, and, following the directions found my apartment, without too much trouble. I did luck out, it's on the fourth floor, but there is an elevator. I think it's one of the first ones installed in Tallin. There are some people in Canada who could not fit into this elevator. But it does work.

My location is fantastic, I am right at the edge of the Old Town. Tallin is like a Disney production of a medieval town. About half of the fortified wall, with over twenty towers is still standing. Part of the moat is also still there. It is gorgeous, but it feels as if it was made just for tourists. There are nothing but souvenir stores, restaurants, and high end boutiques.

A great multitude of tourists. I think the only locals all work in restaurants, or the shops.

I decided to walk into the part of town outside the Old Town. A completely different story. The houses are either old wooden houses, or Soviet built apartment buildings. Very few had been kept up, most were quite run down. But I didn't see one tourist.

I find Estonia much more expensive than the other Baltic states, and Poland. While I was in Tartu I checked the price of my mini iPad. It was 150 dollars more here. Gas is about 1.80 dollars per litre. Beer in a restaurant is 5 dollars, quite a difference from Poland, and when you think a teacher makes 12 000 dollars a year, you wonder how they do it.

The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow. Everything looks better in sunshine

Ralf