On to Warsaw

16 October, Tartu, Estonia

Another glum and cold day today, but luckily most of our activities were indoors. We re-assessed our views of the Draakon Hotel this morning when we were treated to a reasonable breakfast. We managed to get a three course breakfast down, even though we lashed out last night on a couple of pizzas that were slightly bigger and heavier than we had anticipated. Lucky we walk such great distances to work it all off.

We now consider ourselves experts on Estonian history, having explored several history museums in great detail. It has to be said that the Estonians do an excellent job in presenting history through a mix of interesting multi-media and artifact displays. We even went to the Tartu University Museum today. Yep, you guessed it, we probably allocated a little too much time to our stay in Tartu!

News of a rail strike in Germany has frightened us a little. We are 10 days or so off from needing to use DBRail, so hopefully it will be sorted.
We leave Estonia for Latvia tomorrow. Having spent only 5 days in the country, we are no experts, but we feel we have seen more of the real Estonia than your average tourist. One of the quotations in the Estonian National History Museum, that we visited today, probably sums up our views on Estonia fairly well. "A country's past is an anchor to maintain its culture, but an anchor can also be a drag on a counry as it strives to move into the future." Estonia's past has been painful, no question, but to us there is a tendency to dwell on it far too much, rather than looking forward to a future that could well replicate the success of their Nordic neighbours.

17 October, Latvian train to Riga

Ain't it always the way? When we are travelling all day, the sun breaks through.
Elron train 330 from Tartu to the border town of Valga, Latvia, was a pleasure to ride, with brand new, airlline-quality seats and smooth as silk, even at 120 kph. From Valga we were to pick up a Latvian train direct to Riga, but track work has closed part of the line so the first leg to Strenci was by bus. Not as bad as it might seem, because the bus had to stop at all stations along the way, so we were treated to some interesting back roads and quaint little villages. Our current conveyance is far less comfortable than the flash Estonian trains. Never mind, it is a nice day and the sedate 50 kph lets us take in some nice country scenery. Cost wise, rail transport here is extremely reasonable. Today's full day trip cost about $15 each. And the very best thing about European railways, even out here on the edge of the EU, trains, buses, trams, whatever, leave and arrive exactly on time.

After the usual game of "Find the Hotel", we are settled in the very nice Monte Kristo Hotel, right on the edge of Riga Old Town. A real novelty in our room is the hi-fi system! We are currently indulging ourselves with a little Slim Dusty... NOT my fault... it was the first thing that came up from the USB and I don't know how to change folders!!!

18 October, Riga, Latvia

Autumn can be a real lotto here in northern Europe. Mid-October will always be cool/cold, but today was a bit over the odds for autumn! We know we aren't as well dressed for winter as the locals. Our gear is mostly many layers of the same stuff we would wear at home. But today the cold was creeping through to the bone under four layers, including a Driza-bone (what Aussie doesn't travel with one?) and a pure Australian wool jumper. The forecast was -1C to 3C, but we were sure the day started at well below zero and only hit positive territory sometime late afternoon. Naturally enough, today was the day we decided to do the self-directed walking tour. By lunch we were ready for soup and that's just what we got and very fine too!

Latvia's history is very similar to that of Estonia, although, interestingly, the Estonians seem more culturally aligned with the Finns, probably because of common language roots. Irrespective, all three of the Baltic states share common horrific experiences resulting from their fairly helpless involvement in the ebb and flow of European history.

The Museum of Occupation in Riga does an excellent job capturing the essence of the impact on Latvia of the wars of the 20th century. Soviet occupation, Nazi occupation and then the Soviets again - loyal Latvians mustn't have known which way to turn to best serve their nation. Tens of thousands joined the Soviet and thousands more, the German army, while thousands more took to the forests as partisans.
Like many of the locals, we have a morbid fascination for the dark years of Soviet occupation and the role played by the Russian KGB. Both the KGB museums we have visited in Estonia and here in Latvia, have been well patronised by locals. We only had time for a small part of the "Corner House" as the locals know it, the former KGB headquarters in Riga. We will probably make a return visit tomorrow.

What is fascinating when we look at the dates of all these events, is that anybody we pass on the streets who is in their thirties would have vivid memories of life under the Soviet regime. Even more to the point, people in their 80s, and there are a few around, would have lived through all this - the early Soviet incursion, the Nazi invasion then the Soviet re-occupation. Those our age would probably have been on the streets in the late 1980s, risking all for freedom when Soviet tanks rolled into Riga. Many would have joined 2 million of their fellow Baltic citizens to form the 600 km long human "Baltic Chain" that stretched from Tallinn to Vilnius, demonstrating Baltic solidarity in their move for independence.

20 October, Lux Express Coach, Riga to Vilnius

It is amazing what a difference a few degrees can make to comfort. This morning it was 11C, yesterday, 4C and the previous day -1C. Hard to believe, but we felt quite warm as we dragged our gear off to the bus station.
This is our first long-haul bus trip and it is pure class, with an "in-bus" entertainment system, WIFI and comfortable seats. The countryside is extremely open throughout the Baltic, with low population density, flat, rich farmland and abundant forests.

Now that we are moving more into "Euro-world", as opposed to the slightly more exotic "East", parts of most cities take on the sameness that we have spoken of in other blogs. In the country though, there are some distinct village housing types that set the Baltic states aside from the more modern farm houses of Western Europe. Timber houses still predominate and in Estonia in particular, combined barn/house/grain store structures can still be seen, though, sadly, many are now deserted and rapidly deteriorating.

Our hotel here in Vilnius is again right on the edge of the Old Town. We took a bit of a wander this afternoon and the early verdict is that Tallinn still is the best of the old cities of the Baltic. Some of central Vilnius escsped destruction during the war. It is always interesting to see current buildings in old photographs or paintings. The Vilnius Town Hall appeared in a couple of paintings we came across, one showing Napoleon's army in front of the building during the retreat from Moscow in 1812 and another 18th century scene we found in Warsaw.

We will probably have a big day on the tourist trail tomorrow as we have only allowed ourselves one full day in the city.

23 October, St John's Apartment, Old Town, Warsaw

Even though we often don't know what day it is when we travel, we generally get the sequence of events right. That is, we leave a place on the right day and arrive at the next, also on the right day. Hmmm, not today!
It all started well with a pleasant, though noisy night (didn't notice the window was open!) in the northern Polish city of Bialystok. We had survived the long bus trip from Vilnius the night before, arriving well after 9:00pm, being delayed for almost an hour by traffic and road works. Given the late hour, we decided to grab a taxi rather than walk to our hotel, where, fortified by several packets of peanuts and some pretzels, we called it a night.

A cold and glum morning greeted us, but nevertheless, we decided to walk the 2 km to the station to catch the PKP, Polish Rail, Special ICC Train into Warsaw. Our first suspicions about the accuracy of the description on our ticket, were confirmed when we noticed that Warsaw wasn't mentioned on the Station destination boards. Checking with an official-looking gent - he had a clipboard - as we crossed the tracks to get to our train, we were assured that we were headed for Warsaw Central. When the guard came around to check tickets, he launched into a long and complicated explanation of our journey in Polish, to which we just shook our heads. Surprisingly, the teen/early twenties girl who shared our compartment didn't speak English so we were temporarily at a loss. A nice guy from the adjoining compartment helped out, explaining that the major part of our trip would, in fact, be by bus. Oh jolly, just what we needed after six and a half hours on the bus yesterday.
But the day was still young and, unknown to us, there were a few additional challenges awaiting us.
Ignoring a minor hiccup getting into the Metro in Warsaw, (who knew there were separate entrances depending on which direction you were going?) we easily found our apartment, situated within spitting distance of the Old Town City Square. Armed with the codes for the front door of the building and the apartment key box, we staggered up the three flights of stairs with our packs, hit the codes on the key safe and - no go! Bad language and yelling at the safe and each other, seemed to make no difference, so, ready for a stouch, we called the agent in Warsaw, only to have it politely explained to us the we were actually a day early for our booking. Oops! All ended well, the apartment was available for the extra night so, after the agent had walked the key around to us, we have moved in.

Good bye to the Baltic.

Our trip through the Baltic states has taught us a lot about the  resiliance of these peoples and the amazing struggles for freedom that have occurred here, mostly un-noticed by the West and more sobering, un-noticed by those of us who grew up in the same times.
History has dealt almost identical hands for each of the three nations - hard-won independence in the early years following WWI, then betrayal, through deals done by their larger neighbours. All three suffered occupation by the Russians in 1939, "liberation" by the Germans, re-occupation by the Russians and eventual inclusion in the Soviet Union at the end of WWII. Throughout these years,  millions were exiled, imprisoned, or executed by the Germans and the Russians.
We visited the Occupation Museums and the KGB Museums in all three nations and the evidence of the brutality of the Soviet occupation from the end of WWII until 1991, when all three states declared independence, is just frightening. Many Russians were visiting these museums at the same time as we were and, just as we have often pondered what young Germans must feel when confronted with the holocaust, we wonder how Russians feel when facing evidence of atrocities inflicted in far more recent times.
From a touristy point of view, our vote goes to Tallinn as the pick of the Baltic cities. They all have something worth seeing and experiencing, but Tallinn's Old City is our favourite.

24 October, Old Town, Warsaw

Our "bonus" day in Warsaw was well spent with a leisurely wander through the National Museum of Warsaw. We don't know much about Polish art and artists, but working on the premise that any art you like is good art, we now believe that there are some gr

eat Polish artists. Our one reservation would be in the area of contemporary art. Much of what we saw of this genre was just way too bizarre for our tastes.
During Soviet times, many, very basic cafes, called Bar Mleczny (Milk Bar) served cheap simple meals to the working masses. Most of these have disappeared over the years, but we managed to find one today and partook of a grand lunch of dumplings for the princely sum of $3 each. The place was packed and there was a constant queue at the counter.
A little spooked by our error with our itinerary yesterday, we stopped by Warsaw Central station and, carefully checking and double-checking dates and times, picked up our tickets to Krakow for next week. It will be the third last leg of our long overland journey from China.

25 October, Old Town, Warsaw

The fate of the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto in WWII, is reasonably well known, but outside Poland, far less is known about the Polish Uprising that began in Warsaw, 1 August 1944. Hundreds of thousands of Warsaw's citizens, Jews and Gentiles alike, had suffered unspeakable oppression under the Germans, after Poland fell in 1939. In the early years of the war, thousands of Polish soldiers and airmen escaped to the West and joined the Allies based in England. Many thousands more were demobilized under German occupation. Around this core, a well-organised Partisan Underground Army developed during the years of occupation and by the time the Red Army pushed into Poland in October 1943, the so-called Polish Home Army was a significant force, numbering over 35,000.

As the Russians advanced, they initially co-operated with the Home Army and fought side by side with the Partisans as the Germans retreated. This co-operation was short-lived. As soon as the Red Army's short-term objectives were achieved, they arrested and executed or imprisoned the leaders of the Home Army. Many of the Partisan fighters were Communist and these were promoted and supported by the Soviets to establish an early puppet government in the "liberated" areas of Poland.
On 1 August 1944, the people of Warsaw rose up against their German occupiers. For 63 days, a largely civilian, untrained, poorly-equipped force held the Germans at bay. Small arms, home-made bombs and simple street barriers were, however, no match for trained and battle-hardened troops, tanks and dive bombers. Through all this, the Red Army stood by, within striking distance of the capital as more than 35,000 Partisans died and most of the city was razed. The Russians were happy to let the Germans destroy the Home Army, a force that they would have to defeat to impose their planned future regime.

Before the war, Warsaw had a population of 1.3 million, by the time the Red Army finally moved into the city in late 1944, as few as 1000 people were living in the rubble of this once-great city. As revenge for the uprising, Himler had ordered the city to be totally destroyed and the population exterminated. His orders were carried out, almost to the letter.
All these events are recorded in the incredible Warsaw Rising Museum, where we spent most of this extremely cold day. The weather probably matched our mood after learning about the heroism and sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands of citizens of Warsaw involved in this desperate uprising.
Part of the museum is a 3D movie showing the city as it was at the end of the war. Looking over the city now, it is remarkable that so much has been recreated in just one life time.

26 October, Old Town, Warsaw

One of the most remarkable things about modern day Warsaw is that, in 1945, the city was quite literally a pile of rubble. In just under 70 years, this modern day phoenix has achieved some remarkable things. Around us here in the Old Town, the whole area has been faithfully restored to the way it was prior to WWII. Fourteenth and fifteenth century buildings, like the Royal Castle at the end of our street are so well restored that it is hard to believe that it is not original. Luckily, many of the castle's priceless art works were spirited away and hidden prior to the fall of Warsaw. Many other works were plundered by the Nazis. Most of these works have now been returned.
Poland, unlike the states of the Baltic, was not integrated into the Soviet Union. Poland was governed by a strongly pro-Russian communist government. It has to be recognised that it was this government that rebuilt the city, restoring it to what we see today.

Finland to Estonia

11 October, Holiday Inn, Helsinki, Finland

Probably the first thing one should learn about Finland is that it is probably the only country in the world that doesn't use the term ATM for a cash dispensing machine. Arriving early from St Petersburg, we wandered the streets in search of an ATM to load up on Euro. We had spotted a couple of strange looking devices called "Otto" that we thought were automated Lotto machines.

Finally we asked at an information point in a shopping centre and, yep, Otto is what the locals call ATMs!
Our even earlier morning exit from St Petersburg was fairly uneventful, except for the exorbitant taxi fare of $25 to go a few kms! Granted it was 5:15 am, but still! The Allegro is another fast train, travelling at 220 kph. 

Immigration and Customs formalities are conducted en route and it must be said that the Russian officers were courteous and prompt, as were their Finnish counterparts. We had heard all sorts of stories about police harrassment of tourists in Russia and more than a few horror stories about Russian Immigration Officers. We saw none of it. The police presence on the streets was minimal in Moscow and almost non-existent in St Petersburg.

Helsinki turned on a misty, glum morning for our arrival, but at least it wasn't too cold at 11C. We had to wander about for a couple of hours after our 9:00am arrival, because nothing much happens in these northern cities until at least 10:00 am - more like 11:00am in the cooler months. We were first in at the Finnish National Museum just after 11:00am, but the wait was well worthwhile. We didn't know much about Finland's history, so the thoughtfully presented displays were highly informative for us.

Today, we took the 861 local bus for the 1 hour trip to the small city of Porvoo, the second oldest city in Finland, to the south-east of Helsinki. While it is now as modern as the rest of the country, it has a well-preserved old quarter, with many buildings dating from the 17th century.
So far on this trip, we have been travelling in relatively inexpensive countries. Food has been cheap, beer amazingly cheap and transport fares just a joke. For example, the Beijing metro costs about 30c a trip, Moscow's is a bit more expensive at 70c.  In Finland, however, we are back into watching our pennies. Prices here are fairly much in line with Australia, that is EXPENSIVE for long-term travellers. As a consequence, we are back into cereal and fruit from the supermarket for breakfast in our room, sandwiches for lunch and, courtesy of the great supermarket over the road from our hotel, take-away hot "home-cooked" meals.
Tomorrow, we are off to Tallinn in Estonia, a two hour ferry ride.

12 October, Friendly Apartment, Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn is an almost perfectly preserved medieval city. Today, however, the peace, culture and tranquillity of the city has been ruined by many hundreds of English football fans, here for the Estonia V England match tonight. As we write, it is well after kick-off time and the Pommy yobbos are still in the Old Town Square, behaving like a bunch of hooligans. As a result we are staying in tonight, hoping that they will all go home tomorrow and leave the city in peace.
Our ferry trip was a bit of a fizzer as heavy fog had visibility down to a couple of hundred metres. We elected to walk into the city rather than struggle with the hundreds trying to grab a cab. Of course we got lost and arrived 20 minutes late for our meeting with our host, Liina, whose apartment we are renting for the next three nights. Liina is an EU translator and part-time city guide. Our rental deal included a walking tour with her, which we elected to take on our arrival. Her hour-long tour was excellent and we now have our bearings.
Our apartment is really lovely. And it has a washing machine/dryer!

13 October, Tallinn, Estonia

Estonia has a history of human occupation traceable back 11,000 years. For most of that time, it has been ruled by foreign powers. In the 13th century it was the last area of Europe to be "civilized" by Christian conversion. German Knight Crusaders established control over the country and set up the first systems of government. For the next 800 years tiny Estonia was kicked from pillar to post, with a long series of invaders - Danes, Swedes, Russians and Germans - taking turns in ruling the country.
In more modern times, this pattern continued through both 20th century wars. Perhaps most devastating were the multiple occupations during WWII when first the Russians, then the Germans and finally the Russians again, controlled Estonia. From 1949 Estonia, along with her Baltic neighbours, Latvia and Lithuania were absorbed into the Soviet Union. Finally, after decades of brutal Soviet repression, the Gorbachev Glasnost of the late 1980s provided the opportunity for Estonia to make a bid for independence. In 1988, more than a million people of the Baltic States formed a human chain down the length of the three states as a demonstration of their collective wish for freedom.

In 1991, the Estonian Parliament voted for independence and that bloodless revolution against Soviet power established modern Estonia. All this we discovered in the great little Estonian History Museum just down the street from our apartment.
The streets of the Old Town are quiet tonight, seems the Pommy supporters, satisfied with their 1-0 win over Estonia, have returned home to whatever it is that such poor specimens of English manhood do when they are not disgracing themselves and their country overseas. All credit to the locals. When we wandered down to the square early this morning, the litter that was piled up last evening as "the lads" demolished beer and food and threw their leavings on the ground, was all cleared away.

14 October, Tallinn, Estonia

The Soviet occupation of Estonia looms large in the minds of most Estonians. The recent Russian incursion into the Ukraine has only heightened concerns among the Baltic states, where memories of Soviet occupation are still fresh and raw.

For a slightly lighter look at this horrible time, we visited the KGB Museum in the Viru Hotel, just outside the walls of the old city. Built in the early 1970s the Viru was specifically constructed to attract foreign tourists and dignitaries to Estonia. "Hard" foreign currency was not easy to come by in the USSR at a time when trade restrictions ensured that Russian Roubles circulated only inside the USSR. But the Soviets needed dollars to purchase goods from the West and tourism was one of the ways to attract foreign currency. When it was built, the Viru was a state of the art  Western hotel catering only for foreigners and important party officials. Estonians couldn't stay there and even those who worked there were carefully screened by the KGB. The hotel had 22 floors. Well, so it seemed. In fact it had 23. The 23rd floor was solely for the KGB. From here, they monitored hotel rooms, bars, restaurants and even toilets with hidden cameras and microphones. Some of the rooms they used for this surveillance have been left in their original state, complete with monitoring equipment and paperwork.
Continuing our theme, we headed off after lunch to the Museum of Occupation, where a series of well-produced videos and items from the period of Soviet and German occupation detail the political, social and cultural impacts of occupation and the long struggle for independence.
Leaving the museum this afternoon, we were bathed in brilliant warm sunshine for our walk back through the Old Town to our  apartment. We hit the rails again tomorrow, early, off to Tartu in central Estonia.
It is now almost one month since we left home on this great journey and we have travelled 90% of the distance from Xian, China to Amsterdam. Over the next few weeks we take a couple of diversions from the direct path, heading south through the Baltic states then into Poland, followed by a final dash across northern Germany to Holland. So far, everything has gone smoothly, ignoring a few anxious moments in Mongolian and Russian stations! Having come this far, we are thinking that we should have flown across the Atlantic and added an east - west crossing of the USA by rail, just to complete the full circle.

15 October, Draakon Hotel, Tartu, Estonia

Eesti (Estonia) didn't turn on the greatest of days for our train trip from Tallinn to the central Estonian city of Tartu. We were up early to catch the 8:16 am train, after a disturbed night due to a few very loud street revellers. Elron, the company that runs Estonia's passenger services, has a fleet of extremely comfortable trains that get along at a respectable 150 kph in full flight. About $7.50 for a trip of close to 200 km isn't too hard on the pocket either.
Our hotel in Tartu is among the most expensive of our whole trip, so we were more than a little miffed to find the reception unattended when we arrived at around 11:00 am. We finally roused someone, only to be told to come back at 2:00 for check-in. Now we know that is the usual check-in time, but the norm in most countries is that if a room is ready, you can check-in early. Not here! Interestingly, we suspect we are the only guests in the hotel, so why not just let us into our room? We get a real Fawlty Towers feel about this place, or more accurately a "Basil and Sybil" vibe, as the two characters we have met so far are very B&S like. We shall see. All is not lost. The room is very nice and we found a supermarket with very cheap beer.
Filling in the time before we could settle into our room, we hit a couple of museums, the Estonian Toy Museum, the Tartu Art Museum and best of all, the KGB Cells Museum.

Moscow and Saint Petersburg

3 October, Train No 69

Relentless is the best way to describe train No 69. After three nights and two and a half days from Irkutsk we are now just 1100km East of Moscow with about 18 hours left to travel on this, our final leg from China. The Trans-Siberian is the life-blood of the hundreds of villages, towns and cities that are strung out along the track. Stops are frequent, but even with stops of over an hour in the largest cities, we still keep a fairly constant rate of 1200 kms per 24 hours. That's roughly 50 kph, which translates to a day-time travel speed of 100 kph for a 12 hour day. Have we been on this train too long? Not only have we done amazing calculations like the one above, but we have counted down many a "mile" post to capture important features like the official Western boundary of Siberia at the 2102 km post and the most Northern town, Kirov, at 956, which is coming up in exactly 74 kms. Oh yes! We HAVE been on this train for far too long!

5 October, Vega Hotel, Moscow

What a surprise. Moscow is an amazing city! Our perceived ideas on Moscow couldn't have been more wrong. It is modern, clean and sophisticated, while retaining its historical origins - surprising given the Soviet tendencies to demolish same.

Our first outing was by subway to the historical heart of the city - Red Square, site of spectacular military parades during the Soviet era, as well as revolution and the massing of troops prior to mobilization to the Front in the Great War. Red Square is one of those places you feel you have been to before, simply because you have seen its image so often. Our first duty was to complete the trilogy of (dead) great Communist leaders of the 20th century. We have visited Uncle Ho (twice), Mao and now Lenin. The queue was nowhere near as long as we experienced in Hanoi or Beijing. The great Communist leader looks well, given he has been dead for 90 years, after dying at 53 of a massive stroke.

Leaving the tomb, we walked across the square to the famous Gum department store to meet our guide. She had been late arriving at our hotel, so we had taken off without her. The Gum is just incredible. For those who know the Queen Victoria building in Sydney, think of something of a similar style, but 10 times bigger!

As the day brightened following a dull start, the good folk of Moscow came out in their droves to experience a spectacular Autumn day. We walked for most of the day, getting a great feel for the city. The area of green space is surprising for a city of this size.
We are fairly adept at managing subway systems. No, we are very good at it! But Moscow's system has had us scratching our heads. There is no English signage, not always a game breaker where colours and numbers are used to identify lines. But, while Moscow uses this system, the big flaw is its use of different station names at transfer stations. On one line the transfer station might be 'A' and on the intersecting line it could be 'Z'. Difficult to explain, but those who are familar with subway systems will see the problem. Never mind, we have only been lost once so far.

Our thirst for Impressionist art was well satisfied by the Pushkin Gallery of American and European Art. Floor after floor display the greats, Pissarro, Monet, Renoir - to name a few, many probably not often seen by Westerners. The source of this great collection is reputed to be the confiscated private collections of rich Russians.


7 October, Sapsan train 758

Sapsan is the Russian version of the German ICE, (high speed train). We are "on the rails again", heading for St Petersburg, a 4 1/2 hour journey at 250 kph, a pleasant change after the Trans-Sib.
Moscow has been a real eye-opener for us. Yesterday we spent most of the day in the Kremlin. Far from the mysterious centre of President Reagan's "evil empire", the Kremlin Fortress has preserved Russian's imperial and religious history. We had imagined that most of the artifacts from the Tsarist era would have been looted by the Communists. Instead, five well-preserved Orthodox churches stand proud in their gilded glory. All contain priceless Icons and other religious and historical relics. The Kremlin Armoury, however, was the real thrill for us. Room after room of priceless items from the collections of the Russian Tsars rivalled, even exceeded, anything we have seen before.
As the outer suburbs of Moscow slip past us at close to 200 kph, thousands of small dacha (Russian holiday cottages) fill the flats, giving the area the appearance of an enormous miniature city. These small plots are similar to the allotments so much loved by the English, a place for city folk to re-connect with a rural past.
Our Sapsan pulled into St Petersburg right on schedule at 1800. We had a bit of a haul to our hotel through crowded, rush-hour streets. Our packs felt like they weighed a ton by the time we staggered through the hotel doors, but we were gazumped by a bus-load of French tourists, who crammed the lobby, leaving us huddled in a corner. All was well, though, as Paul had time to duck off to the supermarket for a few beers.

8 October, Dostoevsky Hotel, St Petersburg.

Toddlers, like our 18 month old grandson, Jack, often contribute to the family vocabulary as they grapple with language. Jack's contribution to our lexicon includes the phrase "Oh wooow!", which is his way of expressing amazement. As a result, we have been "oh wooow'ing" our way around St Petersburg today. To us, St Petersburg is to Moscow as Shanghai is to Beijing. Moscow is fabulous, modern and go-ahead, St Petersburg is cosmopolitan and exciting, with an historical grandeur that is obvious as soon as you take to the streets. Wander along the main drag, Nevsky Prospekt and you will be drawing breath at every corner. What is most amazing is that the city has been almost totally destroyed several times by fire and war.

As Leningrad, the city was beseiged by the Germans in WWII and almost totally levelled. More than a million people died of starvation during the seige. Today, there is little to recall this difficult past. St Petersburg renamed itself after 1989 and seems to have moved on, re-building and looking forward rather than back to the horrors of the past.

Most of our day was spent in the Hermitage Palace. Once the home of the Tsars of Russia, today, an enormous art gallery rivalling the Louvre in sheer size. We spent more than three hours just hitting the highlights. Despite our heavy dose of culture at the Hermitage, we decided to also check out the Russian Museum of Art. Very few of the artists were known to us, but there were many great pieces reflecting past and present Russian life. Unlike most European art, Russian art is not heavily religious in orientation. At least what is left on display is not. What a relief!
We leave Russia in a couple of days and it has to be said that, for us, travelling here has really been no more difficult than getting about in any other country where we don't speak the language. Which is most countries! The added complexity here is the Cyrillic script, few English speakers and the lack of signage in English. None of these have stopped us - just caused us minor grief and mild panic when catching trains! Talk of corrupt police stalking tourists and bureaucratic hitches with documents has, for us, been just that, but we did a lot of research and came well prepared. We haven't met any Westerners who are travelling independently in Russia, but we are sure there are many. In short, if we came to Russia again, we would probably do it all ourselves, rather than using travel agents to organise parts of our trip. We have a strong suspicion that agents over-dramatise the difficulties of travelling in Russia to scare travellers into using their services, often at outrageous mark-ups.

9 October, Dostoevksy Hotel, St Petersburg.

Walked around 15 km through the city today. Dreary, but no rain. The similarities between St Petersburg and Shanghai were exposed to us today when we visited the Peter and Paul Fortress. Both cities are superbly located trading cities. Both hosted foreign trading enclaves that operated fairly independently. The real clincher is the common appearance of the waterfronts of both cities. The solid 19th century trading houses line the rivers in both cities are remarkably similar.
Probably the most important part of the Fortress is the burial place of the Romanovs in the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral. Nicholas II and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks following the 1917 revolution. Their bodies were secretly buried and not re-interred until 1998.
Much of the history of St Petersburg has revolved around the Fortress, from the early battles with the Swedes in the 17th Century, through to the seige of Leningrad during WWII.
We really enjoyed the city history display that featured the development of St Petersburg from ancient times through to the early 20th Century.

The Fortress' prison was used through until the 1920s and hosted many of the main characters of the Decembrist Revolution of 1825 and the more successful Bolshevik revolution of November 1917. Trotsky, for example, was imprisoned here, as were some of the Decembrist plotters whose homes-in-exile, we had visited in Irkutsk.
Just a side line: we watch a lot of English language TV when we travel. UK TV, Russian English language TV, German DW TV etc and what amazes us is the number of Australian journalists featured on all these channels. It must be a big tick for the media programs offered by Australian Universities.