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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
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Sep 23, 2006 02:00 PM Russia: Hitchhiking to Suzdal
There are two transport directions on the Golden Ring: one Sergiey Posad to Yaroslavl, and the other Vladimir to Suzdal and onward to Kostroma. If you want to move from one direction tho the other this will be a problem: no public transport. Early: at 8.30 in the morning I stayed on the road Rostov-Ivanovo trying to stop private cars. Bad luck! 20 min... 30 min. Finally I decided to flag with the 100 roubles note... It works!
I reached Ivanovo and took public bus to Suzdal. The town is famous for its churches and monasteries and for "medvedukha" - honey-made light alcohol...
Do not go to the pricey "Sokol" hotel! I again found a room in the monastery - Rizopolozhensky Monastery. Single room with bath for 660 roubles. Not as charmind as the night befor but silent - with nice view... The golden and black spires of Suzdal from the great landscape. I was listening to the bells concert and tasting Medvedukha... Another great day!
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Sep 22, 2006 02:00 PM Another great Kremlin...
River Volga in Yaroslavl is wide and quite large commercial boats and barges sail upstream and down the river. I expected to take little excursion boat to sail to the little villages but it looks theat after perestroyka this business collapsed - there were one boat and the say - you can rent whole boat and we can go! The monuments in Yaroslavl are mostly under restoration so I moved fastly to Rostov Veliky - another charming town on the Golden Ring. Bus cost just 45 roubles - less then 2 USD.
Rostov seems to be no.1 attraction on the Golden Ring - there is beautiful Kremlin - the castle (but much smaller then the one in Moscow) with the churches and museums. I found accommodation inside the Kremlin - there is old-style wooden Dom na Pogriebach. (In Polish it means Funeral House but in Russian - House on the Callars), I got the room for 500 roubles and walked 2 km to the Monastery of St Jacob - also beutifully located on the Lake Nero. Views from the tower are just great! But the attraction not to be missed is the steamboat sail on the lake - the view of the Rostov Kremlin from the lake is unforgettable!
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Sep 21, 2006 02:00 PM Visiting Russian monasteries...
There are few churches in a little Pereslavl where Russian national hero - prince Alexander Nevski was born. But the real highlights of this town are old monasteries spread -out around the town. There are 5 of them. Some have museum status - the other are working - you will find there the monks, people praying. You are expected to pay for entry to the museums and there are different prices for the locals and foreigners. Foreign tourists pay more - like 120 roubles each place. It is very profitable to know the Russian to pay less - I use this way to save some money... I visited 3 monasteries walking about 8 kilometers and the nice 40 Saints church on the lake... Lovely, sunny weather and very few tourists - good time to enjoy the serenity, the landscape of old russian wooden houses along the dusty roads. They officialy do not allow to take pictures in the working monasteries. But is you are the only person in the church - who cares?
In the afternoon I took a bus to Yaroslavl on a Volga river - just 100 m down from the bus station there is inexpensive Kolos Hotel where they charge 450 roubles for single room with shared facilities...
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Sep 20, 2006 02:00 PM Russia: to the Golden Ring
Did you hear about Golden Ring? It is the area northeast of Moscow where the old Russia was born. There is a chain of old once-fortified towns with churches, castles and monasteries...
It is fantastic escape from the crowded and noisy Moscow...
I started from the capital to Sergiev Posad. You can get there by train or the bus as I did. There are frequent buses from "Vystavka" subway station - the ride cost 70 roubles.
After 1,5 hours I landed at the Sergiev Posad station and soon I enjoyed the view of the onion domes and golden spires of the famous monastery where the holy patron of all Russia - St Sergius was buried. There is a lot of pilgrims coming to his tomb. Lighting candles, thaking the water from the holy spring... Something very authentic and very new on my trail...
Sorry, accomodation in SP is limited and expensive for backpacker - I went in the evening to the Pereslavl Zalesski - the next town on the Golden Ring (bus cost 70 roubles) and stayed at Pereslavl Hotel.
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Sep 19, 2006 02:00 PM Dollars on a sidewalk...
Old Arbat where I live is famous of the the poet and the singer Bulat Okudzhawa. I like his lovely ballads so it is the time to walk around old Arbat quarter and to feel the atmosphere of his childhood... There is his monument and in the evenings young people with guitars sit there plaing. Old Arbat is pedestrian zone now: a lot of painters, souvenir-vendors, fortune-tellers... I took a long walk along Moscow River. I saw new, huge cathedral Christ the Saviour and took the best pictures of the Kremlin from other side of the river. There is also huge, ugly monument of Peter I on the river...
Not far from the Kutafaya Tower where they sell tickets to the Kremlin I had excident: rinning person "accidentaly" droped the pack of USD in a plastic bag in front of me. Then another man asked me to pick it up... I did not. I know the trick: Since there is no owner he will offer me to spilit the money or just to count it. Then the owner will come back saying that there was more money in the pack so you must give him the balance or he will take you to the police. Do not pick up the dollars from the sidewalk!
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Sep 18, 2006 02:00 PM Moscow: registration or the bribe...
I stay in the "Sweet Moscow" hostel conveniently located in the center - on the Old Arbat street. It is converted private flat on the 8th floor with 20 bunk beds only in 3 dormitories. You can book them via hostels.com. They charge 25 USD per bed. It is much regarding that there is only one bath and one toilet to share. But I see that Moscow in general is much more expensive then 30 years ago! "Sweet" in the hostel could be Nastya - the recepcionist, the tea and coffee which are free and busy internet stand - also free. Every foreigner within 36 hours from arrival to Russia myst be registered by hotel or private person you live with. Registration is a stamp on your "Migration card" you receive on the border. It is for fee. Paul - my dorm-mate did not register. The police catch him on the Red Square. Took him the police station and ask for 350 roubels... I do not want to have such a problem. The hostel registered me for 550 roubles (like 20 USD) - they are well organized - the clerk is coming with the stamps to the hostel... Am I safe now? Let's walk around sunny Moscow!
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Sep 17, 2006 02:00 PM From Moscow with love...
My bus arrived to Kaliningrad before schedule - there were only 21 passengers - it is off season... Do not change the money at the border - you will get more at the Kaliningrad railway station - 26,20 roubels per USD. Bus no.138 took me from the station to the airport (30 roubles- 45 min).
I boarded old Tu-134 plane (cramped seats, noisy) and after 2 hours landed in Moscow.
Last time I have been to Moscow in the seventies - a lot of changes! Huge shopping centers on the outskirts... A lot of advertising in English... A bus (15 roubles) took me to the nearest subway station. Then I paid another 15 rou for the subway ride. Moscow subway is very fast - not like one in New York... I am in the capital of Russia. Evening. 16 deg centigrades. Love from Moscow to all of you!
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Sep 16, 2006 02:00 PM New voyage starts tomorrow...
My old backpack is almost ready... I did not decided yet how many rolls of film should I pack for 6-weeks trip... How picturesque will be the route, are there limits regarding photography of the people, border areas...
New voyage starts tomorrow!. Gdansk - my city is very convenient jump-in point for Russia. We have here the consulate to arrange visa and two buses each weekday to Kaliningrad - ticket costs 28 zloty - like 8 USD. From Kaliningrad you can catch the inexpensive flights or trains to all destinations in Russia (via Moscow or St Petersburg). That's what I plan to do tomorrow. It will be new, great adventure. Keep your fingers crossed, please!
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May 20, 2006 02:00 PM Spring flowers in Wojtkowka...
Home, sweet home... I love to travel but I also love my country and my little place on earth... It is fresh green around in Gdansk. In my Wojtkowka apple trees are in full blossom - each tree look like white cloud. What a view, what a joy! Popular polish song says: "...the world is not so bad, just wait for the apple trees blossom time..." Of course there is also a lot of other spring flowers. And lot of work waiting, but I love it...
One more exciting voyage is over - now it is the time to develop the pictures, to write the stories and... to think about new destinations! Thanks my Friends for keeping your fingers crossed and welcome to visit Wojtkowka in the coming sumer! Hasta la vista!
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May 19, 2006 02:00 PM 431 km/h on the magnetic pillow...
They built super fast train from the subway station to the international Shanghai Pudong airport. You pay 50 yuan one way, but it is worth to know that they will give you 10 y discount if you will show them arir ticket for today's departure. I decided to try the speed (let you know that the shuttle bus cost 19 y). Carriages are comfortable - like in the plane but there are no seat belts... You do not feel the speed! We reached maximum - 431 km/h and then slowed down. It took only 7 minutes to come to the airport...
Terminal is very modern. I had my 55 yuans left from the hostel key deposit and wanted to change them back to dollars or euro... Sorry... In the bank window they charge 50 yuan commission for the transaction... Anyone interested? There are still nice pictures of Chairman Mao!
An hour later I boarded Aeroflot IL-96 to Moscow. Bye, bye China! Wow! On board only free drinks are juice and pepsi... O tempora!
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