After a month in Kazakhstan, I crossed at Orsk, then visited Magnitogorsk, Ekaterinberg, Perm, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir, Suzdal, Moscow, Rostov-Veliky, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Petrozavodsk, Kizhi, St Petersburg, Pskov and exited into Latvia.
By this stage in the trip, the title of this video I had begun to see all on every TV screen in every bar/hotel/roadside caff/restaurant (The Party’s Over, sung in English by a Russian singer named Valeriya) sums up my feelings perfectly
Having re-entered Russia after Kazakhstan, one of the first differences I noticed was the perfectly-manicured fields. Somehow they look quite interesting when you drive past them at speed.
FINALLY – here are the still pictures of my Russia to Europe leg. I have been heavily criticised for not dividing my pics up into interesting and not-so-interesting so, stung by that, I am endeavouring to make good! Here are the ones of the Kaz-Rus border to Yekaterinberg
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| Kazakh-Russian border to Yekaterinberg |
This is the new church built on the site in Ekaterinburg where the Romanovs were murdered in 1918.
Here are the pics of Yekaterinberg to Kazan
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| Yekaterinberg to Kazan |
Here are the ones of Nizhny Novgorod and of dear Vera and her family/friends
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| Vera and Nizhny Novgorod |
After Nizhny Novgorod, I headed west towards the Golden Ring towns and Moscow. First I went to Vladimir
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| Golden Ring – Vladimir and Suzdal |
35kms north of Vladimir is Suzdal, where I happened across this restoration work being done I think on the Alexandrovsky Convent. Half of Russia is closed for renovation these days and this was no exception. Russia: “come back when it’s finished in 5 years time!”
Inevitably,the next stop after the 2 Golden Ring towns of Vladimir and Suzdal was Moscow
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| Moscow |
Looking for all the world like something out of Trumpton, here is the hourly Changing of the Guard ceremony at the Kremlin. Just compare the marching of these soldiers with the ones in Khabarovsk!
Not sure what this was in aid of, but it looked comical enough to video
On Ul. Arbat, one of the most popular tourist streets in Moscow, I happened across this impressive display of fire-dancing.
St Basil’s Cathedral bells – totally touristy, but it had to be done!
After leaving Moscow, I headed north again. The last Golden Ring town I visited was Yaroslavl.
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| Moscow to Vologda |
Not sure what this was in aid of, but it looked comical enough to video. Totally oblivious to the world, this man dances away merrily – but just look how he suddenly gobs at the end, as if to say ‘sod this’!
North of Vologda, I headed for Karelia. I’d wanted to go to Archangelsk, then across to Kem and the Sovoletsky Islands, but this died an abrupt death upon discovering that there was no proper road around the southern shore of the White Sea. I’d have had to backtrack a good 2-300kms south again from Archangelsk, then head west before heading north again – about 2 days of solid driving for not much gain. Ditto for going to Kem and the Solovetsky Islands – with time running short I would not have been able to go on to Murmansk from there so I would have had to backtrack south from Kem in exactly the same way to get to St Petersburg. This is one of the times on the trip when it would have been better travelling by train, for I could have taken overnight trains easily between all of these places and fitted them all in – the railways in Northern European Russia are better than the roads. Ah well.
I was heading for Petrozavodsk when, about reached the southern shore of Lake Onegin and found my path blocked at Vosnesen’e – the only way across the river was a ferry, which had stopped for the night. So I was just about to camp for the night, when a Land Rover Discovery from Moscow turned up. In it were Slava and Anton. Slava worked in IT (successfully, obviously, given the 1 year old Discovery) while Anton was a company ‘fixer’. They were heading to Lake Onegin for a fishing weekend. Slava did some ‘beeezness’ with the ferry people ie gave them 2000 Roubles to take them on their own, then came over and offered to take me as well. So off we went, then met the fishing ‘instructor’ and set up camp for the night. They offered me to come fishing with them the next day and, to be honest, if I had known what Petrozavodsk would be like, I’d have stayed with these guys for a bit longer. Well – them and the mosquitos.
But the next morning, sick and tired of the mosquitos (this is the only place I’ve ever been where the little bastards are just as bad by day as they are by night) and full of more-or-less misplaced optimism about the delights of Petrozavodsk and Kizhi island, I resisted Slava and Anton’s entreaties to join them for fishing and headed off towards Petrozavodsk. I had to drive back to the road along the shore of the lake – almost got the car stuck, but not quite.
Here are the ones of Vologda to Petrozavodsk, including Slava and Anton, and of Kizhi Island
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| Vologda to Petrozavodsk including Kizhi Island |
Once in Petrozavodsk, I went to Kizhi Island on Lake Onegin. This was the first hydrofoil I’d ever ridden on.
Kizhi Island has a number of incredibly ornate wooden buildings, many of which have been taken from elsewhere and rebuilt on Kizhi Island. Every 15 minutes, a campanologist would ring these bells as a novel form of busking.
Later that night in Petrozavodsk, I was having a drink and got talking to a Finnish chap who was chatting to a group of off-duty Spetznaz soldiers. They invited us to a shooting session on the shore of Lake Onegin – hope the guns they were using in Chechnya were more reliable!
Another night in Petrozavodsk, I came across this video on MTV, taking the p1ss out of those black shapes that censors put over naughty bits on videos. Apparently it’s called Toe Jam, by Fat Boy Slim
I wanted to go north after Petrozavodsk, but that wasn’t going to happen given the roads and the time factor. So this was as far north as I went, and from then on it was south and west. Here are the pics of Petrozavodsk to St Petersburg, then Pskov and all the way back to Europe as far as Hannover (the ones of Vilnius are in a separate folder below)
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| Petrozavodsk to St Petersburg then to Europe |
While I was wandering along in St Petersburg, I heard a horn beeping again and again. Unfortunately I wasn’t quite quick enough with the camera, but this stupid cow had decided she couldn’t get through the gap between the van and the pavement, so made a big show of beeping wildly, then putting her hazard warning lights on and getting out of her car to shout at the van driver. At this point, I finally stopped fumbling and started filming the complicated manoeuvre – but she had BAGS of room!
….and if you think that’s bad, take a look at THIS (video not shot by me)
On the southern outskirts of St Petersburg, there is a massive – even by Soviet standards – memorial to the victims of the dreadful siege of St Petersburg in WW2. It was a bit late at night when I was passing through, but I couldn’t resist stopping for a look
On the way from St Petersburg to Pskov, I overtook this milk tanker which made a lovely reflection of my own car. Shame the video’s a bit grainy though.
On 17 July, the last day in Russia, I thought I was hard done by having to wait for 2 hours on the Russia side of the border with Latvia. I also got an answer to the question that’s plagued me for years – what happened to all those East German ‘female’ athletes after the GDR ended? I now know what’s happened to 2 of them – they work at the border crossing! Stupid cows – they thought my passport was forged, busily phoning up and checking it was authentic.
But after I got through I saw all these trucks queued up on the Latvian side! And this is only about 2/3rds of them – there was a huge line at the border, then as I drove along it ended – or so I thought – but it was just a gap. Then I came across this second line and started filming. I was doing a good 70-80 km/h along this line, which makes it at least 4 kms long. Poor truck drivers! At intervals along this line, there were portaloos – the mind boggles about what would have happened if there weren’t. I wonder just how long it took these trucks to get through the border.
I passed so quickly through Latvia I almost literally didn’t set foot on Latvian soil, in the hurry I was in to reach Vilnius where Simon Butt was waiting for me. I made it to Vilnius for about 10.30 or 11PM, but luckily Simon isn’t the early-to-bed type. The next day, we went for a walk around Vilnius. I like visiting graveyards in different places, but have never seen one quite like this voluptuous display of sculpture….it was more like an open-air art gallery.
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| Lithuania – Vilnius |
Back to the UK fast through Latvia, Poland and Germany. The Landy passed its MoT needing just – wait for it – a new headlight bulb, a new rear number plate bulb, a new rear fog light and a new front number plate to replace the one which I had cracked anyway.
