long red lines across a map

The thing is that, despite all previously documented troubles, Kazan is a really great place and I am really glad that the route was able to be influenced away from the usual stop in Perm to include it.  Officially the third capital of Russia and recently done up to celebrate its 1000th birthday the tone of the place starts at the Kremlin which models co-operation to all by containing both a mosque and an orthodox cathedral.  We had read that there was a strong separatist movement in Tatarstan and to expect to be asked about this.  We weren’t asked so we sought out opinion on this and found that there may have been murmurings in the 90s but it seems that money has quelled those with the resource boom making the region very wealthy.  Or maybe it is because FC Rubin Kazan is top of the league.

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 I had quite mixed feelings about leaving St Petersburg having found that nearly everything about the city exceeded my expectations and also found an atmosphere and scene in the city that I would really love to immerse myself in.  But at the same time the anticipation of delving even further into this fascinating country was pulling me eastwards, not least because tonight was to be the first proper train ride after two weeks of not quites.   After last night’s practise run seeing off Mike and Jeff we headed out one last time around our local favourites of the laundromat bar, Zoom cafe for one last delicious meal, followed by Fidels and Achtung Baby to fill the time until our 1:20am departure for Moscow. [read on]

Welcome to Russia and awesome newspaper headlines. The title of this entry was just below the fold on the free English paper that you find around town. Others beauties include Police Bust Estonian Vodka Pipeline Gang, an article ... [Continue reading this entry]

"I will not be jet-lagged!" "I will not be jet-lagged!" I kept repeating this mantra in the hope that the force of will would change reality.  One early night for recovery might be acceptable but requiring two, come on.  Having made the ... [Continue reading this entry]