long red lines across a map

  While I freely admit to having a bit of a boner over trains, being forced to take a bus really makes you realise why.  My poor cycled out knees ache when forced to stay in one position for too long and with seats this tight I cannot even get into my usual sleep sitting up position.  Maybe this love of the locomotive stems back to when I was a kid and our family won a trip in the cab of a steam train.  Or that there are so few trains back home which is such a shame as they really are the best form of transport.  It just feels so much more civilised than being herded into some metal tube.  Another advantage that trains have is that once you board at a usually central station it just goes.  None of this tedious getting out of town through traffic and intersections just two rails pointing in the direction you want to go.  Even just boarding is fun.  Stand on the platform as a mighty piece of engineering pulls in.  The immaculately presented providnista’s stand ready to welcome everyone aboard.  Once underway there is so much more freedom to move around and looking out the window is far more accessible than a bus and more interesting than a plane. [read on]

One of the most prevalent questions encountered so far has been Moscow or St Petersburg, which do you prefer?  As the title of this post alludes to one is based on the premise of beauty and the other power.  One built as a symbol of aspiration to leave the other in the past only for revolution to reach out its cold fingers and re-establish the elder one as the seat of power and control. Basically Moscow is busy and dirty, everyone in a rush to get shit done and money made.

   

Which do you prefer the subtle intricate grandeur of the Cathedral of Our Savior on Spilled Blood or the gaudy familiarity of St Basils?

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With all the hostel dramas it was quite an effort to force ourselves to get out and explore a little bit and make some use of the day remaining.  A major incentive was the Sunday only market which Ivan informed ... [Continue reading this entry]

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]

This is a lesson in how to forget a city.  With Russia dominating the planning and preparation, the regionalism of the Baltic being the first stop, the only thought that had gone into Helsinki was that there is a ferry ... [Continue reading this entry]