I rarely write on my blog these days – it seems only when I travel and have stories and photos to share – so here goes. Although I had incorporated photos into the body of this blog, unfortunately, Blogspot doesn't seem to allow it anymore, and I have been forced to place my photos on the side-column, so please look there for some pictures of the trip. Oki and I, after having suffered from my knee
replacement and Oki’s spinal operation, and after having put off travelling for a
couple of years due to these health problems, finally made the snap decision to “just
do it”. We planned our trip to see as many friends and family members as we could,
including visits to Russia, Holland, Germany, Britain and Hong Kong. We visited a travel agent and discovered that the price of over $5,000 per air ticket
was just too much to afford, and almost gave up on the idea of the trip. By wanting to
travel at Christmas, which was just a few weeks away, all the cheap flights were long
gone.
However, rather than give up on the thought of travelling, we worked out a
“cunning plan” – instead of flying from Sydney to Moscow, to Amsterdam, to
Cologne, to London, to Hong Kong, we would fly directly, on a return international
flight to London, and then do the European flights on cheap domestic airlines. The
homebound international flight would go via Hong Kong. We didn’t return to the travel agent for help, but decided to risk it and book all this
on my mobile phone, on the Cheap Flights website. The total cost for each of us, for
the entire trip came out to $2,100! Now this was affordable. We booked immediately
and couldn’t believe we had managed to save $3,000 each by avoiding the travel
agent! When we looked at the details of the flights, which included Cathay Pacific to and
from London, and Air Baltic, Air France and Ryanair for the European flights, we
noticed that some of the European flights had horrible arrival and departure times,
landing in Moscow at 2 am, and leaving Cologne well before dawn. Very kindly - and
I will always be so grateful to them - our Russian friends, Nastya and Kirill, and our
German friends, Petra and Thomas, collected us from, and dropped us off at, the
airport at these terrible times. I will do the same for all of you in future, my lovely
friends, when the time arises. XX
On the first day of our trip, I flew up from Hobart and Oki came down from
Kandos to spend one night at the Adina Apartment Hotel, near the airport, to make
sure we were ready and waiting for our international flight. The traffic down from
Kandos, especially in Sydney, is so unpredictable now, that Oki couldn’t risk being
caught in a traffic jam and missing his flight, and I didn’t want the risk of a delayed
flight from Hobart, so coming the day before took the pressure off. Jack’s girlfriend,
Luna, was in Sydney for a few days, on a shopping trip, and Chris came down to see
us off from the Central Coast, so we all had a lovely pre-Christmas get-together at the
hotel.
The Cathay Pacific flight was excellent, with very good service and plenty of leg
room. It took a good 25 hours, with a 2.5-hour stopover at Hong Kong Airport. We
arrived at Gatwick at 5.30 am, and headed onto the trains and buses to finally arrive at
Benn and Nicola’s maisonette in lovely Twickenham, west of London. Oki slept
for an hour, and then we went to see little Victoria’s Christmas ballet concert, which
she was so excited about. The last time I was in London was five years ago, and
Nicola was pregnant with Victoria. While on that trip, little Victoria was born. Now I
was here again, just before her fifth birthday party. That evening, Oki and I went to the Twickenham Guesthouse, just a short bus ride
from Benn and Nicola’s place. It was old fashioned, but clean and comfortable – and
who complains after a 25-hour flight and a whole day awake at your destination? We
went to sleep at 6 pm and woke at 2 am with jetlag, and knew we had a long wait till
breakfast, but when the time came, it was a lovely, full English breakfast.
After heading back to see Benn before he rode his bike off to work in town, we
spent time with Nicola, Victoria and baby Olivia, now 14 months old. Olivia is a
blonde cutie, and on the verge of walking, but not quite yet. Victoria has been a
fantastic big sister and Olivia adores her. It is lovely to see them playing together. They are both such good little girls. Now it was time to head back to Gatwick to take our Air Baltic flight to Moscow,
via Riga, a 6.5-hour trip. Air Baltic was very nice, and I would happily fly with them
again.
We landed in Moscow at 2 am, and our lovely friends, Nastya and Kirill were
waiting for us, even though they had to go to work the next day. We stayed in their
flat overnight, and met their two lovely cats, one of whom liked to sleep in the
bathroom basin! Northern Hemisphere people always keep their flats very warm, by
Australian standards, and I think this sensible puss liked to cool off with the cold
porcelain basin surrounding her. What a clever cat. After breakfast, Kirill kindly drove us to our Hotel Godunov in the Meschanskiy
area of Moscow, just a mile’s stroll from Red Square, at a cost of just $262 each for 4
nights, including a delicious breakfast. Godunov was more than good enough - it was
excellent! Just across the road was an English pub that we visited a few times. It had
an amusing sign on the door, as you can see in one of the photos in the side column. Russians would take the sight of snow and ice for granted, but for an Australian, it
is of great beauty and interest. Moscow was white with snow, its fir trees were real
Christmas trees, laden in white, and some of the footpaths were icy. With our delicate
knees and backs, we were very careful when walking outside not to slip over, even
sometimes holding onto the outdoor plumbing! What a pathetic sight we must have
been to the Russians!
That day, Oki and I walked around the local area, looking at the shops, cafes and
churches, and noticing the beautiful boulevards running down the centre of many
big roads. Moscow is an enormous city of 12 million people. The traffic is very
busy, but to walk down the centre of a boulevard was such a great way to keep away
from the noise and traffic fumes. The boulevards were tree lined, and contained
statues, sculptures and benches to sit on. At night, they were lit up, with their lights
reflected in the snow. In the evening, we walked with Nastya and Kirill to the Korooma Petrovska
Russian/Ukrainian Restaurant where they were keen for us to try some typical
Russian food. You can’t say you’ve been to another country unless you taste their
food. It is an important part of the country’s culture. I enjoyed everything we tried;
Oki wasn’t quite sure about a couple of dishes, but it was a wonderful evening,
finished off with a walk home, via the lovely boulevards.
The following day, Kirill and Nastya drove us to the eastern side of Moscow to
view an historical nobleman’s estate, the Kuskovo Estate, with its grand summer
house, churches, greenhouse, entertainment buildings, mistress’ mansion, ponds and
gardens – a wonderful experience. Built in the mid-18th Century, it was the summer
home of one of the richest and most influential families in Russia, the Sheremetev
Family. If you want to find out more, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuskovov. I have put many photos of Moscow and other Russian places we visited in the picture section. After a Thai lunch on the way back to the city, we drove to see the sight of the
famous Moscow University, built in the 1950’s Stalinesque-style of architecture. We
also viewed the panorama of Moscow from the hill just opposite the university, before
heading home, through the business district of Moscow. Moscow is one of the world’s great cities, and is filled with many beautiful buildings in the Empire-style, a style that developed after the Muscovites survived the
onslaught of the French warmonger, Napoleon. To me, one of my greatest joys of
visiting Moscow was the abundance of beautiful architecture. You will see some examples of these buildings in the photo section.
The next day, Nastya and Kirill took us on what became the absolute highlight of
our trip. They drove us 210 km north of Moscow, through ice and snow, and past all
the snow-laden “Christmas” trees, and through traditional villages, to Rostov the
Great, an historical town with pretty, wooden houses, beautiful Russian Orthodox
churches, including the Assumption Cathedral, and a monastery famed for its triple-
glazed enamelware. If you want to know more, check out
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rostov. Even though Oki and I always travel with just
the bare minimum in a cabin bag, and as a result, have no space for souvenirs, I did
manage to buy some small Christmas presents of enamelware for Nicola, Becky and
my Hobart friends, and some little Matryoshka Dolls for my three grandchildren.
The last, full day in Russia was spent walking around the famous Red Square, with
the Kremlin, the Museum of History, the Gum department store, and of course, St.
Basil’s Cathedral. We also caught a tourist bus around central Moscow, and it gave us
a great general viewing of places we hadn’t seen before, including a good
commentary. I was last in Russia as a twenty-year-old, during the Brezhnev era of the Cold War.
The Moscow I saw then was miserable, drab and run-down. The modern Moscow is a
different city. It is just as Westernised and capitalistic as anywhere else in Europe, and
the people are thriving. It was so good to see. There was not even a queue outside
Lenin’s tomb in Red Square.
We spent a lot of time walking around St. Basil’s and photographing the details of
this beautifully renovated building. We also walked around the whole of Red Square,
enjoying the Christmas market, Christmas decorations and lights of the Christmas
fair. Gum, which sits beside Red Square, looked magnificent – all renovated since the
Cold War days – and the interior was just as wonderful. Gum puts Harrods to shame!
There is no comparison. Because we were in Russia in mid-Winter, the days were
dark and short, and the Christmas lights shone out brightly from every building and
Christmas tree around. It made Christmas very spectacular.
In the evening, after Nastya and Kirill had finished work, we had a meal together at
the Central Market, a great place to choose food from all over the former Soviet
Union. I had a dish from Uzbekistan and Oki had something from Georgia, or maybe
it was from the Ukraine or Kazakhstan, I can’t quite remember. It was a nice way to
finish our final full day in Russia. As you can see, I loved every minute of our time in Russia, and I am so grateful to
Nastya and Kirill for all the hard work and effort they put into making our visit a time
that we will never forget. Thank you both so much. XX
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