Leaving Moscow- on to Hong Kong and China

Wednesday July 28, 2010 was our last full day in Moscow, and we again decided not to pay for another excursion with the group on the bus. So we put on our walking shoes, headed over to the "world's most beautiful subway system" and struck out for town. Judy bought us a round trip ticket and we were off. Really off, because although the "metro is easy to use- just identify the direction you want to go in...." the signs are all in Cyrillic. Still, we didn't miss a beat or a stop and we managed to get there and back without any unplanned direction changes. I'm studying Russian next, it is so foreign that it seems very appealing. And it would have helped us on this little adventure because although we have it on the highest authority that all students start English in the 5th grade- 90% of the people we asked for directions shook us off. And my newly learned "good morning" and "good afternoon" didn't get us very far. We had lunch in a small sidewalk cafe, revisited Red Square as I was on the lookout for a T-shirt and a pack of postcards of the metro system, and we figured the most touristy place in town was the place to start. And we were right- I got them both. Actually, the T-shirt I got wasn't the one I really wanted, after seeing it in a store window......but that little number was attached to a much larger number- a price tag of 6,000 rubles. Divided by 30 that's.......... yes, $200 USD. For a T shirt that says "Russia" on it. But I can be happy with the one I got and use the extra money for other things. Right? Am I right? In re-reading this I just realized that I've written 2 paragraphs and not mentioned the climate. Well- we just bought an English language newspaper, and in it was an article about the current atmospheric conditions in Moscow. To wit, Monday (the day we all piled into our trusty Volvo bus and walked Red Square) was the hottest day in Moscow since they started keeping records. And to make it a perfect combination, the smog levels in the city from the neighboring peat fields (the underground peat spontaneously combusts, sending smoke into the air. The peat is everywhere, and the fires are impossible to put out. Putin was just asked to allocate 825 million USD to fight the underground fires) was recorded at 10 times the safety level or, as they described it, the equivalent of smoking 40 packs of cigarettes in a single day. "The life of a tourist isn't easy....." anyway, we all have to die of something and I doubt in our case it will be lung cancer. Everyone on board is complaining about it, since the limited a/c on the ship picks up the smoke and pumps it through the air vents. But this too shall pass. In general our little 13 day cruise through the rivers of Russia has been enjoyable and worth the money. Our daily guides speak perfect English (although with a very thick accent), they are extremely knowledgeable about their subjects and everyone did their best to assure us a good time. The weather will be what it will be- and as we move on to China it will be hotter and smoggier yet. Traveling is not for the faint of heart. At this point we are not so much looking forward to the wonders of China as the laundromats of Hong Kong- everything we own is very dirty and very smelly. I guess I'll wear my bathing suit to the laundry because damn- if I don't wash everything I'll have to burn it..... In conclusion, we found Russia to be much more wooded than we ever imagined- we sailed past 2 weeks of aspen and pine, an amazing forested area that was green and clean. The cities also were quite clean, crime was never really an issue (although we picked up a pickpocket in Yaroslavl; he chose poorly as this well-traveled group all spotted him immediately and he finally moved on to another set of tourists), the weather was a bitch but unavoidable and unexpected, the food was familiar enough to be soothing and the boat was very comfortable with a great crew and interesting lectures. Would we consider returning to Russia? No- and that is primarily because of the Russians themselves. With one or two exceptions, if the people we came into contact with weren't WORKING with tourists, say for example the average man on the street or the clerk in a market- they were stone faced, cold and disinterested in providing any assistance. More than once we were shooed away with a scowl and a flap of the wrist, accompanied by some Russian that we (fortunately) couldn't understand. We also wouldn't return because of the cost of the visa (about $400 USD) and the fact that if we ever want to see another Russian Orthodox icon or gold domed church we'll drive down the road to Ben Lomond. So- with that, we're off to Hong Kong for 2 nights after a 3 hour flight to Frankfurt (yes, that's in the wrong direction, we know) to catch our connecting flight to Hong Kong- 11 hours in economy. A night on the plane- our idea of a good time......we'll let you know how it goes.

Moscow

Well, we made a stop in Yaroslavl and saw some rather uninteresting things. Even the shopping was awful so the ship and this blog moved on.....next stop: Uglich. There, we were scheduled to visit another monastery and see more icons, so we bailed on the program and went shopping. I mean- really. We're pretty tolerant but all these dead people were about to kill us... Near the port there was a nest of souvenir stalls, so we dusted off our rubles, dollars and euros and set out. We were scoping it all out, deciding on gifts and knick knacks and such- when a huge rain storm blew up and in. Here we were, trying our best to help out the local economy..... But we were determined, and waited out the bluster with several local Russian ladies, and soon we were back in action. As many of the stalls had similar stuff we made our decisions based not necessarily on whether or not they spoke English, or even prices, but on whether or not they would smile or in some way acknowledge our presence. You'd be surprised at how few did.....the Russians aren't as bad as the Poles (Yikes!) but they're not a whole lot better. And the French are given a bad time! They should mount a publicity campaign because compared to the Eastern Europeans they are positively motherly. Anyway- not to worry- we dropped several hundred rubles and went back home happy. Now we just have to decide how we're going to get it all to Hong Kong and on to China....

So we set sail from Uglich with Moscow in our sights. We had had a mental picture of St. Petersburg with the rivers, the Hermitage and all, and it was pretty close. A beautiful, old city. But Moscow has been surprising. We envisioned more of the soviet-style, concrete block architecture, all the while remembering that Moscow has nudged Tokyo as the most expensive city in the world. Well! Yesterday we visited Red Square and it gives some of the most beautiful plazas in the world a run for their money. And I do mean money. Zut. Here's a picture of one of the apartment buildings just outside of the main city- the price of these apartments is 3-4 million, USD. We found a bottle of Clicquot champagne that we pay about $40 for in CA, here it was over $200 USD. Anyway, money isn't everything, I guess- there are lots of other things in life. Like weather. The record heat wave has been following us east- and we are averaging about 40-42 degrees C. That's over 100 degrees, and just goes to prove what our favorite tour guide, Victoria, says- "The life of a tourist isn't easy".

So we saw Red Square, and today the Kremlin. I always thought that the name "Red Square" was a reference to the Communist party- turns out that 'red" in Russian means "pretty"- and it is that for sure. At one end of the plaza sits St. Isaacs Cathedral. We didn't get to enter, but if we had, I"m sure there are more dead Russians buried inside. The outside was picturesque enough for me. And since they don't use a/c here, if it's 40 degrees outside, you can be sure it's 45 inside.

On the Volga

4 days out of Moscow- on various rivers and through many locks- I had never been through a lock until we took the canal trip in Paris- and now we're experts! I'm not sure I understand the exact technology behind them, but they are fascinating to watch.

And speaking of fascinating- our stop yesterday was at a monastery founded in 1397, and still functions today, although with 6 monks instead of the the mass number of people at it's peak- 200 monks, 2,000 police and 20,000 serfs, as of course sefdom was in full swing. It was an extremely profitable monastery, as such things go, as the tsars located in St Petersburg maintained it as a "safe house" in case of turmoil or revolt, and of course they wanted it to be comfortable and secure. As comfortable as you can get in the 15th and 16th centuries in a area with a winter climate of 60 degrees below zero- Celsius.

Still, we've seen a lot of icons (our cousin Gail would be proud) and we are ready for something else- namely shopping. And that is promised today as we stop this afternoon in Yaroslavl.

on the river between St Petersburg and Moscow....

So we've learned a bit about Russia, and the Russians- some of it good, some not so- but all of it fascinating. We are currently locked within a "lock", one of the 17 we will pass through on our way to Moscow and as we wait to be expelled on the other side (and as we wait for dinner, even MORE important!) I'll write a bit....

First off, as we found in the Mekong Delta- river cruisers are TRAVELERS- there's just no doubt. Ask them anything. They've been to Egypt, Africa, So. America, Europe (of course, very tame)- these are not people who book a trip into the Marriott in London and have bus tours to everything....we just came back from a special "Captains Cocktail Party" for those of us onboard who are "Viking Explorers"- in other words, who have traveled on Viking before. The jokes on them- this is our first but we qualify because when we disembark in Moscow we fly to Shanghai for the Yangtze cruise- a cruise, by the way, that EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT I'VE TALKED TO ONBOARD has already taken....better late than never,in our case!

Today we had to get a wake up call for dawn as we docked on an island that boasts 60 permanent residents and the "Cathedral of the Transformation"- a church built in the 1700's with 22 domes, 2 storeys and a bell tower- completely out of wood but without a single nail, screws or adhesive of any kind. Amazing. Built from the millions of aspen that grow here- we have spent 3 days passing by forests of the stuff- who knew that Russia was so wooded? Not me.

St Petersburg, Russia

OK- so we've been here in St Petes for 2 1/2 days now, and not one of you has asked about the name of our blog......Paige? JIM!?!?!?!? Come on! Jim- you surely can ask and answer this pressing question!

So we arrived at the very unfriendly airport on Saturday (a day late- and 200 euros short, but who's counting?)and found our Russian transport to the port. Heaven! It was so nice to unpack our suitcases and to know that for the next 2 weeks we'd be staying in the same place....our ship is nice, our cabin is great, even our fellow passengers are a delight. And St Petersburg! What an interesting city! Clean and amazing with fascinating architecture. It's currently 11:30PM and still light out- we are so far north that we only have about 4 or 5 hours of nighttime....we go to sleep and wake up to sunlight.

Brandenburg Gate and the Museum of those, uh, lost, uh unfortunate, Jews

on the banks of the Strandbad Wannsee

On the plane to St Petersburg.....

So- we ended our time in Berlin with a day at the Wannsee, seated in a rented cabana along with 10,000 Germans. Actually, we had the cabana to ourselves but the sand and water were covered with locals. The day was very pleasant- not quite as hot as before but still warm enough that we had to venture into the murky waters on occasion. We even celebrated our German heritage and our last day in Berlin with a Rostwiener with (what else?) German potato salad. And beer, of course. A quick trip by S-Bahn back to town and we had time to pack, meet with the property manager to get our euros back (still waiting for the French euro deposit to show up in our PayPal account: Zut!) and go to a nice restaurant for dinner- Italian.

We weren't particularly sad to say goodbye to the condo, so we were up at 5:00AM and caught an early morning taxi to Tegel airport. As we were checking in at LOT in Berlin the young, slightly snippy agent couldn't find us, kept asking if we had a paper ticket, and finally told us that we were off a day- we were booked to fly to Warsaw on Thursday. I produced our itin and she glanced at it, said she'd just put us on that day's flight but that "our travel agent had made the mistake". I again reminded her that I had a printout of the itin and that no- we did have the correct day.......and when we finally boarded the plane- surprise!!! we had the same exact seats Rose had booked for us even though the plane was full! Imagine! Changing travel days to a full plane and getting your same booked seats! How stupid did she think we are? But before we could board, we had to wait for the plane to arrive, and there we sat and watched the clock tick along- past our "departure time" and into the next hour. This,in spite of the fact that the board never changed our flight time, and in fact cheerfully announced "boarding" at the assigned time, all the while as we sat and waited. This was enough fun for us, early in the morning, when it finally dawned on us that leaving late meant........arriving late.....which meant....uh oh. Missed our connection from Warsaw to St Petersburg. We finally arrived in Warsaw and spent an hour with the "transfer info people" it was obvious that they was expecting us....said that they were all amazed that Berlin LOT allowed us to board a very late plane, knowing that we would miss the only connection to St Pete when there was another DIRECT flight to Russia that they could/should have put us on when the departure was delayed. So to summarize our travel experiences in Germany- our train from Sarrebrucken was so late we missed our connection in Mannheim and our plane from Berlin was so late we missed the flight to Poland. Glad to be moving on! Next- Russia!

Berlin

Well, we are settled into a very old condo in a very old building on the Kurfurstendamm, sweltering in the heat. Berlin is in the midst of one of the hottest weeks in recent memory and we are here to enjoy it. Now, you all know me- I'd rather be too hot than too cold, but this is ridiculous. We are back to our PV summer routine of 2 showers a day, and even with that you don't want to stand too close. But the condo is fine, nestled between 2 freeways, a rotary and the S-bahn train station, with no a/c and a shower stall the size of a postage stamp. We were so spoiled at Alicia's mother's house with a huge personal bathroom and a shower door that closed....that we got lulled into a false sense of security. Watch for the picture of me trying to shave my legs in the shower (rated PG for "Pretty Grumpy"). On second thought, maybe we aren't so thrilled with the place after all... but tomorrow is our last day then it's off to St Petersburg.

So we spent the day in East Berlin (yes, I know there isn't really an East Berlin, anymore) because truly, that's where it's all happening (and happened). Took a few pictures of the Brandenburg Gate, walked the Unter del Linden and spent a few cool hours in the quaintly named "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe". Amazingly honest. Afterwards we sat and had a beer and reflected on the fact that for once, we weren't the bad guys. (We're still a little sensitive after trips to Hiroshima and Saigon).

Tomorrow is our last day here and we had planned to return to the Eastern side, but the heat is starting to affect our judgement (maybe for the better) and so instead we are going to the Strandbad Wannsee for a swim. If it was good for Hitler it's good enough for us. We'll let you know how it all works out. TTFN

France!

Well, since we last talked, we have had a very busy time! Let's see- where to start? We arrived in Paris to warm weather (too warm?) and a nice big apartment in the 10th Arrondissement, between Gare du Nord and Gare d'Este.There we beat the rush, for all of you who think Parisians are rude....by meeting the first and ONLY rude person in the city. We had been given travel directions to the condo building, and also the code to enter and "the name of the staircase". Easy- we tried an elevator or two, not realizing that the French evidently are on a first name basis with their stairwells-and we were DEFINITELY strangers. So finally I threw in the proverbial towel and asked the concierge. She told me, and she told me off.. with an added "zut!" at the end for emphasis. No matter- we were in!

Inside the condo we met the property manager, paid our 200 euro refundable damage deposit, and said "adios- we'll see you in 5 days" to get our euros back because yeah- 200 euros is a lot of cash and we would need it in Berlin.

We took a cool (very hot) canal ride on the St Martin canal, had dinner with Stephane and Magali under the Eiffel TOwer, supped in the Marais- good times. We also tracked down and supported Starbucks in Paris after asking several very kind, very helpful locals,including a young lady who explained where a Starbucks was hiding (near the Centre Pompidou) and then gently added "But you know, we have very good French coffee".... at which point we told her that yes, we loved French coffee but we were buying it for a French friend's birthday and she preferred Starbucks. Zut!

So Paris was a treat, as always, and although we didn't return from dinner with Stephane and Magali until 1:30AM and we had to be up by 7 to catch the TGV to Creutzwald, we fell into bed tired, happy and getting better at converting our English into Spanish and then into my rusty French. Then- our first little glitch- the property manager called at about the time he was supposed to arrive, to tell us he was delayed and we should leave to catch our train. He would arrange to return the euros at a later time. Hmm....maybe we can tell the owner of the condo in Berlin that we will pay at a later time?- probably not. What to do? Catch the train, that's what. So we did.

So, 200 euros lighter, we crossed France over to Metz, where Alicia met us. We settled into her mother's huge, beautiful, huge, modern, huge house. 5 bedrooms for 3 people. What a lovely home and family! Nice to finally meet ALicia's mother and to see her in her "french" life. We were treated like royalty with kindness, consideration and excellent food and wine. 3 days of heaven! We also had a chance to visit the American cemetery, only 15 minutes by car (Alicia's- merci Alicia!) where 1,000's of US soldiers are buried as a result of the hard-fought battles for the region in late 1944-early 1945. Beautiful, haunting and emotional.

It's not to be forgotten either that this is the week of Bastille Day in France, and so one night we had the chance to go enjoy fireworks with most of the (small) town. Great fireworks! Mexico, eat your heart out. Very, very fun and a great reminder for those whose who need it (not us) of the close history shared by our 2 countries. Red, white and blue; fireworks in mid July;, Statue of Liberty;liberation...friends are very important, why do we sometimes turn our backs on old friends?

But now it is Monday and that means goodbye to France and guten tag to Germany. We are on the train to Berlin and are not impressed with the exalted German efficiency. The trains are running late, the bathrooms don't work, what is the world coming to?!?! High hopes for the condo in Berlin, if we can put together the euros! TTFN.

Back to the airport- and on to a new adventure!

So- on the Fourth of July we created a few fireworks of our own by taking off to Paris, via Chicago. Now-we admit that we are NOWHERE as fabulous as Andrew and Gordon, but we must modestly say that we do some things with a certain......oh- "je ne sais pas". This is our story. Read it and weep as we travel through Paris, on to the Alsace area of Eastern France, to Berlin, a cruise down the Volga in Russia, several nights in Hong Kong and a cruise through China. I already wish I had packed less...... and weighed less. Travelling is hell on a diet.

We made it safely to Chicago, then on to the fun part- the short 8 hours to Charles de Gaulle. Finally- champagne with a smile. We got the menu, played games on the console, drank a bit- then settled in for a wee bit of a nap- to arrive fresh, you understand. Unfortunately, although our watches said 2am our BODIES said 6pm......

to be continued.......