Out of Russia and into the Baltic States

After Yekaterinburg, the last two stops of the tour were Moscow and St. Petersburg, and since it has been so long since I have posted I don't even know where I should start. In Moscow we stayed in one of the hotel blocks constructed for the athletes of the Moscow Olympics of 1980, which was five tram stops from Red Square. The Moscow subway serves more people each day than the New York and London systems combined - approximately 9 millions riders every twenty-four hours. The system is necessarily very efficient, with cars stopping every thirty seconds at the major stations. Many of the stations are gorgeous, with vaulted ceilings, marble tiling, mosaics, bronze statues and chandeliers to name just a few of the features. Unlike Beijing where stops and exits were additionally labeled with English, the Moscow system is solely in Cyrillic which makes getting around a little bit difficult. Not being able to speak the native language is one thing, but being unable to read anything is even more limiting.

On the first day in Moscow we headed into Red Square, saw the world-famous St. Basil's Cathedral, and then Mike and I headed west of the square and caught a river cruise that took us through the city centre on the Moscow river. During the rest of time in Moscow I toured the Kremlin, including its numerous cathedrals and armory; a couple of art galleries; saw Gorky park; watched the changing of the guard at the Kremlin and walked through Lenin's mausoleum. I've missed the trifecta of preserved communist leaders as I didn't get in to see Mao in Beijing or Ho Chi Minh, but after viewing Lenin I don't think I have missed much. The body could be a wax figurine given its high sheen, and as I don't exactly revere Lenin or subscribe to the communist agenda, it wasn't an experience high on my list of things to do. As we walked down into the black marble crypt there were soldiers every few meters standing at attention making sure that no one entered with a hat on or with their hands in their pockets. There were a few people ahead of me filing by Lenin who were quietly whispering, and they were sternly hushed by the guards. I don't think it would be the sort of duty that would brighten one's day; standing by human remains that have essentially become a major tourist attraction.

Catching the night train at 11:30 in the evening out of Moscow, we covered the approximately 700 kms in about seven hours, the fastest we had traveled as the trains before had a top speed of about 80 km/hr and an average speed of 60 km/hr. I got off the train beyond tired, but we jumped into the day, going on a four-hour walking tour of the city, and then three of us went and climbed to the top of St. Isaac's cathedral. This vantage point provides a 360 degree view of the city, and as I made my way around the outside of the upper dome on the catwalk along with other tourists I was highly impressed. If that wasn't enough, that night most of our group headed to the Mariinsky Theatre to take in the Sleeping Beauty ballet. I can appreciate the athleticism of the dancers, but it is such a highly refined and formalized art form that I really couldn't get into it. Still, the experience was a unique one, which is what I continually reminded myself as I perched on the edge of my cheap seat, craning my head to see around the pillar that I was almost directly behind. You get what you pay for. Other highlights of my time in St. Petersburg were touring the Hermitage, the second-largest art collection in the world after the Louvre; seeing the place where Rasputin had been poisoned; walking through the Church of Spilled Blood and staring awe-struck at the mosaics covering every square inch of the walls and ceilings; traveling by hydrofoil out to the Peterhof Palace, the Russian Versailles where hundreds of water fountains and countless gardens made it seem like walking through a fairy tale; exploring the Peter and Paul Fortress and simply walking the Nevsky Prospekt, the main street of St. Petersburg.

I stayed two nights after the end of the tour to take in the St. Petersburg day festivities as dozens of open-air stages, street performers, and performance art troupes closed down the main drag, all marking the 307th anniversary of St. Petersburg.

Now in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, after my seven-hour bus ride, my plan is to head south for Istanbul and from there fly into Edinburgh and begin traveling through the United Kingdom before I catch my flight out of London on the sixth of July. The time left in my trip doesn't leave much time for dawdling, so I will be moving covering ground quickly. It is a bit odd to be on my own again after being so well taken care of on the Trans-Mongolian tour, but also freeing at the same time to again be solely in control of what I will be doing and where I will be going for the next forty days or so.