We arrived in Moscow this morning after 24 hours on the train. We arrived to warm sunny Spring weather so it seems we have moved from Winter to Spring in one week. In Irkutsk it was cold, we wore thermals, the gardens were being prepared but no shoots and no leaves on the trees. As we moved West the leaves gradually becoame apparent on the trees and yesterday the birches were all covered in leaves, people were in their gardens, kids riding bikes and washing on clothes lines.
We have seen villages with small timber houses all the way from the Mongolian border. The houses are unpainted except for blue shutters and sometimes green fences. They are on old Aussie size blocks with large wood heaps, backyards are all garden beds being prepared, often a glass house and/or A frames covered with plastic over garden beds, frames where the plastic seems to be renewed each Spring and various other forms of plastic covering. All made of timber but we have seen only one sign of growing new trees.
But now we are in Moscow the trees all have their leaves, there are tulips in all the parks and people sitting in outside cafes.
We had a tour of the city, Red Square, Victory Park, Churches, Swallow Hill with a view of the city and fantastic university buildings. ((picture later).
While we were wandering around Victory Park - with a memorial and a stature of St George slaying a dragon (He is the patron saint of Moscow) the traffic on a major ring road all stopped. This road goes to the Kremlin and when a member of the goverment needs to go there the traffic is stopped by the police, a police car with sirens goes at an incredible speed along the road and then offical cars drive along much, much faster than the speed limit.
Our small bus was stopped twice by the police to check papers and the vehicle.
We are now staying in a slightly decayed ornate hotel that hosted visiting dignitries, like Maggie Thatcher, in days gone by. The rooms are large with high ceilings, marble staircase, chandeliers etc. I will take some pictures.
This after nooon we were taken an a lesson on using the metro - it was fantastic, crowds, reasonable easy to follow if you count the stations and wonderfully decorated stations.
On the first train a young man asked me if he could help and then told me he had lived in Blacktown for 2 years and worked as a roof tiler. I got a reall buzz from managing the metro and we went to buy tickets for the opera at the Bolshoi Theatre tomorrow night.
We are going to see "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" by D Shostokovitch, a cheery tale of course. This may be interesting as only 3 of us have been to an opera before and I am not sure Shostokovitch is what I would choose as an introduction. Stalin hated this opera when he saw it in the same theatre in 1937 and denounced it and the composer.
We have seen villages with small timber houses all the way from the Mongolian border. The houses are unpainted except for blue shutters and sometimes green fences. They are on old Aussie size blocks with large wood heaps, backyards are all garden beds being prepared, often a glass house and/or A frames covered with plastic over garden beds, frames where the plastic seems to be renewed each Spring and various other forms of plastic covering. All made of timber but we have seen only one sign of growing new trees.
But now we are in Moscow the trees all have their leaves, there are tulips in all the parks and people sitting in outside cafes.
We had a tour of the city, Red Square, Victory Park, Churches, Swallow Hill with a view of the city and fantastic university buildings. ((picture later).
While we were wandering around Victory Park - with a memorial and a stature of St George slaying a dragon (He is the patron saint of Moscow) the traffic on a major ring road all stopped. This road goes to the Kremlin and when a member of the goverment needs to go there the traffic is stopped by the police, a police car with sirens goes at an incredible speed along the road and then offical cars drive along much, much faster than the speed limit.
Our small bus was stopped twice by the police to check papers and the vehicle.
We are now staying in a slightly decayed ornate hotel that hosted visiting dignitries, like Maggie Thatcher, in days gone by. The rooms are large with high ceilings, marble staircase, chandeliers etc. I will take some pictures.
This after nooon we were taken an a lesson on using the metro - it was fantastic, crowds, reasonable easy to follow if you count the stations and wonderfully decorated stations.
On the first train a young man asked me if he could help and then told me he had lived in Blacktown for 2 years and worked as a roof tiler. I got a reall buzz from managing the metro and we went to buy tickets for the opera at the Bolshoi Theatre tomorrow night.
We are going to see "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" by D Shostokovitch, a cheery tale of course. This may be interesting as only 3 of us have been to an opera before and I am not sure Shostokovitch is what I would choose as an introduction. Stalin hated this opera when he saw it in the same theatre in 1937 and denounced it and the composer.
Pictures are the train to Moscow at Yetkateringburg, tea service in compartment and shoes of Russian women who shared the compartment.
