Day 39: The Kreme of the Kremlin

Monday, October 24, 2016

On my last day in Moscow I had two goals -- the Kremlin and the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center -- before my night train to St. Petersburg. 

The first goal was easy to accomplish. A 20-minute walk from my hostel to the Kremlin, an entry fee of 500 rubles (less than $8), and I splurged and paid an extra 250 rubles to climb to the top of Ivan the Great Bell Tower. I always enjoy a view from above.

I just found out that Kremlin means "castle" in Russian. It's a walled fortress, the most famous being in Moscow. Somehow I thought it meant "government palace." I also didn't realize that there are many kremlins all across Russia, like the beautiful one in Kazan I visited.

Of course, the Kremlin in Moscow is the most important. The walls as they appear now were built between 1485 and 1495. That's more than 500 years ago, for people who don't do math. I live in a country that was founded less than half that time ago.

I was not so lucky with the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center. Rossana, my Italian guide from the two previous days, was busy moving into her new apartment, so I set out on my own to conquer the metro system and maps. She had offered to call and make sure the museum was open, but I was confident it was. It wasn't Shabbat (Saturday) or any Jewish holiday and I'd reviewed directions and hours on the map. But when I got there around 3:00, even though I saw Jewish people coming and going, one of the six Russian guards at the entry told me it was closed. I tried to get an explanation, but his English was too limited. Finally he just said, "bye bye" and they all laughed. 

So, that means I'll have to go back to Moscow someday. I heard their Jewish Museum is excellent. I've been to many Jewish Museums, Holocaust memorials, old synagogues and Jewish cemeteries around the world, but I was really looking forward to this one.

Back out in the cold, I made my way home to my hostel and prepared for my trip to St. Petersburg that night.

I remembered to bring my selfie stick, the one I bought in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

The Tsar Cannon with school kids.

The Tsar Cannon is the stockiest, thickest cannon I've ever seen. And take a look at those balls!

Church of the Nativity built from the 14th to the 17th century.

Ivan the Great Bell Tower on the right is where I climbed up for a better view, and met two new friends from Uzbekistan.

Everywhere you look are fabulous buildings. The Grand Kremlin Palace is now the official residence of Vladimir Putin, the current President of Russia.

The Tsar Bell looks like it has a slight defect.

I was surprised that my ticket to climb the bell tower included a headset tour which explained every single anthropological relic inside. 

View from the top, looking out at the many churches (7 in total) within the Kremlin walls.

The Moskva River flows along one side of the Kremlin. Red Square is on the other side. And the Alexander Gardens to the front. It's like one-stop shopping for tourists.

A Korean friend, from Uzbekistan, who now lives in Russia. Her friend lives in Germany and speaks excellent German and English. I hope to see them again in California someday.

One of few sunny days I've seen since leaving the Philippines a month earlier. I used this picture as my Facebook profile and got about 200 "likes" for it. 

Day 40: St. Petersburg and the Hermitage Museum

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

The advantage of a night train is you sleep on the train and arrive at your destination with the whole day ahead of you. The train from Moscow to St. Petersburg traveled from 10:50 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. -- probably too early to arrive at my hostel (check-in is usually 2:00, but most hostels will let you drop your bags at least), so it didn't matter that I was disoriented and walked the wrong direction out of the train station in the morning dark.

Once I realized my mistake, I found a warm, cozy coffee shop, ordered oatmeal and lemon ginger tea, and took a breather. With the help of wifi and the friendly baristas, I got my bearings. Now I was an hour walk away instead of 20 minutes, so they suggested a bus, which was cheap and easy. There is a wonderful subway system in St. Petersburg, but I would have had to change trains. Besides, I enjoyed the view from the bus.

I was greeted at Baby Lemonade Hostel by a very sweet Siberian woman named Tanya who showed me around, gave me a city map, pointed out how close all the main attractions are, and let me stash my bags until my bed was prepared. I felt right at home in the Sixties decor with Monkees and Beatles music playing, so I curled up on a comfy couch and pulled out my laptop. Before noon I headed out on foot, destination one of the largest collections of art in the world, the Hermitage Museum, established 1764 by Catherine I.

My Korean friend who I met at Lake Baikal had already booked a bed at the Baby Lemonade Hostel in St. Petersburg, so I did the same -- easy to find and in the most perfect location.

I loved the 1960s decor and music. Having grown up in this awesome era, I felt right at home.

Each room was named for a famous singer from the Sixties. 

My Russian roommates. We were joined by a Swedish woman the next day. Just four in a room with private bathroom.

I set out on foot for the Hermitage Museum, the number one attraction in St. Petersburg. It had snowed the night before, which was exciting for this California girl.

That's the Russian Museum in the foreground and St. Basil's Cathedral in back, just steps from my hostel. Score!

The exquisite Spas Na Krovi or Savior on Spilled Blood Cathedral reminded me of the St. Basil's at Red Square in Russia. It marks the spot where Alexander II was fatally wounded in an assassination attempt.

I was so tempted to get an Obama nesting doll. Some of them had the last four presidents, and some had just the Democrats. I guess the G. Bush doll has only Republicans inside. I should have asked for a discount since very shortly there will be a new U.S. president elected.

More people in costumes looking to make tips for posing for pictures.

Not all of the Russian art is in galleries and museums.

The canals of St. Petersburg are reminiscent of Amsterdam.

The Winter Palace as it looked in the past. I ended up in the wrong museum, called Winter Palace of Peter I. It was interesting, but very small compared to the Hermitage Museum a few buildings away.

Peter the Great's widow Catherine I commissioned an artist to create this wax image of her husband after he died so that the people would never forget what he looked like.

This illustration from Wikipedia shows the entire Hermitage Museum complex. From left to right: The Hermitage Theater, The Old Hermitage, Small Hermitage and the "New" Hermitage, which is where the main collection is. No wonder I got confused.

I was given directions to go around the back and around the corner to find the real Winter Palace Hermitage Museum.

I thought I found the entrance, but this was just for tour groups.

Finally, I found the right place and bought a ticket from a vending machine.

It's required to check your coat. Only problem is most of the coat rooms were full. This one holds 3700 coats and was full. So I was directed to the school group coat room that holds 1700 coats. Finally, success. Ready to enter the Hermitage Museum, just two hours before closing.

The Hermitage Museum has over 3 millions works of art and world culture artifacts. If you spent just 3 seconds looking at each piece, you couldn't see them all in 100 days!! Here's part of the Egyptian collection.

Anubis, on the left, is my favorite ancient Egyptian god.

The ceilings, flooring, walls, lighting, everything was beautiful in the Hermitage Museum.

Several rooms were devoted to Greek and Roman statues.

 

The Winter Palace is two stories with an elaborate staircase.

The view from the Winter Palace across the Neva River. It's easy to see why Peter the Great and his wife Catherine the Great enjoyed living there.

It was dark by the time the museum closed at 6:00 p.m.

Palace Square outside the Winter Palace was home to the Tsars and witness to many historic events like Bloody Sunday of 1905 and the October Revolution in 1917.

Despite the cold, the walk back to my hostel at night was beautiful and romantic.

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is lit up at night.

Chandeliers inside the church help illuminate it.

Day 43: Helsinki, Finland? Hel Yeah!

Friday, October 28, 2016

My first border crossing from Russia to Europe happened on the Allegro high-speed train between St. Petersburg, Russia and Helsinki, Finland. Very civilized, no issues, no bribes. They even have money exchange onboard, so I changed my last few rubles to euros. But when I heard the rate for dollars to euros, I decided to wait until I got to Helsinki.

The walk from the Helsinki train station to CheapSleep Hostel is about a half hour. I didn't exactly follow the google map directions I planned to, but I like my route better anyway. I went on smaller streets through a more Bohemian neighborhood. The good news, almost everyone speaks good English!

CheapSleep Hostel can accommodate a lot of backpackers. I was in a room with 20 beds, and I believe there were 10 rooms. I definitely felt like I was in Scandinavia with the Ikea-look of the furniture, modern, simple, functional. The people who work the front desk were from India, Vietnam and Russia...at least those are the ones I met. The first friends I made were a Mexican guy (are you lost?) and a Brazilian, speaking in Spanish, who let me in the front door downstairs. Turns out, the Mexican guy had fallen in love with a young Finnish woman two years earlier. She'd been back to visit him in Mexico a second time and met all of his large, extended family. But this would be the first time for him to meet her family. They were both nervous about it. I recommended the classic Sidney Poitier movie, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.

I needed Euros to pay for the bed, since I was still trying to use up my cash. But the weird thing about Helsinki is there aren't any casas de cambio to exchange money. The only one, especially as the afternoon got later, was at the train station where I had just come from, according to the check-in guy at the hostel. I like to walk, and I didn't have enough euros for bus fare, so I set back out, this time trying to take the google map route.

Several hours later, I had succeeded in my assignment. Somehow I got myself twisted around and walked an hour in the wrong direction after I'd passed the right road to go to the station. It was cold and gray and not the funnest walk I've ever done, especially retracing my steps for an hour down a main street. But I do feel like I really get to know a city on foot.

Helsinki impressed me with its ethnic diversity, acceptance of refugees from around the world (I met Burmese and Nigerians among others), and the place is so clean and safe and attractive. Sure, it's expensive for me, but the Finns and the immigrants aren't complaining because they're well paid and have wonderful benefits from their government, like education and healthcare and affordable public transportation. Someone told me they have a high tax on automobiles. Well, that's good because there were few cars on the road, no parking structures, no traffic cops, no traffic jams, and the buses run frequently and efficiently.

My only complaint was the exchange rate was not even close to what I'd seen online first. The woman at the train station's Western Union office gave me some story about why that is, but in other countries I received almost the same as the online rate, without a commission. I had to pay 5 euros commission here, so with her encouragement I exchanged $500 since I'll be using euros in several other countries, including a couple of weeks in Germany.

Back at the hostel finally, I visited with the Mexican and Brazilian guys who had found a drinking partner from Japan. The three of them were so cute and funny. They even invited me to go to a party with them, but I declined. I was warm and dry and happy, with fast wifi and a comfy bed.

The Helsinki train station is used by about 200,000 passengers a day.

It was a bit cold and drizzly, but that doesn't stop the Finns from going about their day. I noticed a high number of men taking care of their children. Impressive.

Even the dogs have to bundle up in Finland. I saw a lot of cute outfits on canines.

The Ateneum Art Museum, located across from the station, isn't prudish.

Definitely seeing signs of Scandinavia.

With so much written in English, there's no excuse to get lost in Helsinki....even though I did.

Nice public art and many parks.

It seemed like mostly there were hair salons and coffee shops along the way to my hostel. I loved this funky salon.

This gum ball machine full of old-fashioned hair rollers was outside my favorite salon. Tempting to get a haircut, but in the cold weather I couldn't imagine going any shorter.

Another welcome sight was second-hand stores, although the prices were about the same as new merchandise in the U.S. because of the price difference between euros and dollars.

Here's something I don't see in sunny California, boot cleaners outside stores. They were everywhere in Helsinki. Very tidy people.

This guy was amused that I took a picture of his bicycle, but I just liked the European style. And I love bikes.

Finally, my own sweet bed, the bottom bunk on the right. No one had the bunk above me, so it was like I had my own little cubicle with plug, reading light, locker. and a little privacy

I ventured back out to exchange money at the train station. I figured I'd be adventurous and try a different route. Nice to see the bike lanes and pedestrian zones, safely separated from the cars on the street.

Again, wishing that tourists had the ability to rent these bikes to cruise around town. An advantage is you can pick one up and drop it off at any bike rack.

I had meant to take the center route between the train station and CheapSleep Hostel, but I ended up on the one to the right, which I liked more. I tried again to take the central route, but ended up needing north on Mannenheimstr. (top left) and walked an hour past the Olympic stadium. Whoops. I was too stubborn and euro-poor to take a street car back down to the train station.

Doesn't look like I'll be learning any Finnish in my two days in Helsinki. I've heard it's one of the more difficult languages to learn, right up there with Polish.

Heather seems to do well in the cold climate. Nice to see some color.

More hair salons. This one called Glow looked very chic.

I assume this is a Salvation Army thrift store. Hopefully their prices are a little more reasonable.

Helsinki at night was beautiful and safe. I always enjoy seeing my daughter Maya's name.

There are several bridges in Helsinki, which is a port city.

A sweet little Japanese cafe in our neighborhood seemed to have more staff than customers.

Hanging out with Mexico, Japan and Brazil. The Mexican guy Daniel was going to bed early because he'd drunk too much the night before, but Japan and Brazil were ready to go.