Episode 12
We had looked for the hotel my lot stayed in back in 1998, but hadn’t been able to find it amidst all the large new high rise housing blocks that seem to have sprung up around Odinsovo, now a large town on the outskirts of Moscow. We did however come across a brand new small hotel in a small town just a few k’s further out and as it was a reasonable price we chose to stay there for a couple of nights and have a day in Moscow. Perhaps I would get to see some of the sights though one of the reasons for the visit to Moscow is to see if we can get a transit visa for Belarus.I, being my usual charming self, and so good looking too, made friends with the girls on the reception desk, gee they were nice to me. One of their names was Erin, but L being L can’t remember the others names. They were all so friendly and helpful. the first girl we met had got a friend to come along who spoke English as is often the case we have found.People keep asking why we keep returning to Russia, one of the reasons is that people are so friendly and helpful. Despite the larger number of tourists this year, foreign tourists outside Moscow and St Petersburg are still a novelty so people haven’t become jaded with tourists needing assistance as is the case in most of western Europe.Following the girls instructions and with some of their printouts in hand we easily found the local train station, where we got a return ticket into Central Moscow for about $3.50AU, not bad considering it’s a 40min train ride each way. That’s not a slow ride either, these trains travel very fast between stations, not like Queensland trains. We were about 50’s from the centre.Once we arrived at Belarus station in Moscow then we changed to the metro/subway and after asking several people managed to get on the right train and change at the right station to eventually emerge near the Belarus embassy.It was a bit of a wasted trip really as far as that was concerned. My lot could have got a transit visa but even the express service would not have been soon enough for us. It takes two days to issue and with such a long drive to the border my lot though it was cutting things too fine.Here, too, we met some more friendly Russians. The lady at the visa place didn’t speak English, but two of the people waiting did, and so they translated for us, and I made some more new friends, Elvira and Philip. Goodness me I’m popular lately:
Also L now has some useful information if it’s decided to get a transit visa for Belarus next year. L says it will depend on how many pages are left in her passport because she doesn’t really want to get a new one just yet. With each visa office wanting two new pages for their visa it soon uses up the pages.From this office we made our way towards Red Square thanks to some big information signs now placed around the city. It was just a few minutes walk away.My lot had last been here in late October of 1998 and had the place almost to themselves. Well, that certainly wasn’t the case this time. There were hoards of people everywhere though most seem to be in tour groups with some poor harried tour guide trying desperately to keep their group together.The big ‘GUM’ store that faces Red Square and the Kremlin that used to be the pride of the Soviet Union and where only foreigners or Russians with foreign currency could go shopping has now been re-vamped and is full of upmarket brand name shops with price tags to match and was bustling with activity. Through the central isle was a display of ‘Victory” cars, that have been manufactured in Russia since 1945. In 1998 L seems to remember that the place was almost empty but was being renovated. It looks really good now.Some people were visiting Lenins tomb, he was out of favour in 1998 and the place was closed.St Basils was a popular place too but looks much better from the outside than the inside. Inside it is very dark and gloomy and although the frescos are said to be outstanding one can barely see them, at least this was the case in 98, and from the looks of things when D got a brief look inside it’s still the same.The two churches beside each other at the other end of Red Square were even more popular with tour groups so we didn’t even try and get into them. One is a very large red brick church while the other is a much smaller one painted pink. L isn’t sure which is which, but one is the Kazan Church she thinks. Around the corner we come to the Alexander gardens and the shade there was proving vey popular on this very hot Moscow day. To the side of these gardens is a massive shopping centre, underground and on 4 or 5 levels. It was brand new in 1998 with one a handful of shops and almost no-one passing by. Now it’s full of shops and bustling with people.We joined lots of others and sat in the shade while my lot scoffed an ice-cream and a cold drink. Being well into the afternoon we didn’t go into the Kremlin as that requires more time than we had to appreciate the sights so instead we walked down to the river and over the bridge to a place where we could get a good view of the Kremlin and the golden domes of the churches within its walls that is such an iconic view of Moscow. On the high bank on the other side of the bridge is the new church with the gold domes that was just nearing completion in 98. The original church on that site had been demolished by Stalin and a swimming pool put in. In 92 when communism went out the door the swimming pool swiftly followed suit and the church smartly reclaimed the site and this new one built at great expense. Now it is looking rather tarnished and drab, sadly. Opposite it is the Pushkin museum where, my lot had been told, old masters were resting in water up and over their frames. One can only hope that they were rescued soon enough to be restored.Our day had passed so quickly in Moscow and it was time to make our way back to Belarus station and catch our train out. The Moscow subway is really good but doesn’t have any signs in English yet and a map of the system isn’t always around, unlike London where maps are everywhere. Never-the-less thanks to David we didn’t get lost. At Belarus station though it took us quite a while to find the platform for our train, and we missed two in the process. Fortunately they go about every 20 mins at this time of day but not all from the same platform and the girls back at the hotel told us it’s hard for them to work out which platform they need to go to, let alone for someone who doesn’t understand Russian.Next day we headed off towards the border with Latvia, to the same border crossing we’d used when we came in 4 weeks ago, gee that time went quickly.This is now quite a good new road, much of it had been under construction two years ago when we’d passed this way on our way back from Mongolia. We even recognized the place we’d camped back then, or at least L did.We exited Russia on the last day of our visa. It all went fairly smoothly and the Russian formalities took far less time than the Latvian ones. As usual we have enjoyed our visit to Russia. L has speculated a lot lately about just how much this country would benefit economically if only they would lift their visa restrictions and make it easier for tourists. Kyrgyzstan lifted their visa restrictions and found that they became the hub of central Asia because of this. Now Kazakhstan has lifted their restrictions to several countries, Australia being one, and Tajikistan may do so, the law having passed the lower house of parliament but knocked back in the Senate. Let’s hope they try again soon and it passes. At present a Russian visa is even more difficult to get because each person had to front up at the visa office and have their fingerprints taken each time they apply for a new visa. Being still high summer we travelled north across Latvia and into Estonia. In the south eastern part of the country we learnt about a ‘road’ museum so went there for a visit.It proved to be quite interesting and unique. It has a display on the foundations of roads and different types of roads. There are the tarmac ones we are all used to all over the world, but here too are ‘swamp’ roads. We have seen quite a few of these in Russia and other places. Tree trunks are laid across the track, there are normal gravel roads and cobbled streets, and another unique one we’ve some across before is made with sawn pieces of tree trunk laid into the ground forming round ‘cobbles’. This is even more rough than stone cobbles, ok to walk on but not for driving or riding on.There was a good display of road building equipment from the 1940’s onward, a few eastern European cars of likewise vintage, along with bicycles and motor bikes. Apparently Estonia comes second only to the Netherlands for its love of the bicycle, in Europe anyway. China would have more bikes that anywhere L supposes. There were sleds and horse pulled carts so that all types of transport that has used roads over the centuries was included.there was also a truck set up as a shop complete with drinks fridge and ice-cream freezer. The girl manning this tells us that one like this still visits her village. Back in QLD in the 1950’s where L grew up they used to have a fruit and veggie truck come around once a week and L’s friend Marie who lived much further from a large town used to have a grocery van and a haberdashery van come around occasionally but by the late 1950’s that had ended. The weather seems to have cooled off somewhat now and we are getting pleasantly cool evenings and nights while the daytime can be hot but not uncomfortably so and that keeps my lot somewhat happier.On a lovely Saturday afternoon we visited the University city of Tartu. Considering that it is still school holidays there seemed to be quite a large number of students about. Perhaps they are attending summer courses.The very helpful tourist information gave us a booklet for a walking tour so off we set to discover the sights. I must say that there are a great many statues spread about the place. Some are of people connected with the University, others were statement and there was even one of Oscar Wild and a local literary man. The two had probably never met in real life but here they are chatting away. Being of a literary turn of mind myself I sat with them for the obligatory photo.On top of a rise above the town centre we came to the observatory that was built here in the early 19th century. Over the time it operated some very well known astronomers worked here. It is now a museum that houses the equipment that has been used here and some other interesting stuff to do with astronomy. My lot really enjoyed looking around here and reading about the stars. Not that they really could understand all that much. When it comes to time passing at a different rate as we go further out into space my lot are somewhat bewildered, Einstein and his theory of relativity is all a bit lost on them I fear.In the basement we found a seismograph and lo and behold the most recent earthquake of a significant magnitude had just occurred in the Solomon Islands, 6.2 or something like that. It didn’t show any of the quakes that have happened recently off Frazer island. Not significant enough apparently.People were out and about in the parks and gardens and along the river esplanade enjoying the summer sunshine, soon summer will be gone from these parts.We headed north past the big lake that forms part of the border with Russia. Most of the shore belongs to farms and private houses with just a few places where the public can access the lake. In amongst some forest we came to a very popular area where there were a couple of camp sites that were both very crowded it being the weekend. The ‘beach’ was accessible only by a walk through the forest and to us spoilt Aussies didn’t look all that tempting. L had paddled in the water at one place and decided it was warm enough for swimming though no one was doing so that we could see. L isn’t going swimming here as the gash on her leg is still healing.Called in to visit the castle at Rakvere. It’s only a ruin and again it was full of weekend visitors and heaps of activities were going on to keep them spending money and entertained. The earliest part of the castle dates from the 14th century but was blown up by both the Polish and Swedish soldiers when they were at war with each other in the 17th century. David had a try with a long bow but we all think that it’s just as well his life doesn’t depend on it because even with 10 shots he didn’t really endanger anyone.Then we came to Lahemaa National Park. Now L thoroughly enjoy our sojourn here. We did some walks through the forest and picked what we though were blueberries and L is sure that is what they are but D seems to think they are called ‘bog whortle berries’ here from a sign we saw. Regardless of their name they picked and ate a few handfuls of them. Apparently they are most acceptable. Saw lots of mushrooms too but none that look all that appetising. Most have a spongy texture not ‘gills’ as do the ones most of us are familiar with, and they come in quite a range of colours as they do in Russia.We visited a couple of small waterfalls, they had little water and not much of a fall either but what the heck this is a tiny stream in Estonia not a great river in Africa or South America.The bog walks were probably the most interesting. There were plenty of signs to tell us about how they are formed, the plants and insects that live around them and how they are being managed. Most signs had an English translation that we thought was really good. In most countries, especially English language countries, such signs only come in the home language.There is a very good visitors centre that we spent some time at before entering the park. One of the things my lot read there was about GM rape, also known as canola. This is a very common crop all over Europe as it is grown for oil seed production. Large fields of bright yellow rape in flower in April and May is quite a colourful sight. The scary thing about this GM rape that is being grown is that it is totally resistant to all known herbicides. So seed that is blown off fields at planting or harvest time cannot be got rid off. It travels a long way and invades ‘organic’ farm land contaminating it and just can’t be got rid of. It’s the first large scale GM crop to be cultivated, presumably all other GM crops are going to be equally uncontrollable.The NP encompasses three or four small peninsulas and mostly has a very rocky coastline. These rocks have been deposited here by glaciers at the end of the last ice age, 10000 to 13000 years ago. Many are just big boulders but there are some really big ones. We came across one of the largest one of our forest walks and climbed to the top of it at 7m high. It’s roughly the size of my home in Burnett Heads, but it's only a bit over half the size of the biggest one that we have yet to see. It’s not in this park. We did come to some nice sandy beaches too and even small sand dunes but still didn’t see anyone in swimming despite the pleasantly warm weather.Although we didn’t see any there is quite a bit of wildlife in this park. There are Lynx, European brown bear, wolf, moose, wild boar and beaver, but none are easy to spot especially in the daytime. Then on a bright sunny day with a bit of an autumn chill in the air we came to Tallinn, the very pretty capital city of this small country.Not a good day to be visiting Tallinn I fear. Two very large cruise boats were in port and the place was invaded with thousands of visitors from them. They were roaming the streets in ‘packs’ of about 60 each with a tour guide carrying their group number, L saw up to No. 20, how many more there were is anyones guess. Such huge numbers made visiting places of interest an almost impossible dream so we just meandered around as best we could avoiding the packs. It is quite a small old city centre where there is still a lot of restoration work going on. The narrow, sometimes steep, cobbled streets can be very slippery to walk on so care has to be taken amidst the jostling crowds and masses or darting school kids on holidays. We passed a rather pleasant day here and late in the afternoon headed out towards Haapsalu that was once a popular destination for the Russian tsars.© Lynette Regan 19th August 2015