icy blasts and icons

reading back i see i didn't write about the kremlin visit on our last full day in moscow. well, we did get there despite the icy wind. next time, thermals! so after breakfast and meeting the agency lady with our train tickets we walked, yet again, down tverskaya ul to the kremlin.

the ticket said we could visit everything and the guide book said we could buy a pass to take photos...wrong! no photos allowed in any of the buildings but ok outside. as for the buildings all but one seemed to be shut at first so i had a bit of a rant...blame the cold seeping into my bones.

calming down it became clear that although two of the most externally impressive buildings were closed for renovation (how that has been the recurring theme of this trip!) we could visit the others.
i bought a guide book from the last cathedral and enjoyed reading back in the warm hotel what i should have looked at. happily i could relate a lot of it to things i remembered.

the smallness of the cathedrals was always a surprise and the richness of the icons never fails to delight the eye although even i had to admit to being all iconed out by the time we finished. how such marvels survived the revolution is a miracle although a lot didn't according to my book. i was amused that a great number of the icons had been brought to moscow 'for safety'. i wonder how many churches and cathedrals are now wanting them back?

the 'household items' listed by lonely planet were opulant in the extreme and being explained, very loudly, to a class of bored children by a woman with a very loud voice. we found ourselves dodging in and out of rooms to avoid her, likewise several other couples with their guides.

the stall with the guide book had russian dolls, much cheaper and better quality than the stalls by the resurrection gate on red square so some of those found their way into the stripy 'eco' bag. that bag is in most of the photos of me during this expedition! usually containing brolly, lonely planet,water bottle, souvenirs, wetwipes......travel light? me? :)

the kremlin is actually on a hill which is apparent when you are in the middle of it, hence the biting wind. there are government buldings too but we only saw a couple of soldiers despite my norwegian ladies swearing they saw putin. personally i think it was one of the 'characters' loitering outside. we could have had our photo taken with 'stalin', 'lenin', 'trotsky', the 'czar'......

leaving the plethora of onion domed buildings and the icy blasts, we quickly marched to the food court in the underground mall for lunch and a warm. next the internet cafe and then i heroically walked back to the english courtyard to return the cloakroom disc thingy that i'd forgotten to hand back (lou insisted!). it was shut! i shoved it under the door and when i got back to gum to meet lou i decided i needed to buy that skirt from monsoon as a reward for my selflessness! :)

then the supermarket to stock up on provisions for the train to berlin...getting to be old hands now...coffee, tea, coffeemate, biscuits, fruit, something yummy for breakfast, something for supper...and vodka of course!

that night it was yet another italian meal. there are two italian restaurants near the hotel, always busy and very good food...is there an authentic russian restaurant anywhere near the hotel pekin? we looked but never found one...and which region's cuisine in this vast country would you choose?

next morning we got up at a disgustingly early hour...5 o'clock...to be ready for the taxi driver...who came on time! :) sadly we were far too early at the station and waited on the forecourt for the train to be announced on the board. finally, when i was numb and very stroppy (no morning tea makes lynne a very unpleasant person!) the train number came up and we gratefully headed for our 'wagon'. even then the male prov. seemed in no hurry to let us on. he was very lucky i was weighed down with my back pack as by then i was ready to murder anyone standing between me and the samovar!
the train pulled out through the gloomy dawn and i suddenly realised i was looking at lowry-esque figures slouching along on suburban station platforms. was this what lowry saw in the industrial murk around him and so invented his signature style of drawing people?

we passed through very snowy landscape for most of the day and took the inevitable photos through the grubby windows. i had a strong sense that something very special was coming to an end and was very glad i had scribbled notes at randon times of the day throughout the whole trip which i would enjoy reading later...
and i have! :)

uniforms

i mentioned in one of my missives that the chinese out of uniform are a friendly and cheerful people. in uniform they seem to be something else! it slowly dawned on me that there were an awful lot of uniforms on the chinese streets, more even than moscow, and particularly in beijing, where we noticed an inordinate number of 'uniforms' sporting 'beijing security' badges. the uniforms always carried a lot of badges, buttons, braid, belts and boots! strange in a land where mao is always pictured in his simple peasant dress.

it wasn't long before i began to categorise them into comic, job's worth and, scarily, sinister.

comic
at most traffic junctions despite an extremely efficient set of lights; those for cars, those for bikes, those for pedestrians and a count down system so you know if you should scuttle across rather than stroll, there were often policemen as well.
at one particular crossing in xi'an we observed with glee four policemen 'changing guard'. the two on duty were in rain capes; one on a plinth making arm signals and half turns like an automaton and the other standing around at his feet. the two taking over arrived at the plinth and there was snapping to attention and sharp salutes all round. then the action went all sloppy as they debated who was going to have the rain capes! there was a bit of a stand off and then the capes were handed over. all this time the traffic continued to flow quite easily without any help from the 'uniforms'. up on the plinth the new officer on duty went into stiff armed action, now equipped for the weather! :)

job's worth
also at the junctions as if you didn't already have enough information to guide you across the road safely there were 'traffic assistants'; fetchingly dressed in mustard shellsuits in shanghai and blue pyjamas in beijing, topped off with soft baseball caps. whistles, batons or flags, in combination or all three at once completed the look. they used the batons to keep back the pedestrians and the whistle to warn wouldbe offenders not to move prematurely!
i stumbled off the kerb in shanghai and was treated to the full works. fixed irate stare, whistle blown in a continuous shriek and the baton pointed, straight armed, into my face. i was sorely tempted to knock it away but didn't. it stops being comic and/or annoying and becomes intimidating.

like the policemen in tian'anmen square. macy, our guide, said many more were on duty 'for safety' during the holiday week, i felt it was more for hassling.
as you enter the square proper from the pedestrian crossings one side of the gap in the metal crush barriers is 'guarded' by a soldier in green on his dais under a green parasol and the other by a policeman in blue on his dais under a blue parasol. i'm making an assumption about the soldier's identity, the policeman not requiring one as his parasol was labelled 'police'!
as we crossed into the gap i had to sidestep as a second policeman stopped a woman in front of me. she went to open her bag. for id i suppose? but why? she carried no large bag or bundle so couldn't have been a hawker. a grey haired elderly lady, probably a tourist like me, but chinese.
a while later we used the subway to leave the square. sensibly it had been roped off to keep the flow of pedestrians separate. very wise when the space was as crowded as it had been on the holiday monday but this was four in the afternoon and the place was virtually deserted. even so an elderly couple walking the 'wrong way' were pounced on by an unsmiling youth in uniform. you want to say 'oh, per..lease!' but you don't, you just put your head down and keep walking...in the right direction. shades of '1984' went through my head!

sinister
my sensitivity has been heightened to all this by an unpleasant incident as we left xi'an. we had been collected by grace and our driver, mr wang, to be taken to the station. mr wang pulled into the parking area and as we all got out four uniformed guys all converged on the car. they barked at him and took his keys. we tried to get our luggage from the locked boot and grace remonstrated...ineffectually. she was only a young girl. after polite requests from lou and some shoving and pushing of mr wang by the four uniforms, the boot was opened by the biggest one. we grabbed our stuff, not easy as it was cumbersome, and headed across the staion forecourt with grace. scarily two of the guys followed us, one questioning grace, the other lou. lou said it seemed to be about whether mr wang was a taxi. lou said 'no, our car driver' and kept walking! grace delivered us to the waiting room and hurried back. she seemed to think they were not police. taxi rank 'assistants'? station guards? horrible, whatever they were!
i felt thoroughly shaken by it. sorry for mr wang and grace but helpless to assist in any way and just wanted to get on the train and leave xi'an behind...which is what we did an hour later to my great relief!
but what of mr wang? he came from the town by the hot springs and was married with a two year old son. he didn't seem a criminal, just bored by his driving job at times. a mystery, the outcome of which we shall never know.
i think it was this incident that began my sense of homesickness for the peace and relative security of gagnac...that and its wide open green spaces!

a happier footnote to xi'an
as we waited for the train in xi'an that horrible eveing we were all deafened by the female announcer who spoke only in chinese.(although there was an announcement board in english that we could see). a young couple with a child sitting alongside were soon giggling with us as we all jumped at each new onslaught from the tannoy above our heads. eventually the wife asked me where we were going and on finding out we were getting the same train she said she would make sure we didn't get left behind!
see? out of uniform, cheerful and friendly! :)

g'day possum

everything we had read or heard about the trans siberian trains referred to the alcoholic haze that most of the journey is spent in, due to boredom, interacting with the other passengers and copious amounts of vodka. this was not the case with us! :) we weren't bored, we drank mostly tea and coffee and there weren't many passengers!

at first i thought the lack of socialising may be because we were travelling first class and therefore in a two berth compartment. the opportunity for making lifetime friends is more likely in a crammed four berth (or enemies i suspect!) but all the compartments seemed to be full of mongolian traders on the eastwards journey and chinese migrant workers on the westwards. on the trans mongolian we did get to chat with two norwegian chaps next door who were travelling the same route as us to beijing before flying home and andreas from switzerland and layla from the uk who were doing likewise to beijing but then were heading up into a chinese valley near tibet where they were going to help a friend finish his guesthouse. we ate choc ices together on our anniversary on a station platform somewhere in siberia!

at irkutsk we had an influx of tourist groups moving from lake baikal to ulun bator for a ger camp experience. we met up with most of them again on the ulun bator to beijing train as it only runs once a week. in this group we chatted to peter and natalie, an australian couple taking the long way home from munich. natalie was full of useful advice for exploring berlin and convinced me i really needed a washing line! :) on all the internal chinese trains we were the only europeans which caused lots of stares but smiles too.

in the hotels we were often the only couple not part of a tour group which meant we got adept at trying to time our breakfast for after the rush. on our return to beijing we shared the breakfast scrum at the rainbow, (good hotel, naff breakfast) with a crowd of aussies waiting for their connection to shanghai and then home. trevor and sandra, (sandy), chatted to us one morning. trevor was from leicester but had emigrated in 1962 at the age of five and sounded pure oz to our ears. he threatened to get in touch in 2009 when they hope to holiday next in france and i threatened to mention him on this blog.

so i have! over to you,trev! :)

glorious gagnac

we're home!
sncf tried to stop it happening right up until the last minute.
the berlin train to paris did run and we were on it. and very posh it was too...breakfast included in the first class ticket, beautifully appointed compartment with hot running water and mouthwash provided and, piece de resistance, a shower at the end of the carriage with gushing hot water and shower gel. so i arrived in paris fresh as the proverbial daisy!
we had a second petit dejeuner at austelitz (sp?) station cafe and revelled in real butter croissants and real orange juice. 'look, it's got bits in', declared lou. our first proper juice since leaving france!
the weather was lovely all the way to brive and then sncf struck again...no train! so we finished our epic train journey across europe and asia and back again in the ter 'car', (coach to non french speakers).
at biars, our loyal friends were waiting, after two days delay and one false start, with a welcome home banner, flowers and kisses and an invitation to dinner, the only proviso being that the rugby was not to be missed! so we rode home surrounded by warmth and love...the best way possible to travel...thank you to sian, chris, megan, bethany, aiden, caitlin, summer, oscar, justin, cherry, amalie and quince

snow... snow... drip, drip, snow... 15/10 (catch up)

the rain of friday and saturday turned into snow on sunday!
after hanging around the hotel all morning we felt the need for exercise and diversion. so, after lunch and armed with the brollies, we set off to find the moscow museum of modern art. we got lost, comme d'hab. but not too badly and were able to retrace our steps back up the pretty 'boulevard'of pastel houses and railed central garden.
the museum was wonderful, spread over three floors and containing four exhibitions as well as the permanent displays. 'modern' seemed to be anything after 1900.
we loved one of the installations in 'constructivo' that used sound and was interactive. lou said into the mic 'gavin would like this' and we heard it repeated interspersed with the previous speaker's russian comments. the piece was called 'i love you' so that is what i said being the romantic one. we could have played for hours! (i've since googled the piece and it was created in 2005 and the artist is well known in the uk, andrey bartenev.)
each room was guarded by genteel ladies, one of whom harangued me in russian. lord knows why, i had just pointed out a chagall to lou. did she not like the english? or chagall?
after we had had a really good look round it was back out into the snow and into a cafe for a pot of tea and chocolate cake. the muscovites love to spend time in cafes of which there are many, always busy and full of yummy goodies to tempt you! :)
still snowing today but it has to be the kremlin as we haven't done it yet! :)

not holding our breath! friday, 19th october

we have hoofed over to ostbanhof this morning to ask the information desk if the train is running tonight...first they said no and then they said yes...so we're checking out and leaving the luggage at the big banhof and hoping the yes was the right answer! (photo is of a squat we passed on the way...not our hostel!) :)

btw sorry for all the typos in the last two blog bits...i was tired and ran out of time before i could do the spell check and read through...well, that's my excuse and i'm sticking to it! :)

ps went into the ibis to pick up a price list on our way back earlier and the reception chap said there is another strike on monday! is this a german one or french? i just want to go home now, running out of clean clothes!

train and strain...last bit!

not much posher but it did have air freshener and when 'legs' was on night shift there was perfumed soap in a dinky purple soapdish!
and so we chugged towards journey's end, through sunny and gold autumn scenery.
the stations provided a bit of excitement. dashing to the kiosks before the chinese to find something to create supper from and once walking to the front of the train to take a photo of the engine and getting back on at a different door as the whistle blew. 'curse it' lou said when i appeared at the compartment door, 'i thought we'd left you behind'!
cheeky sod! :)