The Ultimate Trip - Has ended

On our way today to a small village on the shores of Lake Baikal called Bolshoye Goloustnoye (BG). Our stop in Irkutsk has been short, especially since we spent yesterday at another town on Lake Baikal.
The most interesting thing about Irkutsk for me is how different the architecture is here compared to Western Russia, even Western Siberia! Most of the original houses are fancy log cabins - quite beautiful compared to the square cement buildings in other areas. Maybe I will be able to get some of my pictures posted soon for everyone to enjoy!
We have been staying at the house of Jack Sheremetzoff in Irkutsk. He specializes in accomodations and excursions for backpackers.
Jack has been a great guide, and we have enjoyed staying at his apartment in Irkutsk! We highly recommend his services to anyone traveling this way. We are now off to experience some real Russian living in BG. I have a feeling that there will be no running water and an outside toilet at the home in BG - should be fun! We have hired an interpreter to accompany us, so hopefully we will be able to communicate a bit with the local families.
Our travels thus far have been fairly quick, as Paul noted, mostly because Russia is getting to be an expensive country. So we are off to Mongolia in just a couple more days, where our expensives will decrease dramatically! Accomodation in Mongolia is 1/4 of what we are spending in Russia. We are certainly finding it hard to live on the budgets that we have set for ourselves. But at least we are having a lot of fun!

From Irkutsk, Russia

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATRICK!! What a way to spend the day, waking up on the train in Irkutsk, after two nights of travel. Being taken to the cheapest eats in town, a Russian fast food restaurant, and now clicking away at the internet cafe. Who could ask for more???

We are well on our way through Siberia now and what a change it is from the big cities of the West. But alot has happened since my last post.

Our time in St. Petersburg was spectacular! We had a great time with Jeff and Mike while they were with us. It was really nice to be able to communicate easily with people other than each other! Plus, we just enjoy hanging out with our friends, especially the ones that make us laugh so much. Mike managed to be pickpocketed TWICE! The first time they got a hat from his shoulder bag on our way into the metro station. The second time, two men on a metro train had it in for Mike when they saw he had a wallet in his back pocket. One very large man blocked his entrance to the train, while the other grabbed what he could from Mike's back pocket, which, thankfully, was nothing. All this attempted theft prompted Mike to write a number of posts on the board at the hostel, which the rest of us found very funny. But, Mike also has a sense of humor. His final post read "Rob me once, shame on you. Rob me twice, shame on me. - ancient Russian proverb"

We took a very cush overnight train to Moscow with Mike and Jeff. They served us a nice breakfast with coffee and the beds were actually comfortable, if in a very small space. Thankfully, we were all in the same 4 bed compartment, because it would have been extremely clausterphobic otherwise! In Moscow, we made our way to Natasha's apartment (another of Jeff's friends. We are still trying to figure out how he has so many nice, and beautiful, female friends....) for a short rest, before heading out to the city. Moscow is a bit cleaner and more taken care of than St. Petersburg, but we barely had enough time to really feel what the city was about. We made it to Red Square, which was closed. No seeing Lennin this time. Luckily, St. Basil's Cathedral (good link with lots of photos) was open and of course we had to see the inside of this very famous, and colorful, church. I was really surprised at how different it is inside to any other cathedral I have been in. No large open space with pews and an alter. Instead, it is a maze of small rooms, with frescos on the walls, steep wooden staircases and skinny
winding hallways. Very interesting.
The rest of the afternoon was spent debating the merits of the banya, walking in the cold and taking a chairlift ride to a good viewpoint of the city. We did as much as possible before having to head to the airport for our overnight flight to Novosibirsk. Thank you Natasha, for putting us on the correct bus to the airport (we never would have found at the crowded metro station). We have been told that the airport security is much tighter here than in the U.S., but our experience did not support that! Would you believe that the Airbus A130 was completely packed! We met a really nice 9th grader from Lithuania, who was much more interested in talking to us boring Americans than his friends! He even made me a nice string bracelet, which I am still wearing.

Novosibirsk is really just a big city, the capital of Siberia, as it is called. Our stop there was prompted by a visit to Patrick's friend Marc. It was really great to meet Marc after hearing so much about him from Patrick! He acted as our tour guide, taking us to an interesting local museum and an art museum. In fact, we were finally able to see art by the famous Russian artist Roerich. His art is very interesting, and what we saw on display was definitely inspired by his time in India. I highly recommend a visit to his museum in New York, if it still exists. Marc also took us out to Academy Township to see where he works. Well, lets just say that the weather was difficult, and we were not able to go into his building because of security. But, we had fun checking out the mamouth skeletons in one building and sitting drinking coffee and beer, whiling away the afternoon, chatting with Marc. I really enjoyed his company, and it was interesting hearing a different take on Russia and her history!
We stayed in our first "real" Russian hotel, complete with attendants on each floor, and staff who only spoke Russian. It was a treat to finally feel like we were out of the tourist belt. Unfortunately, the weather for our weekend there was the worst we have seen - icy, cold rain mixed with snow, and high winds. I guess we should be use to it from Iceland :-)
We left on Sunday night (well, really Monday morning), for the 2 night, 1 day train ride to Irkutsk, and here we are!

Just a quick update, since I only have 15 minutes of computer time remaining....

We are still in St. Petersburg, but are heading out tonight on the overnight train to Moscow. Just a quick day in Moscow and then we are taking an overnight flight to Novosibirsk.

We have managed to pack tons into the past few days, but still have not seen half the sights. The Hermitage was awe inspiring. We spent most of one day there and left in a daze. They have the largest collection of art in the world, and there are so many amazing pieces. You name it they have it! I guess their most famous section is the French Impressionist art, but there is something for everyone. And the building itself is really a work of art. The ballrooms are grand, the dining rooms elegant and everything is done to the nines. Gilded decorations, high ceilings, malachite columns, a huge jasper bowl that took 800 men to put into place, fountains, Greek and Roman statues, etc..... Apparently, Catherine the Great loved art and was quite a collector. She had agents all over the world who would buy whole collections of art to display in the Hermitage. And they definitely had an eye for their art. Of course, there are also many pieces acquired under less than noble circumstances, but I guess that everything is fair in love and war.

Jeff and Mike arrived earlier in the week, and we have enjoyed spending time with some of our friends! In fact, they are the reason we decided to spend an extra day in St. Petes, and to fly to Novosibirsk instead of taking the train. Some of the things we have done with them are:

We took in the ballet Swan Lake. You really can't say that you have been to Russia without seeing Swan Lake in the Marinsky theater. It was beautifully done!!

We have seen the Peter and Paul fortress, Pushkin Pallace, the Artillery Museum, the outsides of many cathedrals and the insides of too many metro stations.

We have eaten belinis, peroshkis, borsch, shee, salienka, ice cream, cabbage, pickles....

We have gotten pick-pocketed, successfully and unsuccessfully. Luckily no money was lost, only a bit of pride and a hat.

Yesterday, Olga drove us to a town called Vyborg on the Baltic Sea and very close to Finland. It was originally founded as a Finnish town, but was "acquired" ;-) by Russia at some point. It was a nice change from the large city and is built much more like the old medieval European cities that we have seen before. We mainly just walked around a bit and then had lunch at a very quaint local pub. Afterward, Olga took us to her dasha (country home), which just made us wish we owned a home!! What a beautiful area of the country - all pine forests that reminded us of the west coast of the U.S. We ended the day with a real Russian night of homecooked food, games and drinking shots of vodka. Between 6 of us we finished off 2 bottles of wine, two bottles of vodka, and one of us also managed a very large shot of tequila (not me!). And apparently we are just not as hearty as the Russians because we left the house at 2:15am and could barely get out of bed this morning, while our hosts went to work. One of the excitements of the night was getting a cab ride home. St. Petersburg is made up of a bunch of islands that are connected by draw bridges. At some point in the night all the bridges are raised and left up for a few hours. The trick is to get home before that happens. Well, we missed the raising of the bridges, but could possibly catch a 30 minute window when they lower one of the bridges to let some traffic through. But, the problem was finding a cab at that time of night, since the streets were absolutely dead. We managed to find an "unofficial" taxi, Alexi (Olga's husband) bargained with the driver to take the poor Americans back to the hostel, and in we hopped. When we arrived at the bridge, it hadn't even been lowered yet, so we had to wait another 15 minutes there, in the VERY cramped car, but at least we made it! We were in the car for about 30 minutes and the whole cab fare was $5! Pretty amazing.

Today I had my first Beluga caviar. I know, not very environmentally concious, but it was incredibly good!! The best caviar I have ever had, and quite different from the stuff we get in the states. I can totally understand why people like it so much.

St. Petersburg is definitely a city on the verge of exploding into the Western world! Get here before the prices get too high, because it is going to become the new New York or London!!

St. Petersburg is truely an amazing city! Everything seems to be done on a gradiose scale. The buildings are large and richly ornamented, the streets are wide, the metro is the deepest in the world, the churches are all really cathedrals, and there are about 5 MILLION people living and working here. We have been walking around in awe since we arrived. It is a good thing that we have a full week here, because there is so much to see and do (the Hermitage alone could probably warrent a week) there is no way we can get everything done. The Russian people are truely very friendly and helpful. Although they seem serious and unfriendly, as soon as you give them a smile and a "dobraye ootra" they become warm!
It was intimadating arriving on the train from Vilnius and having to navigate the city. Even though I have been trying to study Cyrillic, it was so different actually needing to use it! We managed to find the right metro to get to our hostel, but it took 3 trains before we could actually board. Each train was soooo packed that when we tried to get on, we were bounced back on to the track like we had hit a rubber wall. You can just imagine what it looked like - two American tourists with HUGE backpacks (Patrick is even wearing one on the front) trying to squeeze into a car packed like a sardine can, and just being shoved out! People must have been laughing at us. We finally managed to push our way on, only to be bounced out at each station, although by then we had already learned the art of moving around here. Just shove your way through, or forget about it.
Yesterday, we took a walking tour of the city (Peter's walking tours), which really helped change our attitude about the place. Since we were the only people who showed up for the tour, our guide took us to all the places we wanted to see - the farmer's market, the flea market, the Hermitage, a couple of cathedrals, the original artists community... One thing that is interesting is that you can walk "through" blocks, instead of around them. Although, if you don't know where you are going it is easy to get lost.
Last night Olga, a friend of Jeff's, brought me out to the ballet. Patrick decided to stay home to rest, while Olga and I had a great time! We went to the oldest theater in St. Petersburg and sat all the way in the back :-), but at least I can say that I've seen the ballet in Russia! On our trip to the theather, Olga flagged down an "unoffical" taxi. Basically, in St. Petes, you can just stick your arm out and a car will pull over. You then ask them if they are going your way, agree on a price and then hop in and off you go. I would never do it alone (aside from not speaking Russian), but it was fun to go along with someone who knew the ropes.
Today we are off to the market to buy some pickles and smoked fish, and then off to the Winter Palace at the Hermitage.........................................

In Vilnius, Lithuania:

Here we are in another country... Again...... We are still having fun traveling, but had our first real problem today.
We left Krakow yesterday at 6:00pm on the train and had to change trains in Warsaw. Everyone kept telling us to be wary of pickpockets in the Warsaw train station, even the Polish guy we met on the train. So, as you might imagine, we were quite concerned. Nothing happened, but we had our guards raised for the hour we spent sitting on the platform. Then we borded an overnight train to Vilnius. Again, we had been warned by people, who knew other people (yeah, you get the picture), that there are gassings on these trains. Apparently, theives gas whole cars of unsuspecting passangers, and then go around releaving them of their valubles, including the important security belt. And so, we thought we might have possibly heard someone maybe try to open the door to our cabin (even though it was locked and then chained shut), but nothing really happened.
At 3:00am we crossed the border into Lithuania, and were awoken not once, not twice, but three times for the passport check, first on the Polish side, then on the Lithuanian side and then again to check for dutiable items. Then the train sat in the station for about 2 more hours, before we were finally on our way to Vilnius. We arrived in Vilnius right on time at 8:45am, which was an hour ahead of Krakow time, to our amazement when we pulled into the station. The train conductor paitiontly (read NOT) waited while we hurridly gathered our belongings and dumped them on the track. Then it was off to try to figure out where we were and where our nights lodging might be.
The hostel we arrived at (Old Town Hostel, Vilnius) was highly recommended by other backpackers, however we found it to be loud, smelly and the people fairly rude. Of course, we were going on almost no sleep. We initially decided to rough it for one more night in a dorm room, with our beds on opposite corners. However, when Patrick tried to get a little nap to rejuvinate, he found that people had already started partying at 2:00 in the afternoon. And since we already knew that the patrons at this hostel are famous for waking everyone up at 5:00am when they come home from the bars, it was the last straw.
Basically, we had no sleep, were too tense, and needed our own space.
Patrick was grouchy and I was still trying to convince him that we should save money. Bad idea.
We left the hostel.
And then we found the absolute nicests, cutiest B&B, right in the center of the old town! It is grand. And since it is the off season, we saved about 50% off their normal rates (www.grybashouse.com). So we settled on finally having a real "honeymoon" couple of days, with a real double bed (not two twins pushed together) and a real shower (with heated floor). To top it off, the people who work here are very friendly and helpful. It has definitely turned our could-be-bad-Vilnius experience, into a magical one.
On that note, Vilnius is like a mini Paris! The town is immaculately clean, the streets are good, and there are plenty of up-scale fashion stores and the like. It has the largest old town in Eastern Europe, all Baroque style buildings and narrow allyways. However, it is still fairly cheap here. Patrick and I went out for a nice dinner tonight (to add to the honeymoon experience) and had two drinks each, a starter (carpaccio), main dishes, and after dinner drink, one coffee and dessert, and the total bill was $25. Maybe not as cheap as soom places but not too bad!!
Well, we are going to enjoy the good life while it lasts! Thanks to everyone who contributed to our few days of the "real" honeymoon!

In Krakow:
Just a note to start... You can check out our updated itinerary by following the link to the right. In case you are interested.

I wanted to follow up a bit on our time in Olomouc. We stayed at the coolest hostel yet, called the Poet's Corner Hostel http://www.hostelolomouc.com/. It is run by an Ozzy named Greg. Really nice guy. He runs the hostel out of his apartment, and it really feels like home. Everyone is always welcome, and it becomes like one big family. In fact, if you check out his website, you may see pictures of us there!
Unfortunately, our last day there was rainy and none of the sights seemed to be open. I guess it is off season, or something. We did get to have a drink at the Airplane bar, which is a an intact old commercial jet, that is tied up in town and serves as a bar. The beer sucks, but the atmosphere is great! Ok, so we were the only people in the bar, but it was still cool. One of the highlights.

We are in Krakow, Poland now and are really surprised at how well we like it here. We heard such mixed views on this city, that we just didn't know what to expect. However, we like it alot, because it seems to be so much more down to earth than Prague. There are very few tourists, and the people that we walk past on the street or eat dinner next to are the regular inhabitants of Krakow. We have actually decided to spend an extra day here before heading directly to Vilnius. We are staying at a hostel called Bling Bling - newly opened here in June. It is OK - clean, cheap and overrun with English speaking backpackers. But, at least they have good ideas of places to visit.

Just to answer a question posed by Paul, yes, there is internet access EVERYWHERE!! We have been using a combination of internet cafes and internet access in our hostels. It is amazing! Everyone seems to be in touch over the web. In fact, most of the hostels only take bookings by email. It is just too expensive to make phone calls. But, I guess that is the way the world is going. We are all connected by the matrix.

FROM OLOMOUC
Prague is truely a fantastic city, even with all the tourists. And it definitely has been found. We went to the oldest brew pub in the world - which is not a secret (unfortunately). The beer was OK, but overpriced by Prague standards. We had the smallest ice cream cone in the world close to the astronomical clock ( I guess it was an "astronomical" ice cream). Really, it was about 1 ounce of icecream in a tiny little cone. Well, we had to get it because Patrick had to find a rest room, and the ones you pay for on the street are filthy. As any backpacker can attest to, we have spent an inordinate amount of time looking for a toilet. It sucks to be wandering about, far away from your hostel, when the urge hits. And the Czech Republic hasn't installed pissors, like the Netherlands and Germany. Ahhhh, the reality of life on the road.
We also managed to get lost riding a tram. There is so much road work going on in Prague, that the trams don't always follow their correct route. So, we got on the 14, which is suppose to go to Sir Tobys, and ended up out in the outskirts of town somewhere. It was fun seeing a part of Prague that we wouldn't normally have gone to.
Yesterday was cold and rainy, so we spent the day drinking coffee and doing some short walks. Since we were back at the hostel early, we hung out chatting with other travelers, having interesting and heated discussions about things like the state of world affairs, Bush as president, and the best way to use Ebay. We were told of this great town in Moravia (Eastern Czech Republic) called Olomouc, so here we now are! We would have loved to spend more time in Prague - maybe weeks - but it was also nice to get out of the city a bit.
Olomouc captured our hearts immediately. Maybe it was the long train ride through beautiful country, or just the fact the the town is a much smaller version of Prague, without the tourists and tourist prices. Life is calm here, although still happening. And it has all the beautiful architecture that we love. It is truely a recommended stop for anyone.

I was noticing how similar these towns are to towns in Italy. Especially the central squares, which remind me so much of the Italian piazzas, in their architecture and atmosphere. Has anyone else noticed the same thing?

Also another note: for those of you wishing to buy a small house in Europe to vacation at, we have seen some nice places in the Czech country side for about $15,000. Now is the time to buy, because as soon as they become part of Western Europe that will all change. And to me, the country side here seems like what Italy use to be. If I had a job, I would go for it..........

It seems that we have taken a beating on my post about Berlin. At least I got some of you to post comments!! Yes, you are right, we didn't take in any of the club scene. And in fact, after talking with other backpackers, it seems the club scene is still happening in Berlin. Maybe next time we go we will have to give it a shot. Although, if it is anything like Reykjavik, we know where Patrick will be...... :-)
We are in Prague now and love it!! The city is facinating, and it feels like we have taken a step into the past. Spent the day yesterday exploring the castle, which is way too touristy but beautiful nonetheless. Actually, the walk up to the castle from the hostel was stunning! We wandered through old working class neighborhoods and through a park with great views of the city - and all without a tourist in sight. Today, we are going to try to explore some less known nooks around town, to try to keep away from the crowds (yes, there are still lots of tourists). On the hostel note, we are staying at a great place called Sir Tobys (www.sirtoby.com, thank you very much Tamara!!). It is in a working class neighborhood, outside of the center, and everyone is very friendly and helpful. AND it is one of the cleanest hostels I have ever stayed in - highly recommended!!

Well, we are off to see the corners of Prague! Will try to write later, and hopefully also get around to writing about the Red Light District - what an experience!

We have been in Berlin for 2 days now and we are ready to leave! I am going to put off writing about the red light district of Amsterdam still.
Anyhow, when we stepped off the train in Berlin, we really felt like this could be any big Western city. Except it is not. Even though most of the city has been rebuilt, the buildings are new and large, there are tons of cars, and there are plenty of chain stores along the main roads, the real Berlin is still there. Every museum, it seems, retells the tragic history of this city, pieces of the Berlin wall have been transformed into memorials, and the people here seem to live a tragic existence. When I asked the woman tending our pension if she was from Berlin, her reply was "unfortunately, yes". And this seems to be the attitude of the whole city.
There are gifted street musicians in the subways and old ruins - all playing meloncholy tunes with a feeling only achieved through experience. And the fact that most of the city´s old architecture and museums are inthe old East Berlin is not lost on us ignorant outsiders.
Our first walk was along where the Wall once stood to the old Checkpoint Charlie, an absolute must see! Part of the wall is still standing along this route, and Germany is constructing the "Topography of Terror", an exhibition on terror and atrocities during the Third Reich. Although it is free, it is almost too much to look at.
Checkpoint Charlie is an interesting museum at the U.S. military checkpoint between East and West Berlin that retells the history of the wall. It was actually started in 1962, so is sort of a living history of events as they were ocurring. There are plenty of stories of strange and heroic escapes from the GDR.
We also visited the Jewish Museum, which tells the history of the Jews in Germany from 800 AD until today. It was an interesting look, although mostly depressing as much of the history revolves around the continual persecution of the Jews here.
Aside from museum hopping, we spent some time beer hopping. The beer here is undeniably good, especially when it comes from a tap. The food, on the other hand, is definitely German.

Overall, I have found Berlin to be a depressing city with a dual personality. It seems to want to be a new and bustling Western city. To move on from its tragic past. Since so much of the city was destroyed in WWII, they had the chance. But, not surprisingly, all the attractions that draw visitors and that define Berliners have to do with attrocities of the Third Reich and the oppression by the GDR.
I am definitely glad to be moving on to Prague today!!