Novosibirsk- Russia

"Novosibirsk...consider stopping in Tomsk instead" lonely planet

We have exactly 24hours 20 minutes in Novosibirsk. Why we chose to stop here is a mystery. We researched and planned this about a year ago and have forgotten our reasoning. Maybe I should learn to write down my workings out. According to our guide book this city has little to offer, there is not even a hostel or cheap hotel. We have been force to book a small apartment for lots of money. We arrive down hearted and regretting this stop. But almost instantly I start to feel good about it. Its 2am and -14 this is the coldest I have ever been. We are met by the owner of the apartment, very nice guy and taken the short walk to the flat. As accommodation in Russia is quite expensive we have been staying in dorm rooms. This is a little boring when traveling as a couple, for the obvious reason, of course, but also because you are never alone, constantly trying not to wake others or being woken. Always watching your stuff, keeping it packed and locked away. The instant our packs hit the floor of the apartment they exploded spreading their contents over every surface and most of the floor, we had no one else to consider for 24 hours.

Novosibirsk turned out to be a long way from a disappointment. It's a real town with real people living their lives. Snow covered the grey, drab communist buildings. Hiding the ugliness and giving an illusion of purity. The main road ran from the train station and our apartment to the centre square with the grand, silver domed Opera house taking pride of place. The stage is the biggest in Russia and the audition possibly one of the grandest. Tonight’s showing is "Le Traviarta" and our research shows that tickets range from £2 to £20. The non-English speaking box-office lady offered us a selection of price options in the cheaper end of the scale, we pick the most expensive she offered at £8 thinking it would be midrange, maybe middle of the stalls or front of the balcony.

A nice lunch, little walk around the town and a failed attempt to find the rail museum fits in perfectly before cooking in our flat and then rugging back up before the walk to the opera.

Turns out going to the opera is quite a posh affair in the middle of Russia with everyone wearing 'their Sunday best'. Turns out £8 is a top priced ticket (once again lonely planet got it wrong) We were sat in the centre of the front row. Everyone in their nice dresses and suits. We were wearing snow boots, combat trousers and fleeces. I have seen many operas, some enjoyable, some soul destroying, but I have never seen one from the front row. Normally I would not pick such seats, Front row of the balcony will do for me, but it was great sitting there. I could pick out each individual instrument, listen to what they contributed and for some of them, watch. The show was good; the story is not all puppy dogs and fluffy clouds but well performed. It was bitterly cold on the walk back and the ice forced us to walk slowly. We showered, packed and got ready for another 28 hours on the train.

Fuck Lonely Planet. I would stop here again.

Irkutsk and Lake Baikal- Russia

I am writing this entry in Vancouver months after the events from scrabbled notes and broken memory. The exact reason I wanted to blog, although the notes and pictures help the memories are still not as fresh as if I had written in the moment.

Our last stop in Russia was Irkutsk, 5185km from Moscow, which our lying cheating guide book claims is 'deservedly' one of the most popular stops on the entire railway. Maybe there are two 'Irkutsk' or maybe the Russian Government implemented a program to remove any joy or charm from Irkutsk that was started just after the writer of the guide left and finished- successfully- just as we arrived. Oh lonely planet, why do you always get it wrong?

This is not a town I would choose to stop in again but for two reasons.
First was the beautiful Elena. Elena runs a home stay in Irkutsk where we stayed in her spare room and her mother cooked for us. It was great to spend time with people that were not travelers like us, I think we got a good insight into Russian life with many long conversations comparing Elena's life under a communistic government and how it has changed for her 14 year old daughter. One thing that sticks in my mind from our conversations was Elena's comment in regards to her teenagers’ years: "I always knew I was not free" Another reminder for me that we as citizens of England, Australia and Europe are very lucky; we can travel anywhere, work anywhere and live anywhere. Currently I and Davina are planning our next steps around the world, we are not sure where to go but we could simply throw a dart at a map of the world and go where it lands (assuming it’s a country and that England/USA have not invaded it in the last few months.) Elena is like a lot of single mums who work hard to provide a home for their children but with large personal sacrifice. She dreams of coming to England and living the life of an English Lady.
We enjoyed a little get together with Elena and some of her friends and a little vodka, of course.

The one and possibly only thing that caught my attention in Irkutsk was a local
fascination with England. There was a British club that had pictures of
iconic British figures and a London pub. Of course we had to eat here.
There were no burgers, slot machines or girls drinking pints of Stella.
No very London.


The second and LAST reason Irkutsk deserves to be on anyone’s itinerary is it’s the closest stop to Lake Baikal, the 'Pearl of Siberia'.

Lake Baikal is the world’s deeps lake at 1637m and holds a massive 5th
of the worlds unfrozen fresh water. In the height of winter a layer of
ice covers the entire surface so thick you can drive across it (but
experience proved you cant drive a train across, silly Russians) and
it's so clean you can peer down through the ice like a window seeing
upto 40m down.
Visiting Lake Baikal numbed the pain of stopping at Irkutsk.
We court a min-van from Irkutsk to Listvyanka 60km away, on the lake
side. I luckily fell asleep almost instantly missing the sprawling and
ugly outskirts of the city and awoke as we were whizzing up and down
very steep hills in the middle of a pine forest. As pleasing as the
view was, both the wake up call and the ride were not.
Sat opposite us was a rather large woman. A women of such proportions
that two tickets would have been more appropriate. She suddenly felt
the need to look forward, this want required her to heave her
gargantuan bulk around 180 degrees. So at one split second all
her weight and the force required to move it was focused on my knee
by way of her knee as she pivoted, rudely and suddenly waking me up.
To rube salt into wounded knee she did not speak to the driver or
even request the next stop, rather pause, forward facing for a second
before spinning back into her seat where she stayed for the next 20mins.
A fully loaded min-van does not feel the safest mode of transport at
the best of times but it is Russia and winter so there is ice and snow
on the road with only thin tracks of Tarmac showing through the ice.
What happens if the driver misses as we race up and down these scenic
but steep hills and clips the ice sending us over the edge no doubt
turning us into a fireball of min-van, fat middle aged women, fake fur
and me. That is not the way I want to go.

Thank goodness we arrived safely and alive to tell the tale.
And it is as beautiful and peaceful as expected.
We find our guest house and are greeted by the owner who, with no
English, shows us around and how everything works including the taps,
just incase taps are different in England. We are in a traditional
Siberian wooden house, warm, cozy and brightly painted. There is a
small kitchen and dinning room and three bed rooms but we are the only
ones staying as it is off season. Later as we explore, it seems like
we are the only ones staying in the entire village.
The cottage decor is a bizarre mishmash of very dated styles. A bit
like the home of an old woman that did decorate regularly but stopped
40 years ago. There is even patterned wallpaper with glitter on it.
We loved it.
I can't believe we had three nights in Irkutsk but only one here. If I
was to do this again I would get off the train at Irkutsk and get
straight on a bus to the lake. Maybe even closing my eyes as we travel through Irkutsk so I don’t even have to look upon its ugliness.

We dump our stuff and go exploring. The house is in a small valley and
about 160m from the lake side. Due to the snow and increased layers of
clothing even short distances like this take an age to cover.
The shore line is very interesting. Ice forms on anything that gets
splashed or washed over. So as the waves lap over the rocks layer
upon layer of ice forms. All the plants have an ice shell. Individual
strands of tall grass have ice crust like they are on display in a
museum.
The sun starts to set and the temperature drops.

We have to brave the cold to get an evening meal. The closest restaurant
offers a menu in English. I have the fish that is only found in this
lake. On our way back I have my hood pulled down to just above my eyes
and my scarf to just below them. The only exposed part was my eyes. It
was ok until the slight breeze hit my unprotected eyes, my goodness did
it sting.

First thing in the morning I have to get some cash out.
It's our last real day in Russia as our train leaves at 5.25am
tomorrow and we want to leave with as little rubles as possible. It’s
a perfectly clear morning allowing me to see all the way across the
lake to the mountains on the other side. It's also perfectly quite, the
waves lapping the pebble beach making the only sounds.


For my 20th birthday I was kindly given an aerobatic plane ride. This
was 30 mins in a small 2 seater plane with a rather large pilot that
spun and twisted us through the air. Loop-da-loop, corkscrews and
dives. I was sat next to him with my own set of controls and at one
point he said 'over to you'. I had control of the plane; I could go
up and down, left or right. It was an extraordinary thought that I had
control. A very similar experience yesterday. After about 2km the
instructor put the break on and motioned for me to take his place. I
put both feet on the break, wait for him to sit down and then jump off
the break on to the foot plates and we are off at what feels like a
million miles an hour pulled along by 7 very strong and very excited
dogs.
I had control of the sledge. I could go left or right....well, if the
dogs also wanted to go that way. It was not long before I fell off.

Our treat for Russia other than Russia it's self is a 10km dog sledge
ride.
I have joyous images of dogs bounding through the flat wide tundra
pulling a sledge where I romantically sip mulled wine with Davina.
Try controlling a sledge over what must be a world class mountain bike
course while being pulled by seven very excited dogs that have only
two speeds: still and not still.
We chose a 10km ride expecting that we would do the riding. In very
limited and broken English one of the staff explains that the
instructor will start then we will swap. He will sit in the sledge with
me standing on the back steering. Most important thing is not to let
go. The dogs won't stop.
There are 35 dogs in total and they know some of them are about to run and
they all want in. They bark as if selection is done on noise created.
They are brought from their individual kennels clipped to a secure
rope and harnessed up. This all happens very quickly.
Davina is off first and you can barely hold my team back.
Off we go.
First thing that struck me was the peace. As soon as we left the other
dogs calm down and now the wind rushing past my ears is all that
could be heard.
Next thing that stuck me was the floor as we left it and then
reconnected with it again rather abruptly dashing my romanticized images
of a smooth ride. It was bumpy. Like really bumpy.
And the dogs were fast, I assume we were the first run of the day.
After about 2km we stop and swap places. You stand on two skis like
platforms and in-between there is a pedal which acts as a break by
shoving nails into the snow.
I fall off almost instantly tipping the sledge over and the instructor out.
We cling on, tip the sledge back up, standing on the break and
then off again. I find it very hard to negotiate the ruff terrain
falling off at least 5 times which must have pissed the dogs off no end.
We complete the course. As we pulled into the compound a team is
waiting to receive the dogs and very quickly de-harness them and return
them to their houses. I am very grateful it was over. It was amazing
and thrilling but scary.

It's surprisingly warm and the sun is out so we enjoy a walk along the
lake before catching the bus back to Irkutsk.
The lake was stunning. If only we had more time there.
Finally being out of cities made me want to be remote. Away from lots
of people and noise.

I have a sore knee, sledging or fat women...

Vancouver- the morning after

Its the morning after. You wonder out of your bed room knowing that you have to look at the carnage at some point, feeling a little hung over and maybe disoriented. Its a lot quieter that you last remember it. There is a strange stale smell and everything is out of place.
This is the morning after the house party the night before. This is Vancouver.

Two significant things have happened in the last couple of days. First the Olympics finished. It was crazy here for 17 days, there were people everywhere and there was a great vibe about the place, in particular on the days Canada won a gold. People would pack the streets and party well in to the early hours. All the main streets would be a sea of red and white high fiving and whooping but the bell rang and everyone has gone home.
Significant thing too is we have acquired a set of shelves so our bed room no longer looks like the room of a junkie.

Just because we packed up everything we owed and journeyed through wildest Mongolia does not mean I have found a new unmaterlistic state of being.
I have not smashed my Iphone and tye'dy shirt, but its quite refreshing not having a lot of stuff. We arrived in Vancouver from Hong Kong with just our rucksacks and instantly started acquiring more stuff.
Before we left London we packed a case to send to Canada but in the chaos of leaving our lives the contents of the case did not get a lot of thought. I packed a lot of really smart shirts, dinner out type but not going to the office type, but no smart shoes. Davina packed two pairs of smart wedding typed sandals but again no shoes that would work for work.
After months of looking like travelers, wearing Tshirts, trekking trainers and quick-drying trousers, everything fitting in our small packs. I was very ready to look a little smarter, wear a shirt and jeans. Looking for work wearing trainers is not the best look.
So we start to acquire stuff. We got Davina the cheapest pair of smart-ish black shoes and a black winter coat. I get a nice pair of jeans and a shirt. The next day we both get work. Davina in a shop that sells clothes for travelers so she can literally wear what we arrived in and me with a lighting company where a shirt looks out of place even on the boss.

Landing in Vancouver was just like getting home from a beach holiday. We left exotic and sunny Hong Kong and arrived in a dark, cold and rainy Vancouver where the Holiday was over.
First we stayed for a few nights with a great couple we met via 'Couch Surfing', CS is a bit like a platonic one-night-stand via Internet dating. You have a profile on the website which tells all about you, like a dating website. You search for people that you have stuff in common with in your area, like Internet dating. Then you stay on their couch for free....like Internet dating??
Really its a world wide community. You offer your couch or spare room to travelers, which they sleep on. Then when you travel you stay on other peoples couches.
Currently there are 1,677,566 couch surfers with people offering couches in every town and city all over the world. The idea is not only a free place to sleep but a community to come together to exchange ideas, friendship and cultural exchange. We found Pat and Katlin via CS and they kindly offered us a room for our first three nights in Vancouver and they continue to be good friends which we make ice cream and drink beer in pubs that don't have TVs in. Next we moved into a long term guest house for a month while looking for somewhere a little more permanent and it was via Couch Surfing we found a french couple who had a room in their flat. Gex and Millie did the same as us. Packed up everything, gave up their jobs and moved to Vancouver. We also live with Bree, a girl from Perth. The flat is a long way from luxury, unfurnished and bland but its not about the flat. We looked at about million different flats, some rooms in over crowed houses, some basement flats that look like a set from a terrorist public relation film and some rather nice self contained perfect little flats. After I started to justify the expensive rent on a couple of nice places, Davina reminded me what we were here to do and it was not to live upto our means and alone even if the decor was nice. We are here to met new people, experience Vancouver and ideally save money.
It was this moment that Gex and Millie posted on Couch surfing about their flat. The rent is the cheapest we found, the people are the best and we plan to have couch surfers stay with us.
All the furniture was found on free-cycle websites or from charity shops. But our room was almost completely empty. We just have a boxspring with a mattress on the floor and our suitcase. Looks a little like the room of a heroin addict that has sold everything for just one more hit and oh how I crave stuff.
I want a bed that's not on the floor, then I would need a bedside table to put some stuff on. I expect that I would need a bedside lamp so I can see what ever is on my bedside table. Once I have the lamp I better get a picture or painting to put on the stark walls that are now illuminated by the bedside lamp on my bedside table next to my real bed. Tell you what would look good under a picture on the wall would be a set of draws, here we could put some nice little things, bits of stuff
But we do now have a set of shelves, a nice ikea type flat pack that we got for free and I put some photos up on the wall so it now looks like we don't have some crack habit and live in nice room.

A nice Canadian shared a with video with me when we were in China and I was reminded of it this morning.
Someones trash is someone Else's treasure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac

Where have all the Blogs gone?

Location: Canada- Vancouver
Day: about 5 and a half months after leaving
Status: Red and White
Author: Simon

I know what happened. It was two fold really.
First the novelty wore off, once you have been on one night bus. Stayed in one hostel. Got lost and on the wrong bus/train (think wrong train in Romania at 1am, ekk) its no longer sucha big deal
Second we left eastern Europe and started on Russia.

The plan was to blog about our travels. Not for other people to read really, I never thought I would do anything worth noting. But mummy and Nana like to read about where we are.
But really I wanted to write about what we did and what it was like so I would remember.

To start with it was fun to blog, it also killed the time when we were on long bus/train journeys. We would use the Iphones, then swap to check and edit then just email the blog off to our website. It was really easy.
But once we left eastern Europe we stopped.
Eastern Europe really was 'off season' there was no one there, so no other travelers to chat with and spend time with. But once we got to St-Petersburg it was a different atmosphere. All hostels were full, we meet loads of cool people. Most people were on the same journey as us and a few of them we met up with along the way, in the middle of Russia, in Mongolia and finally in China. So its much more fun to go out with other people that sit alone in your pants blogging.

I tryed to keep notes on what we did so now I am working on those notes and updating our blog to live in the Cyber-Ether forever.

Trans-Siberian Train 1

Location: Small cell like cabin on our first Trans-Siberian Train.

11.30pm and board the first official of our 4 trans-Siberian trains.
This part of the trip is the longest at 48 hours.
The entire journey from Moscow to Beijing vis Mongolia is 7865km and
7days. Some people do it straight through. This has to be the ultimate
in human endurance and borderline insanity.
It's not like a Cruise ship that stops for hours at a time and offers
a delightful selection of in house entertainment, west end style shows and
bingo. Oh no. The train stops to be serviced, topped up with water,
pick up/drop off passengers and change engine. All this takes a maximum
of 20 mins. A perfect amount of time to get off the train and walk
around maybe purchase some snacks and beer but no more. As this and
the Russian radio being played in the carriage is the only form of
entertainment 7 days would be testing.

We have booked out tickets through an agency all the way from Moscow
to Beijing. We met people that booked each leg as they go, maybe just
one days notice and for less money. But you run the risk of not
getting the train you want, not advisable in summer.
We are in carriage 7, second class. Which means 9 cabins of 4 people
per carriage with 2 toilets and 1 attendant (well 2, one rests while
the other takes care of us). First class is 9 cabins of 2 people and
3rd class is open plan with 54 beds still 2 toilets.
Already in his place is our roommate when we arrive. And not the most
friendly of fellows, not rude just not in to small talk. He keeps his
self on his side of the room and we on ours.
After a hour or so of settling in, reading and very nice wine but
drunk from our thermal mugs that still smell of soup we bed down.
Laying there and listening to a Jonathon Ross podcast

- a little aside. The list of travel essentials now lists as:
Custom ear plugs
Eye masks
Thermal mug
And iPhone. Not for it's phone-ness but for it's wonderful wireless
Internet capacity and for enabling me to regularly down load podcast,
keeping me entertained and up to date with the celebrity world.

So I was enjoying Jonathan chat with Dizzy Raskel think I should
really try and sleep. But why? What will happen if I go crazy and
listen to a second podcast staying away longer than I would have if had
work the next day or even some site seeing to do.
The night trains, unlike cruise ships, don't offer many entertainment
options. There is chatting, well our friend made it clear that was not
going to happen. There is eating, reading, podcast and sleeping. So I
went crazy and stayed up one extra podcast, then slept for maybe 9
hours. Of course I had two little sleeps the following day, one mid
morning and one mid afternoon.

Breakfast was bread and Nuttella, the last jar in the shop the day
before.
We left Moscow and built up Russia in the dark and woke up to a
beautiful snow covered landscape, there most have been at least a foot
of snow on everything. Now and again there were small towns comprising
of ramshackle wooden houses but not allot else.
We stop about 4pm and I get off for a little walk.
We read and heard lots of horror stories about people getting off,
wandering too far and the train leaving without them. One lonely
planet writer got arrased after his train left him as he did not have
his passport with him and another old guy got left in just a bathrobe
and slippers. So I had money and passport with me and I kept close to the
train. There were hundreds of people on the platform selling everything
you could need, snacks, sweets, beer, a cup-tree complete with cups
and even warm meals. I got stopped by one guy who spoke English. He not
did try and sell me anything, rather he wanted to practice his already
perfect English. He wad telling me that out of a population of 30000
500 make their living from selling to passengers.
It is now dark at 4.10.

We walk through the train to third class to find our friend.
And it's a different game down there. People every where. Constant moving
around and much nosier. In second class people stay in their cabins
and most keep the door closed so when some does move along the carriage
you don't notice. In third class you see and hear everything. Most
beds are filled, family's, elderly couples, young people, soldiers. We
find Chris and start chatting. We instantly attract the attention of
locals and within no time we are seated in a group chatting. People
were interested in what we were doing, why be in the train and go
through Russia. For Russians long distance train travel is second
nature. Everyone knows what to expect and comes well prepared. We are
surrounded with food, tomatoes, instant noodles and most important
alcohol. The guys explain that all there is nothing to do but drink. They
kindly share a spirit that smelled like Christmas with Davina. Me and
Chris did not get offered any!
One of the guys was a young student on his way home from Moscow and
spoke good English and acted a translator for us. There was a 27 year
old singer who's English was limited and, for him, frustrating. But
when he sang he got all the words perfect and even his accent was good.
I guess he just copies the songs. There were a number of young
soldiers, one in particular looked 14 but insits he was 19.
We decide that second class travel was for us. But we would have gone 3rd class. Its cheaper and allot more interesting.

Next day we meet Chris in the resturant car, a very modern, plastic car offering a limited menu of unknowns. We choose just beer.
Its nice to get out of our cabin and chat for a while. The service was poor, menu options limited and expensive but still Virgin could take some pointers from here.

St Petersburge

Day 39 9th November 2009
Location: Train. St petersburge to Moscow
Status: Hung over
Lesson: It is not essential that you 'finish the vodka off, there is
only this last bit left'
Author: Simon

We are currently on the train from St Petersburg to Moscow. An easy 7
hours during the day. The train is full but not crowded, this route is
very popular and tickets sell out even in low season like now. We are
the only tourists that I can see, at least the only English speakers
in our carriage, mostly we are surrounded by middle aged Russians. It's
eerily quiet, both the train and the people, it's obviously the driver
is in no hurray allowing us plenty of time to soak up the scenery.
Scenery that is exactly in every detail to what I imagined it would
be. It's neither mountainous nor flat, I guess hilly with quite allot of pine
forests interspersed with lakes, small collection of houses and some
times just nothing. Most important in my pre-arrival self-created
imagery is the light undisturbed dusting of snow on everything. All the
small wooden houses with the tall, pointy roofs have a column of smoke
flowing out of their chimneys. The lakes are partly frozen over and
currently there is no factories or industry to corrupt this beautiful
image.
It's 4pm, 3 hours in to our journey, so just light but there is
no sun. There has been no sun other than on the first afternoon. I
imagine that a long, cold, sunless Russian winter would be taxing.

Russia and the Trans-Mongolian has always been the centre of our trip,
most of research and reading was directed here and the first half of
the trip was dictated by ensuring we get to Russia at the right time.
We deliberately chose to come at the beginning of winter, we wanted to
see Russia and Mongolia in the snow.

We flew into St Petersburg from Warsaw which is a slight break in the
plan to get the train from Turkey to Hong Kong. But the only train on
offer was a 28 hour journey in 3rd class, which means seated in a open
plan carriage, very little chance of sleep all for £93. So we got a
two hour plane for £120. Little more for allot more.
I don't know what I thought St Petersburg would look like, maybe a
little scary, like a communist state should look- thinking 1984.
I looked out as we descended and i was very relived to
find it looked kinda normal. There were a large number of ugly, cheap
and efficient buildings that looked like Lego bricks stacked to
varying heights. The airport was like every other airport with signs in
the local tongue and in English.

I was warned about the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russia. It was suggested that I memorised it before arriving.
I did download it but of course looked at it for no more than 2 minuets. And what I have learned from this is ignorance is bliss.
So far most country's we have passed through use an alphabet like ours and often words are very similar or at least easy to pick up a few of the necessary. But with the Cyrillic alphabet its a whole nother language, all the letters are crazy and nothing is the same as English, what were they thinking?!
So when I look around I see no sign I can read or even guess at so I ignore them. This makes dealing with language very easy.

Getting into Russia is not easy. You have to go the extra mile, put
the effort in. The visa is expensive, £150 for 30 day tourist, and
time consuming. The Russian embassy had our passports for 8 days. It's
not convenient, it can not be issued more that 90days before you travel
and requires a letter if invitation, list of hotels you are
stopping in for every night and registration at post office every time you
stay in one place longer that 72 hours. All this red tape and
bureaucracy makes it hard work thus only attracting dedicated travelers.
On a little aside, Argentina passport holders do not require visas,
how random?!
You are also required to carry at least a copy of you passport and
paperwork at all times and if you are checked and this is missing or
incorrect you get a £100 fine.
All this made me a little concerned and nervous particular at passport
control, but after a little typing I was allowed in.

We stayed in a nice but over crowded hostel very close to the centre.
The owner looks 18 but I assume she is older and a traveler her self, so knows what makes a great hostel.
Really well equipped kitchen, lockers in the rooms with built in power sockets and a nice social area with large tv and limited DVD collection.
It seams everyone at the hostel is on the same agenda as us, Trans- Mongolia to China, but planned very different ways.
We were concerned about this part of the trip so prebooked all train tickets and visas, this we paid for.
There were many people buying ticket's as they went along, off season this is the cheapest option but not sure it would be wise in the summer.

Oh and there is snow on the ground here!

Warsaw

Day 32. 2nd Nov 2009
Location: Warsaw
Status: Cold but cool
Author: Simon

My goodness. It's chilly.
To think a mere 17 days ago we were drenched in beatuliful sunbeams,
sucking in the vitim D and showing off our tans. Now it's cold.

Yesterday we made our way from krakow to Warsaw and it was in krakow I
learnt about windchill. Sure knew that in winter when the wind blow it
is cold. I experienced this when on childhood walks, normally boxing
day, that seamed to involve a beach. Who ever thought that setting
foot on a English beach at any time other than the two week summer was
a good idea is beyond me. Well no it's not really beyond me, it was my
mother who must have thought this. Anyway, I knew wind could be cold.

But Poland in November. It's a whole other thing.
Krakow was beautiful, wonderful arcitechture, massive medieval castle
and churches. Tree lined paths winding their way through parks. Clear
blue sky, sun shining, leaves all autumnal. Almost like krakow was the
city with roads pathed with gold as the leaves fell to form and
uncollected goldern blanket. (perfect for running through and kicking,
which we did of course)

Out of the wind it was almost warm.
In the wind the Goldern city changed to a land that summer forgot,
maybe an enternal winter like narnia.
So out came the thermals and the MA fleases.

I pride myself on being at the cutting edge of fashion. Almost a trend
setter. If I was on radio one I would be 'timmy trendy' maybe with my
own daytime TV show about how to keep 'on trend'
Keeping top of my fashion game is a lot harder in this dam icey wind
when carring such a limited wardrobe.
I gave a lot of thought to what clothes I would take away. I wanted to
ensure maxium flexablity within my clothes. Allowing me to mix and
match outfits.

Step one was to pick a small amount of clothes, 3 pairs of trousers, 4
t shirts, 2 fleases, set of thermals.

Step two is to ensure Colour Blindness. This allowed me to match any
two garments with no knowlage or concern if they work as a fashion
combo.
Step 3, this is only relevant to wind chill. Wear eveything at once.
Then it must go together.
Today I purchased a pair of thermal trousers, a Warsaw must have, to
compliment my fleese.

But let's be greatful we had our training in cold, damp, grey london.
We are currently sharing a room with two people from the Asia area,
not that I am jumping to conculsions, but they must really be
struggling with the temperature. I make this assumption because of
their sleeping attire, not that I look, which is basically tacksuits.

Now we are currently in a £7 per night six person dorm rooms which
are, as there are 6 people, rather snug and cosy and I do not require
much in the way of PJs. So if they require full sleeping suites they
must find the icey winds crippling.

Sent from my iPhone

Poland

Loction. Hostel in st pertersburg
Author. Davina
Status. It's snowing outside
Lesson.

We arrived in st Petersburg yesterday from Warsaw. We ended up flying
because we couldn't quite justify spending 28 hours sitting up right
in a train versus a 2 hour flight for £30 more.

So I am writing about Poland in the attempt not to get too far behind.

We stared in krakow. The orignal reason we came here was to visit
auschwitz. We had heard krakow was a lovely city but that was all we
really knew.

Our first night was with mark and after spending a great time together
in Prague we were a lot more subdued in krakow after auschwitz. After
a sad farewell we looked to see what krakow would offer.

First thing we did was a walking tour. It was classed as an off the
beaten track tour. It was good but too long. I was very foot sore by
the end. But we did get to see the jewish ghetto and oscar Schindlers
factory.

The next day we went to the salt mines. Back in the day salt was the
prime way of preserving food so not only was it important it was also
worth a lot of money. Soldiers were paid with salt. So when this mine
was founded it was a massive asset to the people of krakow.

It was mined for around 600 yrs so you can imaging how extensive the
mines were. As it was the basic home for 1000s of people the miners
started carving sculptures out the the salt. Statues to churches the a
12cm deep 3d carving of da vinci's last supper. We went down to about
135m by stairs and the rode the miners elevator back up.

We even met a very interesting 70 year old dubliner who is writing a
text book on how to use economic factors to predict the future. He is
not confident that lessons will be learned and things will get better.

We decided that we were interested enough to go on another tour and
started to get really interested in krakow. Unfortunately it was time
to leave and we were left feeling that we could have seen more.
Although our second guide thought we were mad to Warsaw. He said it
was ugly. Very much a sence of sibling rivilry there.

We got to warsaw and caught the bus to our hostel. Which was pretty
friendly.

We have either been very lucky, no matter where you go you will meet
friendly people.

It was here that we separated. Si got in touch with the opera house
and went to visit them. I went to the national museum.

Had a bad direction day that day and took me ages to find and when i
got there I couldn't work out were it started stated at the end. Much
to the irritaion of all museum staff. But as my polish is non existent
and their English just as bad I just dredded going into each room and
getting that dirty look.

But I found it fasinating. I did not realise that there were 2
uprisings in Warsaw. The Jewish one and then the Warsaw one. It put in
perspective 12% of the city was destroyed during the invasion. By the
end 85% was gone.

The Warsaw uprising was so well organised that they had everything in
place before they started with comand posts and first aid stations.

They manages for over a month and even had the scouts delivering post
behind the lines. Unfortunately it failed, helped along by the Russian
army who sat on the other side of the river watching and waiting for
the Nazis to finish off the population.

When they surrender the Nazis deported the entire population to
concentration camps and set about destroying the city building by
building.

It is amazing to see how they have painstakingly rebuilt the old town
to it's former glory after being left with ruble.

That night we went to the opera. I have only ever been to the opera
twice. Both times with Simon, both time in a forgein country and both
times it was the Magic Flute.

The difference this time was that it was aimed at children. The format
was set so it was narrated as well as sung and there was some jokes
and audience singalong. Was very cool to hear the audience get very
excited even though I couldn't understand either the French or the
Italian.

Next day we went to what was left of the ghetto. Was really close to
the centre of town and all that was left was one street and a bit of
the wall. And they had a line following where the wall was.

We also had DVD watching time which was really needed.

Next day we went to Russia.

Sent from my iPod

Auschwitz

Author: Simon

A visit to Auschwitz could be nothing but shocking.
Simply it's the grave of over a million people.
But as I expected to be horrified and upset before I got there it
allowed me to focus on others thoughts and feelings.
I set my own expectations of the horror meaning I could take it in my
stride.
We had visited a concentration camp before on our first visit to
Prague two years ago and although a much smaller scale it still
contained similar horror.

The 'concentration' camp of auschwitz is made up of over 40 camps of
varying sizes, the three well known and biggest were Auschwitz I,
Auschwitz birkenau and Auschwitz III.
Auschwitz I was an old polish military barracks that the Nazis
converted and expanded into a prison. At first only for political
prisoners, something like 10,000 lived in cramped brick buildings. It
also housed all the administration buildings.

It was here in a bomb shelter the nazis first used gas on a large
scale killing 300 people at one time.

I was struck by two things.

First was the camps location. I was expecting it to be in the middle
of no where, I was even a little confused as to why we could get
public transport there. But it was in the middle of a residentiall
area. This makes sense of course because Auschwitz is the German
translation for the name of the polish village, Oswiecim, where the
orginal polish barracks was located.

The second thing was the proximity to the camp of rudolf hoess's
house. He was the commandant, manager, of the camp and he lived with
his wife and 5 children right next door, within meters of where people
were being killed.
I remember noticing this when we visited the camp just outside of
Prague. The manager of this camp lived with his children just the
other side of the wall to the camp, also next to the place where they
executed prisoners. What made this stand out was the swimming pool he
had the prisons dig for his children. 14 Jews died digging this pool.

Auschwitz one has been restored and many of the barracks converted
into exhibitions. There is no need for me to go into detail about what
is displayed.

Auschwitz birkenau has been left as it was. And it's a different beast
altogether.
Unlike the first camp which had been a converted military base. This
camp was purpose built to quickly and efficently murder thousands of
people.
There was only one small adminastration buiding, no need for more. One
gate through which the trains came in. One platform where the
transportations of people were sorted into fit to work or not. One
path to 4 gaschambers and crematorium where 20,000 a day could be
murdered and burnt. 80% of the people that arrived there would not
live untill the next day. The rest, 100,000, were put to work in
conditions I am unable to imagine.
The sheds where they slept were wooden, pre-fab animal barns. They
were wood because it was quicker and cheaper than brick. They were put
up so quickly they still had the rings to tie horses to on the walls.

Visiting these places, as well as the other museums of communist
occupation that we have seen in a number of counties, has shown me
what we as humans are capable of.

What makes this worse is it was not one crazy person or even a group
of soldiers getting trigger happy and following an order. Hitler was
not 100% to blame. There must have been thousands of SS officers and
admin staff, policemen, factory managers, the two companies that
supplied the gas crystal, even train drivers of the transportations
that had an idea what was going on and either believed it was the
correct thing to do or were too scared to act against the machine that
was the Nazis.

Throughout all the stories of horror there often came stories of
bravery where one person would either give or risk his/her life for
others some times for just one other person.

Lest we forget.

Sent from my iPhone

Auschwitz

Author : davina
Status : foot sore... Bloody new shoes
Location: train going to Warsaw

A little family history first.

My brothers and I where all given piano lesson when we were small. My
brothers both got the same teacher while I only had her for a short
tome as unfortunately she passed away. Her name was Mrs Claire (Clara)
Martos.

What makes Mrs Martos special, apart from being able to put up with
the young Tredgets and actually teach them something was the fact she
had a pretty amazing life. One that I would never swap with her for
anything.

You see Mrs Martos, apart from being a gifted musician was a Hungarian
Jew. Not necessarily important apart from the fact she lived in
Hungary when World War 2 broke out.

This women was a survivor of auschwitz. Not only that but she came
through the Hungarian uprising 20 or so years later. We are talking
firing squads, torture beatings starvation and she survived that to
teach a 6 year old me the piano.

Mrs Martos is a legend in my family as anyone who has met a survivor
can understand. They take on this quite dignity. They instantly become
someone you respect and am in awe of. When I met a survivor who came
to our school you just can't help looking at them in amazement. This
little old person has more fight determination and bravery then I
could ever hope for.

So having this background and being a history teacher, I was
determined to go to auschwitz.

The trip there was rainy and cold. The red brown and yellow leaves
were falling beautifully to the ground. It was chilly and grey. Not a
nice place for anyone to be outside. Especially not with out proper
clothes and shoes. The worst part was it was only October. No where
near the minus 20 it can get if it was a few months later.

Auschwitz 1 was an awful place. There were rooms with chambers piled
high with suitcases, toothbrushs, plates, glasses, shoes and human
hair. 8 tones of human hair which hadn't been sent to Germany yet to
make uniforms. Imagine how many tones had been sent.

There was a wall where naked prisoners were forced to stand facing it,
while someone held them there. Soon someone else walked up behind them
and shot them in the back of the head.

There are flowers and candles everywhere. On pictures of long dead
prisoners, (the only reason we have these photos is because someone
hide the negatives inside a heater) on the ground where the gallows
stood and next to this wall.

There are no flowers and no candles at the glows where they hung the
commandant of auschwitz. Here he died 2 years after the war, next to
the small gas chamber which wasn't big enough as it only killed 300
each time and in sight of his house. Where his wife and children used
to live and play.

This was auschwitz 1. The camp which was ok. The houses were made of
brick so even though they had no fuel to put into the heaters there
was still some heat retention.

Mrs martos was not taken hear.

We then left for auschwitz - birkenau which is a few kilometers down
the road. Cold grey rainy and mud all around.

There are only a few photos of what happened when Jews arrived here
and even they were a surprise. The Nazis knew they were doing
something wrong and hid what they were doing. Why else destroy the
evidence?

But the photos we do have are of a transport of Hungarian jews. You
can see the trains. You can see them being separated, men from women,
and you can see the Nazi doctor point to the right telling an old man
with a cane he was to join the line of children, women, the sick and
the elderly who are to go to the showers.

Now we can see the railway tracks, the platform and the place where
selection happened.

Mrs Martos would have stood here. She could be in that photograph.
She would have had to stand infront of the doctor. She would have been
sent to the left. Did she know this was a good thing? What family was
with her that day? When was the last time she caught a glimps of them?
When did she find out that they weren't going to the showers?

So many unanswered questions and questions I can't believe I am asking
with the expectation of getting an answer. These shouldn't be
questions you should ask anyone because they should not have happened.
The very idea should not be there.

I have walked in the foot steps of a lady who had everything taken
away from her and yet she survived. I then walked in the footsteps of
those who did not even spend one night in auschwitz.

I saw the ruines of a place where someone thought it was ok to open a
hatch and throw poison into a room with over a thousand people inside.
And then walk away.

Sent from my iPod

Prague

Day 27
Location: Prague
Status: home sick.

Author. Simon

An easy 7 hour day train whisks us into Prague with no problems or
dramas. 7 hours of iPods, squeesy cheese and cupa-soups.

Prague was always a mile stone in my mind. Arriving here means we have
completed the first leg of our trip, through the warmer countries.
This is our second visit here, the first 2 years ago almost to the
day. That time we were not on the same budget, limo from the airport,
hotel room over 100sq meters with two balconies. Our accomadation this
time around has no balconies as it is in a cellar and we are sharing a
room with a man that insists on wearing very colourful but tight pants.

One of our friends, Caz, parents moved out here a couple of years ago
and runs an English pub called the Royal Oak, check it on facebook.
Here we were blessed with tastes of home and uneccessary but
greatfully received kindness.
While here it was my grandparents ruby wedding aniversary and to
celebrate all my family got together for a party. I am one of a few
that have not made it and to miss it makes me very sad.
So being with Caz and her mum, Gill, was perfect timing.
We spent a few evenings in the pub and even lost at the quiz, had
large English breakfast, tea and cake and shopping trips. It was nice
to just hangout for a while.

Mark also flew over, very last minute, to join us. Great to have him
around. We drank and laughed liked we did back in wandle. It was also
intresting sightseeing with him as he noticed different things and had
a diffent point of view. I wish he could have stayed with us longer.
One evening we went with Caz and mark for a traditional Czech meal.
Bottle of nice and cheap wine.
Mixed starters, kind of tapas style, lots of little bits of meat and
cheese. This was almost enough. And then the main course. I had a form
of mixed grill comprising of: Pork chop, chicken Breast stuffed with
sausage, salami and duck! Of course with cabbage.
Davina orderd pork knuckle not really knowing what it would be. Out
came this massive breadboard with a frame on top holding, well, a pork
knuckle.
We left full and satisfide for only £12 each. Back to the bar.
The bar was for mainly expats and the locals had their own tankards. I
wanted one.
While siteseeing me and mark kept looking for metal tankards ideally
with a lid, all we could find were ceramic ones. Just not good enough.
Just down from the bar was a junk shop that had eveything and here
mark found a tankard and so I did not feel left out Gill loaned me one
of Cazs dads. See picture.

20 years ago the Czech republic gained their indepence. This Is
celebrated with a national holiday. And the marching of polarbears in
the main square. Ok, I am not sure of the relivence of the polarbears.
But it was a funny site. See pictures of the lounging and of
polartransport

Prague for us signified the moment we decided Europe would get cold.
It is here we swap swimsuits for thermals. Sunscreen for snowboots.
Caz very kindly brought over a pack of extra clothes and my boots as
well as our canadian visas which did not come through before we left.
We also shopped for a coat and boots for Davina. All this extra stuff
means repacking. I bin my jeans, a pair for short and a tshirt to make
room.

It was here I had a wonderful moment. Looking at the map knowing we
had to enter russia on the 5th or 6th of November but no plan on how
to get there. We could go where ever we wanted and how ever we wanted.
I loved this feeling.

First though to krakow, with Marky!
We book the night train, the last 3 person cabin. It's all very
exciting. We have done night trains before but this time we had a fun
cabin with lots of things to play with. It was fun to travel this way
with mark, if it was not for him I think we would have gone 3rd class
in coachett and hoped for the best.

Prague was great.
Thank you mark for coming over.
Thank you Caz for fun and smuggerling
Thank you Gill for eveything, English breakfast, English bread, beer
in my own tankard and for single portions of butter.

Sent from my iPhone

Hungary. Finally

Author: d
Status: trying to catch up
Where: very cold krakow

Am a little behind in the blogging thing so apologies for that. Time
has gone so quickly I cant believe we are getting ready to leave for
Warsaw and I haven't even talked about Hungary And Prague let along
warsaw. So this will either be very long or way too short.

Hungary was a beautiful city so different to Romania which is strange.
It was the different mentality that really shone out.

Upon leaving romania we not only left our baggage (some kind people
ran after us) but we got on the wrong train. We were help and all
worked out in the end but we met a romanian who was living in canada.
He needed to return to help his parents and he was annoyed that he
actually had to come to romania to fill in The forms. While in other
counties and email would have done. He sad that Romania was stuck in
the past. They had to do it this way because that is how it has always
been done. No mater that an easier way was readily available. He also
said that it was the romanians who put a cross through the number 7
when writing it because the 7th commandment says though shalt not
steal. And to Romanians this is impossible.

Enter Hungary and we are in this hostel which is like someones house.
There were a few people staying. 2 Australians 3 kiwis with new tatoos
and and a German called felix. We all got on well which made the
hostel, small and and possibly bed bug ridden though it was really
good on our eyes.

Budapest was lovely we did a walking tour runs by students who only
work for tips you pay what you feel and that gave us the insite to
Hungarian mentality. While she freely admitted that over the last
century things have gone wrong for hungary they were all optimistic
that having joined the EU things wod be better this century. A real
difference in thought.

We then spent a few days looking around and loving the scenery. We did
a hungarian bath. No where near as good as the Turkish one. We had no
idea where we were supposed to go. We had no towels. It was a rabbit
warren and no one spoke enough English to explain it. We ate lunch on
the presidents front lawn. And saw more rocks in the museum. It was
really great.

We got back to the hostel on the second last day and planned our last
day. When I was small I knew a lady who was an Hungarian Jew who not
only survived auschwitz but also the Hungarian uprising and I wanted
to see the Jewish museum while Simon wanted to see parliament so we
agreed to go our separate ways.

Then we found out it was a public holiday but we maybe lucky and it
will be open. So we left in the morning separately and the street
were empty... Except for the 1000 or so fully armoured police. This
was interesting. As I walked to the museum there were people putting
up a stage and some others with flags, and a lot police who could win
a robocop lookalike competion.

My museum was closed so managed to sneak onto someones wireless
emailed Si that I was having a tea and decided to go to the house of
terror afterwards.

10mins later Si walks in with the same problem. So off to the house of
terror in hope.

The house of terror is the former building belonging to the secret
police who had a lot of control during the communist era. When I was
in Russia I had my passport details taken down by the police because I
was to close to the building belonging to the secret police. But they
more objected to us taking photos.

In Hungary, despite it being placed incorrectly on the map, is easy to
find as it is surrounded by photos, candels and flowers. Each one the
photo of a victim of the people who ran his awful place. They have
turned it into a museum and as the national holiday was to commemorate
the fall of communism entrance was free.

The first thing you see is the massive tank infront of a wall of over
1000 people who where innocent victims. Simon has already posted that
picture. The museum first talks about the Nazi occupation but quickly
deals with life under so soviet rule. It is all very interesting
untill you get to the basement.

There is the wall of the victimisers. People who tortured, spyied and
generally used their power to repress the hungarian people. It was
like a wall of shame.

Next was the Hungarian uprising which was brave and horrific but it
led you to the cells.

In each cell there were pictures of the people who were once held
there. The was a toture room with a drain under the chair. There were
cells which were the worst. One cell was pitch black and 3 foot high.
Another was designed to be ankle deep in water. And one was about 50
cm square so all you could do is stand. One was padded and one pitch
black. All these designed to torture and break.

It was a great museum though awful at the same time.

The the next day we went to parliament but got there too late and the
tour was full. So we pottered until it was time to leave for Prague.

Sent from my iPod

Victims.

A sombering reminder of the victims of the Russian occupation of
Hungary.
Let's hope it's never frogotten.

Simon's arty picture. Where are my millions?

A little note on Bucharest.

Day: 17
Date 17th October
Status: watching the taxi drivers closely
Lesson: sometimes looking like a lost tourist gets you in for free but
not on Mondays.

Having only one full day in Bucharest we wanted to make the most of
it. So we got up early and hit the streets. The problem was Bucharest
was still in bed. It felt like we were walking through the city at 7
in the morning, not 10. The gypsy Market which should have started at
8 was no where to be seen. The shops that should have been open for
half an hour were shut up tight. I know it was the weekend but it was
a saturday. We stopped for coffee and a bite to eat and nothing. What
to do?

We decided to head to the people parliament. One of the biggest
buildings in Romania. In fact it is the Second biggest building in the
world behind the pentagon. In will get to that latter. Needless to say
it was easy to find as it towers over all the other buildings around.
When I say tower it looms. A big beautiful building that you just
can't fathom. Would love to see the pentagon up close to compare.

It is the building that houses the parliament and also one of the
hardest places to find an opening. In the classic case of going left
when we should have gone right we ended up walking around the entire
thing.

The language barrier did help us in one regard though. When we asked a
guard if this was the way in he said yes, great. It wasn't but it was
the entance to an art gallery and we decided to go in. Once in we were
told where to go and pay but before we got there we were ushered in.
We spent the whole exhibition waiting to be told off but all good.

When we were in istanbul we went to the Istanbul modern. Basically the
Tate modern but in another country. And while there I realised that I
just didn't get it. Why oh why is a painting of a girl in a dress that
looks like it was drawn by an eight year old worth a lot of money and
where oh where is the meaning the bit of card next to it says it
has???????

And again I didn't get it in Romania either.

But we did see a very interesting documentery ( yes it is an art
gallery) on shepherds in Moldova talking about there way of life. And
how the communists decided they weren't allowed donkeys and horses
anymore so they walked in, rounded them all up and killed them. Also
try to talked about swimming the river to Romania to talk with and
trade with them. And all that changed when Romania joined the EU and
the Borders became really strict.

Anyway back to this building.

We eventually walked around the entire thing trying different doors
and found the right one. Only to be told we had to have our passports
wih us luckily the next English tour (you aren't allowed in unless you
are in a tour) (infact it is considered a crime if you leave the tour
and walk about on your own.) so we hoofed it back to the hostel and
just made it back in time.

Again our luck helded out. As we walked In there was a big que which
we joined and went in. Only no one asked us to pay, so we saved a
little there too.

On this tour a very bored young lady took around a few rooms and gave
us some facts

1. One pair of curtains are 19m long
2. Some of the carpets weigh 4tonnes. All of them are so large that
they have to be made in sections and brought in.
3. All of the building is Romanian. Everything from the crystal to the
marble to the wood.
4. It was begun in 1984 and with 3 shifts working 24hrs a day 70% was
completed in 5 years
5. Thousands of homes were destroyed to make way for the buildings
6. Some of the curtIns had gold and silver thread in them and were
made by nuns.
7. Some of the carpets were made to match the sky lights

We read that there was a nuclear bunker and we asked about it. We were
told not to ask as there were so many rumour about the building that
she didn't know.

It certainly was an impressive building. Would love to see the
pentagon and compare because we only saw 3% of the building and it was
amazing. But was a little dissappointed with the lack of history we
were told. Just figures. I am an historian after after all.

When we got back to he hostel our host and a friend of his were
watching the soccer. They asked what we thought and I told them what i
thought.

This is when we got the real history.

1. Not only were thousands of houses forcefully destroyed to make way
for this building but they cleared one of the oldest and beautiful
parts of Bucharest. Including the oldest church which they moved
elsewhere.

The reason 70% was completed so quickly was because thousands of
people were forced to leave there homes and made to work on the sight.
Sometimes for months. One of these peope was our hosts friend.

On the tour we also weren't told about the bodies of those who died
while building it. If they felll into the concrete it was not stopped
but thry continued to pour and the poor person who fell were left in
the foundations.

The nuns hated making the curtains.

The building actually has so many floors under ground that only a very
few are allowed to go. Our hosts friend was a manager of the main tv
station in romania and he was only allowed down to the 15th level.

When the revolution happened they wanted nothing more than to destroy
the building but that was such a huge job they couldn't afford it.

Donald trump offered to buy it for 2 billion. They refused thinking
that to build it cost more like 8. But didn't take into account the
day to day costs of running a building that big and Romanians just see
it as a huge waste of everything.

Our host also told us about the open air peasants village. They
thought this idea was so great that that went and took some peasants
houses and transplanted them in the middle of bucharest.

Problem was that also transplanted the the peasants and told them to
go about their lives while people came and watched them. This idea did
not last long as who would want there lives to be on show 24/7 in the
form of a museum. Although saying that big brother springs to mind.

The next day before we left for sighisoara we went to see the peasants
museum ( not the out door one) and having the idea of going and taking
things still in use for the sake of a museum was so firmly in our
heads that everything we saw was tainted. I am sure this is not the
case though as the museum won the title of best museum in the world 3
or 4 years running so hopefully that is not the case.

We are now in a place called sighisoara. It is the birth place of vlad
Dracula. Or vlad the impaler or better known as the inspiration for
bram stoker's Dracula. A book I am reading now and am actually finding
quite good and suspensful. It is also an old
Medieval town and a UNESCO world heritage site. The entire site is a
medieval town which is still inhabited. Very cool, very beautiful but
closed on mondays. And they are digging up the ancient road so also a
mud bath full of slippery stones and heavy earth moving machinery.

So our one and only day here and we watched GI Joe in a theatre which
is also a night club. We were the only ones there and got to sit on
couches so was very cool. And generally walked around.

Oh well Budapest next

Sent from my iPod

RE: Tale of the ferry boat disartster

Thanks for these updates, we have been following your progress with much delight!  All in all it sounds as if the experience is great, disasters only make you enjoy the good bits more!  We think about you lots, please take good care of you both!  love you heaps, Nana.xx
 
> From: simon.barrett.mail@googlemail.com
> To: simon.barrett.mail.dontpanicsid@blogger.com; suechaddock@tiscali.co.uk; Jonathan.chaddock@homecall.co.uk; edith_barr@hotmail.co.uk
> Subject: Tale of the ferry boat disartster
> Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:46:55 +0300
>
> Day 14. 14th Oct 2009
> Location: Ferry boat
> Status: Less sick than some
> Lesson: if you tip the cart with wheels on its side it will stop moving.
>
> We left canakkale to Istanbul in the afternoon. There are two
> transport options, 5 hour bus or 2.5hour bus and 2 hour ferry.
> We picked the latter dispite it being a little more expensive, by
> expensive I mean £4 more.
>
> You could tell winter was moving in. The sun was hiding and the wind
> was giving it all it had. All this said the ferry ride was smooth
> enough untill we got to Istanbul!
>
> I have been thinking about health and safety recently. There is a lot
> I want to say on the subject, but this is for another time and what I
> want to say will contradict how I feel now about the Health and Safety
> policies Trukey has implimented in regards to ferry transportation.
>
> We are chatting away to this nice Turkish banker, there is an
> announcement asking drivers to return to their cars as we are about to
> dock. We stay where we are as there is no need to poke the bear that
> is Davina's well behaving motion sickness by getting up when the boat
> is still moving.
> We pass what looks like the dock
> We pass what looks like the dock, again.
> We seam to be going around in circles for about 20mins, almost like we
> are looking for a parking space. The manager explains to us that there
> is not a lot of space at the dock and the rough sea is making it very
> hard to dock. But it will only be 10mins.
> So around and around we go. And it starts to gett rough, very rough.
> People are getting thrown about and some very sick. Glasses are
> smashing.
> Then we hit somthing.
> Everyone comes up from below, many very scared. Some put their life
> jackets on.
> But the priority of the staff is not to reassure people, help those
> who are struggling, give out sick bags. No, it's more important that
> the coffee machine does not fall over! There were 4 members of the
> junior staff having to hold the coffee machine and three trollies in
> place. One of them was terrified and looking very unwell. Customers
> were approching them asking for sick bags or water and while they went
> to get these items they had to hold the trollies!
> I could not believe it.
> So I went up and unable to understand their protests, tipped one of
> the trollies over so it no longer moved allowing the poor scared girl
> to sit down.
>
> During this whole proccess, 1.5 hours of very rough sea, there was not
> one announcement or reassuring word to tell us what was happening or
> that it was all ok. And if you wanted water you still had to pay for it.
>
> Davina missed all this fun as she was doing her best not to feel sick.
>
> Finally we docked. It was raining of course. After a short taxi ride
> we got lost then to our hostel.
>
> I was looking foward to Istanbul. What we saw was stunning. But I was
> very ready to leave. Eveything is expensive and directed at the tourist.
>
> We have escaped istanbul with our lives.
>
> Sent from my iPhone

---

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Size does matter

Day 18. 18th of Oct 2009
Location: Train
Lesson: Less is more

Today we saw our first snow!
It's seems crazy that just a few days ago it was close to 36degrees
and we were wearing shorts and sunscreen. We are only in Romainia
which is closer to the equator than England so surely it should be
warmer?
We are up in the mountains, so that might explain it. But no one has
explained it to me. I know there is a logical explaination but... We
are up a mountain, mountain closer to sun, sun hot, so we hotter? But
no, higher equals colder.

From D: I have now explained it to him. See Rob I was listening when
it was your turn to teach.

I have been feeling a little strange the last couple of days and
unable to put my finger on it, yesterday it came to me.
Every now and then I would wake up, usually on a weekend meaning a
little later than the working day and under the curtains or through a
gap between them the sun would be streaming, this would signal the
first of some long, hot, happy days.
The opposite would happen months later. It would hit me, normally in
the shower ( unneccessary detail I know), that it was still dark and
for the first time, cold.
Both of these have happened in a mere 17 days. First morning waking in
Turkey knowing it was a sunscreen day and 2 days ago waking on the
train from Istanbul, peaking under the curtains and just seeing grey.
This put an automatic downer on Bucharest. It was an ok city. But for
me it was the first day of winter.

We are currently on the train from Bucharest to a small town in the
romainian countryside called Sighisoara which once might have been
home of/birthplace/once stopped by for coffee of Dracular or someone
that met him it may be just one guy that had heard of him. Really the
whole area has built up this legend to support the tourist trade.
As we crawl up from bucharest we noticed patches of snow on the
ground. It looked like the morning after a day of snow in england. So
nothing impressive, but still it was our first. On the flip side the
journey has been very impressive. Our train has been winding through
the mountains that are covered in massivly tall pine trees
interspursed with small villages of a slightly romantic if not
delapidated style. Large pointy roofs and balconies all made of wood.
Alpine lodge style. The clouds are very low and cut the tops off the
highest trees. It's the kind of journey that could be the setting for
a novel if you could replace our cowded and dirty inter-city train
with a steam train, cosy first class compartment and an old gentleman
wearing a flat cap and walking with a cane.
Possibly even the begining of "the woman in black"!

It's now that I am greatful for the large fleaces and rain coats we
have been hauling around Turkey.
Right from day one I noticed "pack envy". In hostels or stations I
would notice other travels and their bags, were they bigger or small
than ours?
When we were researching our trip I read a post about luggage, it's
main point is that one moves from A to B with your pack but if it's
small enough you can stop off at point C on the way.
We aimed to take as small rucksacks as possible knowing it would make
our life happier.
We are both carrying 55L packs. So not tiny but also not these
monstrous of 65L, 70L or even 90L.
Our main problem was the diffrent climates we are visiting. Sticking
with just tropical warm locations means you need less and when it
comes to washing this takes much less time than in cold damp places.
We had those silly trecking flip-flops and shorts as well as windproof
fleaces and thermal underware.
To compare to those we met in Turkey is just not fair. There were
those that were lugging around huge suitcases, one girl had hair
strainers and a hair dryer. Come on!
Yesterday we went to a supermarket to top up on supplys, the down
point to this is the extra weight. This morning we left with
4L of water
400g of detergentt for hand washing
20 ziplock bags (one of the most important things)
Loaf of bread
Pack of cheese slices
Jar of jam
Jar of instant coffee
Box of tea bags
Apples
Oranges
2 tuppawear tubs for left overs

So we might not have the smallest packs but at least we won't be cold,
wet or hungry.

Sent from my iPod

Night train

Day16. 16th of Oct 2009
Location: night train to Buachrest
Status: Feeling first class
Lesson... Lesson free
Authour: Simon

We have left turkey. What a great place to begin our journey. It was
hot, sunny, beautiful, friendly and easy.
Eveything was easy, arranging hostels, night buses doing the tourists
sites ourselves.

Next stop is Buachrest via a 20hour train leaving at 10pm. I was a
little apprehensive about it.
Back in my "rock and roll" days, by rock and roll I mean low budget
contempary dance, we missed a connecting flight on the way to a show
in Italy so had to use a night train. But this is the first night
train I have arranged and I was not sure what to expect.
As we are on the cheap we opted for a choachett, 6 people to a cabin
and no beds. It's about half the price of a sleeper, 2 people to a
cabin.
We got on the train very early, got our stuff arranged on the
assumption that we might have to share. 10mins before departure no one
else in our carraige, 5 mins still no one. Then the off. As we leave
the guard comes to check our tickets. Leaves and comes back with
pillows and sheets and despite the language barrier we establish that
we are the only two in this cabin all the way!
If you book a sleeper you get bunkbeds and a kind of utililty area,
cupboard, mirror, power socket.
We missed out on this utililty section but did not have to use bunkbeds.

As we left a few other guys got on, all seamed to be friends with the
guard. He introduces us to the second guard that will take the
carriage the final 12 hours after the 20hours to Bucharest onto
Belgrade.
There is also a Police officer in our carriage.
Making the beds up and Mr policeman stops by to show us how to drop
the seat down to make a larger more comfy bed. He comes back a second
time to show us how the heating system works and he let's me hold his
gun. Later he beds down himself in the cabin next to ours.
So we booked second class but were the only customers in our carriage
and got our own armed securty! Beat that you pompous first classers.

Of course sleep was light and regularly disturbed. We had our tickets
and passport checked a number of times as we crossed border points.
Only once did we have to leave the train.
We both slept untill 9.30. Had something to eat then went back to
sleep and also had a little nap after lunch.

All in all. Not a bad way to spend 20hours.

Sent from my iPhone

Tale of the ferry boat disartster

Day 14. 14th Oct 2009
Location: Ferry boat
Status: Less sick than some
Lesson: if you tip the cart with wheels on its side it will stop moving.

We left canakkale to Istanbul in the afternoon. There are two
transport options, 5 hour bus or 2.5hour bus and 2 hour ferry.
We picked the latter dispite it being a little more expensive, by
expensive I mean £4 more.

You could tell winter was moving in. The sun was hiding and the wind
was giving it all it had. All this said the ferry ride was smooth
enough untill we got to Istanbul!

I have been thinking about health and safety recently. There is a lot
I want to say on the subject, but this is for another time and what I
want to say will contradict how I feel now about the Health and Safety
policies Trukey has implimented in regards to ferry transportation.

We are chatting away to this nice Turkish banker, there is an
announcement asking drivers to return to their cars as we are about to
dock. We stay where we are as there is no need to poke the bear that
is Davina's well behaving motion sickness by getting up when the boat
is still moving.
We pass what looks like the dock
We pass what looks like the dock, again.
We seam to be going around in circles for about 20mins, almost like we
are looking for a parking space. The manager explains to us that there
is not a lot of space at the dock and the rough sea is making it very
hard to dock. But it will only be 10mins.
So around and around we go. And it starts to gett rough, very rough.
People are getting thrown about and some very sick. Glasses are
smashing.
Then we hit somthing.
Everyone comes up from below, many very scared. Some put their life
jackets on.
But the priority of the staff is not to reassure people, help those
who are struggling, give out sick bags. No, it's more important that
the coffee machine does not fall over! There were 4 members of the
junior staff having to hold the coffee machine and three trollies in
place. One of them was terrified and looking very unwell. Customers
were approching them asking for sick bags or water and while they went
to get these items they had to hold the trollies!
I could not believe it.
So I went up and unable to understand their protests, tipped one of
the trollies over so it no longer moved allowing the poor scared girl
to sit down.

During this whole proccess, 1.5 hours of very rough sea, there was not
one announcement or reassuring word to tell us what was happening or
that it was all ok. And if you wanted water you still had to pay for it.

Davina missed all this fun as she was doing her best not to feel sick.

Finally we docked. It was raining of course. After a short taxi ride
we got lost then to our hostel.

I was looking foward to Istanbul. What we saw was stunning. But I was
very ready to leave. Eveything is expensive and directed at the tourist.

We have escaped istanbul with our lives.

Sent from my iPhone

Outside blue mosque at night