A Sapsan train

April 2013

 

Sapsan trains, Moscow, 2013. 

Most people probably fly from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, but I chose another way, the Sapsan high speed train.  It travelled at a speed of 250 kilometres an hour, taking around five hours to get to the destination.  It was not just a matter of saving time, the railway stations are in the centre of cities, so it is more convenient.  I had also heard that on domestic flights every single piece of luggage would be opened for security.  I also heard that people have claimed their possessions got lost after they had checked in their luggage. 

 

Although the train is convenient, I was confused by the name of the stations; the station in Moscow is called Saint Petersburg and the one in Saint Petersburg is called Moscow. 

 

The name of the station in Moscow, 2013.

Both stations were very similar and simple.  I went through the entrance, passed the security check, and now onto a long platform, where I found my carriage.  An inspector told us to wait in front of the door and I joined the queue.  While I was waiting, a group of Russian came and waited next to my carriage and chatted with the inspector.  Later on, he let them get on the train first even though we got there earlier.  I suppose that because they spoke the same language. 

 

After I got into the train, I wanted to go to the toilet, which was in the next carriage, where the Russian were .  Half of them were busy taking care of their luggage.  Others were standing in the corridor, waiting for their seats.  There were two doors to go into the toilets, but they were block by people leaning against them.  I was wondering how to get in, where a man dressed as a cowboy, that standing at the end of the group, suddenly turned to look at me and then said something with a grin which I did not understand.  Not knowing what to do, I wanted to go back to my seat.  At the same time, he asked me where I wanted to go, I told him and pointed to the toilet.  He spoke to his friends in a loud voice, stepped aside and pushed me forwards.  They stopped talking and laughing and turned to look at me.  The man kept talking until one or two ladies stood aside and let me in. 

 

After this happened, I did not dare to go to the buffet car or stretch my legs when the train stopped at a station.  I felt I was in somebody else's train, I had better sit tight. 

 
 

The train normally travelled around a speed of 200 kms./hr,
from Moscow, 2013.

 


The Sapsan train system map, from Moscow, 2013. 

One of the stations during the route, from Moscow, 2013. 

 

Bridges over the river

April 2013

The Neva river is one of the main rivers in Saint Petersburg.  If you go on a river cruise, you can see some of the beautiful old buildings on both sides of the river, but you also feel the cold and wind, even on a sunny summer's day.

The river is wider than Victoria Harbour in HK.  There is a network of canals running through the city centre, so there are many bridges built over the canals.  The bridges are made of brick, wood, stone, metal and cast iron, and, their height, colour, patterns and structure are different, but they all have a sign showing their height. 

 

There are orange chairs, is my boat,
St. Petersburg, 2013 

As my boat passed under the bridges each time, the local guide would say mind your head, because there was only 2 to 3.8 - meters' headroom; when the river is at high tide, people have to sit down to avoid bending their heads on the bridges, because there was no roof on the upper deck.

When we were sitting in the boat and passing under the bridges, we held up our hands to try to touch the bottom of the bridges and yelled together with excitement.  If anyone was walking over the bridges or wandering on the riverbank, and they heard and saw us, they would wave their hands and smile and say hi, and we would return the greeting.



A group of lovely children chased us,
we waved our hands with greetings,
St. Petersburg, 2013. 

I specially remember a group of children who chased our boat to the end of the riverbank grinning broadly.  I once worried they would fall into the river.

I think laughter bridges the gap between strangers.
 

An adventure restaurant

April 2013

I brought an ocarinas, which is in a shape of owl, and
one of my friends brought the other one,
St. Petersburg, 2013

When you travel aboard, you probably want to explore the local culture and have some adventures.  I am not a person who likes taking big risks.  But you have to eat something during the trip, and I think trying the local food is an exciting experience.  Also, I quite enjoy eating. 

 

Russia is famous for caviar, vegetable soup, and vodka, so I tried some traditional cuisine while I was there. 

 

The starter, St. Petersburg, 2013

The welcome drink and snack consisted of caviar with a cracker and a glass of sparkling white wine.  The starter was fresh tomato with egg mayonnaise, cold sliced meat with fresh sliced cucumber, chopped beef with yogurt, basil and cranberries on top, pickles-tomato, cucumber, garlic and asparagus.  There was vodka, red and white wines to drink.  The most delicious dish was mushrooms in cream sauce.  This was eaten with bread, then we had vegetable soup.  However, the main course, pan-fried chicken with rice was not very good.  The chicken was not too bad but the rice was quite dry and solid as if it was a week old.  The dessert was a pancake with ice-cream and a hot fudge sauce.



Vegetable soup, St. Petersburg, 2013

Delicious mushrooms in cream sauce,
St. Petersburg, 2013

Chicken with rice, St. Petersburg, 2013

Pancake with ice-cream,
St. Petersburg, 2013



Singers with the band, St. Petersburg, 2013

One of the singers holds a percussion instruments,
St. Petersburg, 2013

In general, the food was not my kind of thing, but the mood in the restaurant was distinctly joyful.  This was because there was singers with a band, who lent customers percussion instruments.  Although we did not know what they were singing, we just played in a long time with the music.  When they finished, they sold us the instruments, such as mandolin and ocarinas were in shapes of different birds.  The percussion was a string of ten long pieces of plastic.  You held the first and the last one and shook the hold thing from side to side and make a noise.

The restaurant was in a beautiful wooden house, and had four or five slopping roofs and a round tower with a weathercock made of metal and several pieces different colours of glass.  Beside the restaurant, there was a huge wooden slide, more than four metres high.  Regrettably it was closed. 

 

The restaurant, St. Petersburg, 2013

The huge wooden slide, St. Petersburg, 2013

Inside of the restaurant, St. Petersburg, 2013

Back inside the restaurant, their furniture made of wood from the top to the floor.  It was full of animals specimens - bears, birds, deer, squirrels - They looked alive as if they could make noises.  I thought if the place went dark, they wold walk around or flutter their wings, or even eat in the kitchen. 

Not only did I go far the gastronomic adventures, I felt I could go hunting in the house. 

 

A welcome bread

April 2013


 



A river cruise with dinner, but I didn't take this one,
Moscow, 2013

When I was in Moscow my guide arranged us to go on a river cruise that included dinner. 


 

Before I got onto the boat, the waiter asked me to wait at the pier.  He got back into the boat and then held out a dome shape load of bread about 15-inch diameter, decorated with floral patterns, there was a handful of salt on top.  It is an old custom in Russia for welcoming guests.

 



The welcome bread, Moscow, 2013

He pushed the bread towards me as a sign to take some.  I did not take any but smiled at him and took a picture of it.  He did not know what to do and offered me the bread again, and indicated I should take a piece of bread and dip it in the salt.  Since a lot of people were waiting to take a picture of him and the bread, I did not dare to touch it, I stepped aside and watched them.  The waiter smiled at us and spoke to the captain.  I do not know what they were talking about.  But I think they could not understand why we kept taking photos instead of eating some of the bread.

 

At last a man did what the waiter wanted and took a piece of bread, then everyone else did the same thing.  I had some too and felt the bread was still warm.  I told myself I should have had some when it was just baked.  It would have tasted so much better, I like hot food very much.



The tasty welcoming bread, Moscow, 2013

The most tasty food at the cruise,
except the side of the bun, Moscow, 2013

 

I thought we kept the bread waiting for so long, its feeling toward us was cooled.

Ballet, Swan Lake

April 2013

One of the sculptures in the theatre, St. Petersburg, 2013

Which country has the best ballet?  I do not know.  I was told that it was Russia, but I still do not believe it.

 

While I was in Russia, the local guide sold me a ticket for one of the great classical ballets, Swan Lake.  The price included transport to and from a historic theatre.  The story was about a prince who fall in love with a beautiful white swan at first sight.  Unfortunately, the devil want to marry his daughter, the black swan, to the prince.  Therefore, he imprisons the white swan and takes the black one to the prince's ball and pretends it was the white one.  For some reason, the prince cannot tell the difference between the black one and the white one.  In the end, the prince rescued the white swan and they lived happily ever after.

 

The hall at the theatre, St. Petersburg, 2013

The entrance to the theatre was well worn and narrow - more like a back door.  But the hall, the stage and the stalls were in good condition.  I was eager to see the show.  Maybe it was because it was the first time I had watched the balled, or maybe because Russia is famous for ballet, or maybe it was just because the ticket was very expensive.

 

However, I was very disappointed.  I felt only the prima ballerina was any good; some of the ballet dancers made mistakes, or could not follow the music, or get stage fright. 

 

When I got back to HK, I found out from the web that the theatre was a part of an educational institution.  So the dancers must have been students.  Also, the price of the ticket shown on the website was a third of the price I paid!

 

Our Russian guide had seemed very trustworthy, so I believed her when she said the ballet was worth watching, but she tricked us in to paying a lot of money to see drama students.  She must have swanned off home happily at the end of the evening.

This is a scale model of the theatre, St. Petersburg, 2013

The band at that night, St. Petersburg, 2013

There were many beautiful pictures hanging in the theatre.
This was one of my favourite, St. Petersburg, 2013

 

Tricks in a circus

April 2013



A lot of people were going to the circus, Moscow, 2013

I have seen a circus twice, but this was the first time I have seen one with animals.  Unfortunately my seat was next to the entrance, whether the performers and the animals come on the stage, so it blocked my view and I could only see half of the stage. 

 

The stage, Moscow, 2013

In the first act we saw tight-rope walkers, trapeze artistes and people jumping up and down through ladders.  Two clowns amused the audience with their tricks while they were setting up the next acts. 

 

This consisted the five or six dogs jumping on to the back of a horse one by one.  I was worried the horse would kick the dogs into the air.

 

In the final part there were four elephants - three large and one small.  They stood on one leg for around a minute, and then rolled onto their backs.  They also walked on their hind legs, and put their fore legs on the shoulders the ones in front.  I could see these were very difficult for them.  When I saw the small one crowing in between the legs of the others, I felt sorry for it.  It was difficult for it to bend its legs and it had to bear its body weight.  It did not have to crawl very far compared with its body length, but I was sure it would have been happier if the path had been shorter. 

 

On the other hand, they were running their daily bread and proving that they were not white elephants.  The elephants are one of the animals that can do tricks. 

A statue of the father of a circus, Moscow, 2013

You could take a picture with these animals, if you paid for it. 
Moscow, 2013

A corner of the circus, Moscow, 2013