Russian ‘round St Petersburg

(This is a coupla weeks late - oh well)

As promised we spent 5 days in St Petersburg in order to validate our Russian visas. There was only a small window of opportunity for us to do this, so we took the opportunity to see this amazing city.

Our taxi driver from the airport was so thrilled that we were from Australia – “My first Australian passengers!”

We did all the tourist essentials and only got off the beaten track occasionally. We’d pre-booked our ‘Hermitage’ tickets so day 2 was spent discovering this extraordinary museum. The extensive collections are truly mind-blowing, but the building – The Winter Palace - itself is worth seeing. The parquetry floors alone are worth visiting for.

Day 1 left us dazed and in need of wine and food. Day 2 we were savvy and got there as the doors opened. We knew the drill and headed straight to the Italian rooms so we could see them again without anyone else around. There is a perfect copy of Raphael’s loggia at the Vatican. So brilliant is the reproduction that it is used as a reference for restoration of the original. Ruth - there are two entire rooms of Titian! Next stop was the French impressionists and Picasso. More than I think I saw in Paris. Astounding. So great to see these without anyone else in the way.

 

The Winter Palace

Tip! Don’t visit on a weekend. Don’t dilly dally when you get inside – head straight to the Italians.

There was loads more and I won’t bore you with the details. We both feel that we never need to go to another gallery or museum – we have seen the best.

Of course we did loads of churches, the fortress and the worlds first indoor shopping mall (1765). Considering the weather, this is not a surprising development.

Pretty Church - St Nicholas

 

Outside the indoor shopping mall

Despite its gruesome name, the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood looks like a 3yr old’s birthday cake. This is the show-stopper church that you see on all the postcards and tourist brochures, but it is wonderful to see. Inside is entirely decked out with stunning mosaics.

 

Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood by day 

by night

And inside

Eating and drinking was an adventure. There are a lot of ‘modern Russian’ style restaurants and cafes, but hard to find traditional food. Night 2 we ate in one of these modern places and ordered a bottle of Nero D’Avola (Sicilian). “Oh sorry we don’t have that” OK, we’ll have the Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. “Oh yes we have that”. He then bought us a bottle of Bardolino. 2 more different Italian wines I cannot imagine. Wine is not understood in Russia and it is EXPENSIVE. We splurged one night in an upmarket Russian restaurant and ate Koulibiaka, a Rabbit and Duck pie. Delicious with a Spanish wine from an obscure wine region we had visited. Another night we ate Georgian food with a Georgian wine. We are so looking forward to visiting Georgia and exploring the wine – the origin of wine-making.

So as you can imagine we ate well, and drank modestly.

That was our first taste of Russia. Our next foray will be through the Caucuses from Georgia around May next year. I’m sure it will feel completely different from this little trip. Watch this space.

 

It was COLD!

Czech – mate!

Our week-long trip to eastern Germany and the Czech republic was fabulous. We spent 2 days in Dresden and simply loved it. What a beautiful city. The buildings are extraordinarily wonderful, full of architectural charm. Mostly rebuilt post-war, it has been authentically reproduced from plans dating back to the 13^th century. The Zwinger Palace is one of the most extraordinary buildings I’ve ever seen. Makes those French kings look like complete amateurs.

 

Zwinger Palace

 

Snapshot of Dresden

Former Cigarette Factory - Dresden

We had a great time in the campsite meeting new friends. Firstly Haydn and Jane from Wales. Haydn had a serious case of camper envy and is now plotting how he can get a Bimobil and drive to Australia. We also met some fun Dutch people simply because they were being driven mad by their German neighbour trying to get their satellite dish to work. Vino with us was a better option.

We also got chummy with an interesting German guy, Uli, in Dresden to do some business and presentations. He’s a wildlife monitoring expert among other things.

We were so happy to be back in our camper lifestyle. We’ve never met anyone staying in hotels, but within 2 days in a campsite we met 5 new friends. Please keep in touch.

Next stop Prague. Prague has such a big reputation as one of the most beautiful cities in the world and of course we loved it, but the crowds really did us in. The Castle was just so busy we didn’t even go inside the enormous gothic Cathedral (within the grounds). The queue would have been an hour long. We did however climb the cathedral tower (287 steps) for wonderful views over the vast castle complex and the city.

Lawrence, of course, loved the Czech Republic as the beer was cheaper than the water.

 

Prague

Prague Castle

So, yes we’ve seen Prague and enjoyed it, but one day was enough. We spent the next night in the elegant Victorian spa town of Karlovy Vary. This town was a joy to wander around with no agenda to follow. We stayed in a funny little backyard campsite, but managed to get back into town for a dinner out. It’s not often we do grown-ups dinner when we are on the road. It was fabulous, sitting by the river, and of course accompanied by a local wine.

 

Pretty Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad)

Now back in Bonn, Autumn has clearly arrived. The leaves are starting to change colour, there’s a real chill in the morning air, berry season is over, porcini season has arrived (bit early I think) and I can’t buy oxtail for love nor money (not sure if that has anything to do with the season).

We’ll move out of our little flat next week, and shack up with Stuart until we leave. We need to do a quick side trip to St Petersburg (to validate visas) then leave here probably latish October.

Depending on weather, we’ll head to Luxembourg and then Dijon.

When in Rome …

We’re just back from our flying visit to the Italian capital. What a blast! It went by in a flurry of eating and drinking and wearing our feet to the bone. You’ll be pleased to know that Rome is still vey fabulous.

We loved catching up with Sally and Denis, having plenty of laughs over many bottles of Prosecco. As we’d really done Rome last December, we just did a few good churches, the eerie Catacombs, and loads of characterful bars.

 

Prosecco was need after the Catacombs

Can't resist an elephant statue

Farewell Lunch

We were staying in a dive near Termini Station, cheap but clean and almost comfortable (apart from the bed and shower!). It was like a sort of ‘Country Warp’ one minute we were in Rome and the next, Bangladesh. Happily we didn’t need to spend much time at our digs. It served the purpose! We prefer to spend our money on good wine.

And now for the weather report. It was HOT and SUNNY!!!  - fabulous with balmy starry nights and a full moon. Now back in Bonn it’s cold and grey – groan. We are planning a Boris trip next week to Dresden and Prague. Pray for sunny weather.

Will report back.

Two Gents in Ghent – and a coupla gals.

We just spent another 2 days in Belgium visiting the cities of Ghent and Brugge. This time we were meeting friends from NZ, Jenny and Paul, who also happened to have been part of our wedding. In fact Jenny was my ‘Bridesmaid’. I now call her Madge.

Both these canal towns are really pretty, with pots of petunias adorning stone bridges and ornate buildings huddled up together.

 

Brugge by day

Brugge by night

Ghent

More Ghent

The most bizarre Virgin painting - note Mary is squirting milk at a Priest

Our next side trip is due to start today, but our flight has been delayed due to an Italian air traffic strike. Probably have been fed the wrong kind of pasta or served a cappuccino after 11am.

This time we are meeting Sally and Dennis in Rome. We only had 8 people at our wedding and we’ll have met 4 of them within a week! Sally and Dennis were also at the big event, and have spent the last month sailing around the Greek Isles.

The weather (yes I need to talk about it constantly!) has started to improve and we had sunshine Belgium – always helps our enjoyment of any place. We managed to drink some bubbly in the late afternoon sunshine.

Anyway, the forecast for Rome is 29 degrees and sunshine EVERYDAY. Can’t wait to feel some real heat. I feel very nervous packing my bag without a coat…

Will report back next week.

Arrivederci.

Jenny and Kate in Ghent