Next stop: Mongolia!!

Also, Farrah Fawcett AND Billy Mays died too???? What is going on???

But in other news, we leave today on a train to Mongolia, arrive tomorrow, and then will be in non-internet-accessible places until Thursday night July 2nd. Have no fears!

And another thing -- has anyone heard of the movie "The Proposal"? There are signs for it all over Russia and we are confused. Was it even released in the U.S.?

ALIVE IN ULAN-UDYE.

Yes, here we are. Got in last night, staying at a place called "Homestay of Valeria" which is just a woman's apartment with a room she rents out. She made us delicious kasha though from her traditional recipe and we fell in love, especially with the tiger-print bedspreads in our room. We got in later so by the time we went out to walk around things were closing (like Irkutsk, Ulan-Udye is basically a small town in disguise as a city) but we got to see the LARGEST LENIN HEAD IN THE UNIVERSE (Lonely Planet told us it was the largest in Russia... and where else would they possiby have a larger Lenin head?). So that was cool. And we had breakfast out this morning at a Safari (???) themed coffeeshop. Well, their omlets were good.

Next stops: Ulan-Udye and then into Mongolia...

... before my visa (finally) expires July 1st!!!

We're in Irkutsk again for one more night tonight, then tomorrow morning we take a day train to Ulan-Udye (to see the views of Baikal one more time!). So tomorrow night we'll be in Ulan-Udye (probably one more internet check there), and then the next night we'll be on the train leaving Russia and going into Mongolia. On July 30th we'll be in Mongolia, arriving in Ulaanbaatar, but then Meri organized a guide/excursion situation to show us around and then take us outside of the city to spend one night in a yurt, and then one night camping, but the night of July 2nd we'll be staying in a hostel in Ulaanbaatar and we will (hopefully) have internet again there, so that should be the next update. Just FYI, SO DON'T WORRY.

Oh! And a time update: Omsk was 3 hours ahead of Moscow time (11 hours ahead of EST) and now Irkutsk, Olkhon Island, Ulan-Udye, Ulaanbaatar, Beijing & Shanghai (love how China is all one time zone) are all 5 hours ahead of Moscow time (13 hours ahead of EST). So if you're wondering what time it is where I am ever, the easiest thing to do is switch the am to pm or the pm to am and then add 1 hour. For example, 11:45PM here = 10:45AM where you are.

ALIVE IN IRKUTSK (again).

I go to Olkhon Island for two days and Michael Jackson dies??? What the fuck?!???

What is the world coming to??

Well, as I digest and accept this news, let me tell you what we've been doing that has kept us so out of the loop of celebrity news.

Let's go back in time a little, shall we?

EKATERINBURG: Last you heard of that city, I was alive in it and we were off to explore. If I judged Irkutsk too harshly last time, some of that was within reason because Irkutsk is a little, well, seedy, as the guidebook suggests, and has its quirks, and I had reason for being judgemental due to the timing of the program, etc. But I definitely was way way WAY too hard on Ekaterinbug, probably due to jetlag (we flew in there from Germany) and due to the fact the only other place I had been in Russia before that was St. Petersbug which, of course, nothing holds a candle to in my mind. But after the disappointments of Nizhnii Novgorod, Ekaterinburg was WONDERFUL. It helped that we stayed at such a lovely hostel, but also Meri and I just had such a nice day. The weather was gorgeous (which always helps), and we went first to the photography museum which wasn't just a history of photography museum like all of the ones I hit up in the Baltic states last August, but a real photo gallery with these gorgeous, gorgeous photographs by photographers from all different countries all focused around the themes of immigrants and people living on borders in Europe and Asia. Basically: awesome travel photography. I went nuts. My favorite ones were about people who break up old ships in Bangledesh and people who live on the Chinese/Russian border. An awesome exhibit. We walked around more, saw the place where the Romanovs were shot, wandered through Geological Alley (some big unlabeled rocks in a dirty park), and then, most importantly, got our final fill of Stolle as the only other Stolle location in Russia that isn't in Petersburg or Moscow is in, none other than, Ekaterinburg. We had our little selection of perogi and felt wonderful and content as we wandered off to our next train.

GETTING TO OMSK: Painless overnight train ride in the luxuries of kupe (not really that different or better, actually) as it was the only ticket I couldn't get platzkart for. One other person in our cabin, a 26 year old man who said he was a doctor who wanted to chat a lot because he'd already been on the train for two days and was bored. But he drank tea all night and left us alone which is all that matters.

OMSK: We got to Omsk the next morning after leaving Ekaterinburg with basically low to no expectations. Therefore, unlike with Nizhnii Novgorod (which has become our basis for anything vaguely shitty, which, fortunately, we haven't had much of since then) we were in no way disappointed. In fact we were pleasantly surprised and quite content when we found an only-slightly-dirty beach by the river in Omsk to sit on (and, yes, I put sunscreen on my face and shoulders but neglected my legs and feet...?? and got a burn?? of course??!!) and drink iced coffee and then get back on our train.

GETTING TO IRKUTSK: We then spent a very long time on the train. Two nights and a full day. I finished reading Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides -- highly recommend it (thanks, Gen, for loaning me your copy. Meri has it now, then it will be abandoned somewhere in China, probably.) Our platzkart car was good, full of pleasant people who didn't harass us or judge us but who were friendly. Lots of cute sneezing children though, so lots of Meri's hand sanitzer was used.

IRKUTSK: I already told you about our first day there. It was good, despite not getting to Bolshie Koty.

OLKHON ISLAND: And then, the majesty, the wonder, of Olkhon Island. The original plan was to camp.... but our tent was too heavy and got left behind in.... Moscow. So instead we stayed at this WONDERFUL place called Nikita's Homestead (run by a former tennis-table champion), SO HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. They give you a room in a little cabin with quilts and homey wonderfullness and the cost of the place includes three homecooked meals every day by sweet Russian girls who must only be 17. It was great, and it's about three feet from the famous Shaman rock. It takes about 6/7 hours to get to Olkhon from Irkutsk by a minibus, so we arrived in the early evening of our first night, and after dinner Meri and I wandered around the rock, sitting on the pebbly beach, in awe that we had made it all the way there. That was when I started to feel like maybe I have actually learned a fair amount of Russian this year. Compared to the last time I was at Baikal, I could barely introduce myself and count, let alone organize buying train tickets to get me all the way from St. Petersburg to Mongolia, on our own, without Wellesley College chaperones. So I felt fairly accomplished, and kind of overwhelmed with happiness that I had actually made it back to Baikal, but also sad that we didn't get more time there because of my visa expiring and all that.... but I know now that if I made it back once, I can certainly get back there again. So on our full day at Baikal, we wandered mostly on the beach, and I christened my morzhika bathing suit by dunking into the freezing, freezing, FREEZING Baikal waters (see below).


That was pretty much the extent of our day, wandering in the partially sunshine blue and clouds, but it was wonderful, and I can't wait already to go back to Baikal again. It's such a beautiful place. We spent one more night at Nikita's and then came back to Irkutsk today.

AND BACK IN IRKUTSK: By the time our minibus got us back into the city today we had missed the 2:45PM ferry to Bolshie Koty, so alas, that was the one thing we did not get to do in our time around Baikal. But we've been wandering more around Irkutsk, enjoying the juxstaposition (spelling??) of the little wooden houses next to the Soviet skyscrapers, drinking coffee, preparing to get back on trains again.

ALIVE IN IRKUTSK.

Yes, that's right. Back to everyone's favorite "Paris of Siberia." I must admit, I was a little too hard on Irkutsk the last time I was here. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that we visited at the end of our Siberian Odyssey and we were tired and sick of each other and stayed in a weird dorm, etc, etc, etc, it got a bad rap, but I've actually been having a nice day today in Irkutsk despite our failing attempt to get to Bolshie Koty on the hydrofoil today. By the time we got off the train, got to the hostel where we are staying tonight, dropped off our stuff, figured out where the hell we were, took a marshrutka to the hydrofoil station, realized we had gotten off about 3 miles too early and walked a wee bit (including the entire length of the Angara Dam which is no less than 2km long), we had, clearly, missed all the hydrofoils for the day to Bolshie Koty. But we hope to catch one on our other day back in Irkutsk, the night before we go to Ulan-Udye. Anyway, after doing all that and being hot and disappointed about our lack of a day trip, we realized we were right next to none other than a Mexican restaurant, not recommended by Lonely Planet and therefore actually still operating and delicious and wonderful called HOLA! MEXICO (remember Baikal kids??) and had a great little lunch. And then, check this, adding to things I never had the time to do in Irkutsk the last time I was here, Meri and I went and saw the LIVE NERPA SHOW of the amazing duo -- Tito and Nessie! (Yes, like the Loch Ness Monster.) So, pretty much, the best day ever in Irkutsk. We paused temporarily at an internet cafe where we now are but about to leave because it is so so so hot in here, off to explore Irkutsk further before heading up to Olkhon Island tomorrow for two nights. But first, one last very important thing....


HAPPY BIRTHDAY NUNNI!!!
I LOVE YOU!
SORRY I MISSED IT TWO YEARS IN A ROW!
(Meri says happy birthday too!)

Next stops: Omsk, Irkutsk, and the infamous Lake Baikal...

Oops. Meant to post this before leaving Ekaterinburg. Nevermind because I am now....

ALIVE IN EKATERINBURG.

We made it alive to Ekaterinburg after three nights in a row on the train!

Each of our train rides was special in its own way.... our train from Moscow to Nizhnii Novgorod was brand new and quite fancy and full of quiet, serious Moscovites reading quiet, serious books. Our train from Nizhnii Novgorod to Kazan put us in a platz-kart wagon nearly entirely full (minus two little girls and their parents and about three old women) of 18 year old Russian soliders who had clearly been lectured by their officer to leave us alone and be quiet because they certainly did. Our train last night from Kazan to Ekaterinburg was hot as hell and Meri and I had two top bunks with three judgemental babushki below us who didn't want the window open for fear of a draft, so Meri and I -- in order not to pass out from heat stroke -- had to wait until they were all asleep to reopen the window.

We made it to our hostel in Ekaterinburg though finally, at long last, or should I say "hostel" because it is actually just a Russian apartment with two sets of bunk beds and one twin bed, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a clunky PC from the 90s (which I am currently on) run by two adorable Russian women who speak in cute, accented English who can't be more than 5 years older than us. It's actually really wonderful because Meri and I feel like we are just getting to relax in our own little apartment for the night before carrying on. We don't have to deal with one of those typically hostely-hostels full of gregarious Australians who want to chat and go for a bar crawl. We made coffee in the kitchen and have been using the wonderful shower (despite the fact that all the water in Ekat smells like sulphur, after not showering since Moscow we really don't give a shit) and watching Russian TV and figuring out our plans for tomorrow and when we get to Baikal.

As for our last two stops...

Nizhnii Novgorod, I had heard, by some person, that it was the "most beautiful city in Russia." Either we hit the completely wrong parts (though we walked along the main pedestrian street and around the Kremlin) or the weather really didn't do it justice, but I have a slightly different opinion of that city.... it was also just one of those "Russian" days where everything goes wrong. Things that we thought would be open were closed, the Mexican restaurant we wanted to find that had been recommended by Lonely Planet was closed for remont, the pizza place recommended by Lonely Planet was bad, we couldn't find postcards that didn't come in packs of 10 or have writing all over the back, the park we wanted to go to was actually just a pile of dirt and a tree, it started to rain....

But for everything that was lame about Nizhnii, Kazan was even better. We waited out the rain in the morning and spent some time reading and drinking tea in the local McDonald's (the only thing open at 6:30AM when we arrived on our train) and then spent a beautiful, sunny, cloudly blue day in Kazan just walking around. Kazan also has a pedestrian street and a Kremlin, but for whatever reason it is just SO MUCH COOLER than Nizhnii. No offense if you like Nizhnii. Kazan is the capital of Russia's Autonomous Region of Tartarstan and so all the signs are bilingual in Russian and in the Tartar language which is cool. The city is also full of mosques due to the Muslim population and has a Middle Eastern kind of vibe which was a change from the typical Russian cities we'd been inhabiting. We didn't even go into any museums (we've been feeling kind of burnt out of museums) but just walked around looking at everything and enjoying ourselves thoroughly.

As for Ekaterinburg, I already saw and said hi to the hotel we stayed at on the Wellesley trip two years ago but that's about it. After we take some time to shower and reorganize our lives, we'll go out and explore.

Time update: Ekaterinburg is two hours ahead of Moscow time, meaning I'm now 10 hours ahead of most of you reading this blog. Good morning!

Next stops: Nizhnii Novgorod, Kazan and Ekaterinburg.

After two full days in Moscow, we'll be spending the next three nights on trains.... tonight we go to Nizhnii Novgorod, tomorrow night we go to Kazan, and the night after we go to Ekaterinburg. That means that the next time we will hopefully have access to both the internet and a shower (божи мой!) will be on the 20th.

It poured today, but was gorgeous and in the 80s yesterday allowing us nice weather to sit by Patriarch Pond and feed baby swans and then wander all over the city into Red Square. The weather today didn't deter us though from seeing Lenin's dead body (we're looking forward to more dead communist leaders on display in China) and going to the New Tretyakov Gallery (love of my life -- they had a whole exhibit of propaganda posters from the Soviet Union all the way through now, plus the Russian Immigrant Artists in America show that I saw with my parents and Louis at the Russian Museum) and discovering the wonders of the STARLITE DINER the kind of American diner I have been fantasizing about for over a year now.

Anyway, we're off to get our train.

FAREWELL FOR NOW.

ALIVE IN MOSCOW.

Back at the Godzilla's hostel for the third time. WOOHOO.

One leg of our journey down!

Last of e.b. actually in p.b.

But not the end. Definitely not.

I've been really crazy busy in the last two weeks.... before June 10th it was all about saying good bye to Louis and the semester ending and doing things Louis wanted to do before he took off and preparing for Meri to come. It never felt like I was actually leaving, or at least I didn't let myself think about the fact I was. I was focused more on the people I am closest to leaving and arriving (within 36 hours of each other, that was an emotional mind fuck).

Now, over the past five days, it is starting to really sink in that I am going and so I have made myself incredibly busy trying to do everything, yes EVERYTHING ("I think you hold yourself to too high of a standard of things to get done" -- Meri), before we take off. We've been so busy I haven't had time to write in my REAL journal (you know what kind of busy I must be if that is the case, I was freaking out about it for a while but finally gave up and decided to just catch up tonight on the train. Meri has been talking me down about it being ok if I miss a day or a week of journaling because I have been too busy actually living my life) let alone on this blog, though I actually haven't been able to anyway because for some reason the internet at our house works fine except on all Google-related sites (gmail, blogger, youtube, basically the most important things).

I've been taking Meri to all my favorite places -- because I want to share them with her but also because I want to go to all of them one last time. We've been to the Russian Museum, the 3rd floor of the Hermitage (the French impressionists), the Boris Smelov photo exhibit, we've eaten at Stolle twice, we had Georgian food, we bought shit at Udelnaya that we will have to now carry around the globe with us, we saw Don Quixote at the Mariinsky, we've hung out with Katya and Olga and Misha and Stas a bunch, we've drank champagne while sitting by the Fontanka, we've walked through the Summer Gardens, the Smolenskoe Cemetery, and basically all over the entire city. All my favorite things.

We've also been doing a lot of things I have been meaning to do but hadn't yet -- we took a boat tour but at night (12:30AM - 2:30AM) to watch the bridges actually go up (I'd only seen them when they were already up), I actually go up the nerve to have my photo taken with the creepy racist character that hands out fliers for the sushi place near my house, and to ask the man who sells cigarette extension-holders if I could photograph him as well, and I bought flowers from the woman who always sits near my house.

I also finally did my fake wedding project, something I dreamed up at the end of last semester -- we started it with Louis on the one day that he and Meri overlapped, and Meri and I finished it ourselves the other night. We paraded all over the city with two Russian rip-off Barbie dolls in bridge & groom garb, Louis and Meri sprinkling rice on them as I took pictures of them in front of all the major sights: Church of Spilled Blood, St. Isaac's, the Bronze Horseman, Kazanskii Sobor, the Strelka, Peter & Paul's Fortress, etc. The pictures turned out even better than I thought they ever would (thanks to my helpers, I am certain) and really wanted to post them up here before I left but I definitely will not have time. Our train to Moscow leaves tonight at11:00PM which is in exactly six hours from now.

I will also not have time before I leave to post the last 11 self portraits from my project. Friday June 12th was my one-year anniversary of when I went to JFK, Saturday June 13th was my one-year anniversary of arriving in Russia, and Sunday June 14th was my one-year anniversary of when I moved into my host family, met Olga and Katya and Misha, and began my self portrait project. We had a "party shot" for my 365th photo (I somehow, by some miracle, despite the insanity and frequent lack of a routine for my life in Russia, never missed a day) of me, Meri, Adams and Lauren (all the current residents of my apartment, plus Louis's shirt so he was there in spirit) popping champagne and sipping mimosas.

But do not worry, in good time you will see all of these photos. And this entry is not the end of my "e.b. in p.b." blog. Even though I no longer will be "in p.b.", I will continue to update the blog as Meri and I travel when I can, just to let you all know I am still alive and we are in one piece. And then, when home again in August, bored and nostalgic and editing through thousands of photos, I will be sure to write some retrospective entries about Petersburg.

But this will be it for entries from Petersbug. I can't believe I am leaving tonight, I can't believe it has been a year already. Parts of it were amazing, parts of it really sucked, some parts dragged, but most of it completely flew by and I am sad to be leaving, but not that sad because I know I will be back one day, probably not that long from now. It's funny to me that the two places I know best in the world are now the Greater Boston Area and St. Petersburg, Russia. How random is that, but I love this city and will make a point to come back at least for visits for the rest of my life.

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, CREATION OF PETER THE GREAT!

Back! Alive! Apologies for the huge internet FAIL.

So, yeah, my "ALIVE IN ________" posts while traveling totally failed due to a lack of working internet at various hostels slash boats, but know that I am safely back in St. Petersburg as of Tuesday night and have been busy ever since doing things such as going to the FREE DURAN DURAN CONCERT ON PALACE SQUARE last night.

Check that shit out, oh yeah, I saw Duran Duran in the pouring rain in.... St. Petersburg, Russia.... by the Hermitage??? It was a very strange experience in general, then the weird combination of Russians either dancing frantically by jumping straight up and down or simply standing very still and looking completely bored made everything just pretty surreal and strange.... a fairly decent-sized group of Smolny people plus Bryan and Yulia came, but due to the rain everyone left one by one until it was just me, Louis and Bryan left dancing to the encore of "Rio."

As for the trip though, it was really really great. I hadn't been in Scandinavia (not counting my brief jaunt in Helsinki in August with Emma) since the trip with Nunni, Puppy & Mom in 2005 -- the same trip when I first went to Russia and St. Petersburg -- and it was great to go back. We covered more or less the same route: St. Petersburg --> Helsinki --> Stockholm --> Oslo --> Stockholm --> Helsinki --> Vyborg --> St. Petersburg. Over the course of the week we traveled on two ferries (from Helsinki to Stockholm and back), one long-distance train (Helsinki to Vyborg), one commuter train (Vyborg to St. Petersburg), three long-distance buses (St. Petersburg to Helsinki and then the route between Oslo and Stockhom), numerous local urban buses (in Oslo), a metro (in Stockholm), and a whole bunch of local city trams (in Helsinki and Stockholm). 

Louis and I did a lot of things that relived the trip with N&P&M -- the ferry/booze cruise we took between Helsinki and Stockholm I think was the same exactly ship company, Viking Line, as last time; in Stockholm we spent the day walking around the zoo on the top of the hill, gazing at bears and reindeer like we did that night; we kept finding places where I had taken photos before on the last trip, like with the statue of the little boy sticking his tongue out and his hands in his ears; we ate breakfast and lunch in the fish market in Helsinki, where Emma and I also went in August; in Oslo we visited Frogner Park multiple times which was a huge highlight for me -- I was so excited to be back there, I had loved that park when I first visited it in 2005, and I had shot at least two rolls of black and white film there on that trip, but then all that black and white film got ruined when I tried to develop it with old developer upon arriving home.... all year I had hoped I would make it back to Oslo (as it isn't very far from here at all, though it is in the same time zone as England!) to reshoot those rolls, and did I ever.... I shot 8 rolls of film on the trip and I think that 6 of them were in Fronger Park alone. Hopefully these rolls will come out! We'll see on Monday if the women at the Kodak store don't let me down...

We also did a lot of things I hadn't done before though which was great. Louis really wanted to see the Sibelius monument in Helsinki, and we ended up spending most of our day in Helsinki just sitting in the beautiful park there watching hilarious tour groups of retired Americans probably from Palm Beach flood the scene in waves. We also rented bikes on our last day in Oslo and biked all over the city to Frogner Park again and then around the grassy paths of the park (and no, Mom, I did not fall and kill myself in the least). On our way back to St. Petersburg from Helsinki we stopped and spent the night in the elusive Vyborg, Russia -- the town where there had been TWO cultural excursions, one this summer and one this semester, both of which Louis and I missed and felt compelled to make up -- I think we had much more fun in Vyborg on our own then we ever would have on the excursion, we went to the top of the castle and enjoyed the view and then rented a row boat and paddled around for an hour. And then, perhaps the best part of the whole trip, was the day in Oslo we took the ferry out to one of the many little green gems of islands in the Oslo Fjord and hung out on the beach and christened the морж and моржиха swimsuits in the freezing water (though, clearly, not as freezy as the Neva in March).

There are a shit ton of other hilarious and great photos from the trip, if I may say so myself, over 2000 of digital alone and then those 8 rolls of film, but alas, you'll just have to wait until August to see them all. PATIENCE, MY FRIENDS (myself included). Until then, here are the self portraits from the past ten days or so. 

Over all it was a great fucking trip. So beautiful, so much fun, so clean, so expensive (Oslo! Is! Out! Of! Control! if you go to Oslo keep in mind that TGI Friday's is NOT as cheap as you think it is!), the travel company was excellent, and all and all.... a wonderful time despite one mild sunburn on my left shoulder from that day of biking. Being back now in St. Petersburg though is a little overwhelming. It is already Friday, June 5th.... Adams arrives today to start his internship on the Bard-Smolny Summer Program, Meri gets her ass to St. Petersburg on Monday, Louis and the group flight leave on Wednesday..... and then Meri and I leave on the 15th, exactly ten days from now, on our crazy, crazy adventure.... 

TIME IS RUNNING OUT.

I BETTER GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND GO ENJOY MY LAST FEW DAYS.