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For those joining my Dad in GoogleEarth questing, my path has been a gorgeous one that Irecommend to any adventurer via rail or desktop. My footprints can be found at all of the following, connected by absolutely delightful local rail journeys including many overnighters. Can’t wait to travel this way again…and again!
Vladivostok (3 days)
Khabarovsk (3 days)
Irkutsk (3 days)
Baikal & Olkhon Island (7 days)
(back to Irkutsk for 2 days)
Ulan Ude (4 days)into Mongolia, Ulan Bataar (3 days) & national parks in surrounding steppe (3 days)
(back to Ulan Ude for 2 days)
Krasnoyarsk (4 days)
Kazan (5 days)
Yekaterinburg (3 days)
Nizhny-Novgorod (3 days)
Suzdal (7 days)
Moscow (5 days)
Yaroslavl (2 days)
Rostov-Yaroslavski (2 days)
(back to Moscow for 1 day)
St. Petersburg (35 days!)
Some sketches since last Travel Shoes entry…
Kazan, a city of many cultures and faiths, a peaceful & rich environment. Kazan’s central kremlin includes: an Orthodox church which certainly descended from the sky, all creamy and light with white swirling arches, full blue drops, and luminous gold stars; across the small square from a palatial mosque with cheerful blue pencil points to the heavens and serious crystal inside; facing between
them the leaning tower of a medieval monastery and the state offices of this capital of the Tatar Republic (the richest republic in Russia, rubles from oil); all protected in a friendly little enclave by medieval fortress walls overlooking the rest of the lovely city. In other devoted practice, Kazan is the “sports capital” of Russia. Polished for the prestigious Universidad Sports Expo 2013, the city center was sparkling with fresh pastel edifaces, manicured flower beds, and snappy looking folk (vagabonds removed prior to games).
For instance, I discovered the “anti-café”, a Russian concept which has spread to the major cities – hidden in cool loft-spaces in the city center without advertising, these are beautifully inviting & comfortable creative spaces where patrons pay for time – 1 ruble per minute (about $2/hour) – and can enjoy as much tea, coffee, cookies, and their own byo food as they want, with evening events like game night, open mic, performance art, gallery, language circles, etc. NPR got on to this gig My favorite “Clockface” has a fun website - This anti-café space was fascinating & powerful to me -- I’m contemplating opening a Cambridge branch!
Extra love to Noor & Zach from Kazan, where I was blowing many kisses on their wedding day!
A different kind of Russian gem nestled in Suzdal, a tiny town with deep history and unbelievable rusticly charming character winding the rutted tracks along the river and cobbling between countless tiny old churches. The churches were like nothing I’ve seen, truly one on every lane, many abandoned to the pigeons winging low, others filled with candles and incense and brightly scarved babushkas murmuring prayers and news to their friends in church or setting homecooking on a potluck table. Every church has its own unique architectural style, but all so light and strong at once, true Russian style, starkly human and divine against the dramatic gray skies.
In Suzdal’s cobbled main square, under the medieval belltower and arching market passageways, a row of well-padded babushka sell their onions & apples, parsley & cucumbers,
In Suzdal I also expanded my Russian & my adventure: I pieced together an “I love homestay”/ “Я ЛЮбЛЮ Семье…” note in Russian, explaining myself & the quiet room I sought as an alternative to the (uncharacteristically) 
impersonal traveler’s hostel where I initially parked, and took this note to the babushka at the outdoor market in Suzdal… One lady passed it to another, they conferred over cucumbers & sauerkraut, someone phoned Tania, the hairdresser, who picked me up and brought me to her quiet homey flat where she has a neighboring unit for short term rent. I stayed a week & enjoyed painting, cooking, gazing out my window past her collective garden to the moors & berry bogs dotted with spires & monastery bells. I was grateful for my Blundstones walking the curvy muddy roads past wooden cottages and traditional rural life in this sleepy beautiful town. Truly a “step back to old Russia”.In a Nizhny-Novgorod café I met a sweet new friend, Irina; over honey cake & tea, she rapturously recounted to me the romance of the country town of Rostov-Yaroslavski, just a few hours from Moscow: I must go there! She recommended her favorite place to stay, and I rolled out there at the next opportunity.
Indeed, Rosotov-Yaroslavski is magic: of all the cathedrals I’ve witnessed in Russia, this touchedme most. Glowing façade and silver spires against intense clouds… The bellkeeper took me up a tiny winding stair to the belltower, in a world truly between heaven and earth, home to countless tons of lightly ringing bells and views around the tiny medieval hamlet town, we and the birds look out at the tops of heads & houses.
Rostov-Yaroslavski is a living monastery, where monks decked in long black robes and wispy beards carry briefcases and unlock car doors, monastery chambers are used for residence as well as guest accommodation & café & children’s theatre, and a huge veggie garden inside the monastery walls is mulched by the fellow scurrying about with his wheelbarrow brimming with divine compost. The interior of the chapel is in the midst of renovation, uncovering centuries of frescoes & buried saints, which gives this place an added feeling of ongoing tradition, new life on old paths.
Sliding into Moscow, my eyes were wide at the big city… but my heart was sad to have Siberia so far behind me, for now. Moscow welcomed me with a more stately & kind handshake than I necessarily expected, as practically everyone I’ve met outside of Moscow rolls their eyes at this behemoth. Palatial museum-quality subways make the urban safari quite civilized. Snazzy Red Square towers were ribboned off preciously while I was there for the Sochi torch to alight. A classic town Russian banya taught me that fire, plants, honey, & water nourish rosy skin. Highways where city streets ought to be ran me around in circles –
sometimes I had to retreat to those fancy subways just to cross the street!
are lined in low creamy buildings rich in style & history, horses and griffons and mermaids live in statuesque drama on bridges everywhere, good food & pleasant cafes are easy to come by on a tiny budget, culture vibrates in the air among phenomenal museums, and the pace of life is full but peaceful.
Thanks to the great generosity of my friend Seva and his family, I’m staying at the flat of his extended family in a cool room filled with classic Russian character – heavy stone façade, thick doors, interior walls hung with great original art, animal skins, & dusty gilt deco wallpaper, windows overlooking one of the most beautiful huge parks in the city, generations coming and going. Lucky! As usual!
My Pete days are filling with drawing & painting in museums & cool cafes, getting to know the city by foot, museum-hopping, and making some new friends. This is an absolutely beautiful life to me, and its tempo fits perfectly with Petersburg habitat. Five weeks here will just not be enough…