Month: november 2008

Moscow. Puh-ha!
I arrived savely in Moscow. And met many nice Russians.



The first night I stayed in a hostel, for a change. Ann had given me the adress, and it was - for Moscovian measures - very cheap (650 rubles). I took a good shower and had some coffee, before walking around in ...
Working days until Moscow.
The next couple of days are not so interesting for the reader, I guess. I just wrote and wrote. In the morning at the kitchen table, in the afternoon in a cafe, and the last day in a huge bookstore. That is a nice story though. Max helped me to buy a train ticket to ...
St Petersburg #3. Hermitage.
I was in to some culture, and the next day I found some time to realize an old dream of mine: Visiting the Hermitage museum. It is located in seven huge buildings, and its collection is just huge. I concentrated on impressionist paintings, with the side-effect that I didn't feel like an absolute novice in ...
St Petersburg #2. Rock hard.
The next day I rolled in the snow. Why and how remains a little secret here. It caused me to be too late for the Hermitage, and I spent the afternoon writing in a cafe: business as usual. In the evening I met Marikka, the blond one, who took me to a concert of Igor, ...
St. Petersburg #1.
So I arrived in Saint Petersburg in the morning, in a huge train station, and I called Katja, the girl whom I had contacted on the couchsurfing network. It was quite easy to find my way around the city, since there are only four subway lines, neatly intertwined around four large ploshads (squares). So I ...
A 27 Hour Trainride.
In the morning, Alyona brought me to the station with the tram, where a woman sold the tickets on board. The train was already there, but I had to wait to get in. My passport was doublechecked and I entered a clean new waggon (you might be less lucky if you try to take a ...
Murmansk. Alyosha.
I waited my five days in three different places, with three totally different kinds of people, who were all so kind. The last two nights I stayed at Evelyn's, a member of couchsurfing and a German who teaches Russian in Norwegian (!). So I enjoyed a conversation about linguistics, history, politics, which nourished my mind ...
Quantum of Solace at World´s End
Although it is not really that spectacular, Kirkenes has been called the end of the world on several occasions. Of course, during the Cold War, it was obvious. It´s on the edge of Europe, often not on the map (I have to tilt my google maps all the time). That is why the cinema complex ...
Kirkenes. Writing and a Do-it-yourself Crashcourse Russian.
I started to realize that getting to Russia from here was too easy to let the opportunity pass, and I got the necessary documents. The travel agency provided an "invitation". So I was invited without knowing anybody in Russia. Well, they knew me, or they knew all they wanted to know about me, and that ...