Author: kamiel79

August 9. A short night later.
A short night later, Olga and I say goodbye and I drag my backpack once again through the metro system of Saint Petersburg, this time to hotel Oktobrskaya where the minibuses to Helsinki leave. Olga has even made a reservation for me and a very Russian looking man in a jean jacket approached me and ...
August 8. Pushkin and the Vegetarian in the box.
Happy birthday Caspar! Saint Petersburg is very pretty. Today, we visit a flea market with many interesting things on display. I remember a Russian magazine with Madonna the popsinger on its cover, lots of old clothes, binoculars, children's toys, old photo cameras, fur coats, vantage prams, records, engine parts. I socially walk on but feel ...
August 7. A Neva ending boatride.
Today we take a beautiful boatride. This is not supposed to be a touristic site but the boatride through the canals of St. Petersburg, passing all the beautiful facades and museums, the rattling Russian voice - don't forget to bring your Russian friends! - explains about the house where Pushkin lived, the tsar's palaces, the ...
August 6. St. Petersburg, Parks, Pancakes.
Bryndis comes, the interesting girl from Iceland. Together we explore this amazing city some more, walk through her parks, feel happy as we breathe the atmosphere of this masterpiece of architecture. It is almost unimaginable that this place has been a swamp only three centuries ago. At home I make pancakes, just to do something ...
August 5.
And so I arrive in Saint Petersburg. The trainride was nice as always. I have been listening to audiobooks and sleeping a little bit. At the station, Olga, my couchsurfing host is waiting for me. I am so grateful to her! We take a metro to Olga's place. Later we walk around her city. Pretty. ...
August 4. Rainy day writing and a dialogue.
Staying overnight in coffee place, trying to work, trying to write until getting tired, walking to the Red Square waiting for Daniela she comes later and we miss each other, going back to writing, listening to Piazolla on an mp3-player, meeting Ann again and having a very nice dinner with friends. Stop, present continuous, that ...
August 3. Beauty at Smolenskaya.
Lice have attacked me. I know now where the itching is coming from and go to a pharmacy. Pointing at my head and saying the Russian word "Botsch" is enough to make the woman open a drawer and get me a Glaxo-box with a lot of Cyrillic on it, and funny pictures of what I ...
August 2. The bucket and the well.

A lazy sunday. I wake up insanely late in the house of incredibly hospitable Maria and her mother, after good dreams about getting water at the well. They have well in the garden which they actually use for their drinking water. It is the first time I have ever taken water from a well, ...
August 1. Two extremes.

August begins in a Moscow appartment, overlooking the city from the 17th floor. I travel outside of the city today, and feel like Pushkin traveling to the estates of his father and mother. My original plan was to visit Vladimir, but it is too late for that. So instead I buy a ticket to ...