I love those trains Terry - beautiful they are and so clean ! The model village is wonderful too In fact - Russia is beautiful
A Day Trip To Finland The trip to Finland involved a lot of time on the bus and a lot of shopping, though it is essentially a shopping trip for Russians, and the reason Finland hands out Schengen visas much to the disgust of the French who are extremely rigid on giving out theirs. The return fare is only $12 so a cheap day out and but for the border controls it would be only 2.5 hours each way for the 140 mile journey. Due to the delay on the outgoing journey plus almost 2 hours in a couple of Hypermarkets we only got 3 hours in Lappeenranta, though to be honest that is more than enough. It's a string of shopping arcades and a small modern town which overlooks a marina and some lakes, so in summer much more pleasant. Here are a few photos of the day, the first two from the bus window, though in colour most Finnish countryside comes out in monochrome in winter. The first hypermarket which stocks everything you can imagine from household goods to food to clothes and lots of fresh fish One of the walkways between the shopping malls Some people watching (my favourite occupation) in one mall
.......Lisa browsing in a seasonal Christmas store A newly opened M & S store which we Brits love so much..
Looks fab there - especially like Robert's Coffee with a twinkle in his eye Now, I'm guessing Ike would like a trip there too - all that snow !
A few photos of our walk back from the bus stop in St.Petersburg. The famous "Moscow Railway Terminus" where the line to Moscow and the south starts...... The New Year decorations on Lisa's road Trying to be arty taking a photo though a steamed up window of a tram which drew alongside the bus ...
Whoops, got my reply in the wrong place. @Joe Riley needs to see this one for sure Great pics @Terry Page so fun to get to see Finland's shops and countryside, cities etc. Love it, almost like being there, not quite but almost Also love how they decorate, and all the lights are so pretty at night I mean from the shops etc.
A Long Weekend In Sortavala Here are a few pics of the start of our long weekend, the departure station in St.Petersburg .............en route.........and arrival..... Tea and coffee served by the coach attendant, just the same as it used to be a century ago, except the samovar has been replaced by an electric boiler. Each carriage still has it's own Babushka looking after you............all for $5 a train ticket.... amazing value really... Lisa reading the dissertation of one of her students, making use of the travelling time ... Arrival at Sortavala station on the dot, the trains here run with German precision, rarely ever late.. ,...........to be continued.................
We spent our first day walking around Sortavala and visiting various museums. Though the town dates back to the 15th century, most of the buildings are less than a 150 years old, due to the constant changes in occupation by Sweden, Finland and Russia... Here are a few photos we took.. The Town Hall one of the oldest at about 150 years The fire station One of two colleges this one for girls, now the city library... An old Finnish building, currently a bank The frozen river where men sit all day by a bore hole catching fish, quite successfully evidently, it's forbidden to go on the ice after the 15th of March for safety reasons, but of course they ignore that law, evidently four have died recently falling through the ice Street sculpture
One of the museums we visited was the gallery of Kronid Gogolev, famous for his wood carving, which is amazing to look at Kronid Gogolev was born on July 13, 1926 in the Novgorod province in the family of the former priest. His father gave him a rare name Kronid which means ‘Zeus’. When he was sixteen the young man went to the battle-front of Second World War, participated in fights for liberation of Leningrad region, Estonia, Poland, East Prussia. He was in Germany when the war was over, having been wounded, and contused, received many battle awards. In 1953 Kronid Gogolev entered Leningrad Art and Graphic pedagogical school, then in September of 1967 K.Gogolev organized the children’s art school, which has glorified Sortavala and its talented director all over the country. Kronid Gogolev, possessing a great gift of a teacher taught there for 20 years. As an original artist developing traditions of the folk art, Kronid Gogolev became famous in 1984 after his two personal exhibitions in Moscow. “This is a discovery! This is a revival of the lost achievements of Russian school of woodcarving, but at a new level,” – was the experts’ opinion. Since 1985 Kronid Gogolev became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. Putin, Yeltsin and Patriarch of All Russia Alexy II have a small collection of works of Kronid Gogolev. He usually gives them as a gift, when distinguished guests drop in to his museum. Work of Kronid Gogolev are devoted to the Russian north, the rustic and provincial city life of Russian northern nature and folk. The detail in 3d is amazing Some of his paintings
That's a very homey looking restaurant @Terry Page and the food looks great too. Glad Lisa and you are having a good time.
Ruskeala Marble Canyon This was the highlight of the trip really, it's a 40 minute drive north from Sortavala on at times pretty poor roads but we made it ok..... The first hour or so going up the mountain was good though cold, then we had a series of snowstorms, but had a couple of brollies with us, so we managed to go round one of the many circuits about 4 miles in all....it's quite an amazing place and in the summer it's evidently very crowded, but this time of the year you have it to yourself more or less..... Here are a few photos we took.. The start One of the many sets of steps, there were several hundred up and down in all, but they were treated so not slippy.. This section is called the "Italian Quarry" A few signs some translations were a tad quirky Some diving going on, not sure what they were looking for, but not something I would fancy doing Sheltering from the snowstorm, the umbrella isn't mine by the way, I am not that Nationalistic .... Lisa got it from somewhere
Page 7 - like the college / library building Love the lovey dovey cats - they are cats are they Terry ? Not 'rats' are they ........... Like the wood carvings too @Terry Page
@Terry Page , I wanted to tell you that the pictures of your travels have beem much appreciated by more than just myself. You've made me aware of Russia in a way that I've never been exposed to before. You've made it real, and you've shown it from the perspective of an average citizen. So whenever you get tired of this thread and think the rest of us are too, just know that I look forward to seeing Lisa and your journeys around places that I will never get the chance to see any other way. THANKS!!!