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Tag Archives: russia
More Fun in St Petersburg (Another Photo Gallery)
I got to spend the rest of the time in St. Petersburg with a good friend of mine from college. We walked all over the historic center city!
Arrival in St Petersburg! Pictures from My First Day or Two
I was so excited to arrive in St Petersburg, and spent a lot of time in the Hermitage!
Nizhny Novgorod Gallery
You got a preview when I realized that I could post pictures from my phone on the WordPress blog app, now here’s the real thing!
- Heading to Bolshaya Pokrovskaia
- Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, the historic pedestrian street
- State bank on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya
- Yep, Cinnabon in Cyrillic
- Bolshaya Pokrovskaya’s colorful buildings
- Some of the bronze sculptures on the street
- Facades
- Cleaned up facade, peeling side
- The theater
- Looking at the Nizhny Kremlin
- The square by the Kremlin, facing the Chkalov Monument
- Side view of the Kremlin
- Another Kremlin view
- An atmospheric time to see the Chkalov Monument
- Chkalov Monument
- The mighty Volga
- Chapel in the Kremlin complex
- Chapel frescos
- The Kremlin military museum outside exhibit
- Outside the Kremlin walls
- Archangel Cathedral
- Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin
- Bell tower of Archangel Cathedral
- War Memorial overlooking the Volga
- View down to the lower walls of the Kremlin
- Kremlin Walls and the river
- The Volga
- The Volga and the Oka rivers
- Near the war memorial
- Incredible Kremlin walls
- Leaving the Kremlin…
- Church of John the Baptist
- Looking back at the Kremlin
- Looking towards the Rozhdestvenskaya Church
- The Rozhdestvenskaya Church
- The Rozhdestvenskaya Church
- Monastery
- Sign and symbol of Nizhny Novgorod
- Walking towards the Chkalov Staircase
- Around the base of the Kremlin
- Bottom gate of the Kremlin
- Statue of Minin and Pozharsky
- Statue of Minin and Pozharsky
- Within the Kremlin
Three More Days on the Train: Irkutsk to Nizhny Novgorod Gallery
More scenes of taiga, more snow, more birches…
Cartier on Karl Marx Street Gallery: Irkutsk and Lake Baikal
I fell in love with Irkutsk, and I think you’ll see why (including the Decembrist Trubetskoy Manor and lots of views of the River Angara…and even another Lenin statue, since they’re ubiquitous, even if far from my favorite statues):
The incredible blue ice at Lake Baikal (and scenes from Listvyanka):
The Volkonsky Manor, a Decembrist’s home in exile:
Around Baikal: Photos from the Trans-Siberian between Ulan Ude and Irkutsk
My shortest leg of the Trans-Siberian was between Ulan Ude and Irkutsk, around the gorgeous scenery of Lake Baikal.
Ulan Ude: A Gallery
My first day in Ulan Ude, I explored the older part of town. On the second day, I went out to the Ivolginsky Datsan, the center of Russian Buddism.
The Transsiberian from Vladivostock to Ulan Ude: A Gallery
The first part of my overlanding across Russia: almost three days on the Rossiya to Ulan Ude.
Trojan Gold: Last Day in Moscow
My last day in Moscow, I resolved to try one last time to get through Red Square to see St Basil’s. Imagine my surprise when I was actually successful! Better yet, apparently it was the free Thursday (though if it not being free would have reduced the crowds, I’d have been ok with the trade-off).
St Basil’s is a rabbit warren of little chapels, mostly empty on the ground floor. Due to the crowds, I almost missed going upstairs, which would have been a real shame as it was the prettiest part of the cathedral, with frescos and icons from different periods in the different chapels. It also gave a good view south over the city to another of the Seven Sisters.
I then walked to the Pushkin Museum of Art, specifically to see the Trojan Gold room. Walking there took a bit of a detour: Moscow is a city of underpasses, and the route I had chosen had no way to cross the street. I backtracked to the State Library and continued on. Again I was lucky and didn’t have to pay an entrance fee. I went straight to the Troy room.
All that went through my mind when I got there was Keat’s poem “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”. (Unlike some of my friends, I cannot declaim Homer himself.) The display was pretty spectacular. Most of it is just loops of gold, most exciting for its context. However, the diadems and earrings that Schliemann draped on his wife for the famous photographs were magnificent: