Posts tagged with "travel in russia"

Moscow, Again, or What Is It That Flows Together?

Posted by yelena 10 Comments
May 18 2011

Alexandr Pushkin, that most famous of the Russian poets, wrote

«Москва… как много в этом звуке

Для сердца русского слилось!»

[Moscow… how much there is in that sound

That flows together for the heart of the Russian!]

If we approach the problem from a strictly «количественный подход» [quantitative approach], there are «почти девять миллионов» [almost 9 million] search results on Google for this phrase.

But what interests me most is not «количество» [quantity], but «качество» [quality]. In other words what exactly “flows together” for the hearts of Russians and foreigners alike at the mention of «сердце Родины моей» [the heart of my Motherland].

I must admit, my experiences of Moscow are mostly second-hand, through history textbooks, literature, conversations, etc. I spent a total of about 7 days in Moscow in my whole entire life, in 1996 and again ten years later, in 2006.

Thus I decided to do some arm-chair travelling with the help of you, ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for all your awesome responses to the question on our Facebook page.  Once again, I’m blown away and deeply grateful!

There were a lot of mentions of «музеи» [museums], «Красная площадь» [the Red Square], «мавзолей Ленина» [Lenin’s mausoleum] and «Собор Василия Блаженного» [St. Basil’s Cathedral]. All are must-see when one’s in Moscow, for sure.

Another must-see is «московское метро» [Moscow subway], that boasts some of the most beautifully decorated subway stations in the world. At least, it is true for the old stations. The new ones are either plain or plain weird, like «Достоевская» [Dostoyevsky station] with mosaics depicting key characters and scenes from the “Crime and Punishment” and “Brothers Karamasov”. Not the most «жизнерадостные» [cheerful] or «оптимистические» [upbeat] choices, especially for an underground space. But if there is going to be a macabre tour of Moscow, this station must be on it along with «мавзолей» [the mausoleum] and possibly «Патриаршие пруды» [Patriarshiye, or Patriarch’s, Ponds] from “Master and Margarita”.

Several mentions were about unfriendly, unsmiling people and the general hustle and bustle. I guess the latter is unavoidable in any large city. Besides, life is hard for Moscovites, what with «пробки» [traffic jams], «толчея в метро» [crowded subway], «дороговизна жизни» [expensive living] and freaky weather extremes.

Seriously though, many of my American friends note this outward somberness, lack of joy on the faces of Russians. To which I say – just get to know them better! Yes, Russians are «скупы на улыбки» [thrifty with their smiles] with strangers. But once the initial barriers are broken, it’ll be hard to find a more «отзывчивый и приветливый друг» [understanding and companionable friend] and a more «гостеприимный хозяин» [welcoming host].

Many of you mentioned delicious food, from «блинчики» [blintzes] and «пирожки» [small pies] to «борщ» [borsht] and «мороженое» [ice cream]. In my opinion, if there were only three things you could try while in Moscow, I would make it «чёрный хлеб» [dark bread], «беляш» [small round pie with meat filling], but only if it’s «с пылу с жару» [so fresh, it’s still hot] and «мороженое» [ice cream]. Oh, and just for my American friends, I’ll add «горячий шоколад» [hot chocolate] to my list.

Not sure «как обстоят дела» [how things are] with hot chocolate in other countries, but here in the States it’s just hot water with some cocoa powder mixed in. In Russia this drink is called «какао» [cocoa]. That’s for kids. But «горячий шоколад» I had in cafes in Moscow, boy, it was served with small spoons – that’s how thick it was.

And since I’m no this hot chocolate detour, here’s the recipe I found that best approximates the hot chocolate I had at various cafes in Moscow and St. Petersburg:

 

  1. Start with 100 grams of high-quality dark chocolate. Break it into pieces and «растопите» [melt] it «на водяной бане» [in a double-boiler].
  2. Add 1 table spoon of water and «размешайте» [stir].
  3. In a separate «кастрюлька» [small pot], «доведите до кипения» [bring to boil] 250 milliliters of milk or light cream.
  4. Slowly pour milk into chocolate, «непрерывно помешивая» [constantly stirring].
  5. «Взбейте» [whisk] hot chocolate for a few minutes. Optionally, add sugar to taste and/or fold in some whipped cream.
  6. Pour the real hot chocolate into cups and forget about cocoa powder for the rest of your life.

The tough part about travelling to Moscow is how expensive it is, especially for a foreign tourist. So here’s my question for you – if you only had an overnight stay in Moscow, what would you like to see or do? «Москвичи, посоветуйте нам, гостям столицы!» [Moscovites, do offer your advice to us, the guests of the capital!]

Part I: « Казань – историческая» [The Historical Kazan’]

Posted by josefina 8 Comments
May 9 2010

«С днём победы» [Happy Victory Day], everyone! Because Yelena has already taken care of the celebration of this holiday for me (see the last post by her on our blog), today I’m going to share with you all some of my impressions on «Казань» [Kazan’]. That’s where I’ve been hiding during the past week (hence I haven’t been around to approve nor answer your comments, but I’m working through them! Excellent as always! Thank you!). Because Kazan’ made a huge as well as varied impression on me (entirely positive, though) I have decided to divide my impressions of «замечательная, прекрасная, незабываемая Казань» [the wonderful, beautiful, unforgettable Kazan’] into three categories, or three parts. Part I (that’s today’s post) I’m calling «Казань – историческая» [The Historical Kazan’], even though that title far from says it all. It should probably be called «Казань – обзорная» [Kazan’ – an overall view] instead, but I think the current title works just fine. Part II (that’s for tomorrow) has the curious title of «Казань – ленинская» [Lenin’s Kazan’]. For it I used the adjective made from his last name rather than calling it – which would have been more appropriate – «Казань Владимира Ильича Ленина» [Vladimir Il’ich Lenin’s Kazan’]. The last and III part (to be posted on Tuesday) is named «Казань – литературная» [Literary Kazan’] and focuses mainly on how to pursue a walk in the footsteps of great literary figures in this magnificent town. This is not entirely easy done; thus I advice you, dear readers, to either а) print out that post and study it carefully before coming to Kazan’; or б) not to be bothered but leave it to «авось повезёт» [maybe (I'll) get lucky]. That’s enough for an introduction, now straight onto Part I: «Казань – историческая»!

A view of the entrance to the «Кремль» [masc. Kremlin] from «улица кремлёвская» [Kremlin Street]. In front of the entrance is the «площадь 1 (первого) мая» [1st of May Square]. Do note the two flags above the building to the right – those are «флаг Российской федерации» [the flag of the Russian Federation] and «флаг республики Татарстана» [the flag of the Republic Tatarstan]. Maybe you can even see magnificent blue towers of the «мечеть» [mosque] rising up behind the white Kremlin walls?

«Казань – столица Татарстана» [Kazan' is the capital of Tatarstan] and the heart of the capital is, of course, «казанский Кремль» [the Kazan’ Kremlin]! Note that the city itself – «Казань» is feminine, thus you have to adapt the adjective when saying «красивая Казань» [the beautiful Kazan’], but «Кремль» [Kremlin], also ending on ‘the soft sign’ is masculine so the correct way to praise it would be: «красивый Кремль» [the beautiful Kremlin]. It is really a very beautiful place; since 2000 it is on UNESCO’s list of places to be preserved as world cultural heritage. What can one find inside of it, then? Well, there’s «губернаторский дворец» [the governor’s palace], where the president of Tatarstan has his office now (and where Putin dropped in for a short visit while I was in Kazan’, causing the entire Kremlin to be surrounded by police and visitors to be searched thoroughly with metal detectors). There are several museums worth visiting inside the Kremlin, among which can be noted «музей Ислама» [the museum of Islam] and «музейно-мемориальный комплекс «История государственности татарского народа и республики Татарстана» [Memorial Museum-Complex “History of the nationality of the Tatar People and the Republic of Tatarstan]. But most people go to the Kazan’ Kremlin to see something else: the Islamic «мечеть Кул-Шариф» [Mosque Kul-Sharif] standing only hundred meters from the Orthodox Christian «Благовещенский собор» [Cathedral of the Annunciation]. Their locations so close to each other within one and the same Kremlin in Kazan’ isn’t purely symbolical – it is a clear statement of tolerance that can be felt everywhere else in this city.

First you should have a look at the «мечеть Кул-Шариф» [Mosque Kul-Sharif]…

 

…and then walk right over to glance at the «Благовещенский собор» [Cathedral of the Annunciation].

Already on the train from Yekaterinburg to Kazan’ – as soon as we had entered into «Башкирия» [Bashkiria] (also a largely Muslim part of Russia) I saw a clear difference in the landscape outside the window. Suddenly there was at least one «мечеть» [fem. Mosque] in every village and everything was almost as suddenly clean! I shared this my observance with a fellow passenger – a very pretty «татарка» [Tatar girl] from my region (Sverdlovsk Region) studying in Kazan’ – and she said dryly: «Да, русские чистотой и порядком не особо отличаются…» [Yes, Russians aren't particularly notable for their cleanness and order…]. Of course, this doesn’t mean that all Russian villages are dirty and suffering from general disorder – but simply that most villages with a large Muslim population in Russia are cleaner and more ordered. The same goes for the city of Kazan’, where the population isn’t all Muslim and not only «татары» [Tatars] live – though it is considered by them «родина татаров» [the native land of the Tatars] (which is not grammatically correct in Russian, it should be «родина татар», but the Tatars themselves seem not so concerned with using correct Russian grammar in this particular case). Kazan’ has just as large a part of the population which is Orthodox Christian or Jewish. Here in Yekaterinburg you don’t see women in scarves very often on the street; in Kazan’ I think at least every tenth woman had her hair covered inside a beautiful silk scarf. And I saw just as many Christian crosses on people’s necks in Kazan’ as I saw the Jewish sixth edged star of David or the Islamic moon and star (I’m sorry I don’t know what to call these two last symbols in a politically correct way in English, that’s why I’m writing them as they seem to me). That’s not so common here in Yekaterinburg, and in the end I almost wanted to buy such necklaces for myself because they were simply so cute – not to mention that the jewelry stores of Kazan’ have enormous selections of all these three religious symbols! But as to not confuse people around me I left with the same tiny silver protestant cross inside a drop (symbolizing baptism in the Swedish Lutheran Church) that I had arrived with… I asked around when I was in Kazan’ to see if my impression of the city was correct: is this really such a tolerant place as it seems to be in my eyes? I even asked a fellow foreign student (from Nigeria) about this – after he told me he’s Catholic – and he said that yes, in Kazan’ you’re allowed to practice any religion that your heart and soul tell you to. He also told me that race crimes are very rare in Kazan’ and that he has never – during his four years there – been a victim of race prejudice. Now that’s something extraordinary to hear about a Russian town in the early 21st century…

In Kazan’ «двуязычие» [bilingualism] flourishes: the two main languages here are «русский язык» [Russian language] and «татарский язык» [Tatar language]. Here’s a poster about the (then) upcoming Victory Day inside the Kremlin in two languages.

Going to Kazan’ actually felt to me like I had gone abroad. I know that might sound very weird, for Kazan’ (according to the map but I don’t always carry a map of the world around with me so I didn’t really feel this location) is still within and very much a part of the Russian Federation. Maybe it was because of the constant «двуязычие» [bilingualism] everywhere in the city: all the street signs as well as all other signs on buildings and the like were written both «по-русски» [in Russian] as well as «по-татарски» [in Tatar]. In Kazan’ they even announce the stops on the bus both «по-русски» [in Russian] and «по-татарски» [in Tatar]! The whole Kazan’ experience felt to me a bit exotic. The weather could have had something to do with it: during my entire stay it was sunny and around 30 degrees above Celsius. So you can imagine my amazement at the Kazan’ summer heat after leaving a still early and humble spring in the Urals after 14 hours on the train – to find all the trees suddenly green…

A view of Kazan’ from the thirteenth floor of «Казанский государственный университет» [Kazan’ State University] – can you spot the river «Волга» [Volga] in the background? Yes, for the first time in my life I finally saw the mighty «Волга» with my own two eyes! Now the Russian only river I really want to see before I die is «Дон» [Don]…

 And last but not least: «Казань – ночная» [Kazan at night]!

P.S. Okay, so the real reason as to why I went to Kazan’ in the first place was to make a presentation about some of my scholarly research on Shalamov on a conference at the Kazan’ State University – «Синтез документального и художественного в литературе и искусстве» [“Synthesis of Documentary and Artistic in Literature and Art”] – a conference that turned out just as lovely as the city of Kazan’ itself!

«Выходные в Вологде» [A Weekend in Vologda]

Posted by josefina No Comments
Jan 19 2010

The famous and magnificently beautiful «Софийский собор» [Saint Sofia Cathedral] where Shalamov’s father, «Тихон Шаламов» [Tikhon Shalamov], worked as «православный священник» [an Orthodox priest] in «Вологда» [Vologda] in the early 20th century upon his return from missionary work in Alaska. Behind it you can sneak a preview of the house where Shalamov was born, which is now a museum…

Saying «Россия – большая страна» [Russia is a big country] would be an understatement of as great proportions as this country itself. I think it would be better to describe the Motherland as a «огромная страна» [huge country] or even better yet a «громадная страна» [enormous country]. Because Russia is so big and vast I have – naturally – not been able to visit most of it, even though I’ve been to more than twenty Russian cities. Most of the places I’ve managed to visit during my five plus years in this country – except for «Санкт-Петербург» [Saint Petersburg] and «Москва» [Moscow] – have been either «в Сибири» [in Siberia] or «на Урале» [in the Urals]. This is also natural, since I’ve spent most of my time in this country living in cities located in Siberia and in the Urals and thus traveling around ‘locally’ has always been the easiest for me. Up until the past weekend I hadn’t seen anything or been anywhere in the big and beautiful «европейская часть Российской федерации» [European part of the Russian Federation], something I have dreamed of doing for many years now. This past weekend I finally got to see more of this great country when I visited the beautiful city of «Вологда» [Vologda], located in «русский север» [the Russian north]. In order to get there all the way from «Екатеринбург» [Yekaterinburg] I first had to fly to Moscow, which takes about two hours, and then take the train north for another ten hours. Yes, that’s how BIG this country really is – so vast that one can travel for days and days and still remain within one and the same country, meeting people who speak one and the same language… The reason as to why I did this was to attend «вечер памяти» [a memorial evening] for my favorite writer Varlam Shalamov there on the 17th of January, the date of his death in 1982.

 The museum «Шаламовский дом» [Shalamov house] is located in the center of Vologda, not far from the bank of the river with the same name. Most of it is now «картинная галерея» [an art gallery], but two whole rooms on the first floor are dedicated only to the great Russian writer’s memory.

Those of you who have followed this blog for some time now probably know very well that this is far from the first time that I’ve mentioned the name of this splendid Russian 20th century poet here. If you’ve missed the previous posts on this subject, (in all of which I’ve tried my best not to go over the top with my borderline obsessive passion for him and his works) I would recommend you to take a quick look at such posts as A Great Russian Writer: «Варлам Шаламов» [Varlam Shalamov], «По уральским местам Варлама Шаламова» [Visiting Varlam Shalamov's Ural ‘Sites'] and “Listen While You Read, or -Read as You Listen”. This trip to Vologda was very special to me for two reasons: first of all because it was my first time in the town where he was born; secondly because I was given the opportunity to travel there not alone but as a part of a «дружеский коллектив» [friendly collective (group of people)] made up of me and seven other young Russians. With these young Russians I share the same fascination for Shalamov and they are all tightly connected with the splendid Russian site dedicated to him. How did I get this opportunity? you might be wondering. Well, this journey in fact began already in September with a correspondence with the website’s administrator, both concerning my own scholarly research on Shalamov (which soon will be published on the site) as well as a discussion of some comments left on this blog by him… One thing led to another and all of the sudden we were friendly enough to be «на ты» with each other. And when he told me sometime during the past fall that a group of people were going to Vologda in January 2010, I asked if I could tag along.

And of course there’s a «памятная доска» [memorial board] on the wall of the house where the poet was born. Written on it is the following: «В этом доме 18 (восемнадцатого) июня 1907 (тысяча девятьсот седьмого) года родился и жил до 1924 (тысяча девятьсот двадцать четвёртого) года великий русский писатель Варлам Тихонович Шаламов (1907-1982)» [In this house on the 18th of June 1907 was born and lived until 1924 the great Russian writer Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov (1907-1982)].

After a day of walking around with him in the busy and chaotic Moscow, Vologda made the impression on me of being a very quiet and cozy provincial town (though this is not entirely true as the city has almost half a million inhabitants). The city center is highly picturesque, with plenty of old wooden buildings as well as many beautiful churches, and it was a pure pleasure to walk around there taking picture of everything. It was very cold during the weekend that I was there and thus the river Vologda was both frozen as well as covered with a heavy layer of glittering white snow. On and around the river Russians of all ages were enjoying their Saturday and Sunday off by skiing on or riding down the slopes. Looking out over this stunning winter landscape was almost like looking at a great painting…

Located across the street from the house where Shalamov’s family lived is «шаламовские горки» [‘Shalamov hills'], named not after Varlam but after his older brother Sergey. The hill is popular as a place for kids to slope down on in wintertime, something that we know Shalamov did often in childhood. And something that I have now also done… surviving the steep slope without breaking anything!

During my trip to Vologda I not only made friends with other young future Shalamov scholars, but also with the leading Russian scholar on his works «Валерий Васильевич Есипов» [Valery Vasil'evich Yesipov] who lives and works there. For me it was a great honor to meet him in person, to also be a guest in his house on Saturday, and to even be able to make more than a couple of toasts in vodka with him… On Sunday he gave our group a tour of the museum where he works, «музей “Вологодская ссылка”» [The Museum of Exile in Vologda], which was highly interesting. Many famous people in Russian history, including Stalin himself, have been exiled to this northern town during the centuries. On Sunday evening the event for which we had traveled all the way there for took place, and even I was asked to say a couple of words in front of the audience. The trip was finished in the usual grand Russian manner of endless hospitality – with plenty to eat and plenty to drink in a local little restaurant called «Погребник» [‘The Little Cellar'].

Another museum worth visiting while in Vologda is «музей “Вологодская ссылка”» [the museum of Exile in Vologda] located in a 19th century building known as  «дом Сталина» [the house of Stalin] for it was here that the future «отец народа» spent a month and a half renting a room during the winter of 1911-1912 before escaping.

But I think one of the absolute best parts of this trip was on the way back on the train when all eight of us sat together and read poetry by heart to each other… It was already late, the lights on the train had already been dimmed, and so as not to wake the other passengers we were almost whispering the poems one after the other… It was a truly wonderful experience. An experience that made me realize that in order to be able to play this game better in the future I must learn more Russian poetry by heart…

A Russian Small Town: «Верхний Тагил» [Verkhny, or 'Upper', Tagil]

Posted by josefina No Comments
Jul 10 2009

 The last post about a trip to a «деревня» [village], or more correctly a «посёлок» [settlement] in the Russian region of «южный Урал» [Southern Urals] is followed up today as we continue our exploration of a part of Russia that I’ve come to love dearly after three years here: «Урал» [the Ural Mountains]! Today’s journey takes us deeper into the region of «средний Урал» [the Central Urals] and to «Верхний Тагил» [Verkhny, or ‘Upper', Tagil]. This place is named after the river it stands on – «Тагил» [Tagil]. Another city, much bigger in population, located another hour’s drive north and also named after this river is «Нижний Тагил» [Nizhny, or ‘Lower', Tagil]. How come Verkhny Tagil is the ‘upper’ one, when it’s ‘lower’ on the map, you might be wondering? Because the river Tagil runs from south to north, thus making Verkhny Tagil ‘upper’ according to the river. (I’m sorry that this piece of Google Maps that I stole is not entirely clear – anyway, today’s town is marked by the little blue bubble…)

For two reasons July 2009 will be spent by me traveling the beautiful region of «Урал» [the Urals]: 1) because it is where I live (thus it is always close-by) and I know many Russians in different towns in the Urals, thus I can «ездить к ним в гости» [travel to visit them]; and 2) because this region has lovely nature – it is not all «горы» [mountains]. Do please make a note, by the way, of the fact that the Russian name for the region – «Урал» – leaves out the ‘mountains’ part, something present in many other languages, in English for example. In Russian you say «Урал» and with that you feel content and rest assured that people will understand what place on this Earth of ours that you have in mind. Do also note that the locative case (let’s also not forget the Russian name for this case: «предложный падеж») form of this word is «на Урале» [in the Urals (lit. ON the Urals)]. This means that you must also change «предлог» [preposition] when asking the important question: «откуда?» [from where?] and answer it with: «с Урала» [from the Urals], using everyone’s favorite «родительный падеж» [genitive case]. Last week I visited the village/settlement of «Полетаево» [Poletaevo] located south of the city «Челябинск» [Chelyabinsk] and returned with a rather disturbed by the depressing impression the Russian countryside made on me. This week I’ve returned from another Ural ‘sojourn’ with a much more positive impression and restored some of my lost faith in Russia as a country. After all, there are a million sides to every story, just as every coin can be flipped in a thousand different angles, thus a country such huge in size and population as Russia can never be summed up by one visit to one place, one talk with one person or one read of one novel. This country has made itself famous by never siezing to be complex, by enldessly contiuing to surprise and never failing to amaze. That’s why one should never be fooled into thinking anything is ‘set in stone’ in this country just because you have half a decade of experience living here. But that’s the fun about, right? That’s why we keep learning about Russia, isn’t it? Because we remain constantly fascinated by the Eastern Motherland? Because we can never really «поставить точку» [to finish; close the books on] this country?

This is, incidentially, the lesson I learned after visiting «Верхний Тагил» [Verkny Tagil] for one day (yesterday) and one night. It is indeed a «маленький город» [small town] located «на среднем Урале» [in the Middle Urals] about two hours north-west of Yekaterinburg. Today’s post is a picture post about what one is bound to found in a Russian small town – with example pictures from the lovely small town of Verkhny Tagil!

«Итак, начнём!» [Let's begin!]

Памятник Великой Отечественной войне.

In every Russian town – no matter how small or distant it may be – there is a «памятник Великой Отечественной войне» [monument in honor of the Great Patriotic War]. Here it might look like this war lasted a very, very long time – between the years 1917 and 1945 – but that’s just because the year 1941 is hidden behind the soldiers.

Завод.

Many Russian smaller cities are built around one large factory, something called «градообразующий завод» [this could be translated as ‘a factory that creates a town']. When such factories ‘die’ the result is that the town built around them also dies (sad, but true). Verkhny Tagil is built around «Верхнетагильская ГРЭС - тепловая электростанция» where half of the town’s population works.

Баня.

Of course every town has to have a «баня» [public bath]! This one works between 14 and 22 and have separate days for women and men. Make sure to check this while planning your visit there!

Краеведческий музей.

Russian towns – once again, no matter how small or distant from civilization they may be – are very proud of their local history. That’s why you’ll find a «краеведческий музей» [regional museum] that’s always worth a visit. Sometimes you’ll be lucky to find it in such a great state as the one above – newly painted in a beautiful shade of blue.

Церковь.

I’m not sure that every Russian town – due to the fact that «коммунизм» [communism] brought with it «принуждённый атеизм» [forced atheism] when this country was known as «Советский Союз» [Soviet Union] – has a «церковь» [church] yet. But what I know is that small town churches are constantly being either restored or built in Russia today, and that the one pictured above in Verkhny Tagil survived all the 70 years of communism without ever loosing its initial function.

Next week will take me to Красновишерск [Krasnovishersk]. Anyone who can guess what (or who?) makes me want to travel even further up north in the Urals?

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