More Moscow and St Petersburg

Pictures tell the story, so here’s some pictures. Quickly though, St Petersburg is a wonderful place; at least during Spring. It gets to -25c during winter and sometimes even lower …

Moiwa riding on the back of a Mig-29

River Neva - so much like Paris, so much like Venice, so much like Rome - strange, strange place considering it's in Russia

Yet another church with a lolly on top

Kremlin and other stuff

Went to the Kremlin and met a strange local Muscovite. He proclaimed he was a yoga teacher and seemed to know enough about yoga, so I believed him. He plans on heading to Lake Baikal on a meditative mission tomorrow … anyway, he had a lot to say about modern Russia, mostly negative. I’m currently sitting in the common room and the young Russians are downing a bottle of vodka amongst themselves. Nearly half an hour and the bottle is mostly gone. I’m a little worried they’ll start getting violent. I think I was sitting in one of their chairs, as they became a little angry at my presence, so I decided to shift around the table a little … I just don’t want trouble with the locals.

I went out of the city centre a little today to the ‘burbs and stumbled upon the old olympic village from the 1980 games … monstrous hotels that served as accommodation for the athletes. The surrounds were in a state of disarray, as is much of the city. I’m off to Monino tomorrow for a look at the air museum. Hopefully the weather holds out. I was literally being blown off my feet on the way back to the hostel this evening … the winds are stronger than any I’ve encountered in a city and it’s very, very cold when the weather turns foul.

Tsar Cannon in the Kremlin

New Russian buddy ... seemed genuine.

Turning nasty ... made for a pretty good photo though ...

Moscow metro ... breathtaking ... there's stain glass artworks littering the place ... all Soviet designs ... marvellous

Soviet war memorial ... Kalasnikov toting guards included

Mother Russia

It’s pretty much everything I’ve read. There seems to be a larger than normal quotient of beautiful women in Moscow. There must be something in the water, but they don’t drink it unless it’s filtered, so perhaps there’s something in the filtration systems. There’s still a lot of throwback to the cold war era, the city is very unforgiving and soulless. There are drunks walking around in the street. I seem to be the only tourist in the city. I have not seen or heard another English speaking person, except for staff in the hostel, who run the place like a gulag. Do something they don’t like and they’re straight on top of you. I swear the women in charge used to work for, or still works for FSB or KGB.

Look out, Moiwa is looking for a new job

Moiwa the socialist monkey admiring Lenin, while the locals desecrate his almighty presence on skateboards. I wonder what he'd say?

It's iconic, but I wasn't really blown away! Still amazing to see in the flesh!

This was actually in Latvia, but it's an old Hind-D gunship ... totally Russian ... insane. This chopper is the one seen in all the Hollywood movies involving the Soviet Union!

Some communist monument somewhere ...

Sorrento, Positano and now Riga, Latvia

Sorrento and Positano were great. Very touristy though. Riga on the other hand is dead. It’s cold and there’s still snow on the ground. The locals are staying inside, mostly at the local pubs. They are everywhere. This country has been through the wringer. They lost a third of their population during the Nazi and Soviet occupations, many went to the gulags. They have museums dedicated to the events. Very depressing stuff. The Soviet paraphernalia is amazing stuff and just what I’m into, but knowing the true result of their reign of terror adds a bitter undertone. Propaganda is powerful and relevant to our current lives in the west, methinks; it’s just a little more subtle nowadays 🙂

Positano is just a more beautiful version of Sorrento; which on the other hand is completely fine with being the most touristy town I've been to in my life ...

This is the famous shot of central Latvia - rebuilt after WW2, during the early nineties after the Soviets were pushed out ...

This is a behind shot, but you can guess what they look like ... the women look like they've come from the same production line - they are almost all drop dead gorgeous ... the rumours are true 🙂

Not a very good shot - the churches are starting to look typically Russian now

Back on the vespa for Capri

I couldn’t help myself, so I hired another vespa – this time to ride around Capri. It was so worthwhile. Capri is like a little playground for vespas. Too bad the water was way cold. Sorrento tomorrow.

Vespa in Capri - a real Piaggio this time, rather than the Chinese piece of shit I was riding around on in Roma

Not a bad place

What a life ...

Pompei

Mind blowing.

Tomorrow, off to Capri.

Sunday off to Sorrento.

Monday, I have no idea – Amalfi Coast is on the agenda.

Asking a Japanese tourist to take my photo and then I returned the favour by nearly knocking over his Grandma. She should've looked where she was going - "Sumimasen!"

Moiwa's t-shirt failure - poor Moiwa, she looks like such a girl with this top on - I felt so gay buying this - had to take a photo before surgically removing it - I think I may be going nuts now - I have a toy monkey as a companion and now I'm playing dress-ups ...

Freaky - all the plaster cast bodies from Pompei contain the victim's skeleton.

Moiwa in the place she should be - in the kitchen

Vesuvius - you'd think they'd get the fuck out of dodge when smoke started spewing out of this big boy ...

Pope and Forum

Saw the Pope today. He says he’s feeling great. He didn’t do much to help me with my skin infection, but hey, he’s not GOD is he? I’m starting to lose my patience with people lately … I have to chill out some more and enjoy this holiday instead.

Cat city ... Roman ruins used as a cat shelter in the middle of Rome. So cute!

Church in Trastevere - amazing!

Off to see the Pope tomorrow

Looking forward to meeting Mr Pope tomorrow. If only my eyes were better, I’m sure he’d ask me around for a couple of drinks.

Inside the Colosseum ...

Hanging around in the Vatican

Cheating death on the vespa

Hired a Chinese made vespa with a barely working gearbox and bung fuel indicator. For the first half of the day it was fun, then during the afternoon and evening, the traffic increased and riding at night when suffering with extreme fatigue is not a good idea. Just not. I’m lucky to have made it back to the hostel. I was considering hiring this thing for a few days, but I may end up running out of luck. Perhaps just riding during the mid-morning and early afternoon will be more wise, when the rest of these crazy Romans are either at work or eating lunch. Definitely not going to ride after dark. It took an hour to get back and my thought was to use the vespa to cut down travel time … an adventure for sure. The Colosseum during the day is quite a sight. Too bad about the queue. I decided to ditch it and try early tomorrow morning. We’ll see if I even remember to do that … my memory is for shit due to the chronic insomnia. The eye infection is getting worse, rather than better; it’s spread to the second eye. It stings, burns and itches and makes me look like I’m suffering with leprosy or some such horrible disease. I guess I’ll have to get over what other people think for the moment. I know I don’t have leprosy and that’s what counts. St Peter’s is disgustingly ornate and huge. It made for some pretty good photos though. The Trevi Fountain is rather well done, as is the Pantheon. The occulous [sic?] is incredible. The fact they built this thing so long ago is astonishing. I’m yet to see the Sistine Chapel. Otherwise, I’ve seen most of the big sights, so not sure if I’ll be spending the entire week I had planned for Rome after all. This may save me having to change flights to Riga, if that indeed does happen.

Moiwa at the Pantheon

Colossal ... and the ruins aren't bad either ...

Stuck in Pisa for a day with bung eyes

According to the local quack, I’ve had yet another allergic reaction to something. This time it’s affected the skin surrounding my eyes. It’s getting better, but I look like I’ve spent some time in the ring with Tyson. The steroid cream, as much as I absolutely hate the stuff, seems to be helping a little. Hopefully it’ll be gone by tomorrow. I’m in Rome now and I’ve seen the Colosseum at night – very impressive. Walked around the city after dark and it’s not that intimidating really. Starting to run out of time for Italy, as my visa for Russia is fast approaching the starting date. I hope these eyes heal by tomorrow. They’re starting to shit me now.

Who's a strong monkey?

First low light shot in Rome - this is testing the camera out now ...