besuche-die-sowjetunion-bevor-sie-dich-besucht
Ein kleiner Einblick in unsere Reise gen Osten :-)
Kummer is lame! Worry is blind! Long live the birthday child! (Theodor Fontane)
So, a lot of time has passed since our last entry. In the meantime, a lot has happened. As you can see from the quote, we celebrated Veronika's birthday on Monday. But let's...
Russian reality is a sublime, universal, ordered chaos. (Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky)
It must be true if Fyodor says so... After a longer absence here, now another entry. The 'everyday life' now has a firm grip on us. We now have established routines and habits,...
Those who leave do not feel the pain of farewell. It is the one who stays behind that suffers. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
However, I hope we don't have to suffer too much, after all we still have exactly four weeks on vacation. In any case, we had to say goodbye to our guests today. Vero had to go...
Don't envy the eagle because it can fly, it can't swim like you. (Xokonoschtletl Gomora)
While Veronika had to wake up early and go to school, the rest of us could sleep in. When she got back home, we went to AkvaRio, a large water park. Since the park is located on...
What is the difference between summer and winter? In summer, the puddles do not freeze. (Gerald Drews)
As announced, we went to the city after breakfast. Summer has returned! After experiencing quite chilly temperatures at Lake Baikal, it is now 28°C and sunny. So we walked...
The train is a symbol of life to me: sitting still and yet moving forward quickly. (Wolfgang Korruhn)
We have completed our longest Trans-Siberian journey. Unfortunately for Vero and me, it was probably also the last journey. After we cleaned up, packed, and had breakfast, we...
No plan survives the first enemy contact. (Helmuth von Moltke)
Our plan for today was to go hiking, preferably climbing one of the surrounding mountains. We got up relatively early, fortified ourselves and set off. As we have noticed...
What happens without breaks is not lasting. (Ovid)
We thought so too. And since we want to continue our journey for another month, we took a break today and enjoyed our accommodation. First, we slept in and had a leisurely...
The invasion of tourist hordes leads to the eradication of the beautiful ... (André Heller)
On the way to Irkutsk station
Climb the mountain or descend into the valley, go to the end of the world or around your house: you will always meet yourself on the streets of chance. (Maurice Maeterlinck)
And so we went hiking yesterday. After breakfast, we first dealt with the planning for the next few days. For this, we went back to Listvjanka and asked the tourist info. After...
Breakfast: the most beautiful of all meals. You are rested and young, haven't been annoyed yet, and full of new hopes and plans. (Heinrich Spoerl)
The breakfast at the Country Hotel Baikal was probably the worst in our lives. For coffee, you had to pour hot water into your cup and add instant coffee. Maybe a picture to go...
How foolish it is to make plans for the whole life, since we are not even masters of the next day. (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)
And as it has been shown, sometimes not even of today... In the morning we took the bus to the airport. We barely arrived when we met the others. A smooth start. :-) After...
It was raining so heavily that all the pigs were clean and all the people were dirty. (Georg Christoph Lichtenberg)
That's how it was in Krasnoyarsk today unfortunately. And since no bus wanted to take us in the pouring rain, we had to walk the four kilometers to our hotel. The kindness...
Whoever has been bitten by a snake is afraid of every piece of string.
Fortunately, the snakes in the hotel lobby are in a terrarium... Today we took a closer look at Novosibirsk. Novosibirsk is the third largest city in Russia, with about 1...
We are about to turn our around-world into an un-world. (Ernst Ferstl)
It seems to be a problem in Siberia too. Today, for the first time since we arrived in Russia, the weather was worse. It was noticeably cooler and rainy. We didn't let that...
The Trans-Siberian Railway is the train journey. All others are peanuts... (Eric Newby)
After about 24 hours of travel east, we arrived in Novosibirsk. This is the furthest we have reached into Siberia. It's time to talk about the train journey. Most of the...
Monuments are the questionable question marks of history, because most people ask: 'Who was that anyway?' (Erhard Blanck)
We have no idea whom or what all these statues are dedicated to, but there is no shortage of them in Katharinenburg. Aside from photo sessions in the best Adidas...
Internet is just a hype. (Bill Gates)
This is also believed by the Russian State Railways (RŽD). There is no Wi-Fi on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Since we have been traveling by train for the last almost 30 hours,...
Words are like leaves - where they are abundant, one rarely finds fruit underneath. (Alexander Pope)
Okay, so in short: Weather: Very hot, very sunny. After breakfast, Free Walking Tour. Then, after over an hour of waiting, Armory Chamber. Then, eating at a kind of...
Exaggeration helps understanding. (Vladimir Lenin)
Lenin whispered that to me today in front of the 'State Library of the USSR Lenin', which is one of the largest libraries in the world. In the meantime, Vero has been...
Willst du in die Zukunft sehen, geh in die Hauptstadt. (Christoph Mauny)
And so we traveled to Moscow. The first train ride, there will be many more, was very surprising. The train was punctual, clean, fast (almost constantly over 200km/h), and...
If one is not patient in small matters, one will fail in great ones. (Confucius)
Several attempts to book the train tickets online failed. So we went to the train station to buy the tickets on site. The largest train station in Petersburg is called 'Moscow...
"The straw I cling to for joie de vivre is currently the bicycle." (Arthur Schnitzler)
Okay, I admit, the quote is nonsense. At least in St. Petersburg, riding a bike is more like bungee jumping without a rope. But let's start from the beginning: us naive former...
By the way: Travel broadens the mind - especially traffic jams on the highways. (Saying)
Moi moi Finland, здравствуй Russia! Perhaps at this point a little conclusion about Finland or Helsinki: Beautiful city, great landscape around it, friendly people and very...
There is nothing quieter than a loaded cannon. (Heinrich Heine)
After a leisurely sleep and a hearty breakfast, we went to the market square in Helsinki, which is also the harbor. We then took a small boat trip to the UNESCO World Heritage...
'I believe in the horse. The automobile is a temporary phenomenon.' (Kaiser Wilhelm II.)
A beautiful and exhausting day is coming to an end. With pleasant 20 degrees and sunshine, we explored the Finnish capital. A highlight was the food in the old market hall....