How all finished...

My flight back home was safe, after 23 days I got back to Budapest... but I couldn't escape from my TransSiberian Dreams for a long-long time... I fell in love with Russia, all the trip was sooooo amazing, the people, our Russian family:

the landscape, the train trips... it was really a once in a lifetime experience!!

I will never forget the event description on the AEGEE website...
"SanMosTSU: TRANSsiberian Dream
A Travelling Summer University in St.Petersburg, Mosсow, Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Baikal Lake

5892 km.

By train.

Have you ever traveled so far?

Truly admit that this idea has been coming across your mind so often and every time you thought that it was not still the right moment... so finally why not to make the craziest dream come true?

Only this year we offer you a unique chance to join us on our way to the very heart of Russia. The glance of capitals will be replaced by the magic view of primordial nature, noise of big cities will disappear and your heart will open to magic beauties of Baikal Lake. You will cross the border and enter mysterious, a bit wild, but very hospitable Asia. We will stop in different cities trying to show you all faces of extensive Russia.

Our SU will finish in Irkutsk.... however who said that it would be the end of your trip? You can continue your way to Far East, Kazakhstan, Mongolia or even China!

If you are resolute, motivated and strong enough to experience Mother Russia you are kindly welcome to take part in probably the best Traveling Summer University in 2009.

Main coordinator: Vlado
http://aegee.spb.ru/transsiberian/promo/

the ideal participant:
Since our SU is not an ordinary AEGEE-event we are looking for not JUST participants but real adventurous travelers:
- who can survive more than 24 hours in train,
- who are used to live and cooperate with others on group spirit,
- who are open-minded to new things and
- who are real fans of Russia.

Do not expect luxurious holidays or a cheap trip - BE PREPARED to endure Transsiberian route and to spend these days in an absolutely friendly and cheerful company.

information on cities/places:
Saint-Petersburg: Cultural capital of Russia, Northern Venice, museum under the sky... Having a great history of Russian former capital for more than two hundred years, the city hides many legends within the walls of majestic palaces and summer residences. As St. Petersburg is situated in the basin of Neva River it is celebrated for numerous canals, bridges and embankments as well as it is often threatened by floods. Come and visit the northern capital and you will know what is special in St. Petersburg courtyards, how many lions are in St. Peterbsurg and what the biggest problem is for lover couples during the summer time ;)
Moscow: The largest city in Europe, the most expensive city in the world.... People either like it or hate it. Nowadays being not a “typical” Russian city but a glorious metropolis of over 12 million inhabitants, Moscow reminds a small country inside of the city. Life never stops there, the city is moving all the time hosting non-stop parties which cater for all tastes.
Ekaterinburg: This city is the fourth largest city and a major city in the central part of Russia. Considering its location on the eastern side of Ural Mountains Ekaterinburg is regarded as an official gate from Europe to Asia. Like a two-headed eagle on the Russian coat of arms whose left head is looking at Europe while the right one is looking at Asia, Ekaterinburg has always been notable for outstanding historical events that occurred there: for example, the last Russian Emperor was killed there. In addition, Ekaterinburg is a birth place of the first Russian president and a place where Russian rock music culture was found (Ural rock).
Irkutsk: “Siberian tiger” Irkutsk is located in the heart of Siberia, 66 km from Baikal Lake. Irkutsk is a home for people of different nationalities. Also being far from “civilisation” people safely saved old customs, legends and traditions.
Baikal Lake: The deepest lake on the Earth contains more water than Great American Lakes. Baikal, which is sometimes called “Blue Eye of Siberia” or “Pearl of Siberia”, is one of the cleanest surface water reservoirs and you can drink water right from the lake. 70% of Baikal fauna is unique for this region and cannot be found anywhere else. Baikal area has always been a holy place of Asia and is full of legends and mysteries. Local folks call it God Baikal and treat it as a living and wise creature."

So we MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Thank you guys it was a pleasure to meet you and be with you!!!
Hope to see you soon somewhere!!!

Back to 2. city... Moscow

When we (=the comebackers) arrived back to Moscow by plane the group split up and everyone went home... The plane took 5 hours and I was really satisfied with the Aeroflot service as for breakfast we had a 3 course meal with salmon and basically unlimited tea/ drinks!

In Moscow I had a very very nice host from our organizers group. 2 other participants also lived there for a couple of days. For me, these were the 2 last days in Russia. But I'm glad that I booked my flight 2 days later (23rd July) 'cos there were still a lot to see in Moscow.

This time Obama was far away so everything on the Red Square and Kreml worked as usual... so my first thing to visit was the Lenin Mausoleum and the Kreml. In school I learned a lot about Lenin so it was a pleasure to meet him... it is not allowed to stay next to him for a long time just a few seconds then you hear a click from the guards which means that you have to go further... it is quite dark in the Mausoleum so actually Lenin looks like a wax figure... but maybe it's because of the preparation... anyway it was a nice experience 'cos I really felt myself back in time :)

Then the Kreml was simply amazing!!! Soooo beautiful churches inside, all of them painted from inside from wall to wall, from down to the top... no words to describe! Here are some photos...
















Then the Red Square again...
Moscow metro stations are nice and famous... some are made of marble, some have mosaics, some look like a lobby in a hotel, but all of them are different and exceptional... as it is under the ground in case of a war it could be a shelter so this makes all metro station stategically important therefore it is not allowed to take photos... just some shots on the run...



Moscow is among the most expensive cities in the world... so of course I've walked on a fancy shopping street :)
Next to the shopping street suddenly a lovely little monastery happened to be on the way...


Then a huge square with the statue of Puskin
Just recently the government has finished to built this palace which was originally planned by Yekaterina tsar lady... I've no clue what is the official name of the palace... but it was nice wandering around :)



Until this point I always went together with nice other participant(s) from here I went alone.
First to the Novodevichy Convent (=monastery) which was amazing... just like the churches in Kreml







Next to the monastery there is a world famous Novodevichy Cemetery, full with famous politicians, actors, musicians, warriors, writers etc... so pretty much everybody who was an important figure of the Russian history!
My second stop was the Tretyakov State Gallery (the old one) with all the famous Russian paintings... for me "starring" Andrej Rubljov's icons
Then I just walked along Moscow river a bit...
a monument to Peter the Great:

There are a lot of paintings sold on the bank of the river (next to New Tretyakov Gallery):

Gorkij park...

My Moscow days finished soon and there came the time to get to the airport and fly back home... The way to the airport took 2 and a half hours by bus --> metro --> bus. On the last bus I was surrounded by a real criminal man having his hands in shackles and 2 men with gun on both of his sides... this wasn't a nice experience as I was just started to eat my cheese sandwich in a corner of the bus and these 3 men suddenly surrounded me... but then nothing happened... just my cheese sandwich didn't taste that good afterwards :)

5. city: Krasnoyarsk

So after the 17 hours last train trip our half group (the comebackers) arrived to Krasnoyarsk.

This is the train station:
The wonderful wooden houses can be found here as well...

In addition, still like in Soviet times there are little loudspeakers on every street lamp and music is coming from them to bring joy to people's day :) what a lovely idea?!

Although these picture are not meant to capture the road but it can be still seen that even just simple streets are soooo wide in Russia...

I didn't manage to get to know why, but Krasnoyask must have a certain political importance because on the 10 Rubel banknote 2 picures are from this city...
This church is on a top of a hill... (this was the view from our rented flat :)))
As in Krasnoyask we had exceptionally warm weather, we were quite exhausted when we reached the top of that little hill but the view was really nice!




Right after climbing the hill we went for some water/ beer (=pivo, this is written on the top of the "bar") :
Then we still had time to go a bit in the natural park next to the city and went into a zoo... poor polar bears felt really really warm :( but giraffes were ok...
At night we went for a little walk in the city center as it is daylight until quite late (around 11 if I remember correctly)