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17th June 2011
Since our last post Matt and I have been very busy, we have visited Kazan, a Russian city with a beautiful Kremlin – the most beautiful piece of architecture I have seen yet, visited a county festival in Suzdal where we drank mead (a honey wine) and enjoyed the festival atmosphere. Sudzal is a gorgeous historic countryside town with as many churches as people (I read this somewhere). We also visited the bustling Moscow with the Red Square, St Basil’s cathedral (amazing) and the metro, said goodbye to our tourmates at the end of the Vodkatrain and spent a night sleeping in the Riga airport before arriving in Stockholm on the 16th June (officially one month into our travels!!).
Russia was a great experience, a bit different to what we expected – the Russian people are a little scary but Moscow was really safe and we weren’t harassed by police as we were expecting! Russia was pretty expensive (especially the food), but vodka and beer was on par with China and Mongolia and a bottle of Vodka cost about NZ $10! I definitely preferred the smaller places like Kazan and Suzdal (Suzdal was my favourite Russian city) to Moscow, but Moscow still has some great sights, is an interesting city and there’s lots happening. Unfortunately we missed the Moscow circus (it was closed on our last day), but the other tour mates checked it out the night we left – hope it was good!!
Icecream is one of the staple foods in Russia, and I stayed true to this and ate an icecream every day I was there. NZ doesn’t even compare to what they have and I will definitely be dreaming of (and missing) the lovely Russian icecream when I’m back home
We are currently staying with friends in Sweden (Robert and Jenny) in their lovely apartment, truly a taste of luxury, hot showers, delicious food, and my first glass of wine in a month – bliss. We have been out already exploring the city, and although large, Stockholm doesn’t feel that big and has beautiful cobbled streets, and the smell of waffles follows you as you work through town. All the people are super friendly, helpful and speak English which is a bit of a treat after Russia. No more sign language for me! Definitely my favourite place so far, but just hoping the weather clears up a bit (its been cold and rainy), so we can get out in the sunshine, explore, take photos and enjoy this beautiful city! We are heading to the beach in about 4 days time to visit our friends holiday home at Hudiksvall around 3 hours north of Stockholm on the Baltic coast and for the midsummer festival – here we will be eating pickled herring, fresh boiled Swedish potatoes, drink schnapps and sing Svenska Snapsvisor (drinking songs), and dance around the maypole. We can’t wait!!
Check this video link for a taste of what is to come!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I5BGsK5ZAU
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