Goodbye!

Now I will have to say goodbye and thanks to all! In a few hours I will take my plane all the way to France. Another long journey! I can't wait to tell everybody about my amazing trip; it seems like months ago since I first boarded the train in Moscow at the Belorussky Train Station! I hope that I will travel back to this amazing country one day! Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed my voyage as much as I did!
See you till the next blog! :)

Vladivostok! Monday 3rd of January 2011!

As our train stopped at the last station, Vladivostok

My voyage is unfortunately nearing its end as the train slowly crawls into the Vladivostok Train Station. It will certainly take some time to get use to not feeling the stumbling of the carriages on the dusty, worn tracks; the shrieks as the train crawls into the stations; the sharp whistle of the conductor echoing in the deafening silence of the surroundings; the cozy cabins; the faint snoring of my cabin mates and the distant joyous chatter and laughter of other travelers; big frosty window glimpsing into a mysterious, beautiful world, revealing its broad story through the passage of time. Melancholy and a flicker of glimpse rose uncomfortably into me, my feelings no longer distinct or accurate. Instead I glued my eyes to the window, taking in the last minutes of the adventure as if it were my last.
Here is a little poem I composed:

          Memories.

A beautiful shell dripping with salt water from the oceans. An intricate snowflake slowly landing on your flushed cheeks.
They flow with secrets as their dusty covers are opened, revealing mysteries safely hidden in the passage of time.
As their mysteries are slowly revealed, melancholy, joy, anger, frustration are released in a tornado of feelings. 
They enable one to live the past as well as the present, perhaps mystifying the difference in between. 
Memories wrinkle and fade, disappearing in between those worn leather covers again perhaps sneaking out once more to grasp you with past souvenirs.
                                                                               Memories.
My notes on Vladivostok: 
Population: The population of the city is about 575 000 inhabitants.


Climate:The temperatures distinctly vary with extreme temperature in the winter of -13'C to warm but not ridiculously hot summers, averaging 20'C. I think that I will be quite fine with not having to deal with extreme cold temperatures for a while!


Culture: Vladivostok is home to numerous educational institutions and 7 universities! Vladivostok has a branch to the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Far Eastern University. Since the city is situated near Korea, Japan and China, it play a role an important national military and industrial port.


Economy: The city's main industries are shipping, commercial fishing, and the naval base. Fishing is almost four-fifths of Vladivostok's commercial production. The main export items are fish, grain, sugar, coal, timber products, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and ships. The main import items are food products, medicine,clothing, footwear, automobiles, household technical items and ships.

Irkutsk! Sunday 2nd of January 2011!

Irkutsk hazily loomed in the distance a thick fog disappearing between the snow-covered landscape. As the snowy city approached, Aleksandra kindly described Irkutsk as we slowly pulled into the beautiful Irkutsk train-station. 

Here are some notes on Irkutsk:
Population: 

The population of Irkutsk is of about 600 600 inhabitants.
Climate:     

Irkutsk has a borderline subarctic climate,characterized by extreme variation of temperatures between seasons. The Lake Baikal, However, Lake Baikal takes its effect, such that temperatures in Irkutsk are not as extreme as elsewhere in Siberia. The warmest month of the year in Irkutsk is July, temperature ranging from 18 °C to almost 40°C. The coldest month of the year is January, when the average temperature is −20°C. Precipitation also varies widely throughout the year. The wettest month is July and the driest month is February.

The Drama Theatre of Irkutsk

The central street Irkutsk

Lenin Street

Irkutsk
Climate chart
J F M A M J J A S O N D 12 −15 −25 9 −11 −23 13 −2 −16 19 8 −5 33 16 2 62 23 8 120 25 11 86 22 9 50 15 3 30 7 −4 18 −4 −15 19 −13 −23 average max. and min. temperatures in °C precipitation totals in mm

Culture:
Sciences: Since Irkutsk plays part in the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences there are various research institutes in the city.
Literature: The well-known Russian writer, Valentin Rasputin comes from Irkutsk and many of his novels and stories take place in the Angara Valley.
Irkutsk is also home to many academies, institutes and museums, for example the 'Taltsy Museum' which is an open-air museum of Siberian traditional architecture.


Economy: The most famous large-scale industry in Irkutsk is the Irkut company, referring to the Irkutsk Aviation Industrial Association, a large manufacture of aircrafts for the army and commercial intentions.


Here is a video on Irkutsk (though you will have to click the link to watch it on Youtube):

Here are a few more photos of Irkutsk:

                                                                      Irkutsk at night

The Arts Museum

Novosibirsk! Friday 31st of December 2010!

We arrived in Novosibirsk! On the way from Omsk to Novosibirsk, Aleksandra filled me in with detail on Novosibirsk, she seems to know all about all the cities we are traveling through!
Here are my notes:
Population:The population of Novosibirsk is 1 409 137 inhabitants.


Climate: The climate is humid continental with warm summers and severely cold winters. Snow is frequent, falling on almost half of winter days, but individual snowfalls are usually light. Temperatures in summer range from 20 °C to 25 °C ; in winter −18 °C to −20 °C. However, in winter temperatures can go as low as −30 °C) to −35 °C and in summer as high as 30 °C to 35 °C.


Culture: Culture is ever-present in Novosibirsk; various arts such as the opera, ballet,art museums, and the Siberian craftwork.  The theatre of Novosibirsk is the biggest theatre in Russia.


Economy: The main industry is nuclear fuel, though there are other existing industries such as electric power industry, gas supply, water supply, metallurgy, metal working, mechanical engineering

Some photos of Novosibirsk! Coat of Arms of Novosibirsk Flag of Novosibirsk  View of Novosibirsk Novosibirsk celebrating! Novosibirsk Opera House

A little bit of Information on Novosibirsk Population 1,400,000 Founded 1893 Longitude 82° 55' E Latitude 55° 02'N Altitude 200 m Time Zone GMT +8 hours Temperature of January -16° C Temperature of July +20° C Precipitation 35cm

Omsk! Thursday 30th of December 2010

Here is a video of Omsk

On the ride from Yekaterinburg to Omsk, a new traveller entered our cabin, for Larissa had long since departed leaving an empty and lonely space in our small compartment. The new traveller was a Russian lady called Aleksandra, who was from Omsk. Her hair was lightly streaked with blond highlights, her freckled cheeks flushed gently from the cold and her eyes gleamed and glittered of adventure. She was very joyous and loved to laugh; she had come on the journey out of pure pleasure and adventure and would be staying until Vladivostok like me.

Map of Northern Asia situating Omsk

As we arrived in Omsk, Aleksandra eagerly described the city, and in this way I gratefully took these notes:

This is my fourth city out of the eight that I will be travelling through.  

Population: Omsk has a population of 1,1 million inhabitants.

Climate:The climate is dry and continental, characterized by dramatic swings of weather; the average daily temperatures are 20 °C for July and −19 °C for January, although temperatures can reach 45 °C in the summer and drop to −45 °C in the winter.

Culture: The greatest cultural significances are placed in the numerous museums of Omsk, including the State Museum of Regional History,Dostoyevsky Museum of Literature and the Vrubel Museum of Fine Arts. The architecture of Omsk is dominated by Art-Nouveau, Neoclassical 

and Second Empire styles of architecture.


Economy: Omsk has many refineries for petroleum.

Omsk Drama Theatre

Vrubel Museum of Fine Arts

Nizhniy Novgorod! Tuesday 28th of December 2010

I arrived in Nizhniy Novgorod! Though, regretfully I will not be stopping in Nizhniy Novgorod, here are some notes on the city that I learned on the way:


Population and location: Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia with the administrative center in the city of Nizhniy Novgorod. The city Nizhniy Novgorod has a population of 1.3 million, the largest city of the oblast.


Climate: The climate is similar to the climate in Moscow, although colder in winter, which lasts from late November until late March with a permanent snow cover.

A theatre in Nizhniy Novgorod

Culture: Nizhny Novgorod is one of the largest historic, cultural and scientific centers of Russia. There are various theatres, concert halls, almost 100 libraries, museums. Museums play a great role in preservation of historic and cultural heritage of the city. 


Economy: It is mainly oriented towards transportation, the auto industry, shipbuilding, diesel engines, aircraft manufacture, and machine tools, with the auto industry standing for the main economic income.

Nizhny Novgorod Lenin state regional universal library

Here are some photos and a video of Nizhniy Novgorod:    

View of Nizhniy Novgorod

Church of Rozhdestvenskaya Architectural monument of the early 18th century

Church of Rozhdestvenskaya
Architectural monument of
the early 18th century

Moscow! Monday 27th of December 2010

My long excursion starts its trail in Moscow, the capital of this great country. Though I regret that I shall not be able to visit this amazing city during this trip, at least, maybe it'll be for another occasion!
I will be stopping in the following cities:

• Moscow
• Nizhniy Novgorod
• Yekaterinburg 
• Omsk
• Novosibirsk 
• Krasnoyarsk
• Irkutsk
• Vladivostok

Yekaterinburg and Krasnoyarsk are the two cities I will be stopping at.

Here are some notes I took on Moscow 

Climate:

Moscow has a humid continental climate with warm, humid summers and long, cold winters. Typical high temperatures in the warm months of June, July and August are around 23 °C. In the winter, temperatures normally drop to approximately −10 °C, though there can be periods of warmth with temperatures rising above 0 °C.

Population:

Moscow is not only the capital but also the most populous city federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and also the world. Its population is estimated of a population of 10,5 million.

Since I was not able to stop in Moscow, instead I found some photos and a video for you to still have the chance to explore Moscow and it's wonders.

Culture:

• One of the most famous art museums in Moscow is the Tretyakov Gallery, founded by Pavel Tretyakov, a wealthy patron of the arts who donated a large private collection to the city. The Tretyakov Gallery is split into two buildings: the Old Tretyakov gallery, the original gallery in the Tretyakovskaya area on the south bank of the Moskva River, houses the works of the classic Russian tradition. The works of famous pre-Revolutionary painters, as well as the works of early Russian icon painters can be found in the Old Tretyakov Gallery. The New Tretyakov gallery, created in Soviet times, mainly contains the works of Soviet artists, as well as of a few contemporary artists overlapped with the Old Tretyakov Gallery for early 20th century art.
• Another art museum in the city of Moscow is the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts,founded by Marina Tsvetaeva's father. It hosts famous paintings from every major Western era of art; works by Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Pablo Picasso.
• Moscow is also the heart of Russian performing arts, including ballet and film. There are ninety-three theatres, 132 cinemas and twenty-four concert-halls in Moscow. Among Moscow’s many theatres and ballet studios is the Bolshoi Theatre and the Malyi Theatre as well as Vakhtangov Theatre and Moscow Art Theatre.

Economy:  The primary economic products are chemical, metallurgy,textile, furniture,energy production, software development and machinery.