White Christmas

It was not only my first time to Russia, but it was also my first my first opportunity to enjoy a White Christmas... and our trip did not disappoint!!









When I flew into Moscow it was snowing and it was again snowing on the morning I departed St Petersburg to fly home. It snowed various times throughout our trip as well. Everytime I stepped outside I had at least four or five layers of clothing on, gloves, beanie & scarf! Most days the temperature hovered around minus two to zero degrees, but one day it bottomed at minus eight!! I managed to stay warm with the help of thermals & my new boots! Also, a special mention has to go the special Christmas beanie I am wearing in the above photo, sent all the way from Thailand... I still haven't worked out why they sell beanie's with penguins in Thailand!?!
On Christmas Eve, prior to our big Christmas party celebrations, we participated in the Russian banya. The traditional Russian experience involves a three part process:

1. Sit in the sauna until you sufficiently saturated;
2. Lie down on the bench in the sauna and be slapped/whipped by birch branches for a few minutes; and then
3. Run down to the frozen lake (which has had a hole cut through the ice) & jump in!

The process is continued for as many rounds as you can handle... most of the people on my tour handled it for two or three times.

And finally, here is the picture I was most looking forward to taking this trip - me with a snowman. A little special message to all the readers of this blog - I hope you all had a great Christmas & were able to celebrate that He is the reason for the season!!

On the go in Russia... kremlins & tsars

For the Christmas period, I headed 5 hours east (via Copenhagen) to Russia with a few friends. The 'on the go' tour took us to Moscow and St Petersburg with a day in Pskov (very close to the Estonian border) for Christmas. Russia is an interesting place to visit with the Soviet legacy evident in each town.

Highlights of the touring aspect of our trip included:

• St Isaac's Cathedral (one of the world's largest Cathedrals);
• Izmailovsky markets (complete with hundred of stores selling the Metroyoshka dolls & fur hats;
• Moscow's Red Square, the Kremlin and St Basil's (Intercession) Cathedral; and
• The Hermitage (housing one of the biggest collections of art on the earth including Monet & DeVinci).

In the evenings, we weren't short of entertainment... in true Russian style we attended a circus (which certainly left me questioning my stance on animal cruelty), watched some traditional dancing and singing, and spent an evening at the ballet watching 'The Nutcracker'.