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'.

Indulgence

Over this past weekend, I ventured on my first European mini-break weekend with five fellow Aussie friends. The destination was Brussels, Belgium. We arrived in style (i.e. cheap flights with Ryan Air) & managed a great deal with the Radisson located in town.

Brussels is a perfect town to visit over the weekend. There are plenty of sites to visit and more importantly, plenty of food to taste!! With a trusty phrase book in hand, I was also able to practice a little French on the way.

Brussels is home to the political centre of the EU. In addition to the many parliamentary buildings, there were many historical buildings to see along the way. A few highlights included:

• Belgian Royal Palace;


• Atomium – built for expo 1958, the steel sphere structure representing an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times;
  
• Saint Michael and Gufula’s Cathedral; and
  
• Grand Place – located in the centre of town, the square is surrounded by grand town hall and other guild buildings.

Another popular landmark in Brussels is the Manneken Pis – a little bronze structure of a kid urinating into the fountain. Its popularity is quite bizarre!

And now onto the details you would really like to know about – the local delicacies…

As many would have rounds of drinks, we decided to have rounds of chocolat! All I can say is that you can’t go wrong with chocolate. Other local tastes included escargot (snails), moule (mussels) and gaufre (waffles). To wash all the food down, I also tried some local biere (beer). The framboise (raspberry) and peche (peach) flavoured beers are highly recommended.

Sweeties

One of the things that made the UK appealing to me is the fact that the language is the same… well, almost. There have been a few notable definitions that have required clarification along the way. Along with the traditional “thongs” and “pants” misunderstandings, I have learnt that a lolly is sugar on a stick and any other sort of sugar treat is a “sweetie”. Below is a picture of a particular UK sweetie known as a flying saucer – a rice paper case with sherbet in the middle (very bizarre!).And then there is the pronunciation & accent issue. Initially I had troubles with “Southwark” [pronounced “Suth-ick” rather than the phonetically pronounced “South-wark”]. Also, apparently the English can not distinguish between me saying jam, jem & Jan! Another bad habit of mine is the interchangeable use of “dollar” and “pound”. It is probably the hardest one for me to get use to, but the impact of using the $ instead of the £ at work can make a significant difference!

On a completely different note, here are a few snaps from the Lord Mayor Show & parade through London a few weeks ago. (In the night time shot, you have the London Eye on the left & Big Ben on the far right.)

Bonfire Night

One of the annual traditions in London is bonfire night... commonly known as “Guy Fawkes”. Back in 1605, this lunatic apparently attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. After being found out, he was put to death with his body quartered and hung on the four corners of the Westminster. Every year Londoners celebrate this guy’s attempt of blowing up Parliament – very bizarre! Anyway, I had a fun evening at Ravenscourt Park watching the massive 30m+ bonfire plus fireworks display with a few friends.

On a side note, we have been having a fantastic autumn in London. There is no doubt that autumn in my favourite season of the year with the vibrant displays of red & orange leaves as they fall from the trees. Here a just a few photos from my stroll yesterday through St James Park, located between Buckingham Palace and Whitehall.