2002 tagged posts

In Europe, Eastern Europe 2002 On  24/07/2002  No comments

I was a little worried about this trip to Warsaw, it would be a 20 hour train trip. I got a first class train ticket because it has only two beds. Almost all the short distant trains I got in Russia there was a drunk man sitting next to me. I started to imagine 20 hours smelling someone’s alcohol breath. I ends up being lucky, there was nobody sharing the cabin with me. I was by myself.

There was no passport check when we left Russia and entered Belarus. The way out from Belarus they came to see if I had the transit visa. I had to pay 45 dollar to get it in Moscow. I believe almost all nationalities need a transit visa just to go through Belarus in the evening. People say it is just for them to make some money out of the tourists.

The trains stopped for about two hours so they could check everyone. When they came to my cabin, they asked me to leave and checked every single thing. They even unscrewed the roof and wall and looked in there...

In Europe, Eastern Europe 2002 On  22/07/2002  No comments

Sorry, this entry is only available in Português.

In Europe, Eastern Europe 2002 On  21/07/2002  No comments

Sorry, this entry is only available in Português.

In Europe, Eastern Europe 2002 On  20/07/2002  No comments

Here I also liked the subway. The stations are well decorated with marble, statues and huge lamps. The escalators are not so big and deep as the ones in St. Petersburg.

My first day I went straight to see the Red Square. It shouldn’t be called red square, its name comes from a word from old Russian that means beautiful. Nowadays this word also means red, it is why the square started to be called red.

I stopped I few subway stations away and I went walking. As much as I walked more I was surprised by the amount of shops. I can’t think of a clothing or sport brand that there is no a shop in Moscow. Streets, trains, underground passages are loaded with advertising. I really didn’t expect that much. I believe they are a lot more capitalists than we are. The scary part is that they stared not so long ago. It is sad to see it…

Next day I visited the Kremlin. I had problems to get in with photographic equipment. They didn’t let me go in with my equipment backpack...

In Europe, Eastern Europe 2002 On  18/07/2002  2 comments

A chegada já foi uma atração. Pela primeira vez vi sol às onze e meia da noite. Infelizmente, não cheguei a ver o sol da meia noite (meu sonho de adolescente, desde o filme com Barishnikov). É difícil de ter uma boa noção de tempo por aqui, pois o dia não termina nunca. Escurece sempre depois da meia noite.

Construída em 1703, por Pedro, O Grande, a cidade é banhada pelo rio Neva e rodeada por canais. A idéia era ser a Veneza do norte, no entanto, se parece mais com Paris. Acho que pelo tamanho e amplitude dos edifícios e monumentos. No próximo ano, será festejado o aniversário de 300 anos da cidade. Por essa razão quase todos os monumentos, teatros, museus e igrejas estão em reformas. Com certeza não é uma ótima época para fotografar as atrações turísticas. Pelo que dizem, as comemorações serão grandes. Talvez uma boa idéia seja visitar a cidade em maio de 2003.

Quanto ao idioma, esqueça o inglês...

In Europe, Eastern Europe 2002 On  16/07/2002  No comments

One of the most incredible places here is the subway “metro”. There is the largest and deepest escalator I’ve ever seen. I looks like we are going down into a big hole. The decoration is all from the 50s. There are some stations that are totally closed, dark. You don’t see when the train is coming, there are iron doors that open only when you can board in. It gives a claustrophobia feeling, the walls are thick and the iron doors always closed. It reminded me the film “The Cube”. Some people told me that the doors and thick walls are due to the pressure from the river and canals above.

I decided to visit Peterhof, a palace with nice gardens and lots of water fountains. If before I compared St. Petersburg to Paris, Peterhof is their version of Versalles. After an hour squeezed in a bus I got to the palace. The line to get in the museum was huge, it reminded me what it is to travel in Europe during the summer. I spend a few hours waking around the gardens...