Greece Bound

We have arrived in Greece!! Goodbye cold weather and somber faces, hello sunshine and pita bread! Before I get ahead of myself, lets recap the past 2 weeks, shall we?

We left Irkutsk for Tomsk in a lovely cabin on the train. We ate loads of noodles and bread, drank lots of tea, and napped. Upon arrival in Tomsk we were met by Nikita, our CS host. He drove us to his place, a very nice apartment which he shares with his wife, overlooking the city. Fabulous! We feasted on stuffed peppers (thanks Marina!), showered, laundried, and generally sorted ourselves out before heading into town with our lovely hosts for a grand tour. Tomsk is primarily a student town with gorgeous architecture overlooking the Tom river. We even went to the hill where Tomsk was founded! Lots of the buildings are adorned with wooden "lace", a characteristic of original Siberian architecture with Tomsk being having the most intact pieces. What a lovely time we had, strolling around and chatting. We went back to the apartment that evening for a dinner of solyanka, a delicious soup, and some mulled wine. We rounded out the night watching "Brother 2" a great Russian film.




The next day we continued our tour after a ridiculously great omlette brunch, and visited the campuses and parks in the southern part of town. In the afternoon we attended the annual meeting for the local branch of the Hospitality Club, an organization quite like CS. We even had to give a little speech and slideshow of our trip! The meeting was held in an awesome tiny theatre with the most fantasitc wooden puppets that move and talk to you electronically. Seriously awesome. We cooked our hosts dinner of Chili con Carne and wine, and enjoyed our last night in Siberia.

Two-point-five days on the train in 3rd class- woulda been grand had we not been plagued by this chick who decided to sit with us and talk to our neighbors all day and all night, regardless of the fact that her seat was down the cabin. Oli couldn't lay down when he wanted to and she was constantly crowding us!! ARGHHHHH.

Welcome to Moscow. Somehow, we found our way to the hostel without a hitch and found that Home from Home is not what it claims. We were met by a very confused staff, no record of our booking (a constant problem with this place, as it turns out) and then we were placed in the "dorm" in the common room- 4 saggy beds under the TV where the resident babushka sits all day watching the soaps. She also sleeps there and has a massive snoring problem, as we found out later. We headed out to grab a bite to eat (yummy blinys) and a night view of the Kremlin and St. Basil's cathedral. So picturesque!!! We rounded out the evening at a Cuban bar of all places, drinking extortionately prices drinks (thanks for the beer $ pops!!!!!) and avoiding our hellhole of a hostel.



The next day we went back to the Red Square to visit Lenin's Mauselium- creepy and sad, the past 85 years look like they were torture for the poor man. Lunch at a fab place in the famous GUM mall (Russians LOVE their buffet and cafeteria style restaurants!) and then the museum, afterwhich we were plagued with what to do until our 1am train to St. Petes. Oli decided on (what else) Tinkoff brewery! We lazed away the night having a few microbrews until our train. As we boarded our train, we realized that we had left our passports in the hostel's safe. Oh shit. Well, nothin to do but try to board the train with our photocopies and avoid the po-po at any cost! We boarded without a problem and slept the 9hrs to St. Petersburg.

Now this is a city we can dig! Immediately we loved the place, and were fortunate enough to be staying at the lovely Soul Kitchen hostel- nice! We checked in, grabbed lunch, and headed directly to the Hermitage. What a museum!!! We were there until closing, and saw every single room on both the first and second floors. It is one of the most fabulous museums we have ever been to and thats saying a lot after London, NYC, and the past year of globe trotting! Dinner at a local place where we munched on Ural dumplings and borscht.



Day two of St. Petes consisted of the Dostoyevsky museum (swoon), napping, and food at Yolki Polki- salad buffet for less than $10, a real feat in Russia, and where we found out later Obama had taken his kids to! Early night for us.

Final day in St. Petes was Hermitage time- had to finish up the 3rd floor! Hid out in a coffeeshop and then the ballet at the Mikaelovsky theatre- Giselle was on, and it was surperb. Russian ballet, can't beat it!! A bit fancy pants when you get down to it, and the men sure were proud of those tights they were wearing, but a great evening overall. Evening train to Moscow!

Final day in Russia, and it poured down with rain. We went to the armoury, where we saw a few Faberge eggs (I really don't get what the fuss is about), some awesome carriages, and a bunch of guilded things. Spent the afternoon in a coffee shop journaling and deciding on which Russian dolls to buy, then off to the airport for our 10:40pm flight to Riga, Latvia!

Slept in the Riga airport- I swear we were the only souls there. Not even anyplace to buy water, we had to suffice with sucking out of the bathroom taps. Slept surprisingly well for a few hours, had a cold pizza breakfast, and then caught our flight to ATHENS!!!

And here we are. We arrived yesterday and immediately had a beer at the rooftop bar overlooking the Acropolis, then found a market to buy dips and cheeses and pitas and wine, and spent the evening on our balcony enjoying the Grecian weather.

Today has been busy! We headed to the Acropolis first, where it was tour group hell, but still breathtaking. Of course, like every other fabulous thing in the world it was under refurbishment, but still- amazing. After that we popped in at a few other ruins around the city, ate a yummo Greek pita wrap, and decided to visit Nafplio on Friday. And that brings you up to date! Just a month left on our RTW adventure (then I'm off to Australia sans Oli for 10 days or so) and then Blighty for the holidays! Love and kisses.