|
RUSSIA THE LAND OF GULAGS, COSSACKS AND VODKA |
|
Welcome to Russia...
|
|
...only one insured driver per vehicle... |
|
...and a further welcome to Russia 50m across the border where Greg had to pay homage to the great Russian Police force (with a 500 rouble note) something that became dreaded every time we passed the policemen at the side of the street |
|
St Petersburg - the Venice of Russia
The Church on Spilled Blood (Church of Resurrection) on the site where Alexander the second was blown up by the People's Will Terrorist Group in 1881... stunning! |
|
|
|
Alexis in front of the Hermitage and the Winter Palace |
|
Tom, Greg and Adrian in front of the General and the square where the Bloody Sunday riots that started the 1917 Russian Revolution |
|
Across the river to the Hermitage |
|
Travelling can drive you mad |
|
Just a typical night down the local - Porgas (pronounced Borgas) - where it is Christmas and New Year every night |
|
Adrian with the bunnies at Porgas |
|
Adrian and Gala adorned in the English flag presented to Porga as a token of our appreciation |
|
The St Isaac's Cathedral amidst the snow |
|
Peter the Great |
|
Peter and Paul's fortress - an island fortified by Peter the Great |
|
The Beast on the road to Moscow |
|
Trying to keep warm in the freezing temperatures of the Beast |
|
-10.4oC outside and quite a toasty 7.5 oC inside |
|
The sludge roads of Russia |
|
Enterprising Russians set up tea urns at the side of the road selling coffee and tea in the -10oC temperatures. Other stalls we saw sold beach towels, socks, teddy bears and antifreeze |
|
NOVOGORAD (on the recommendation of Alice Gadney) |
|
Novogorad and the Kremlin |
|
The frozen ice of the Volga drifting past the Kremlin of Novogorad |
|
MOSCOW THE KREMLIN, POLICE AND THE BRAINS OF RUSSIA |
|
Red Square |
|
St Basil's Cathedral (unfortunately we couldn't complete our challenge set by Alex Flawn to make snow angels in front of the Cathedral or in Red Square as there was no snow!)
So a snow angel had to be carried out down the hill under the watchful eye of the police (St Basil's is in the distance!) |
|
Many wedding parties go to Red Square for photo opportunities and to give flowers to the Eternal Flame located on the outside of the Kremlin to give thanks to the soldiers who gave their lives in past wars |
|
Svetlana and Aleco sent to our rescue by the wonderful people at IMS Holdings, Alec Khramov and Micheal Gurgevich, who helped us to get our tyre released from the airport customs and translating the maximum amount of paperwork thrown at us - again THANK YOU!! |
|
The green lemonade of Georgia which tastes of aniseed and flowers. Georgian restaurants are very popular in Russia and the food is fantastic. |
|
Traditional Georgian outfit |
|
Mistrust in Moscow |
|
Meglomaniac in Moscow |
|
Gorky Park where the whole park has been turned into a giant ice skating rink |
|
Gala and Martia joined us in Moscow after travelling down from St Petersburg (and Porga) for an adventure to Yekatrinaburg |
|
Russian petrol stations and...
..Russian petrol station's luxury hole in the floor toilet |
|
|
 |
|
Suzdal... part of the Golden Ring surrounding Moscow. A beautiful town, the oldest in Russia, with a Kremlin and crammed with many historical onion domed churches, very friendly people but a bit cold at -21oC |
 |
|
Lenin pointing out the moon to some small people in Nizny Novogorad |
|
Onion domed churches line the road to Kazahkstan |
|
Cheboksary |
|
Kazan |
|
Greg experimenting with the Metallica look (apparently very cool for this side of the Urals) |
|
The Beast on the road |
|
The daily check for leaks and squeaks |
|
Meeting Sascha and Alexei in Chelyabinsk before driving to Yekatrinaberg |
|
The Urals |
|
The location just outside of Yekatrinaberg that the Tsars (Romanovs) were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Their bodies were thrown into a mine and acid poured over their bodies to try and destroy the evidence. There is the intention to build 17 Russian Orthodox churches on the site.
|
|
Sascha's introduction for us to the Russian folk music
Natasha and Sascha at their house in Revda |
|
We made it to the Urals!! |
|
The Banya, the cleansing parlour for many Russians, a sauna where you are cleaned by being beaten with birch and fir branches...
...and Adrian recovering from his beating! |
|
On the road back to Yekatrinaberg |
|
We made it to Asia!! The Asia/Europe line, just outside of Yekatrinaberg |
|
The Off Road Club who surprised us with the Yekatrinaberg News network who came to interview us about our trip around the world and took us out for an amazing meal at one of their restaurants. |
|
Vlad and his beautiful guitar playing |
|
The boys at Chelyatransauto who worked tirelessly on the Beast over the weekend manufacturing valves and sorting everything else out so that we could leave to go to Kazakhstan. Thanks guys!! |
