Ben's Travel Adventures

When You Can't Understand Someone

Who's speaking a foreign language, and it's an inconsequential interaction (like at a street-corner) your first task is to determine whether they uttered a statement or question. If a statement, you can just smile and nod. If a question, you have to come up with a reply!

St. Petersburg

Apparently tourists who visit Moscow after St. Petersburg complain that there's nothing to see. That's because while St. Pete might be smaller in size, it's larger in terms of cultural institutions, beautifully architected buildings, Venice-like canals; it has an overall ambiance that feels more European than Russian. It's also free of many of the big-city hassles of Moscow (though St. Pete is still big -- 5 million people). Notwithstanding all this, I liked Moscow as much as St. Pete --- they're just different.

From the St. Pete airport we went straight to St. Catherine's Palace. Stunningly beautiful and ornate! Gilded wood covered with gold plate is in endless supply. A lot of restoration had to happen since the Nazis burned much of it during the battle of Leningrad. Still -- each fresco, wood carving, and room feels authentic.

St. Catherine's Palace is situated just outside St. Pete. In the city itself, there is a kind of center part (anchored by a huge statue of Lenin) around which most of the interesting things lie. Several beautiful canals / rivers provide a nice walking area. You can definitely do some "wander around by foot" in St. Pete.

During the first night we went to the ballet -- no surprises here. Ornate building. Since it was out of season, it was mostly tourists. We finished at 10:30 PM and walked outside to daylight. St. Pete is very close to Scandinavia (two hour drive from Finland) and therefore it similarly stays light late

On day 2 we went to Peterhof, a series of buildings and gardens made by Peter the Great. Very similar to St. Catherine's Palace on the inside; the magic here is the outside landscaping. The gardens are beautiful, waterfalls everywhere. All the waterfalls and fountains are gravity-powered, which is amazing.

Finally, St. Petersburg is home to one of the greatest art museums in the world: the hermitage. Overloaded with art from big names and little names, but mostly big names. Impressionists, Spanish, on and on and on. It rivals any museum in scale and famous works. We spent three hours; could have spent a whole day.

For our last dinner in Russia / Ukraine, we finally found a Mexican restaurant! It's not that Russian food is bad; it's just bland. And it gets tiresome. Carne asada, chips and salsa, margaritas: all refreshing changes!

Moscow and the Kremlin

Moscow is one of the world's most expensive cities, but worth the price of admission if only to spend a couple days immersing yourself in the Kremlin.

The Kremlin and Red Square are magnificent in their aesthetic presence and fascinating history. Lenin's Tomb looms near St. Basil's Cathedral (the quintessential Moscow postcard photo). Inside the Kremlin are a couple churches and museums full of jewelry and clothing from the days of Catherine the Great, Ivan the Terrible, and other Russian czars.

We had guides for these places and it was worth it -- good ones can really illuminate what you're looking at. And Russian history is interesting, especially since a defining moment in its past happened just 15 or so years ago.

We also did a bus tour around the city. With 15 million people, it's a big place, and the bus tour shows a variety of other nooks and crannies. But none stood out (from the bus, at least). The Red Square is really where it's at in Moscow.

Unfortunately we didn't get to go to the Moscow Circus as planned, but all the fine arts and theater in Moscow are supposed to be good.

The Moscow Metro (subway) is worth riding. The metro stations are actually quick tourist spots because they are so ornate. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling, expansive stone benches abound. Oh - and the subway is on time, clean, and air conditioned. NYC subway it's not!

I'm fascinated by what Russia / Moscow is like in the winter. I would expect the Red Square and the surroundings would feel entirely different when covered in white. We were lucky with the weather (sunny the whole time expect for one night which played host to our futile hunt for a Mexican restaurant). The sun in part reduced the stereotypical dour appearance of the Russian people.

All in all, a massive, urban city, which vibrates strongly at its heart (Kremlin). Expensive, for sure, but worth a visit for any international traveler to those parts of the world.

Kiev

Kiev is a great city. Don't know why more people don't go there -- it would certainly make a good companion stop to Prague.

It feels Western European (Paris or Barcelona or wherever). The main street is beautiful in day and night, surrounded by expensive shops, big Ukrainian flags and monuments, and various squares and social mingling places.

The underground caves -- where saints from centuries are supposedly still buried -- is one of Kiev's most popular attractions and is indeed quite interesting. Hot, stuffy, dark, but fascinating. Since Ukraine has loads of religious folk and religious visitors, people are constnatly kissing the pictures of the saints which hang overhead the bodies.

The WWII memorial -- or, as they call it in Ukraine/Russia, "The Great Patriotic War" -- is well done.

There are a bunch of ethnic restuarants in addition to local Ukrainian fare. We ate at a Japanese place one night to mix it up and the sushi was solid.

Best of all, Kiev is relatively cheap for a big city, so you can explore and eat and travel like you can't in western Europe.

Airline Safety

The safety record of Russian and Ukrainian airlines is terrible.

The planes themselves are also terrible. Ex bombers, seats don't work, light overhead looks 20+ years old.

You say your prayer on the way up and on the way down.

Ukraine Photo of the Day

In Kiev:

Trying to Immerse Yourself in Ukrainian Culture....

At a nice, authentic Ukrainian restuarant for dinner tonight, recommened by a Swiss guy / ex-New Yorker on the plane from Odessa.

Beautiful architecture, nice menu, friendly staff. Ah, the full experience!

And then we hear two Americans at the table opposite from us. It's rare to hear / see Americans in Ukraine. They weren't just making small chit chat, though. Through unavoidable eavesdropping I learned at least one of them served in Iraq and both were in the military at some point.

It was a little bit intense to overhear them sharing stories about the war zone as I tried to enjoy the Ukrainian food.

Recap: Odessa, Ukraine

Odessa is supposedly Ukraine's second most international city, but you wouldn't know it from landing at the airport. The airport is old and run down and filled with Soviet-era aircraft.

The city itself though, while still showing spots of disrepair and poverty, largely shines in its beauty (right on the Black Sea!) and diversity (most people speak Russian, not Ukrainian, for example).

We arrived Wednesday afternoon and after exiting the terminal got approached by many folks asking, "Taxi?" It felt like India. I hate getting badgered by illegal taxi people.

We walked around that evening and found a nice place to eat that was ridiciously cheap but still pretty good. So cheap, in fact, that we double checked the dollar to griva conversion rate. Ah, 1 dollar to 5 griva. Life is good. We also popped in an orthodox Christian church -- women all wearing headscarves, bowing over and over again. Yoikes.

I participated and spoke at a conference on corporate social responsibility the following morning, and then hung out at the beach that afternoon. The Odessa beaches are lovely. There are several easy restaurants / cafes overlooking the beach. The Black Sea looked good from afar though I hear it's too dirty to swim in. We smartly paid 10 griva to a young kid to go get us some white chairs to sit on in the and -- made it much more comfortable

The best part of my visit to Odessa was the main reason I'm even in Ukraine/Russia to begin with: judging and partipcating in a youth entrepreneurship event, here. About 10 teams from around the world came here to compete. I'll blog more about this on my main blog, but suffice to say that the cultural exchange and stories and dancing were awesome. It's always fun to spend time with people from other cultures and hear about their lives.

The final thing to say about Odessa is the fashion sense of the women. Here's my post on my main blog about this. Simply put, it's pretty skimpy. Maybe even slutty.

If you're going to visit Ukraine for just a day or two, go to Kiev. Any longer, and Odessa should be on the list. It's not a world class city, but it's accessible, friendly, and interesting in its own ways.

So long, Odessa! So long, Black Sea!

The Beach in Odessa

It's what the town is known for: