After a semi-enforced 6 months away due to the pandemic I am now back in Moscow where it seems to be back to ‘business as usual’. I got an inkling of what to expect when checking in for my flight. Almost everyone at the airport was wearing a mask, as per the rules, except for… Continue reading COVID – WHAT COVID?
Arkhangelskoye Palace
On Saturday we went on a trip out of town to the old Arkhangelskoye State Palace and Estate. A short 30 minute drive from Moscow (if you don’t miss your turning and then get stuck in traffic waiting for President Putin to drive by) it is a nice day out. From 1703 to 1810 the… Continue reading Arkhangelskoye Palace
Siberia part 2 – Lake Baikal
The drive from Irkutsk to Olkhon island is 4 hours. We set off at 10:00 heading north out of town. Slowly the city sprawl and the villages strung out along the road gave way to a vast nothingness. Mile after mile of a gently undulating, muted, two tone landscape; brown trees, brown grass, brown earth… Continue reading Siberia part 2 – Lake Baikal
Siberia part 1 – Irkutsk
I have just spent an amazing 3 days visiting Irkusk and Lake Baikal in Siberia. First let me start with getting there. My husband and I flew with Pobeda, Aeroflot’s low cost airline. The crew were smart and professional and the planes clean but basic. It is a 6 hour flight but the airline is… Continue reading Siberia part 1 – Irkutsk
A Love Poem for St Valentines Day
A Russian love poem about love of his country by Mikhail Lermontov (1814 – 1841). Translated by Peter France. Lermontov was a Romantic and considered the Byron of Russia. My County I love my country, but with a strange love – stronger than reason! ….. Neither the fame that blood can buy, nor the calm… Continue reading A Love Poem for St Valentines Day
A weekend in Zavidovo
This weekend my husband and I went away, as part of a group, to a recreational resort complex on the banks of the rivers Volga and Shosha. The complex, opened during the Soviet times and run by the ‘Ministry of Hospitality’ for the use of diplomats and other ‘foreign representations’, is about 2 hours from… Continue reading A weekend in Zavidovo
A stroll Along Tverskaya
Recently I did a fascinating walking tour along Tverskaya street. Named Gorky Street in Soviet times, it has always been one of the most important streets in Moscow. Leading away from the Kremlin, it heads north-ish; first to the city of Tver (Moscow’s big rival in the Middle Ages) and then onto St Petersburg. In… Continue reading A stroll Along Tverskaya
Train to St Petersburg
On our second weekend living in Russia my husband had to go to St Petersburg for work. Naturally I went along too. We went by Sapsan, the high speed train between Moscow and St Pete’s. It takes 4 hours and ‘trundles’ along at speeds up to 220km/h. We travelled business class which included a surprisingly… Continue reading Train to St Petersburg
Arrival – Month one
I have now been living in Moscow for 3 weeks and thought I would share my first impressions. Firstly the Metro is excellent. All the signs are in both Russian and English, as are all the announcements on the trains. The different lines are all clearly numbered and signposted and so it is extremely easy… Continue reading Arrival – Month one
Who am I?
I am an expat wife who willingly follows her husband around the world, originally with our children, but now it is just the two of us. We have just arrived in Moscow. My friends and family have often suggested that I write a blog about my adventures. Until now I have resisted. But here I… Continue reading Who am I?
Russian Reflections 