Vertigo in Vyborg

с новым годом!

Happy New Year to you all!  I wish you all the best for the forthcoming year!

  


I spent this Christmas working, which was a bit of a pain, but at least I had a good week and a half off from work.  Catching up on some sleep and sorting out a few other things were my main priorities.

So, 2015 is here - can it be even better than the previous year?  Let's hope so.  There are a lot of things to do, and places to visit.

Trip to Vyborg

The other day I received a message from a former student of mine.  She asked me whether I'd like to go on a day trip to the city of Vyborg with her and some friends.  Of course!  The strange thing was I had been thinking about visiting Vyborg during my holiday, so this was the perfect opportunity.  She then told me to meet them at Finlyandky Station 20 minutes before the train was due to leave.  And so, on Thursday morning, with a couple of minutes to spare, we boarded the train.

The journey from Saint Petersburg to Vyborg takes two and half hours.  The price for a return ticket is a very reasonable 540 roubles.  That is less than £10, and probably closer to £5 after the currency crisis.  

The journey itself was smooth, but if you do take a regional train in Russia, be prepared to sit on a 'bench' with no upholstery or padding.  Bum-numb you will certainly get!  And as we got closer to the city we noticed the temperature had dropped somewhat.  Saint Petersburg, like all large cities, has its own micro-climate and tends to be warmer than the countryside and smaller cities.  By the time we reached Vyborg, at midday, it had been snowing heavily and as we got off the train we were greeted by the wet flurries of snowflakes blowing into our faces.  But, it was a glorious sight!  Fresh, lovely snow.  I love snow.  Maybe it's because we don't get a lot of it in England. 

Information on Vyborg, Russia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyborg           

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g298511-Vyborg_Vyborgsky_District_Leningrad_Oblast_Northwestern_District-Vacations.html

Travel companions:  Yulia, Natasha, Olga and Lena

Frozen river covered in snow

Approaching Vyborg Castle

Vyborg Castle

Being British I am more than acquainted with castles, so the idea of visiting this famous landmark was an attractive idea.  And being a soft westerner I am used to lots of health and safety features in tourist attractions.  I was in for a shock.  The narrow, single-file steps leading to the roof of the tower are fragile (or was it that my nerves were fragile as I imagined falling over the railings?) and a little rickety.  Once we had reached the top, my fearless companions braved out into the frosty air and looked rather unaffected by the whole experience; unlike me as 'the fear' was taking its hold on me.  The walk-way around the roof was as equally as narrow and I managed one circuit, before I chickened out and walked back down the steps of doom.  Before I left, I did manage to get an excellent view of the city, and even a picture (as I imagined falling over the edge..again).  

A breath-taking view of frozen Vyborg

No fear, no worries!

After the castle we slid back into the city and had a walk around the streets, looking for some pretzels, and then for somewhere else to eat before our journey home.  While I thought the city had a certain charm, I did agree with my Russian friends that the city had been neglected.  There are some beautiful buildings in the city's heart, but many of these had be left to wither away and crumble.  Some renovation work is being carried out by the local government, but I fear that the city's heritage is slowly being eroded.  More money has to be pumped into such renovation projects before it is too late.  Sadly, for some buildings, it will be too late!

I did enjoy my trip to Vyborg, not least because I was in such excellent company.  Thank you ladies for showing me the city.  It was fantastic spending time with you!  I would certainly recommend anyone to visit this city, but I do feel that springtime and summer would be better when you can enjoy the highly-acclaimed Mon Repos park, which we didn't manage to visit this time.

A few words about the Paris attacks and freedom of speech

The day before the trip to Vyborg, a vicious and cold-blooded attack was carried out on the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.  The terrorists shot dead twelve people; and for what reason? The answer:  because the magazine had published cartoons which had made fun of the Islamic prophet Mohammed. The terrorists believed that they deserved to die because of these cartoons.  Well, no-one deserves to die for criticising any religion, belief or philosophy.  No-one.  And no-one should be censored either for doing so.  It's a fundamental human right of freedom of speech and expression.  Once you start silencing critics, it's a downward trajectory towards other incursions into your liberties.  Don't believe the left-wingers and crack-pot appeasers who say they support freedom of speech, but with limitations.  They do not support freedom of speech.  Imposing limitations, in whatever form, will only lead to anti-blasphemy laws, which will in turn encroach on other civil liberties.  Everyone should have the right to freedom of expression, even if that means offending other people.  Those freedoms, in a liberal democracy are non-negotiable.  If a religious group feels offended, then so be it.  Religions often make fantastical claims and such claims need to be scrutinised, criticised and even ridiculed.  It should promote health debate.  Unfortunately and horrifically, in this case, religious nutters did not see it that way and resorted to murder.

Sitting On The Blog

My Second Year

I'm now well into my second year in Russia.  My contract was renewed at the end of August, so I know I'll be here until at least August this year.  And, there is always the possibility that I may wish to stay longer. Since my last blog entry quite a few things have happened which I'd like to share with you.  I had hoped to post much earlier, but I've been busy with work.  

September/October 2014

The summer ended rather well; in terms of weather that is.  The long humid days gave way to a couple of weeks of fresh(er) air and clear blue skies.  And then, of course, came the wet weather and the ensuing loveliness of muddy pavements.

One day I decided to head to the Russian Museum, which boasts huge galleries of Russian art.  A lesson was cancelled, the day was bright and sunny, so I thought this was an ideal opportunity.  It was a Tuesday.  I forgot that the museum is closed on Tuesdays, so I was a little disappointed when I got to the closed gates.  But nevermind!  I took the opportunity to explore the area and take a few photos.

Kazan Cathedral 

The Singer Building - home to The House of Books and VK

Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood

Statue of Pushkin with the Russian Museum in the background

Peterhof

In the middle of September I had the opportunity to go Peterhof. Known as 'Russia's Versailles,' Peterhof is a series of palaces and gardens built by Peter the Great and is located south-west of Saint Petersburg on the coast of the Gulf of Finland.  Like Versailles, the gardens contain some outstanding fountains with figures covered in gold.  The main reason for going at that particular time was because it was the last night of the fountains - a closing ceremony held each year to mark the end of the fountain season.  At 9 p.m, when it was dark enough, the show began with a fantastic firework display and laser-audio-visual show (with moving projections on the main palace's facade).  It was a long wait until the start of the show, but it was worth it in the end.

One year in Russia

On 27th September I celebrated one full year in Russia.  I contemplated a bit on what that actually meant, thought about the forthcoming year a bit, and then held a party.  

   

While it was a time for celebrating I was also a little sad that I had lost a friend a few weeks earlier.  My friend hadn't died - he was in rude enough health; at least physically.  No, the person in question decided to sever all contact with me; and the underlying reason for this:  because I live and work in Russia.  One day I received a message through Facebook from him.  It was his last message before blocking me, so I couldn't reply.  And it was a long message.  It was courteous in tone, but he stated that for the peace of his mind he could no longer have anything to do with me.  His reasoning was as follows:  I work as a teacher in Russia, therefore I support the Russian economy; as I support the Russian economy, I indirectly support the 'Putin regime.'  Now, I knew he was no fan of Putin and Russian foreign policy.  And I was aware that he held some rather Russophobic views, but I was rather gobsmacked that he would end a friendship (we've known each other since university - 1995 to be precise) based on this.  In short, I can only come to the conclusion that he swallowed all of the anti-Russian propaganda coming out of the western media.  That, mixed with his own prejudices, must have prompted him to do this.  It was a strange reason.  Many people remain friends, even when their political views are at opposite ends.  I haven't ended a friendship because friends and acquaintances have posted weird left-wing rubbish on Facebook, or they believe in different things to me.  I'm just speculating here, but I think he might have lost the plot a little.  Such a shame.  For an intelligent man, he's bloody stupid as well!

November/December 2014

The Russian Museum

I finally made that visit to the Russian Museum in November.   It's a huge place and I spent a few hours looking at what I considered the most interesting paintings and sculptures.

   

 

The Currency Crisis

I'm just going to write a few words on this.  I haven't written much on the political and economic situation in Russia before, as I've tended to focus on other things (and maybe I should for another post).  As you know, the Russian rouble was hit hard in December and this made the currency very weak against the US dollar, Euro and Sterling.  What I will say at this point is that I think this is part of Washington's game-plan to weaken Russia even further.  The US government has used Crimea and Ukraine as an excuse to get the international community to impose sanctions on Russia.  This is only part of their overall strategy. Yes, prices are going up, people are feeling gloomy about the economic situation in the country, and there are certain goods you can no longer buy in the shops.  But, I don't think the US will get its own way in the longer term.  Firstly, Putin will not back down on Crimea or 

Ukraine.  Also, many countries are feeling the effects of not doing so much trade with Russia; tourism included.  Hopefully, countries like Germany will see sense and drop their sanctions, and Obama will be left with egg on his face.  Also, trying to bully Russia just makes people even more contemptuous of the US government.  

My Upper-Intermediate English Class

Congratulations to my upper-intermediate English class who passed with flying colours in their final tests! They were such a pleasure to teach.  I'm going to miss the laughs and the giggles.  And I did laugh a lot during those 15 weeks.  So, thank you once again for being such fantastic students! 

With my students:  Nikolai, Kseniya, Anastasia, Kati, Valeria, Alexandria and Ekaterina

And now for something completely different:

Little Big:  one of the strangest bands from Russia

From Russia with love

We will push the button