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.