Notes from our round the world trip part V

27 May 2007 Pentecost St. Petersburg
For breakfast we had some Russian pancakes, we forget what our host called them. Served with fruit preserves and sour cream. Then we sat and talked with her for a long time. Mainly she talked about her daughter and her bad marriage, about people who have stayed with her. She told a story about writing in English to an American man for a girl here in Russia, about relatives who left Russia after the Revolution.

Nancye and I walked to the Hermitage. Our map of the museum was not of much help because the signs in the museum are not of much help. We could not tell where we were. Still we saw, just by wandering and asking questions many French Impressionists and the whole section of Rembrants. The Near Sacrifice of Isaac is in St. Petersburg. The Hermitage is huge and very beautiful, inlaid wood floors.

After leaving the museum we went to Millionaires Ultisa to a restaurant in our guide book. What was supposed to be there was not. But we still had an excellent lunch. Nancye had a chicken cutlet stuffed with mushrooms and breaded and fried. Like Chicken Kiev but different. I had beef stroganoff.

Then we headed for Peterhoff. Both getting into the Hermitage and getting tickets for the hydrofoil to Peterhoff were very trying. No line, just people pushing their way to the front. The clerks were unhelpful. You have to talk to them through a tiny little window which is waist high and if they don’t understand they just shake their heads or turn away. We finally got tickets to stand on the boat to Peterhoff. It is a half hour or 45 minutes ride on the Hydrofoil.

We wandered the gardens and took pictures of the fountains for a couple of hours. Getting back was also a trial. A man at a gate on the dock was letting some people through and not others. Finally, he saw our tickets and we could get in line for the next boat. But it landed in St. Petersburg someplace other than where we got on. For a time we were very confused about where we were and the young man at the ramp off the boat was no help. We tried to get him to tell us where we were on the map but he probably did not understand.

Some people in Russia have been very helpful and others just rude.

Anyway, the boat stopped at Vassilevsky Island instead of the Hermitage. So our walk to the homestay was shorter. We stopped at a grocery for a few things and are about out of rubles.

We are staying in this evening to rest. Tomorrow to the American Express office and a stroll on Nevski Prospect. Tuesday we head home.

28 May 2007 Monday. St. Petersburg
It as been muggy every day here, not hot, in the 70ºs, but we sweat. One last day and then we head West again.

So few men wear beards in Russia. A few more in St. Petersburg - we saw only a couple in Moscow. I cut my beard very short before we left home and have not shaved cheeks or neck as I have done for years.

To get cash we went first to Cbear Bank. That is not spelled right, but we tried to change $ to rubles. The computer was not up so we left. We dried another bank. No. Finally we walked to American Express, near St. Isaac's and Nevski Prospect and changed Travelers checks to rubles. Nancye asked to change travelers checks to Euros - no can do. But could change to rubles and then to Euros. Stupid. We’ll never use American Express again.

So finally we began walking down - up?- Nevski Prospect. Stopped to visit the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan. On the outside it looks like St. Peters’ in Rome, on the inside Orthodox. Then across the street to a book store. We had seen and gone into another book store earlier. We have been looking for comic books or graphic novels in Russian for Leighton and finally found one.

Lunch. I had herring with potatoes and mushrooms.

Then to the Russian Museum - Russian painting and sculpture from any centuries. The 1916 portrait of V. Myerhold and other modern paintings. The best piece was a wooden carving of a toy of mice burying a cat. A dozen or three mice hauling a carriage with a dead cat on its back trussed up. Clever, humorous, very nice. Tired we headed back- Nancye bought a humorous original painting We took the metro back to our homestay, bought flowers for our hostess. I had a bit of a bowel upset and no one answered our rung at the door at 4:15. So we went to Yolky-Palky a restaurant chain and I got to use the W.C., we got some food to go. While it is not hot here about 75º, it is muggy and feels hot. We are sweating and very tired. Time to go home.

Also on Nevski Prospect was St. Catherine’s RC church. It was much more plain than the Orthodox churches and we like it a goo deal. it had burned recently and while mostly restored it is not yet done.

I have joyfully prayed in Orthodox churches and in St. Catherine's for my people at home.

30 May 2007 Wednesday. Brussels, Belgium. This round the world trip is coming to an end. Monday I had a brief bowel upset. I thought I was going to pass gas, but it was liquid while we were walking in St. Petersburg.

Tuesday our guide took us to the St. Petersburg airport. They don’t give you much information about flights. The sign on the gate indicated the flight only when they started taking tickets. It was not even clear which airport we were to use! Still it was a good flight - coach class on German Wings to Köln.

We were met in Köln by Kate Adcock Siegal, my college girl friend, who has lived in German for nearly 40 years. I have not seen her since 1968. She showed us the sights of Cologne - especially the Cathedral. What a glorious building! We had tea and a marvelous piece of cake in a cafe across from the cathedral. Later to Kate’s home in the suburbs. We talked late - caught up with each others lives. She now lives alone, her four adult children having moved away and separated from her husband. She has a wonderfully decorated house with many nice things. Today we go to Brussels. If this is Wednesday we much be in Belgium.


[Added later: How strange it seemed on a couple of occasions when in Köln talking with Kate and Nancye. There I sat with the woman I loved and intended to marry 40 years ago and the woman I love and have been married to for 38 years. Strange. I wonder what they are thinking.]


I am thankful that Nancye and my two doctors pushed me to make the trip. I was so anxious and fearful in those days leading up to it. It has been a grand time with many things to remember and bore our friends and children with. Thank you Jesus!

6:30 pm . This morning Kate took us around to see a church and a very nice Japanese garden -. Please see my pictures for all of these things, I just file by name. And a large park with very interesting and innovative sculptures. Lunch at a cafe overlooking the Rhine and the cathedral. We walked to the rail station over the bridge and took the Thalys from Köln to Brussels. When we got off the train here there was no indication of how to get out of the station. I was expecting to see signs saying, “sorti” and maybe even Exit. But we asked directions and quickly found our hotel across the street from an exit from the station.

Tomorrow train to the airport and fly home.

We had the last of our bourbon and then went out searching in the neighborhood for supper. This seems like a rough area - run down and inhabited by a mix of Turks and others. We are not sure. We passed several dark and dingy places with only men in them and found a Greek cafe. We asked for a menu and were told in French to make our selection in the kitchen. Table du jour or plat du jour was selected from pans on the stove! As we watched the cook dish out food for people ahead of us we realized we needed only one serving. We got a huge plate with a stuffed eggplant , vegetables and pasta plus two beers and bread for 11 euros.

We walked back to the train station, got information and tickets for the train to the airport then back to the hotel for bed.

1 June 2007 Friday. Hamlet, Ohio. Yesterday was 30 hours long! We got up about 6:30 Brussels time - ate breakfast in the hotel. - a soft boiled egg, sausage, pastry, tea, juice. We took the so-called express to Brussels air port. Then we left about 11:30 am on Delta for the US. Arrived in NY about 1 pm NY time or 7 pm body time. We left NY about 5:30 and arrived in Cincy at 7 pm or 1 am body time. Alice picked us up at the Cincy airport. Good food all day and much too long. It will take us several days to get back on Eastern US time. We have been all around the world in the last three weeks. L.A., Korea, China, Mongolia, Siberia, Russia, Germany, Belgium, NY and home!

Notes from our round the world trip part IV

23 May 2007 Wednesday. Moscow
After a brief lie down our host, Alex, walked us to Ploshad Kievskovo. There we changed some money, found the kiosk for Metro tickets and walked around a huge mall. In it are very up scale shops, a super market, many restaurants and fast food places and shops of many kinds. Nancye again tried to find a sleep mask but the only ones we found were about $28. Too dear. We ate at Vinagrete Cafe. Nancye had beef stroganoff and potatoes and I had a couple of fish cakes and mashed. Elegantly served and very tasty. I don’t think I have ever had better fish cakes. Afterwards Baskin and Robbins ice cream. Nancye sounded out the cyrillic lettering and exclaimed, “Baskin and Robbins!”

We bought some water and hoofed it home. It’s about a five minute walk. Slept fine but not long enough.

5 pm Our guide, Anna, picked us up at 10 am. We walked from our guest house all the way to the Kremlin. We took in Arbat Street - very touristy, but with some restaurants we may want to visit. We walked around the Kremlin to Red Square - saw St. Basil and Lubianka Square and back to the Kremlin. After lunch in an underground mall we tried to go into the Kremlin but it was closed on Wed Afternoon. So instead we had our first experience on the Moscow subway. With no signs in English we managed to find our way. We took two different lines and went to the Bakrushin Theatre Museum. Very disorganized entrance. The woman at the desk could not sell us tickets, we had to wait for the ticket seller who was off somewhere. Guides in each room tried to explain things to us and often went on at length even though we said we did not understand. But they were very kind and I used my little Russian. They had mainly stuff from the 19th C. Opera and ballet. Because they were filming in one room one of the guides took us through a back hallway so we could see things in some other rooms. One little lady kept getting up and showing us things and speaking in Russian, but we got some of what she was saying.

We were hot and tired so we got the Metro home , buying flowers for our host on the way.

We got home about 4. Cooled off. Had a drink and went looking for supper. We were cross with each other, but wound up with a sort of gyros and a beer sitting in the grass in a public park watching people go by. A full day of sight seeing for tomorrow.

24 May 2007 Thursday. Moscow
A good sleep. It gets light so early. We have to wait until 9 am for breakfast because the family had to get their kids and the wife off to school and work. But nothing opens until 10 or 11 am anyway.

List of Places we saw today.
Alex, Sasha, took us to an overlook of the city on the SW of the city. Then to Novodevichii convent and cemetery.
By Metro to center city. We walked to the MAT - Moscow Art Theatre which was not open. Then we walked up Tverskaya ulitsa to Yeliseev’s Food Hall and bought chocolate. Down Tveskoi Blvd to eat lunch at the Mill. This is probably the best meal we have had to this point.
[Note from June 19, the bill came today $138!!!]
In the afternoon we visited Stanislavsky House Museum, Gorky House Museum and Chekhov House Museum. Then to Patriarch’s Pond. Could not find the American Express Office. We bought water and vodka at the supermarket. We can’t seem to get travelers Checks cashed.

Now some details.

The best time today was at Stanislavsky’s home and Chekhov's home. We walked where they walked and lived. Stanislavsky had a theatre in his house as did Chekhov. Stanislavsky’s had a weird stage with two big pillars, but right there in that room he coached actors and rehearsed. In his study he wrote An Actor Prepares. A and Ch each died in those houses. Why I am moved by being in a place an important person was I don’t know.

The Gorky house is/was designed in style-modern with odd shaped windows, stained glass , a marvelous bannister.

Yeliseev’s Food Hall is like a small Harrods. Nancye bought some chocolate. Lunch was expensive because we had four glasses of imported wine. I had a very nice piece of salmon grilled and Nancye had salmon en croute.

Tonight after relaxing we went to an outdoor restaurant. I got red caviar as an appetizer. It came with a huge mound of butter which had been squeezed through something that made it look like spaghetti. I don’t know why they don’t serve it with crackers or bread. We had to order that separately Even ketchup had an extra charge.

We have seldom seen anyone wearing a hat - some few young people wear caps - especially baseball caps. I also have seen very few men with beards. Many young women in western fashionable clothing, heels, bare midriff and many nice clothes. I am sure we are not seeing the poor.

Moscow is pretty clean. We don’t see much litter except for plastic bottles.

This evening Alex and Lena invited us to sing with them to their kerioke machine. Fun.

25 May 2007 Friday Moscow
After breakfast, Alex drove us to his bank and convinced them to cash some American Express traveler's checks. I am not sure we will buy any of these again. AE travelers checks have not been useful. And mostly our credit cards are not accepted. We have purchased some gifts and an occasional meal with plastic.

Anyway after we got some rubles in cash we took the Metro back to the city center and spent about an hour or two in the Kremlin and St. Basil’s.

The highlight of the Kremlin was a group of five singers in the Cathedral of the archangel. They sang a short a cappella tune and we bought their CD. They call themselves Anima or Bokalnii Ansambab

We walked from the Kremlin to Arbat Ulitsa. A kids bazaar of some kind was going on down most of the street. Entertainments, clowns, people in large animal costumes, singing. Very festive. We tried to eat lunch at MOO MOO, but it was very crowded with a long line so we went next door and had a calzone and some mushrooms. Beer.

Nancye bought some amber ear rings for herself and Alice. Then back to the apartment for R and R and get ready to take the night train to St. Petersburg. Our passports had to be registered when we got to Moscow, but the they have not yet been returned.

26 May 2007 Saturday. St. Petersburg.
The train from Moscow to St. Petersburg was very nice. More comfortable than the Mongolian Trans Siberian, but about the same size. Beds already made up 2 packets of food including a roll, caviar, cheese spread, biscuits, some salami, tea, coffee, orange juice. Plus magazines and newspapers in Russian and a kit that included tooth paste, ear plugs and other necessaries you may have forgotten.

We got into St. Petersburg about 9:30 am.

After getting into our homestay we chose a car tour with driver and guide which cost us over 1000 rubles. But we were taken all over the city including into two churches where services were going on. It was a little boring, but I was tired. They left us at a nice cafe where we had shaslik - lamb kebabs with some tomatoes and cucumbers and a glass of wine. We then walked from Vailevskii back across the Neva river intending to spend the afternoon at the Hermitage and cash checks at American Express. We had to go a long way around because of a big parade on Nevskii Prospect celebrating the anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg. Huge crowds. American Express is closed until Monday. So we went next door to St. Isaac’s cathedral. It is a museum, but what a beautiful place. We are amazed that after decades of atheism and the siege of Leningrad that so much of the beautiful art is left.

It was raining as we left the cathedral so we took a taxi home. Cost too much. 1110 rubles!. Well over $40. but it was raining and we would have gotten soaked getting back to our homestay.

Notes from our round the world trip part III

18 May 2007. Friday. Ulaan Baator train station aboard the Trans Siberian rail road waiting for it to leave.
Breakfast at our homestay this morning. We went to see the Ganden Temple, a Buddhist monastery on the other side of the city. We tried to find a taxi, but could not, so we walked about an hour. We spent little time there because we had to be back for our pick up to the train station. And we walked all the way back. Nancye is especially tired. Most shops don’t open until 10 or 11 am - so Nancye did not get to do the shopping she wanted to do. Still she bought a cashmere scarf made in Mongolia. Relaxed at the room briefly then here to the train station.

19 May 2007 Saturday. Siberia. The train left on time from Ulaan Baator. Many people hauling bales of fabric or clothing on board. From Friday afternoon when we got on until now a “gang” of Mongolians have been carting piles of shirts, blankets, purses and other stuff back and forth in the train. It is not at all clear what they are doing but, Ola - a Norwegian fella in our car says they are smuggling these things into Russia. When we finally got to the border the Russian guards searched in all the cabins. Ola thinks the Mongolians bribed the officials. What we don’t understand is why they keep hauling the stuff back and forth. Sometimes they do it in bales and sometime one or two items.

Getting out of Mongolia and into Russia was a long tiring process. At least we could stay in our cabin. First the Mongolian official had to look at our passports and take them away. Then their customs official had a go. When we got our passports back the train moved forward in fits and starts.

After a long wait the Russians had their chance. I think we got to the border about 9:30 pm and left well after midnight. Sometime during the night our passports were returned.

I slept better and longer last night. We woke up at Ulaan Ulda in Russia and have been moving West all day. This is point at which we join the rail line from Vladivostoc

Breakfast - some dry cereal, tea, bread and jam. Lunch in the dining car: borscht with bread and beer. Dinner a dried noodle soup reconstituted with boiling water from the samovar.

We had ad difficulty getting rubles. The Mongolian Bank had very few. At the dining car a $50 bill was accepted with Russian rubles as change. At Irkusk we thought we’d find a bank at the station, but there was none. The ATM machine would not take Nancye’s debit card. But it took Ola’s so he did a second transaction and we bought rubles with dollars from a Norwegian.

The scenery has been spectacular and varied. From Ulaan Baator - dry and looking like eastern Colorado, it slowly greened up, trees appeared and water. The train follows the southern bank of Lake Baikal for many kilometers with many great views to the north across the lake. To the south some snow capped peaks.

Gradually more villages and towns. We saw many people outside working on garden plots. They are preparing the soil; nothing seems to be planted yet.

20 May 2007 Sunday. On the Train in Siberia. Awakened in Krasnoyarsk this morning. We just passed the half way kilometer mark between Beijing and Moscow.

We have seen steppes and taiga, little mountain streams. We pass many small villages. They are motley gray weathered often with gaily painted shutters. Most have a fenced in yard - no grass. Either junk or a garden in the yard.

We have had a bit of rain and it is mostly cloudy today. We have had clear and sunny weather every day this trip until late yesterday.

The train operates on Moscow time even though we are several time zones away. So we are gradually moving our clocks back and our daily schedule later. I think we are gaining back the day we lost over the Pacific.

For breakfast we are eating dry cereal - we have a box of Chinese cherrios!, bread and jam and tea.

Last stop at Achunk was 20 minutes. The Mongolians hawked their wares to the locals from the train doors making it hard to get off. So I went to the next car and got off, but the preovodnitsa seemed not to want me to get back on - she of course did not recognize me.

We are stopped at Marinsk for 25 minutes. We just finished dinner in the restaurant car “meat” soup - a pork chop and potatoes with some pickles and bread, two beers. 570 rubles or about $23. Not cheap. Bought orange juice from a stall.

We had thought there would be babushkas at each stop selling hot food and fruit. At only one place has there been anyone selling food. One place some guys were selling dried fish. Still we are eating well and are healthy. Sleeping is better. The beds are narrow - 2-2 and a half feet wide, barely long enough and rather hard.

After getting our OJ we walked up and down the platform a little. We have settled into a routine - calm and quiet. I am pleased that I manage to get by with my very limited Russian. “apelsin sok” got me orange juice. Sorry, I don’t have a Cyrillic alphabet on my computer. I first just said apelcin and then added sok. She showed me oranges and I said cok and she found it. Great. I did it!

We sit reading and when the train stops we either write in our journals or get out and walk. Then there are times we just watch the country side roll by.

Trees, Trees, Trees.

21 May 2007 Monday Monday. Tymen, Siberia. What a zoo yesterday at Novocibursk! The Mongolian sellers were hanging from every door and many windows hawking their stuff to crowds of Russians. Clothes, blankets, shoes, handbags. There was a huge wall of people coming to the train to buy cheap stuff from China. We have not seen the babushkas selling food. There was at Novsibirsk one older woman with a cart. She had pizza, “hot dogs” and pelmeni. We bought a small try of pelmeni for 30 rubles. They were still warm and good.

Overnight through Omsk and we just stopped here at Tymen. We tried to buy a pack of crackers, but the woman would not sell them. Perhaps the ones in the window are only for display.

7:20 Moscow time, we think 9:20 local time and we are off again.

Afternoon and we are in Sverdlovsk. Again the people on the train are selling their wares. There was a huge crowd waiting for us. Again no food for sale. We find this amazing. Whether or not these goods are legal they clearly have a market. After three days on the train it is getting a little dull. We had hoped for a greater variety of food - but we rest, read, watch the scenery go by. Watch the natives get ready for each sale.

I must say the two women previdnitzas work hard. They have been on duty in what is probably 12 hours shifts for three days and they assist with these train side sales.

22 May 2007 Tuesday. On the train
We just stopped at kilometer # 440 and can’t tell what city it is. Gorky? What ever it is, is not listed in the handbook. Good sleep last night except that it was quite warm in the afternoon and evening up to 85º so we had the window in our compartment open. I left it open a crack and it got down to 60º in the cabin by this morning. When the window is open we also get a fine dust coming in. So everything is coated today.

Late in the Evening. Last night one of the young Mongolian women who are selling things from the train, paused in our door - then came in and sat down. She has no English and we no Mongolian and each of us only a little Russian. But we still had a conversation. She though we were Russian, I guess because I use what limited vocabulary I have and that is what she heard. Anyway, we talked about ages and showed her the pictures of Alice and Trevor and Leighton. so far everyone who sees the picture of Alice immediately points to Nancye seeing the resemblance. I have never seen it my self, but over the years many people have.

Even late last night they were selling stuff off the train.

One last day on the train arriving in Moscow at 2 pm tomorrow.

I have greatly enjoyed looking at all the small garden plots along the rail line through Russia. At the east end they were just digging them up and preparing the soil. Over Saturday and Sunday we saw many people working their plots. Here near Moscow more things are growing - onions and other tiny green sprouts. Fruit trees are in bloom. Many of the plots are mounded up and a few raised beds. They fit them in a variety of small spaces - some close to the tracks. It gets me wanting to get home and garden. We have stopped in Vladimer, the engine is being changed and the people are selling again. We found a lady selling piroshky - still warm. I bought two beers and so when we start up again we will have an early lunch.

We have been able to buy food from the platform only three times and one was from a stall and it was cold. We got pelmeni earlier and today the pirosky. Neither seller looked like a babyshka! We paid 10 rubles for each piroshky, a little more than a dollar.

4 pm We arrived on time in Moscow and had to look a bit for our ride. The train comes into the NE quadrant and we were driven to the west side to a Stalin gothic high rise near the Moscow River. We have a big room - not air conditioned and it is 30º C. in Moscow today. Very comfortable anyway. The family is a young man, Sasha and his wife Lena and two boys and a cat. We are relaxing and trying to figure out what to do next.

Notes from our round the world trip part II

May 13, 2007. Beijing. It is a little before 8 pm. We just got back from a long day of sightseeing.

Buffet breakfast in the hotel. “Full English” and more. Corn on the cob - rice porridge. Well, I has some bacon and scrambled eggs and a really nice croissant.

About 25 of us lead by “Jimmy” went first to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. That took about four hours and lots of sweat. It was hot, sunny and the air polluted. So many people everywhere we went. The buildings mostly are grand, but the grounds are bare. No trees except for the small garden in the back or north of the Forbidden city. The whole thing cries out, “Don’t com in Here! You are too small to be par of this!” I provokes awe.

A buffet lunch. We were exhausted and de hydrated by lunch time. In the afternoon to the Summer Palace. Just as hot but more shade. We all walked slower and all took the boat across the lake -Kunming Lake. Our guide knows so much, sometime he goes on too long, but he is really good and keeps us together. We follow his flag through many other groups going in all directions.

Dinner was sit down deal with eight different dishes! So Good.

We also went to a tea “ceremony” earlier. It was really a demonstration intended to sell us cups and tea - which Nancye did.

There was a martial arts show tonight, but since, it was optional, nancye and I and most of the others cam back to the hotel.

The architecture of Beijing is depressing. High rise offices and apartments that look run down and drab - grim is what the city looks like. Mostly no more than eight stories or so. There are some glass encased buildings and a few try to be creative, but mainly this is an ugly city. Incredible traffic with cars , bicycles, mopeds, huge tourist buses all driving wherever they feel like and pedestrians walking blithely through it.

A good day - exhausting.

I hope we sleep longer tonight. Last night we went to bed at 9 pm because we could not stay awake. I woke up at 2 am and tossed and turned for four hours.

14 May 2007, Monday, Beijing. A long day after a sleepless night. At least it seemed sleepless - worry and anxiety about the rest of the trip and what could go wrong.

Ming Tombs in the morning, the Great Wall in the afternoon and two fine chinese dinners, then a bad rendition of the Peking Opera in the evening back at the hotel about 9:30 pm.

The Great Wall is everything I anticipated. It is grand - so large as to be incomprehensible and so graceful running up and down over the sharp hills. Some passages so steep it felt like being on a ladder. We were at the Badaling portion for about two hours. I hope my photos will be good.

There are many people in the tourist sites hawking caps and shirts , post cards and “Rolex” watches. They are very pushy. I bought two Olympics caps for 5 yen -about $.75! I bought an “I climbed the Great Wall” t shirt for 80 yen, about $6.

They are even on the wall itself. One woman was selling steel rings that magically link together. Anyway I said, “Let me show you a trick.” And I did the pull-your-finger-off trick I learned from my dad. SHe wanted to learn how to do it - so i showed her and two other sales people crowed around. I spoke no Chinese and they only the English names of what they were selling. Very interesting.

I’ve written little about the wall here. It is too whatever for my description. It is the highlight of the trip so far.

15 May 2007 Tuesday Beijing. Slept poorly again last night, but better than the night before. After breakfast with the group we went to the Temple of Heaven. Beautiful building - but I was most fascinated with the hundreds of people exercising in the park around it. Dancing, ribbon twirling, play with paddle ball, singing in choruses. Fascinating seeing the real people in their own places.

A silk show room was the next place. Somebody is probably getting kickbacks on these visits to commercial places.

Lunch and then Nancye and I took a taxi back to the hotel Rest and regroup this afternoon . At 6:30 am tomorrow we head for the train station and the major purpose of our trip, the Trans Siberian Railroad from Beijing to Moscow.

16 May 2007 Wednesday. On the Trans Siberian Railroad between BEijing and the Mongolian border.

Another bad night of sleep. Awake much of the night. Up at 5:30 am, finished packing, checked out of the hotel. Taxi at 6:30 to the train station.

We have a two bed unit about 8 feet by 8 feet with a triangular room with sink shared with next compartment.

High sharp hills outside Beijing and many tunnels. Now it is flattening out with mountains in the distance. Few Trees, not even much grass. A Free lunch in the dining car: large meatballs with celery and cauliflower and rice.

It is hard to write while the train is moving so the above may be unreadable. We are now in a desolate part of China just before the border with Mongolia. No trees. Dust storms. Sheep. Piles of rock. Every village looks shabby and poor.

“Voolya” Thank you in Mongolian.

The train pulled out of Beijing on time at 7:40 this morning and into the border crossing into Mongolia about 8:30 this evening. We now sit and wait while they take off the wheels and replace them with Russian “boggies.” Apparently it can take up to five hours, but the scheduled stop is for two hours. We tried to change Chinese yes into Mongolian money, but for some reason they cannot do it. We bought some orange juice and a dried noodle soup to which you add water for lunch.

17 May 2007 thursday. Somewhere south of Ulaan Baator on the Trans Siberian Rail Road. They changed the boggies in a little more than two hours and we thought we were off. but then the Chinese border people came by and returned our passports.

Nancye and I prepared for bed, shut off the lights and the train stopped again. I guess we went far enough to go over the Mongolian border so Mongolian customs people came through about midnight. The impeccably uniformed woman took one of the two passports i handed to her an rifled through it, looked puzzled and asked how old I am and asked me to look at her. I joked “Don’t I look like my picture.” She said, “No.” She was looking at Nancye’s passport.

Slept some but not enough. We had OJ we bought at the station last night and some crackers. later we went to the Mongolian restaurant care and had an omelet. the car is heavily carved wood. Very attractive.

The scenery is very brown. No trees, but many small ramshackle villages. Sheep, a few horses and an occasional camel.

7:45 pm Ulaan Baator, Mongolia. We arrived about half an hour late. A driver with pretty good English took us to our home stay. Ulaan Baator has the same ragged rundown look as Beijing without the high rise apartments and of course much smaller. I wonder what it is doing here? In the midst of the desert is a million people. The apartment building where we are has a woeful aspect on the outside and on the four story climb to the flat. But the apartment is neat and clean, five rooms with a bath and shower. Mme Gladia is a retired russian teacher, very gracious and helpful. An old man lives here too, Husband? Father?

We walked across the street to a posh western hotel to change money and to the SKY department store where we bought some food for the train journey. After a bit of bourbon we walked to the center of the city. We were starred at a bit, there being so few Caucasians here. We ate at the Red Horse pub and Restaurant - spaghetti! Well, we have had our fill of chinese food. We walked back across the central plaza and back to this apartment.

Notes from our round the world trip

May 10, 2007 Los Angeles Airport. We finished packing this morning with much time to spare. I have been very anxious ab out the trip, but the encouragement of Nancye and my doctors and the use of xanax is going to make this work. Chris Gardner arrived about 1:30 Eastern time to drive us to the Cincy airport.

The flight to the LA airport was a little bumpy - one big jolt spilled drinks. We flew first class to LA, wide seats, free drinks and a pretty good dinner. It is 10:30 pm body time and our plane to Seoul , Korea leaves here at 1:30 am Pacific time which is 4:30 am body time. Then a 12-13 hour flight to Seoul and on to Beijing. We are tired but have made the first leg of our round the world trip.

12 May 2007 7 am Seoul , Korea air port. We left LA at about 4:30 am Eastern body time. We arrived here about half an hour ago. Weary. did not sleep well. We crossed the international date line for the firs time. We both like the Boeing 777. REally quiet. Now we wait 2 and a half hours for our flight to Beijing.

Airports is airports. They look alike as you are landing and when you get inside. The Korean air stewardesses look much alike. Hair tied in a bun and all thin and young and pretty. Very pretty. Like stewardesses used to have to be in America.

Same day 2:30 pm Beijing, China. Plaza Royal Hotel. On the plane from Seoul to Beijing, Nancye and I were the only first class passengers. Good food - a cod with a “Chinese cream sauce”.

We got through the airport really fast. Customs were easy and our bags awaited us when we got to the carousel.

“Jimmy” - we’ll find out his real name later - [we never did] met us at the airport. He is our guide for the next two days. A taxi brought us to the hotel -about half an hour from the airport. This is a pretty nice place, redone rather ginger bread looking place. The girl at the desk was horrified that we wanted to go out for a walk. “O, there is nothing around here!” she said. But she did tell us about a food store a couple of minutes walk.

Food Store! This was Wal Mart, Kroger and Jungle Jim’s in one! Amazing displays of food. Many things exotic to us - veggies we could not identify. Live fish and many fresh fish. Chicken breasts in a pile that people sort through like socks! Fingering them.

The store had many many employees, people standing around displays hawking their wares, helping people and many just standing there.

We also noticed the huge variety of facial and body types. At least in the big city, China is, well, I was going to say polyglot, but truthfully many different oriental types. I think I have seen one black person in the last two days.

We came back to the room and read a bit and then to dinner in the hotel. The elaborate buffet had only four diners. We think it may be more populated later, but all that food sitting there on steam tables for hours! Then we walked through the complex of building of which this is a part. It includes a mixture of offices and apartments in high rises - neo gothic - modern buildings with pseudo -European court yard in the middle: fountains and patios. This must be pretty up market.

China and Russia trip

Nancye and I have just returned from a three week trip around the world. It was the sort of adventure that happens only once in a lifetime. On May 10 we flew to Beijing from Cincinnati, Ohio. There we spent four days seeing the usual sights. Then we embarked on the central piece of our trip. We boarded the Trans-Siberian railroad in Beijing and rode all the way to Moscow. On the way we had an over night stay in Ulaan Baator, the capital of Mongolia. Reboarding we spend four full days relaxing on the train - or as Nancye says, “Camping out on the train.” Then we had three nights in Moscow, the overnight train to St. Petersburg and three nights and days there. In Ulaan Baator, Moscow and St. Petersburg we stayed with local residents in a ‘homestay.’

On May 29 we flew to Cologne, Germany and stayed one day with my college sweetheart, Kate Adcock Siegel. On the 30th we took a train to Brussels where we spent the night so we could get up early the next morning and fly to New York and Cincinnati.

In the coming days I will post some stories from the trip and if I can figure out how to do it some pictures.

Three for the moment.

Several years ago I got a wild idea. Why not drive a Land Rover to Alaska, take a ferry across the Beiring Straits and then drive across Siberia to Western Europe. I actually investigated this idea eventually talking with some one at National Geographic and learning that there are no roads in eastern Siberia and no gas stations. We would have to mount an expedition similar to ascending Mt. Everest. So.

Then we discovered the Trans Siberian railway and spent several years planning and saving for this great adventure. Rather than start in Vladivostock we decided to begin in Beijing and to see that city as well as the two Russian cities at the other end of the line. So we did.

In Beijing there are people at all the tourist sites hawking all manner of junk. “Rolex” watches. “Gucci” handbags. And all sorts of hats. Even on the Great Wall they are trying to get you to my this stuff. On the Great Wall a young woman was trying to sell “magic rings.” Two silver rings about six inches in diameter which, when you know the trick will link together. The only English she knew was, “magic rings.” She demonstrated them to me while I was sitting on the wall so I said, “Let me show you a magic trick.” I demonstrated the trick of pulling off the end of your finger that I learned from my Dad probably 60 years ago. The young woman was fascinated and wanted me to show her how to do it. As I was doing so two or three other sellers gathered around to see what we were doing. It was a moment of communication and fun. The kind of thing that made this a memorable trip.

In Moscow we visited the Stanislavski House Museum and the Chekov House Museum. Both places are the homes in which these two great men of the Russian Theatre lived and worked. Each contained a small theatre where they rehearsed and taught. There is something special about such a visit. We stood and walked and sat in the place where important people and events occurred. What a great memory.

More later.