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mange, tu aimes

June - July 2019
my parents and me in russia Read more
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  • chantal muellermange, tu aimes
    Day 1

    one day to go

    June 30, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Lucky me! I am once again one night before an adventure. This time it is Russia with my parents. Russia! With my parents!! So exciting. We will first spend a couple of days in St. Petersburg, then another four nights in Moscow. My dad will fly back to Switzerland and mum and me will fly to Petropavlovsk. It is (with a European view on the world) very very very very very far away and we will do a trekking together. I am so looking forward to it!
    I worked the whole day, I am exhausted and of course I hadn’t packed a thing before work so I did it just now. My luggage is so light and very modest I wonder if I forgot something essential. Anyway, now off for some sleep.    Read more

  • chantal muellermange, tu aimes
    Day 2

    off we go!

    July 1, 2019 in Russia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The alarm clock went off at 4:30am. Waaaay too early - but if it is for catching a plane, nothing is too early. My parents picked me up first, then my big brother, he would take care of the car after dropping us off. We changed to the train in Bern and had coffee and croissant during the journey. Traveling to the airport is such a good thing. In Zurich we quickly got rid of the luggage (I had 10.5kg, my mum 22kg - now I am seriously wondering. But firstly she has my sleeping bag and secondly, if I have forgotten something, I am quite positive that mum will have thought of it.) After security my mum missed her cellphone. Uiuiui. A little bit panic at the aeroport. We quickly figured out that dad didn’t take it out of the basket because he didn’t know it was in there and he couldn’t have seen it not knowing. Anyway, we found it under a pile of other baskets and we were all happy again. The flight was delayed but we had some wind support so we arrived on time in St. Petersburg. Security was unspectacular and we were out quickly but no one in sight to pick us up. There was actually a guy waiting for a Sonia I dont remember how and then somehow that same guy after maybe 15-20min looked up his sheets, fumbled around and changed them for Mueller. Hahaha, very funny. We arrived at the (yes, I know) SwissStar Hotel, a very little, very cute Hotel run by a Russian Woman speaking very well German. After a change of clothes we started walking and we were surprised by the lovely weather and the nice temperatures. And what a beauty that city is. We had some russian sweets, a drink on a boat and a wonderful diner with dishes that were delicious but I forgot the names already and it is just wonderful!
    Oh and yes, I agree, concerning the selfie, there is potential for improving especially in not cutting half my dads head out.    Read more

  • chantal muellermange, tu aimes
    Day 3

    peterhof - human craziness

    July 2, 2019 in Russia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We started our day at 10 with Nadia picking us up. She is a beautiful, lovely woman from Saint Petersburg and we are lucky to have her as our guide for the next three days. We first took the Metro, the subway, the tickets are coins, I like that. You could, if wanted, stay at the Metro the whole day with a single coin. Then we continued by bus to Peterhof. It is a beautiful palace with a big garden. And a lot of other tourists. I mean really a lot. There was a long queue and since we are a small group, Nadia asked if we could overtake them and be faster then the bigger groups. We were allowed but that was not at all appreciated by some. Then we had to wait as well to give the backpack to the locker room. I don’t know but I think everyone would organize that differently. Bit it wasn’t so the line was long with people going the same way, four times in total, to get rid of the bag and to get it back. It was so crowded. Uiuiuiui, I think while waiting you can see the true character of people. At some point there was a guy that said out loud ‘now it is enough’ and just pushed forward. As if that makes it going faster. At least there was no panic and luckily most people are patient. The palace itself was beautiful, incredible what they built and rebuilt, since the whole building was distroyed after WWII. After the visit we went through the garden and then back to the city by Tragflügelboat, a boat that if it is fast gets somehow out of the water. We were really lucky with the weather since they announced rain but we had sun. So after saying byebye to Nadia we went for a coffee in a lovely café and then we took the Metro to Begovaya. Irina, our host told us that there is a beach where people from the city go to to relax. So we went there, enjoyed a walk at the seaside and crossed a pedestrian bridge to the new Gazprom Stadium of Zenit Saint Petersburg (we think). We crossed another park and then we were at an attraction parks. There were some attractions and some nope-attraction. Really, one was a Kettenkarussell like they have in Vienna just way worse. So nope. We enjoyed another coffee and some icecream and watched the nope-attraction in the evening sun. We headed back to the Metro station near our hotel and had diner at Teremok, a fastfood company with Russian food, recommened by Nadia. It was nice but not comparable to yesterday. Yesterdays food was yammy, I want to go there again. Tomorrow the Ermitage awaits us together with a whole lot of tourists, I am looking forward to it - and I mean it, observing human behavior when a situation is unpleasant but purely harmless is golden.
    Oh and no selfie today. We are just failing completely at that but it is big fun and they are so funny. I try to convince my parents that I can post them here.    Read more

  • chantal muellermange, tu aimes
    Day 4

    hermitage

    July 3, 2019 in Russia ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    What can I say. The day was again perfect: We were pickedup againby lovely Nadja (with a ‘j’), the best guide there is. We went straight to the Hermitage where we would spend the morning at. We could again skip the line although we wouldn’t have mind to wait since the sun was out even if there was rain announced. We were quite quickly inside this beautiful building, respectively buildings, there are five and they are all connected and you can cross them by going from one room to another. Nadja guided us safely through the labyrinth and the mass of people. We learned about art and the building. After 2.5h we were ready for some coffee and Nadja showed as a café at the Institut français in a backyard of the mainstreet. Perfect. After a croissant we said our goodbyes for the day and went to the Peter & Paul Festung from where that marvelous city was founded. We had icecream at some point, I put my feet into the Neva river and we were still enjoying the beautiful weather. The golden roofs look just a bit better under the sun. Just before we got home rain started - we didn’t mind, had a nap at the hotel and went out for some Italian food. It was deliciously delicious. Really mouthwatering good. And so went another day here in Saint Petersburg. I am so grateful to spend that journey with my parents. They are so lovely and we have such a good time. Unforgettable.Read more

  • chantal muellermange, tu aimes
    Day 5

    golden

    July 4, 2019 in Russia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    So the Russian know how to show off. Really. We were at the Katharina palace today in Puschkin. And again the golden roofs were shining under the sun, it looks like out of a Disney movie. We started the day a bit lazy since we had the excursion only at 3pm. We went for a walk in direction of the Isaac Cathedral. We decided not to visit and rather walk around. Nadja recommended New Holland, an island with stores and a garden and café and a lot of art. The visit was worth it, then I found a café called ‘The Idiot’, very appealing but actually named after the novel of Dostoevsky. We went there for coffee but had a lunch not before cuddling a incredibly fluffy and big cat. The grumpiness of the picture is not representative. We went back to the hotel and then with Nadja to Puschkin, named after the guy, that founded the first school for nobel boys. Until then they were homeschooled. There is also the Palace of Katharina. Another Prunk-building rebuilt after the war and just a thing out of a book. Really. So beautiful. And so much gold. The visit was pleasant. There was a long line waiting to visit the different rooms, we were close to a Taiwanese group and some schoolkids, teenagers, from Russia. At some point they started to interact, a Taiwanese guy giving them some essential oils to smell and put at special places on the face and the hand. Big fun and laughter so the waiting was over quickly. We soon had to say goodbye to Nadja, unfortunately. What a cool woman. I liked her right away.
    I looked up another restaurant, typical Georgian, it seems to be very trendy in Russia these days. That Restaurant had 8 reviews on google, all in Russian and apparently good. So I suggested that one to them, they are really cool and open for such things. And we had a feast. Communication was improvised but at the end we went home with another delicious meal in our tummies and lots of great memories in our hearts.    Read more

  • chantal muellermange, tu aimes
    Day 6

    moscow!

    July 5, 2019 in Russia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Last morning in Saint Petersburg. We all really loved that city. We went out for a walk, had another coffee in the French Café, I got myself a Gadget in the ‘Pont Rouge’ mall, a very fancy thing. I wanted to have a look at the floor with only Russian Designers, but that floor with three others (out of seven) were empty. I had then a designer thing from Italy which will stand on my nightstand and always remind me to those wonderful days. We had a cab for the trainstation at 1:30pm, arrived at 2pm at the trainstation and we were in the train to Moscow at 2:30pm. Wonderful train, even more as the weather was really wet and sitting in the train for the next four hours was just wonderful plan. At some point we had coffee and some lunch and quickly we arrived in Moscow. The ipad of the lovely man picking us up showed our names this time from the beginning and he brought us to the hostel. From there I found a Restaurant that appealed to me with the name, I read some reviews and off we were. Wow, I guess i have to stop mentioning the food and how good it is but - poah, so so good! Only next time we will skip the one dessert with estragon in it. A taste not used to in sweets - otherwise? Perfect! Tomorrow we will explore that big city with another guide and i have to hurry up, meeting with my parents is at 8:30 already, looking forward to it!Read more

  • chantal muellermange, tu aimes
    Day 7

    so much history

    July 6, 2019 in Russia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Moscow! First challenge was to find a breakfast place in the morning since we are staying at a Hostel (my parents feel just a couple of years younger now). We succeeded and had like half liter of cappuccino to start the day with. Tomorrow we’ll try to order less. Many do not speak at all or only just a little bit of English, also the young people even if they learn English at school. Anyway, we were picked up at 10 from Milena (I think. It is so embarassing when you forget the name along the day and then it is so awkard to ask for it again....). She is very interesting and smart, she studied economics and was in the team that had to organize the voucher-system for privatization all the goods in the former UDSSR after the end of it. So interesting. We went first underground and had a look at different metro stations then we went up again, walked Arbat street and she told us a lot about buildings, architecture and politics. That city is packed with history, i have a similar feeling being in Berlin. We then entered the Kreml, a city in the city. Again we were lucky with the weather and the amount of people. The biggest number of other tourists are Chinese btw. We ended today’s guided tour on the Red Square, which isn’t red but named like that because red is similar to beautiful in Russian. If I undestood it correctly they have the same word root. Again, sitting there and just watching that place is amazing. If walls could speak, right? There is also the Lenin Mausoleum and the grave of Stalin. Otherwise portraits of him (many of them were in mosaics or other pictures of the metro stations) were replaced by different sujets. We decided to walk back to our hostel, had the obligatory coffee on the way and also a bit rain just as we arrived at the hostel. Perfect.Read more

  • chantal muellermange, tu aimes
    Day 8

    time flies

    July 7, 2019 in Russia ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    We were confused since for the first time we had to be ready at 9am instead of 10am. But we managed and were picked up by a private driver and Marina (I asked 😊). The drive out of the city to the monastery was quick and we could visit that holy place for the orthodox believers. We laerned some more about religion, walked around and had lunch in a touristy russian restaurant that looked like a puppet house. First they had a table for three and one just for Marina so we asked to put the tables together, no way she would eat alone. And she didn’t want to, it isn’t like in Nepal, where the guides leave you alone for eating. So we had a long and interesting discussion about how politics work in Switzerland. She was amazed about the possibility we have as citizen and I realized again, how lucky I am. At some point she asked: And the result of the counting is correct? We Swiss have sometimes just no idea in which paradise we live in. When we told her that at the last vote of our district we had only 1/4 of the person who have the right to vote went indeed voting, I was almost a bit ashamed of us Swiss just not using our rights more.
    On the way back to Moscow we had traffic jam since many were heading back to the city after a weekend at the dacha, which are little houses in the country side. Moscow is huge. It has almost 13mio people, roughly every 10th Russian is living here.
    After saying our goodbyes to Marina we went visiting the Gulag Museum. Worth a visit. It is very well made, it starts with a exhibition of 16 original doors, some from prison, some from ministry buildings, some from citizens that were deported. It makes quite an impact. We learned a lot about those correction and forced labour camps that started under Lenin just after the Revolution in 1918 and had their peak under Stalin until the end of the fifties. That is just such a long time, I wasn’t aware of it. Some were convincted several times, some just after the revolution and then again some years later (if you survive the camp, there was in general a mortality of roughly 15%, at peaks up to 35%) but in the end, under Stalin, most of them were just convicted for 25 years. 25 years. Unbelievable the fear they had to live with next to all other difficulties they had during those hard time.    Read more

  • chantal muellermange, tu aimes
    Day 9

    round we go

    July 8, 2019 in Russia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Today’s highlight was a short break for something to eat at a trainstation called Kiev where suddenly the russian anthem was pouring out of loudspeaker and the fountain in the front was doing a little ballet to the music. Crazy. Otherwise we walked around Moscow in a nice circle of a lot of km and explored another metro station. We found a beautiful little café, had nice weather, discovered a lot and were just blissfully happy to spend time together.Read more

  • chantal muellermange, tu aimes
    Day 10

    one way, two cars

    July 9, 2019 in Russia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Last day with dad in Russia! We met fir breakfast at 9 again and went in a little fancy coffee shop where we had the best croissant in Moscow so far. Since I let the soles of my trekking shoes at home we went for a hunt. We found some in a Pharmacy just next to the café but didn’t buy them right away for carrying reason and we want to have a look if there are some other ones. We headed again for the centre, we checked for soles in other pharmacies, they had the same one, just 300 Rubel more expensive. So it was clear for me where to get them. Our goal for today was a park just next to the red square. It is just at the Moskva river and beautifully designed. We enjoyed again the sun there and eachothers company. We ordered the cab for 13:30h to have enough time at the airport. A not at all talkative driver picked us up and were on our way to the airport. On a kind of highway with four lanes our driver got slower and then stopped- and told us he had a problem. Obviously. Hahaha, that was funny and also a bit dangerous since we were in the middle of the road. After maybe 20min another guy in a black car without any cab sign came and we transferred our bags on that busy road. Everything went well and we were on time at the airport. Since dad was at another terminal we had to split there already. That was not so easy especially for my parents, they haven’t been away for so long for years. It is wonderful to see your parents get along so well. Now it was just my mum and me and we had to drop our luggage at the oversized counter, not because of the size but the shape of it. We did that, went through security, had another coffee and waited with some other couple of hundreds passenger to go to the far east. Let the adventure begin!Read more

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