Here is a round up of our favourite observations about Russia during our month there in June 2014:
1. Quirkiest Russian tourist attraction:
Our first quirky observation was the QWERTY keyboard monument in Yekaterinburg:
QWERTY monument in Yekaterinburg
Well actually, Yekaterinburg generally had some cool attractions, including a “peace wall” with this colourful graffiti:
Posing by Yekaterinburg’s Peace Wall
2. The White Nights:
St Petersburg is famous for its White Nights in June. This is when the sun hardly ever sets, reaching a climax around 21st June when the sun almost never sets at all.
This made our stay in St Petersburg particularly memorable for us as this was like nothing we’d ever experienced before.
The view across St Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect at midnight!
3. British Bakery – wtf?!!
This is a popular chain in St Petersburg. For Sebastien (French) this was just wrong another interesting observation about Russia:
British Bakery chain in St Petersburg
4. Crazy Russian car drivers:
Drivers in Russia are ccc-razy. Unfortunately car crashes are not a rare sight:
Mad driving leads to many crashes
5. Innovative street entertainers:
Naturally, alongside so many attractive and popular monuments, you will find a huge industry dedicated to the tourist market.
We were particularly amazed by this old man playing his saw with his violin bow:
Man playing saw with violin bow
We were also fascinated by these boys showing off their monkey and racoon in the streets:
Boys with monkey and racoon
6. PESTOPAH!
As first timers to the Russian language, our attempts to read Pestopah (and many other words) amused locals a lot.
Actually it’s pronounced, “Restoran”, and is a favourite establishment of these two greedy boys!
PESTOPAH!
7. Japanese Tourists in Russia:
Everywhere they go, regardless of age, they never fail to bring a smile to our face.
Japanese tourist posing in Moscow’s Red Square
8. Cows are free to roam:
This applies more to the wilderness in Russia such as in Olkhon island on Lake Baikal.
This particular cow made his way into our homestead munching away at everything in sight:
Cow roaming free in our homestead in Lake Baikal
9. First McDonald’s opening in Russia:
Our friends in Moscow told us about the opening of the first McDonald’s in Russia in 1990. After so many years of Soviet repression, people queued for hours (around 6-8 hours) to pay the equivalent of several days’ wages for Big Macs, shakes and french fries. The queues at the time were huge:
The queues outside Russia’s first McDonald’s in 1990
10. A final observation:
(well not really an observation but an excuse for Stefan to post another silly picture):
Stef willy statue photo from Hermitage in St Petersburg
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