It is Michael writing this update and Nathan doing the technical work.
I think I will start with St Petersburg – the last few days – and go from there.
Nathan discovered the hotel in St P’s served a really good hot chocolate. That is pretty much what it was, chocolate heated up and poured into a glass. If you left it too long a hard crust would form on the top and the spoon would stand up by itself.
Between the hot chocolate and the crepes Nathan was a happy man, though we are not sure any of his clothing at home will still fit him. The crepe place was unique to Moscow, but Nat and I might have to look at whether there is a place for it in Australian.
On the last day in St P’s, when Cherie and Blake joined us at the hotel, we went to the Hermitage and after spending about an hour in line in what felt like sub-zero temperatures we got inside, hired a guide and spent hours looking at just a small bit of the 4 million exhibits. We saw hundreds, maybe thousands of paintings that were worth millions each. Just one in my suit case ....
To think this used to be the home for one person – and it is called the Hermitage, or the home of the hermit, because Catherine the Great liked to be alone – is mind boggling. But I also have to wonder how you can be considered a hermit when you have 1000 staff to keep the 300 room house in order.
We went through to Moscow for two nights and I think the boys were ready to leave soon after walking into our apartment. It was old and creaked and groaned when you walked on the wooden floor, the sofa bed was wide enough for me any my stomach but the two boys had to sleep on it.
But, it was warm, otherwise comfortable and it was less than a km from Red Square and the Kremlin which is where we spent most of the one day we had in Moscow.
There was a garbage chute and while we were never told what we could or should send down it, it was rather unnerving when a can would rattle its way down for many floors above during the night.
The apartment entrance was guarded by a lady who seemed to be at her desk all day and all night, and as with most of Europe the elevator was small and rickety so we often used the steps. Half way up the first flight was a sofa and I had wondered what it was for, until the morning we left and I walked down to find the gate keeper sleeping on the lounge.
It was then out of Russia and off to Turkey. I have to say all the talk about airport problems in Moscow did not materialise on our exit. The Moscow and Istanbul airports were two of the smoothest I have been to.
As we arrived at our hotel at Istanbul it was also time for a call to prayer – and with four or five mosques within ear shot it was certainly an experience.
Istanbul was fantastic. Our motel was within walking distance of just about all of the main attractions and we spent the first afternoon at the Blue Mosque and the evening at the Grand Bazaar. The Bazaar was big, but very repetitive and the small stalls on the roadside were more interesting.
There was not just one or two bazaars, it seems the whole town was a continual bazaar. If it was not trinkets, souvenirs and counterfeit material it was spices or hardware or food. In one place you could even buy yourself some fresh leeches to take home for some leech therapy. The atmosphere was amazing but we never felt unsafe, the locals were very friendly (sometime too friendly when they were trying to sell you something) and it was the one place where the weather was reasonable).
There were a few issues with our room at the hotel, but we will not go into that.
We did a day trip to Anzac Cove. A very moving experience. We spend five hours in a bus to get there and four hours in a smaller bus doing some amazing speeds to get home, but I now have a newfound understanding of the battle. For the guide to show where the troops were, where they landed, the terrain they had to cover, the trenches of both sides only meters apart and to explain what it was really like for those involved was something I will not forget. One of the exhibits in the museum was of a shoe blown off a soldier with his foot still inside it. Another was a skull with a bullet lodged in it.
Anyway, we breezed through the Istanbul airport as we said goodbye to Turkey and headed for the motherland. Hmmmm – my first afternoon in London was spent in bed with a bad dose of the flu as the rain poured down outside and the wind was cutting at about 50km/h.
I am writing this on our first morning in London and I can still hear the rain outside and the wind howling through the cracks but the plan is to get to the hop-on hop-off bus this morning and see the sights.
Though cheap for London standards our little room is very expensive for Aussie standards, but it is the attic room and very comfortable, clean and modern. I thought the elevators in the other places I stayed were small. If I get in the elevator here to go up the four flights to our room I have to make sure my backpack is wedged into the corner so I can close the gate door and make the long slow ride to the top. When we arrived the luggage came up alone – two bags at a time.
I can assure you that Nathan and I are now fluent in subway in three countries and we could work out how to use the trams in the fourth.
We just got back from our first day of getting out and about in London - Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abey and the Tower of Big Ben (sounds like a song I heard once) and the tower bridge. Tomorrow we are heading to see the crown jewels and maybe St Paul's cathedral (I am going to blaspheme when I say, God not another holey place).
Lunch time the next day we are out of here for Prague.
We will send an update again soon.
Nathan and Blake in St Petersburg pictured in from of the Church of the saviour on spilt blood. This church included 7000 sq m of mosaics and took 27 years to build.
Nathan's picture of the Hermitage as we left - yes this is about 5.30pm and it was pitch black.
The unit was a bit old and rickety and the sofa bed Nat and Blake slept on might have been no wider than a single bed but the location was good, less than a km from where this picture was take in Red Square, next to Lenin's tomb.
Ahhh, Turkey. Istanbul. We got stopped on the street by a many who wanted to take us for a ride on his boat to see Istanbul from the water. Turned out to be a nice cruise but on the way back the cracking pace was starting to show on Nat and Blake. Cherie and I loved the sights, but Nat and Blake wanted to see nothing but their eyelids. We did not stop for a lot of hours after this pic was taken though.
This is the little old boat we did the cruise on, but you have seen nothing until you have seen Istanbul harbour. There were huge tankers going between (not dodging) little fishing boats, myriad pleasure craft, ferries and smaller tankers. It was a great place and I think a future trip to inland Turkey is required.
The Blue Mosque. Right near it was the Hagia Safya (I think). Believe it or not the Safya was built as a Christian Church and was the largest Christian Church in the world for many hundreds (I do not remember the numbers but it could have been more than 1000 years). The Safya was rebuilt in the fifth centry BC and later was converted to a Muslim Church. Believe it or not the design of all mosques are now based on that of the Safya - which was originally built as a Christian Church and is now a tourist attraction and while I call it a museum Nat calls it an historical monument.
Me, Nat and Blake and below us you can see Anzac Cove. It was a very moving experience. The Turks see Gallipoli as a great victory, as they should, and there are monuments to the victors throughout. But to understand the prolonged campaign was sobering.
Cherie took this picture of a landmark that is apparently famous - the Sphnx which was visible from Anzac Cove. Don't I look majestic.
This tunnel was believe to have been a supply line and ran for many tens of metres under the hillside on the Australian side of no man's land.
This is the view from our motel window in Hong Kong. It was on the 27th floor, which was a good thing for dad because the bar was on the 28th floor and he got two hours free drinks there every night. He did not have any trouble finding his way home.
Well, I thought I needed to pray for dad's salvation after all the evil things he has done in his life, and what better way than to visit a 25m high budda made out of bronz. I am sure the steps you have to walk up are a form of penance because it was certainly painful. I must have committed a few sins too, going by the pain level.