Winter Trip - Russian Ukrainian Belarus Travel Music Woman Dating News

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Winter Trip
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Posted by: merlin

Taken last November when visiting Katya in St. Petersburg, we went to visit the Summer Palace a memorable trip, we don't get snow like this in the UK any more. It was like a Christmas card scene with children playing on sledges and snowballing each other, wonderful.

Terry

Posted by: rtking

Terry! Thank you for sharing such a lovely picture! It reminds me (strangely enough) of a scene out of Doctor Zhivago! How incredibly romantic!

My biggest regret when travelling to Uzbekistan via Moscow was that I didn't schedule any time to tour Moscow itself! (But I had long-and-not-so-interesting-tour of Sheremetevo 1 airport!)

Bob K.

Posted by: merlin

Hi Bob

Yes it was a really romantic day, only our second day together, we took an old train with wooden seats for a 45minute trip into the country, luckily the carriage heater was under our seat so we were toasty warm by the time we arrived. We then walked for an hour or so arm in arm through this amazing fairy tale forest, it was –15c but I didn’t notice it I was that entranced.

The one not so romantic happening, very worrying at the time, was while we were looking around the palace museum Katya suddenly collapsed on the floor unconscious. The attendants came rushing around and a state of panic ensued, of course me speaking no Russian and they no English I thought what do I do now in Russia with maybe a corpse on my hands, (I couldn’t find any pulse). She came round after a few minutes and said ‘’don’t worry I suffer from Arrhythmia, my heart suddenly goes haywire every now and again, I inherited it from my father’’ So after consoling the attendants who wanted to call the ambulance she got up and we carried on as if nothing had happened. After I got over the shock it all seemed quite unreal and almost funny. Katya of course couldn't understand what all the fuss was about.

I will sort out some more winter scenes soon

Terry

Posted by: merlin

A few more scenes from the November trip this one is the 'Hermitage' fronting on the river Neva St.Petersburg, a really beautiful city.

Terry

Posted by: merlin

more summer palace snow scenes...

Posted by: merlin

more...

Posted by: Vyesna

Looks like the bottom two photos are definitely from Pavlovsk-- the top could be either Pushkin or Pavlovsk, am I right?

(There are actually four or five "summer palaces")

Posted by: merlin

Yes you are right Vyesna they are all Pavlovsk, I should have known that one Summer Palace wouldn't have been enough for a Tsar. Is Pavlovsk the most beautiful of them?

Terry

Posted by: Vyesna

Quote:

Originally posted by merlin
Yes you are right Vyesna they are all Pavlovsk, I should have known that one Summer Palace wouldn't have been enough for a Tsar. Is Pavlovsk the most beautiful of them?

Terry

The only one I haven't been to (that was open as of last year) is Gatchina. Between Petergof, Ekaterinskiy (Pushkin) and Pavlovsk it's hard to decide-- they have very different charms and I like them all individually equally I think. Of those three, Petergof is the best for a summer stroll with all the fountains, Ekaterinskiy has the best interiors and Pavlovsk is the best for a serious country walk/hike. Orienenbaum (Lomonosov) isn't as well kept up and much of it is in decay unfortunately, but I think the small Chinese Palace there is my favourite interior because it's the only original (the Germans didn't get to it during the war) and you can really tell the difference between the original and the replica interiors. Not to take away from Russian restoration artists-- they obviously are at the top of their profession.

Posted by: Khashyar

Thanks for the great photos, Terry...

I have been to Moscow, but not to St. Petersburg...

It looks beautiful from your photos...

I read that St. Petersburg was modeled after Venice when it was built, and is sometimes referred to as "the Venice of Russia", or "the Venice of Eastern Europe".

Thanks again for the photos... (I've also enjoyed reading your posts).

Khashyar

Posted by: merlin

This arch part of the ‘General Headquarters’ designed by an Italian architect called Rossi was built at the beginning of the 19th century. During the construction of the arch existing houses were knocked down, but some, having richly decorated interiors, were incorporated into the building. On top of the arch there is the figure of Victory.
The building in classical style was used by the military until recently, now some of the most luxurious rooms belong to the Hermitage and are used for various exhibitions.
When the arch was being constructed, many top people close to the Tsar said that it was bound to fall down. So on the eve of the official opening, when the scaffolding was being taken away, the Tsar Nicholas 1 called Rossi and said: "People think the arch will fall down". Rossi said: "If it falls down, I'm ready to fall with it". And on the day of the ceremony he climbed on top of it and stood there for some time. It’s still standing!!

At the time of the photo a lot of restoration work was being carried out in the area for the Tricentennial celebrations.

Posted by: nicegirl

Quote:

Originally posted by merlin
This arch part of the ‘General Headquarters’ designed by an Italian architect called Rossi was built at the beginning of the 19th century. During the construction of the arch existing houses were knocked down, but some, having richly decorated interiors, were incorporated into the building. On top of the arch there is the figure of Victory.
The building in classical style was used by the military until recently, now some of the most luxurious rooms belong to the Hermitage and are used for various exhibitions.
When the arch was being constructed, many top people close to the Tsar said that it was bound to fall down. So on the eve of the official opening, when the scaffolding was being taken away, the Tsar Nicholas 1 called Rossi and said: "People think the arch will fall down". Rossi said: "If it falls down, I'm ready to fall with it". And on the day of the ceremony he climbed on top of it and stood there for some time. It’s still standing!!

At the time of the photo a lot of restoration work was being carried out in the area for the Tricentennial celebrations.

Great pictures!! So full of color and contrast. What kind of camera have you used if you don't mind the question?

Posted by: merlin

Hi Nicegirl

Thanks for the compliments the camera I used was a Minolta 130 Riva zoom. I have since changed to digital and use a Nikon Coolpix 885, which I am very pleased with.
I have digitally enhanced the prints on the computer before I have posted them here, but the quality is degraded somewhat by compressing them to send by e-mail.

Warm regards

Terry

Posted by: merlin

Hi

A couple more photos from my winter trip, these are of the amazing subway system, all marble and statues and all very clean, quite stunning really.

Katya said it was built by the communists to impress the rest of the world. It certainly does that, but then the whole of St.Petersburg is a truly amazing place, it was after all built originally as the ''Gateway to Europe''.

Terry

Posted by: merlin

...the second one

Posted by: nicegirl

Quote:

Originally posted by merlin
...the second one

Did you have to kick everybody out of subway in order to take pictures with nobody on it?

I love all of your pictures, the only sad think is I feel very much homesick now. I've hidden all my st.petersburg post cards so I wont feel so .. homesick. However, I take my hat off that you were able to take pictures in subway, as a local, I wouldn't have even thought of it.

Ah.. so many days were spent running from one station to another. I won't even remember how many times I was late to the last train and had to walk home.. It was fun thou..

Posted by: merlin

Hi

I hadn't really noticed that it was deserted; maybe I looked threatening, or hadn't used my deodorant that day. Like you though we had just missed a train, but luckily not the last one

I can understand you being homesick, I would be for such a beautiful city, and I haven't seen it at it's best in the summertime. I walked for miles someday's, when Katya was working and felt quite at home and safe, I even visited the Botanical Gardens, where presumably foreigners don't often go, they didn't seem to know what to do with me, so I ended up being taken on a tour with a Russian guide, which though I couldn’t understand a word was very enjoyable.

Thank you for the compliments on my photos, but it is really St.Petersburg that should take the credit, it is so easy to photograph with so much beauty everywhere.

I wish I had taken more photos now, though a lot were of Katya, and she doesn’t want them on the Internet for fear of being recognised and embarrassed at work. but I will put a few more on soon, so you can wallow in nostalgia.

Terry

Posted by: merlin

Hi Again

A couple of photographs of the ‘’Hermitage’’ inside and out, a truly unbelievably amazing building and storehouse of art treasures, you could spend a week there and not see it all.

Talking of the ‘’Hermitage’’ there is an interesting film by Alexander Sokurov shot there, it’s received brilliant reviews over here and is on at our local art cinema this week, so I am going to see it on Saturday, I will keep you posted

It's being premiered as part of the Tricentennial celebrations during May in St.Petersburg, if you happen to be in the area

I have copied a synopsis from the Russian Ark site www.russianark.spb.ru/eng

……… ‘‘On the 23rd of December an unprecedented event will take place in St Petersburg. Inside the Hermitage the film director, Alexander Sokurov, will shoot a feature-length film, The Russian Ark, in an hour and a half of real time. The camera will be switched on and ninety minutes later switched off after proceeding through thirty-five rooms, crossing four centuries, and re-enacting history on the grand scale by means of an array of sophisticated effects. As many as eight hundred and fifty actors and extras will take part in some of the scenes in this unique production.’’……..

Terry

Posted by: merlin

.........the 'Inside' all very sumptuous.

Terry

Posted by: rtking

Terry,

Wow, those are beautiful pictures! I can't believe how powerful that flash is on your Minolta. What speed film did you use?

How do you like your Nikon Coolpix? I'm about 90% ready to purchase the Olympus C-50 digital camera (5 megapixel) but I'd love to get opinions on other digital cameras. It's time I retired my Fuji MX-2900 digital camera. The flash and low-light performance is not very good, and battery life is amazingly short. (It was great in it's day, but so was a 75 mhz computer also!)

Bob K.

Posted by: merlin

Hi Bob

The film I used was Konica 200, which I have used for some time, and always, had good results. I put the image through a photo-editing programme on the computer to enhance the contrast, so the Minolta flash can't take all the credit, but it is good, better than the Coolpix I think. The Nikon is my first foray into digital and I must say I am very pleased with it, in fact printing on Kodak Ultima paper up to A4 enlargements are virtually indistinguishable from laboratory prints from film stock.

I find the whole concept of digital photography brilliant for long distance communication, I can go for a walk, take pictures of all I see and in minutes they are on Katya’s computer in Russia.

I am quite envious of you buying the Olympus C-50 I have heard very good reports about it and it has received excellent reviews over here, but then I am in danger of jumping on the computer treadmill of the constant improvements of tomorrows model. Maybe it’s not the number of megapixels you have, but the way you use them.

Terry

Posted by: nicegirl

Quote:

Originally posted by merlin

I wish I had taken more photos now, though a lot were of Katya, and she doesn’t want them on the Internet for fear of being recognised and embarrassed at work.

Terry

I hear ya, I can't stand take "post card" pictures, I like having people on it, especially myself

However, the pictures you took are great and well wort the efforts.

I see that forum full of photo professionals

, I'd lik to know where knowledge is comming from. Special classes?

I also like the treadmil comperissing, defenetly not on manual mode

I'd like to see more pics now, I wont see SPb another 2 years and havent seen it in 6...

I am just jelous of anyone who gets to see blooming white lilac!!! and anyone who enjoy fresh smell of smelts, however, those smells are over drown by paint, I assume

Posted by: merlin

[QUOTE]Originally posted by nicegirl
I'd like to see more pics now, I wont see SPb another 2 years and havent seen it in 6... I am just jelous of anyone who gets to see blooming white lilac!!!

Hi

Ask and it shall be granted.....

These are two moody shots of the River Neva the first looking across to the University the second a frozen wasteland upstream.

I am no professional by the way simply self taught, if you keep pushing buttons until you get the right result you can figure out almost anything, even RW maybe

Terry

Posted by: merlin

...the lovely Neva looking real cool...

Posted by: rtking

Brian, did I tell you that I'm Chinese? I think all Asian people study photography when they're 3 years old!

OK... that was a terrible joke. But I'm mocking my own people!

I agree with Terry... it's all about pushing buttons until something turns out right! (It is also helpful that you can erase digital photos from the camera so your friends don't see the "terrible" photos!)

Bob K.

Posted by: merlin

Quote:

Originally posted by rtking

I agree with Terry... it's all about pushing buttons until something turns out right! (It is also helpful that you can erase digital photos from the camera so your friends don't see the "terrible" photos!)

Bob K.

I don’t want to turn this into a photography rather than a photo thread, but that point about erasing bad photos is very important because it means you can snap away without worrying about film cost, it means like a professional you can take fifty photos and pick one good one. I now take dozens of shots when taking a portrait of someone and usually manage to get a good one. The instant reviewing of your photo also enables you to correct errors which using film you wouldn’t find until developing the prints.

It’s a shame our human relationships aren’t digital we could then try fifty pick the best one and painlessly erase the rest

Terry

Posted by: merlin

Another photo of Pavlovsk, a bit of camera shake on this one must have been the –15c temperature or my excitement being with Katya

Terry

Posted by: nicegirl

Quote:

Originally posted by merlin
Another photo of Pavlovsk, a bit of camera shake on this one must have been the –15c temperature or my excitement being with Katya

Terry

oh look, people on the picture! I guess not all of them are on the war protest

it must have beein excitement of being with Katya, otherwise you would have been frosted into the snow

I did not miss that temperature at all, I dont like hats and I had to wear them during winter

Posted by: merlin

………………….No people but cars on this one with St Isaacs Cathedral dominating the scene

Posted by: merlin

......another one of St Isaacs with one person if you look carefully

Terry

Posted by: nicegirl

Quote:

Originally posted by merlin
………………….No people but cars on this one with St Isaacs Cathedral dominating the scene

Terry,

first, can I have copyrights on these pictures?

Second, what are those frames around traffic lights? Is it really white frames around them?

Look pretty weired...

Third, did you drive around SPb or had to take public transportation? Which way did you prefer? I used live on Grajdanka and since reconstraction it become a pain to use buses. One time I had to walk from my home to downtown and took me aprox 5 hours!! Damn those high heels

How about Katya, is she live near the center? (You dont have to answer that one, just out of curiousity)

Posted by: merlin

Originally posted by Nicegirl
........first, can I have copyrights on these pictures?

Hi Nicegirl

Yes the copyright is yours, it is after all, your city

Second (your letter is very much like Katya’s with lists of questions, is this the Russian way? I like it)

yes they are white frames around the traffic signals, they are quite common here in the UK the white part is a reflective material I suppose it is meant to make them stand out against the background.

Third I didn’t drive in Spb., but I wouldn’t have minded apart from the traffic police on every street corner who seemed to be pulling motorists in all the time. I have driven in most European countries where the driving is often mad and India where it’s suicidal it looked OK in Spb. (driving in San Francisco was the best experience I've had so far, all very considerate there)

I walked a lot from one end of the city to the other (not wearing high heels)

and used the subway a lot and the buses a couple of times but had a few problems with an angry conductress
where communication was zero, I ended up giving her 20 roubles which seemed to please her and by a sheer fluke I got to where I wanted to go

Katya lives just off Nevsky pr near Mayakovskaya metro.

Regards

Terry

PS Have attached photo of the 'Eternal Flame' in Mars Field it burns in memory of those that died in the revolution and the civil war that followed. (again no people, very strange)

Posted by: Khashyar

Hi Terry..

Those are fantastic photos of Saint Petersburg...

Even though I did not visit SPb when I was in Russia, I feel that you did a really good job of capturing the historical cultural feel of the city...

Would it be easy for you to transfer the photos onto the new Photo Gallery site??? I think that people could enjoy them even more if they were be able to browse thumbnails first, and then enlarge the photos that they want to see more closely.

Great photos again, Terry...

Khashyar

Posted by: nicegirl

Quote:

[i]

Hi Nicegirl

Yes the copyright is yours, it is after all, your city

Second (your letter is very much like Katya’s with lists of questions, is this the Russian way? I like it)

[/B]

Hi Terry,

as a matter of fact, I am not well organized when it comes to writing, maybe it was one lucky day when I decided to count to 3

I like writing where I the only one who can understand the thread

You know, my English tutors were pretty patient people but at times they would just cross the whole paragraph out because they couldn't figure out what was my point

However, my teachers would always get my originals because there is nothing worse then have someone's elses writing introduced as mine

Anyway, I am glad that college is behind and I dont have to see red cross out lines in my writing but now I confuse people on internet (not intentionally, believe me) I think its great when people can outline whatever they are trying to tell, but I am still at learning point.

I love your pictures, I actually wish I could see some from "novostroiki", part where I lived most of my life. I regret my fear of looking as a tourist by taking pictures of fav places and now I wish I was a little smarter. To be honest, I never thought I would stay more then 4 years in US and expected to run into my mom's arms as soon as I finish degree. oh well.. US isnt that bad, I got:solnce, vozduh i voda-nashi luchshie druz'ia

How Katya likes UK? I didnt have very pleasant experience there.. unfortunately..

Have a good weekend

Posted by: Khashyar

Hi Terry...

Thanks for posting the two photos in the new Russian Photo Galleries....

Those are photos of Saint Petersburg, right???

If you don't mind, I am going to move them to the Saint Petersburg folder.

They will still apear in your member's gallery folder, but... If someone is looking for photos of Saint Petersburg, then they will find it more easily in the SPb folder.

Feel free to load all of your photos in the new section if you would like

(They are beautiful photgraphs).

Khashyar

Posted by: Khashyar

Hi Terry...

One of your photos was already in the St. Petersburg section... I moved the other one there as well...

Khashyar

Posted by: merlin

Hi Everybody

I have copied my ''Winter Trip'' collection of photo's here plus some additional one's to the ''Russian Photo Gallery'' section, as suggested by Kashyar. Thanks for all the positive remarks.

Hi Kashyar

Thanks for your compliments, I will have to watch out for the size of my ego, it may exceed the megabyte allocation I have allotted to me

In answer to your question no I didn't visit any other cities while in Russia I was only there for six days, but I intend to go back and hope to visit some with Katya soon.

Hi Nicegirl

Thanks for your Kind comments I have sent you a private message about Katya.

Regards

Terry

Hi Kashyar

Thanks for your compliments, I will have to watch out for the size of my ego, it may exceed the megabyte allocation I have allotted to me

In answer to your question no I didn't visit any other cities while in Russia I was only there for six days, but I intend to go back and hope to visit some with Katya soon.

Hi Nicegirl

Thanks for your Kind comments I have sent you a private message about Katya.

Regards

Terry

Have attached a photo of Katya's of the Peterhof gardens in summer just to balance all this winter snow and gloom above

Posted by: Khashyar

Hi Terry...

No.. your ego has not exceeded your file size allotment yet

The photos are great...

I gave every user 1,500 kbs for their photos......

I could raise this limit so that you can post more photos...

I noticed that some of your photos were over the 60kb maximum size that I set in the program. I think that there might be some bug in that feature, and I just contacted the software developer about that

The program is supposed to automatically resize the photos to fit the photo guidelines... I will figure out what is happening with that issue...

One way that we could add more of your photos is by resizing some of your existing photographs that are larger than 60kb.

I checked, and there is no way to set a different max file size limit for a particular member. (If I significantly raise the overall limit for everyone, then I will exceed the disk space that I have been given on my server

If you could reduce the file size for your photos that exceed 60 kb, then that would be great... Thank you...

Many people, I am sure, would enjoy seeing more of your photos

Khashyar

Posted by: Khashyar

Hi Terry...

I moved the technical part of our discussion to the "Russian Photo Galleries" Comment section at the bottom of the forums...

Khashyar

Posted by: merlin

Another photo from my winter trip this one is a part of the chapel in the Summer Palace at Pavlovsk, again a beautifully preserved building.

Terry

Posted by: Khashyar

Thanks for sharing all of your photographs from your trip, Terry...

I have been viewing them in the Photo Galleries (which is an easier way to browse them because you can browse the thumbnails first, and then enlarge the photos you want to see)...

Do you have any photos of you and your fiance?

If both you and she feel comfortable about sharing them, I am sure that some of our members would love to place a face with your posts...

And please feel free to share more photos if you have them...

Khashyar

Posted by: merlin

Quote:

Originally posted by Khashyar
Thanks for sharing all of your photographs...

Do you have any photos of you and your fiance?

If both you and she feel comfortable about sharing them, I am sure that some of our members would love to place a face with your posts...

And please feel free to share more photos if you have them...

Khashyar

Hi Kashyar

I would love to put some photo's of us in the gallery but as Katya lectures at the University and is a mature woman she feels embarrassed at the thought of students finding her involved in dating a westerner (especially at her age when you are 'on the shelf' at 25 ), which I can understand, though I have reached the age were I just do things anyway and face the embarrassment later. Which brings me to a funny poem I have somewhere about ageing and wearing a purple bobble hat; it's about the ages of woman but applies to men to some degree as well. I will copy it to a post when I can find it

It's nothing to do with Russia but as I say so what, it's funny anyway

In finishing this post I would like to say what a wonderful job you have done in putting this site together Kashyar it's attractive works very well and has a really interesting and caring membership. You have done a brilliant job at creating a supportive community here, so congratulations, I take my hat off to you.

Regards Terry

ps I will put on a photo of myself if I can find a presentable one.

Posted by: Khashyar

Thank you, Terry, for the supportive and generous words.... We are trying to create a community that provides us the kinds of things that all of us need to help us understand Russia and our Russian-Western relationships better. I am happy that the site is almost growing every day... and that we are forming a supportive community here...

Yes, please post the poem... it sounds interesting.

I understand about your fiance's carefulness about her photo... It would be great to see your photo when you find one that you want to post...

Thanks the posts and photos that you've contributed to the website...

Khashyar

Posted by: merlin

Hi again

I have found the prose and photo copied below.

THE AGES OF WOMAN

Age 3: She looks at herself and sees a Queen.

Age 8: She looks at herself and sees Cinderella.

Age 15: She looks at herself and sees an Ugly Sister (Mum I can't go to school looking like this!)

Age 20: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly"-but decides she's going out anyway.

Age 30: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" --but decides she doesn't have time to fix it, so she's going out anyway.

Age 40: She looks at herself and sees "clean" and goes out anyway.

Age 50: She looks at herself and sees "I am" and goes wherever she wants to go.

Age 60: She looks at herself and reminds herself of all the people who can't even see themselves in the mirror anymore. Goes out and conquers the world.

Age 70: She looks at herself & sees wisdom, laughter and ability, goes out and enjoys life.

Age 80: Doesn't even bother to look. Just puts on a purple bobble hat and goes out to have fun with the world.

Maybe we should all grab that purple hat earlier.

It sort of follows the old adage ''life starts at fifty'' when you stop caring what the world thinks and just live it.
As somebody said somewhere ...''Life is an Amazing Adventure or it's nothing at all'' which is sort of appropriate to this site, we are all on or about to embark on an amazing adventure. Good luck to all you adventurers

Terry

Have found a soft focus photo minus the purple hat.

Posted by: Khashyar

That's a great poem and a great story

It's nice to put a face to a person and their thoughts and communication.

So that people can find the photo more easily, would you mind placing it in a seperate post? (so that people do not need to sort through the 3 pages of threads to see it

Also... It would be great if you also could post it in the photo galleries in the member's section.

Very interesting poem about women

Actually.... would you mind posting the poem in the general English section?? It's an interesting poem, and again, people will be able to find it more easily if they didn't need to look through 3 pages of information.

Thanks Terry

(you could also create an "Avatar" from that picture if you wanted so that a little 50 by 50 pixel image of your face could appear to the left of your post every time you wrote a message... If you want to do that, you can go to the "user cp" section, and it tells you how to do this.

Khashyar

Posted by: merlin

Another photo I just found of Pavlovsk Summer Palace ''The Picture Gallery''

Terry