Rolls Around the World 2007: 15 - Minsk, Belarus to Moscow, Russia

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Miles for the day 226 (364 km) Miles to date 5,643 (9,082km)

Natalia and Vladimir met us at the hotel bearing gifts - Belarus dolls for Marilynn and two bottles of vodka for me - emergency rations? We bid Vladimir farewell, sincerely hoping to get together again, and were on the road by 7 AM. Good four lane road saw us in Orsha before 11 AM in spite of rain. Even thought Orsha dates back to 1067, making it one of Belarus' oldest cities, it has little to offer other than being a transportation and industrial centre.

Andrei Karloff, the manager of the Russian Automobile Association (RAS), had driven from Moscow and was there to meet us. He will be shepherding us through the Russian part of the trip. There was an emotional farewell with Natalia, during which she made it very clear to poor Andrei that he was to take very good care of us! We pulled out behind his car and headed for Russia.

Should you travel to or through Belarus, contact Vladimir Padalko at CentreKurot - welcome@otpusk.by , Tel: (375-17) 220-2222, Fax: (375-29) 612-1057. I cannot recommend these people highly enough!

There were no formalities to leave Belarus, and just after the sign announcing we were in Russia Andrei pulled off into a parking area where reporter Marina, accompanied by priest Father Anatoly presented us with a traditional large, round bread with a small bowl of salt in the centre. After we had eaten some as part of the ceremony the bread, along with the ornate cloth it was presented on, was laid on the hood of the car just behind the Flying Lady. Father Anatoly blessed car, us and everyone else in range with holy water and Yuri, the president of the RAS for the region presented us with gifts and formally welcomed us to the region. They had driven some 65 km from Smolensk in an official car to be there.

There were deathly slow line ups of over 20 people at each of the 2 main buildings for required papers to enter Russia. Andrei, Yuri & the priest did some negotiation, and suddenly all was well - documents were prepared and we were on our way. I later learned that Father Anatoly is an honorary customs officer and a close friend of the head of all customs. It was through his contacts that we bypassed the system.

There were rain showers as we drove the good four lane road to Smolensk. On the outskirts we stopped to unfurl large regional and RAS flags. Two were flown from the official car and Marina rode with us to hold a flag through the open sun roof. As we entered Smolensk a TV crew filmed the procession, sometimes driving beside us, at other times racing ahead to set up cameras on the route we would take. In the parking area for our hotel there were TV crews from 2 stations, press and radio reporters. After the car was photographed and filmed we were interviewed by each of the groups, eventually making it to check in.

Once settled in we joined Andrei and a local guide in his car for a tour of the city of 400,000, which was 93% destroyed in WWII. We walked through the pretty central park and square, then drove to the amazing 5 cupola cathedral where Father Anatoly is one of four priests. From floor to towering ceiling behind the alter is a gold wall with huge painted icons set in it. The ornate cathedral covers 2,000 sq. meters (20,000 sq. ft.) and is 69 meters (226 ft) high. Smolensk is an ancient city, first mentioned in 863 as a large and crowded town. It has many churches and museums, and is worth a visit.

Hotel Russia is a typical soviet era hotel, with three elevators the size of phone booths, small rooms and smaller bathrooms. The rooms were clean and the twin beds adequate. There was no air conditioning, so we had to open the window permitting the entrance of a large quantity of mosquitoes.

An interesting restaurant was chosen for dinner, built into the top of a tower in the old city wall overlooking the river. Andrei, Marilynn & I were joined by Marina, Yuri and Father Anatoly for excellent food and fun. The good Father, when offered a glass of wine, put it down like a shot of vodka. Refills were consumed a little more slowly, but when told we must sample the Smolensk vodka he knocked it back in the appropriate manner. This short, long-bearded gentleman, an ex army chaplain with sparkling eyes, is an incredible person. He joined Andrei and Yuri on a trip to the local night club after leaving us, where he knew everyone from the owner down. He is apparently very popular with young and old alike, and the priest most turned to by those with trouble in their lives.

Restaurant menus in Belarus and Russia have had a separate section for "beer snacks", appetizers (or bocas as we would call them in Costa Rica) designed to accompany beer. The beer so far has been eminently drinkable.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Miles for the day 263 (423 km) Miles to date 5,906 (9,505km)

We followed Andrei's car out of Smolensk after a surprisingly good breakfast at the hotel. We had to stop for gas, where the system was similar to Belarus except they do not take credit cards. One goes to a booth with one way glass and a sliding tray into which more cash than required is placed. When the car is filled the change is returned. The "service" is definitely out of service station - there was no water to clean windshields, no paper towels, no toilets, just gas pumps and the pay booth. The price is down again, though, now to 68 cents a litre.

We read that big problems were caused in the Peking to Paris rally by low octane gas. In Russia so far 80, 92 and 97 octane has been offered, so we chose to run on the 80 octane with no visible affect to performance. Hopefully this is an indicator that we will not have a problem when higher octane gas is not available.

The highway police were quite diligent, and Andrei was pulled over twice for speeding. He preformed some negotiations that soon had us on our way. Shortly after the second occurrence we reached the Smolensk-Moscow regional border, where we pulled into a rest area to receive a grand greeting from the Moscow region president and his people. The round traditional bread was presented on a ceremonial embroidered cloth and laid on the hood of the car. The Moscow area president gave us a warm welcome speech, and we were overwhelmed by the bags of gifts, too numerous to itemize, that were presented to us. A lunch of sandwiches, fruit, tea, coffee, beer and vodka was laid out and the police were present to escort us.

Greetings and lunch done, we followed the police car, Andrei followed us, then came the regional president's car with flags flying out both sides and finally the last car with the other Moscow delegates. As we approached Moscow and left the express highway it was great fun to approach red lights with the police sirens going and shoot right on through. After a stop at the Triumphant Arch on the road into Moscow centre for photos, we made our way to the Sheraton Palace Hotel. Andrei had some things to do at his office, so Marilynn and I settled in and got some work done on our computers.

When Andrei rejoined us about 5:30 PM we took the car to be washed and waxed, then drove around Red Square and to the Blue Elephant Restaurant for dinner. I quite enjoyed wheeling around in the fast moving traffic on Moscow's 8 or 10 lane wide major thoroughfares. In front of the restaurant 4 Bentley's from the 1950's in mint condition were lined up on the wide sidewalk. We were invited to park beside them. They all belong to the restaurant owner, Slobodan, and have been lovingly restored to pristine condition. The display was for our benefit, and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Slobodan, who came out to greet us and show his collection. The restaurant specialized in Thai food, and was quite exceptional in quality, service and price. He caters to Moscow's elite.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Andrei had work to do at his office in the morning, and then had some problems with his car, so it was around 1 PM before we got going. The time was put to good use, as both Marilynn and I are far behind on the computers. We changed a considerable amount of cash into roubles, as we will find few places to use credit cards from now on. Russia is still very much a cash society outside of Moscow.

Andrei took us to the famous GUM department store, which is now a big shopping mall with many high end stores. It exits onto Red Square, which we walked across on the way to the river where we boarded a boat for a 1 ½ hour cruise. At first there was little to see on the river, as the banks are heavily wooded, but towards the Kremlin the views were tremendous. It was nice to sit, relax and sip a cold beer as Moscow moved slowly by, but there were no announcements to indicate what we were seeing - only a local radio station played on the speaker system.

Andrei met us where we left the boat and took us back to his office where plans for tomorrow were made. From there we proceeded on foot to the Metro in order to travel to some of Moscow's famous ornate underground stations. Our last stop was at the beginning of the famous Stary Arbat pedestrian shopping street. Here Andrei bade us farewell and we headed up the 2 km long street, stopping for beer and bocas (appetizers) along the way. My bum knees and ankle were raising hell by the time we reached the Arbatskaya Metro station at the other end of the street, but we found our way back to the hotel by metro without error thanks to some helpful directions from the ever present police. There we both got back to work to try to be caught up when we leave Moscow in the morning.