14.08.13 Last but not least...

Today was our final day in Russia.  We got up early and tidied our room before moving our bags in to the living room and heading out for a final bit of shopping.

We went straight to the markets by Red Square but visited the Bolshoi Theatre on the way (they were on tour in London while we were in Russia so we hadn't been able to see them).  Once we had spent all of our money we headed back to the hostel for a shower and some lunch before returning to Moscow airport for our return flight to the UK via Zurich.

The Bolshoi Theatre

In Zurich we enjoyed a Burger King before crashing out on the seats where we were rudely awakened by a loud snoring man very early in the morning.  After arriving post-closing the evening before some of us sat outside the Lindt shop for opening at 6am in the morning (on the 15th).  We enjoyed a very sickly hot chocolate before running to our flight back to Manchester.

13.08.13 Museum of the Great Patriotic War.

Today was our last full day in Moscow and we wanted to try and see as much as we could.  We had narrowed down a long list of potential places to visit to three which we set of to find.

The first place we wanted to visit was the Museum of Matryoshka were we were hoping to see different painting patterns and a VERY large Matroyshka doll.  However, after wandering the streets and consulting several maps (as well as a nice lady in Tony and Guy's) we found the entrance only to be told that the museum was "shut, for ever!"




Despite this initial setback we wandered on to our next stop which was the Muzeon Park of Arts which is a Sculpture park on the banks of the river.  The park has over 700 sculptures including some of Lenin and Stalin.  Some of the sculptures even featured in the opening of James Bond's Golden Eye!  While in the park we had some lunch in a small café and lazed on bean bags under the massive trees.

 

 

 

 
After visiting the park we went back to the Metro to head towards the Museum of the Great Patriotic War.  This was one of the most impressive things we had seen during our time in Moscow. 

 
The outside has a giant obelisk that every 10cm represents a day that Russia was involved in the war - it's massive!  It is really ornately decorated with the names of all the areas represented shown on the sides. 

Inside the museum there was lots to see but the most impressive was the Hall of Glory and the Hall of Remembrance and Sorrow.  The Hall of Glory has the names of nearly 12,000 recipients of the Hero of the Soviet Union distinction on the walls with images of the main Russian cities around the top and a giant bronze sculpture called the "Soldier of Victory" stood in the middle.  The Hall of Remembrance and Sorrow gives a very different feeling and honours the Soviet people who died in the war.  The hall has little lighting and has metal chains with glass beads hanging from the end suspended from the ceiling - these represent the tears shed for the dead.

The Hall of Remembrance and Sorrow

Inside the Hall of Glory

The entrance to the Hall of Glory

For dinner we returned to GUM and the Soviet style café that we had visited on the first day.  We then packed our bags so that we could fit in some last minute shopping in the morning.

12.08.13 The Kremlin...

Today we had a slow start with the main aims of the day to be to visit the Kremlin and the small market we'd seen outside Red Square yesterday.

We headed into the centre at about 11am and stood in a very long queue for tickets to get in to the Kremlin.  Once we got inside the Kremlin we were impressed by the size of the buildings and the size and number of canons.  We spent quite a bit of time visiting the different churches including the Church of the Deposition of the Robe of the Holy Virgin and the Archangel Cathedral.  After a wander around the Secret Gardens of the Kremlin where some of us got ice cream we moved on to visit the Market.

At the market we were overwhelmed at the selection of Russian dolls we had to choose from as well as lots of other gifts.  Some of us tried our hand at haggling and were surprised when our efforts sometimes resulted in a free gift as well as a discounted price!  Once we were all laden up with Russian dolls, Christmas decorations, spoons and more magnets we went back to GUM where we had Italian for our dinner before heading back to the hostel for bed.

Watching the Changing of the Guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier

Red Square

11.08.13 IAAF World Championships!!!

Today we managed to totally change all of our plans!  We were supposed to be visiting Red Square and the Kremlin but decided to postpone it for a day so that we could try and attend the World Championships which were being held at the Luzhniki Stadium.

We got up bright and early and had a fairly enjoyable breakfast including a version of pain au chocolat and honey covered cereal.  After this we navigated our way on the metro to the stadium and wandered around for a while trying to find out how and where we could buy tickets.  We managed to bump into a couple from Bolton at the information centre who thought we would be very lucky to get tickets to the evening's competitions as it included the 100m final with Usain Bolt in!  However, we perceived and for a grand total of about £15 each managed to get tickets for the whole day, including the 100m final and a few medal ceremonies!!!

After securing our tickets we made our way to an underground shopping centre were we had some lunch and then visited the market at Red Square and GUM.

At about 5.30pm we made our way back to the Luzhniki Stadium and enjoyed almost five hours of top quality athletics where we saw Bolt race to victory and Christine Ohuruogu win her heat for the 400m which she went on to win the next day.

We made our way home after the 100m final when we were funnelled down an army/police lined street towards the metro. 

10.08.13 Moscow here we come!!!

We arrived at the airport in Irkutsk for 6.30am and said goodbye to everyone.  We were really pleased that Olga, Natasha and Irina had been able to join us.  Boarding the plane at 8am we were crossing fingers, toes and everything else that our return flight would not include an impromptu stop at Ulan Ude although we were braced for it this time!

The flight involved lots of sleeping in preparation for the busy day we had ahead of us.  We were met at the airport in Moscow by a lady holding a sign with Alison's name on, she then walked us to a very shiny and rather large minibus which was to take us to the hostel.  After a bit of driving around the driver managed to find the hostel and once we'd dumped our bags and changed our shoes we went back to the minibus to begin our tour.

We were shown around on the minibus, stopping off at several places on the way.  We visited a memorial park where there were lots of brides wandering around having photos taken.  We also visited a Novodevichy Cemetery which is attached to a convent where all of the famous Muscovites are buried including Boris Yeltsin and many musicians, ballet dancers, poets, actors and politicians.  We then went on to see Moscow University on Sparrow Hill and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.  We were able to go inside the Cathedral which was really impressive and we learnt about it's history including the fact that it is the tallest Orthodox Christian Church in the world and that it had to be rebuilt in the 1990s after being demolished in the 30s after being deemed as being an 'unnecessary luxury'.

We then went to GUM (a massive and very upmarket version of the Trafford Centre) for a traditional Soviet style meal which was really nice.  After lunch we visited Red Square and saw St Basil's Cathedral before going on a boat ride down the river.  After this we went on the Moscow Metro to see some of the amazing stations, our tour guide Dmitri was really good at telling us about the different images on the walls and ceilings.  Once back at the hostel it was time for a much needed shower, dinner and bed!

Lenin's Mausoleum

St Basil's Cathedral

The statue of Peter the Great

One of the very impressive Metro stations!

 

09.08.13 Return to homestay...

This morning we got up and finished our packing, there was no exercise this morning :(

After we pretended to eat our breakfast - we really were struggling by this stage - there were a lot of emotional goodbyes and promises to keep in touch.  We then piled on to the coach which wasn't quite big enough for the group leading to some quite interesting bag (and person) stacking in the middle aisle.  Almost everyone fell asleep on the ride home were we were met by our homestay families again for our final night with them.

Hannah, Emily and Olivia had lunch before showering, eating dinner and going for a walk in the evening.  Sophie and Vanessa picked up some pottery they had made before camp then went for food and a visit to the fountains in Irkutsk which they hadn't been able to see at the start of the trip.  Alison and Naomi where invited to Marina's home where they had a lovely lunch and met her pet dog which looked like a giant Jack Russell!  After they had eaten they walked back to their flat and chatted through ideas for Moscow with Nastia.

Everyone aimed at an early night as we had to be up very early for the flight to Moscow.

08.08.13 The Change Station and Closing Ceremony

Today was our last full day at camp!  We were early for morning exercise for the first time (but only because everyone else seemed to be late!)

After breakfast it was time for the 'change station' which was one of the scariest things we experienced on camp, it was totally manic!  The whole of the building where we ate meals was given over to people in order for them to swap badges, gifts and neckers etc.  We set ourselves up on a couple of benches at the front and were promptly swamped, we keep forgetting that there's only seven of us and almost 2000 on camp!  Once we'd explained for the umpteenth times that we had no UK neckers to swap we successfully swapped our badges for an unbelievable range of items including pin badges, cloth badges, combs, bark pots and of course some Russian neckers.

Following this it was on to the Scout Rally where we continued with the main theme.  Hannah and Vanessa were on the orienteering team with Max and Anton while Olivia and Emily were cheered on to the eco challenges alongside Dima and Jenya with shouts of "run England, run!" coming from the rest of Sparta.  We're still not entirely sure who won the competition but it was good fun.

In the evening it was time for the Closing Ceremony but a large part of this was the Miss Jamboree contest which we had all entered earlier in the week.  Hannah and Vanessa had managed to get through to the final stages after completing some smaller challenges the previous day and were required to provide a 'presentation' on the camp mood.  Hannah did a sketch about a day in the life of a Brit on camp making good use of the enthusiastic Russian Scouts who were eager to help.  Vanessa wowed the judges by singing a Russian campfire song - in Russian!  In the final presentations Hannah was awarded the title of "Miss Tenderness" (or something similar, the translation was quite difficult) and Vanessa was awarded the title of "Miss Baikal" which was a special commendation from the judges!

Then we had the actual closing ceremony in which we Anglicized Sparta and became "Spartanglia!  This was followed by a concert, firework display and performances from lots of people from camp. Finally it was back to the camp site for our last round of tea, snacks and songs round the camp-fire with Sparta.

'Prince Harry'!!! (he looked a lot more like him in real life, honest!)



Olivia impressing the Sparta boys with her axe throwing skills.

Emily, less than impressed that she had to do 30 squats with this on her shoulders!



The tension of the orienteering competition!

Miss Baikal

Miss 'Tenderness'

The Siberia 2013 team with our acquired translator, Losha.

07.08.13 Poles and Bikes...

This was our last day on extreme.  In the morning there was a big meeting for the whole camp at the main stage.  We discovered that this was to welcome the Scouts who had made their promise during the previous evening.  The Russian Scouts complete a top secret initiation task in the middle of the night and once they have made their promise are sworn to secrecy until this meeting the next day.  The only reason we knew that some of them had made their promise was that they were waving their neckers at us which had a friendship knot rather than the 'Cub' knot in them.

 

After the meeting we went to a pioneering session were we learnt how to make quite a few interesting things.  It was a really fun session and it was a little disappointing that it had to be cut short because of the morning meeting but at the same time we really enjoyed seeing the value placed on the promise here - a few of us are trying to work out how we can introduce initiations back home!

 



Pioneering...we didn't make the huge catapult below but were very impressed by it!

In the afternoon some of us went on a bike ride through the village, to the lake.  Emily and Alison walked down in to the village to buy a stockpile of condensed milk filled teddy bear cakes for later in the day!  Once we got back to camp we began sorting our teams for the Scout Rally with Sparta (the group we shared our campsite with).

 

In the evening there was a sub-camp campfire where we all took turns in singing songs.  We sang Edelweiss and 'linger' which Alison and Naomi had taught to us earlier in the day.  'Linger' became a new found favourite with the group and reduced a couple of us to tears!

 

It was then on to a busy evening of visiting other camps, tonight we visited two!  First stop was Olga's group 'Calypso' where we played games, sang songs, ate cake and even met Nastia's parents!  Then we moved on to another camp where we received a traditional Russian welcome of bread and salt.  The group had gone to a lot of effort in preparing for us so we were really please that we were able to visit them, especially when the chocolate covered pancakes, tub of condensed milk and watermelon came out!

 

06.08.13 Fame, Glory and a sprained ankle

After our standard morning exercise and breakfast we headed off to do some orienteering.  Sophie, Emily and Olivia went in one team with Hannah and Vanessa in another.  During the 40 minutes Sophie's team managed to collect three markers but Hannah and Vanessa gathered an impressive EIGHT markers!

At lunch things got a little bit hectic!  As we were walking from our camp to the lunch hall we were accosted by a number of press representatives as it turned out to be 'press day' at camp.  The man in charge of camp was very keen for us to be interviewed so a mad scrabble began to find Nastia in order to translate for us.  Somehow in the mayhem we managed to have our lunch before heading to the river side for our first interview.  Alison was asked many questions about Guiding (and Scouting) in the UK, how it compared to Russia and what we thought of the camp and Siberia in general.  Once the interview had finished we were asked to do a 'performance' - time for the cup song to be rolled out again!  We later found out that this had made National TV and newspapers!

Thinking that we had finished our TV fame we wandered down towards the Lapta field only to be accosted by another group on the way.  Nastia explained to them that we were really keen to take part in Lapta - a traditional Russian game that is a mix between rounders, cricket and baseball - so they happily announced that they would film us playing it?!  Naomi was asked several questions about the comparisons between UK and Russian Scouting and camping before we began the game.  Despite several attempts at explaining the instructions there were still many confused faces when we started!

We soon found out what the rules were when we did anything and everything wrong and were quickly underway with the game.  We quickly decided that UK health and safety would have ruled the game out mainly due to the 'pitch' we were playing on which was covered in large mounds and dips.  In a final attempt for fame and glory, Sophie went for a spectacular dive over the line only to land in an interesting fashion on her ankle, all in front of the Russian cameraman who promptly ran away! (thankfully she was ok after a bit of rest)

After our evening meal we went to Irina's camp where we had been asked to help enrol two girls in to the unit using a British style initiation ceremony.  The girls spent the day carrying out good deeds, writing a promise with their leader (we were very impressed by their maturity and selflessness) and then had to fish rocks out of a bowl using their feet!  Returning to camp at about midnight we went straight to bed ready for another 'extreme' day tomorrow!

Waiting (not so) patiently for our dinner when they ran out of food!

Newly enrolled members of Irina's group with the Siberia 2013 group who all renewed their own promises.