Matthias living

For already 2 weeks now, I am travelling on my own. After 30 great days of travelling with Matthias trough Ukraine and Russia, he left from Yekaterinburg the 27th of June to go back home starting his PhD in Karlsrhue.

Good luck with that!

Hard to weak up...Lost in the Russian country side??
Having fun in Yekaterinburg doing some hard drinking and partying...

Last picture together.

Life in the train

Finnaly some news...

I'll explain the life in russian train after a total of more than 100hrs in those slow, noisy and shacky wagon. The russian railway network looks like that:

I travelled from Moscow to St-Petersburg in 2nd class (Kupe) during the night for 8hrs. The trip was easy and quiet, we had a good rest. After that we did only 3rd class, which means that their is no compartiment in the wagon, just an endless rows of beds (6 per section). It is much more fun and it's easyer to make contact with people. So we travelled from St-Petersburg to Perm (30hrs) than to Yekaterinburg (5hrs) . Then Matthias left me with a big hangover togo back to Germany and I carry o alone to Tyumen (5hrs) and finnaly to Irkutsk (50hrs). The last part was definitly the best! I travelled with a bunch of students going back home for the summer holidays. Here are some pictures of the trip:

Singin russian songs...

Drinking beer and Vodka, playing russian card game (very interesting games:-)

Strechings the legs during a 20min stops

Now I am heading to Mongolia...

Budapest

It's in Budapest that my trip started - a lovely 5 days with the even lovelier Giuliana. Are we not a nice couple?
Budapest is a really nice city and the world knows about it - it's full of tourists. One thing to mentionne so, it was bloody cold and rainy so the pictures are not so great, sorry about that. Below you can admire a view of the palace on the Buda side taken from the tour of the Basilic on the Pest side. It was destroyed and rebuild many time hence its 17th century style.

Another impressive monument is the Parlement - even more than the English parlement on the Pest side. We never woke up early enough to be able to visit it...
Me in the cover market, next to our 5 stars appartement (thanks Giu for finding this lovely place). Half of the market's visitor are tourists (a special floor full of souvenirs shop is dedicated to them) but the ground floor is a proper market where Englisg is not much spoken - good place for shopping.
The two famouse adventurer, going to discover the secret of Asia...
Our host and guide for the weekend - Fabien - best friend at grammar school spending 9months in Budapest for an internship and a friend of his, the lovely and full of life Francine!
Fabien brought us to a medival restaurant (I loved it of course) where you eat with your fingers (even so the girls were a bit redunctant at the begining, after 5 attempts to us a fork and knif, they abandonned and played the game). Below you can the the portion for 4people - we almost finished it at 5... Ilias you would have lovde the place!
During the dinner I was even made night after completing 3 trials:
- what is your favorite colour - Red, mh not blue
- kneel down in front of Giu (standing on the table, I could look up her skirt :-) and singing her a love song (chevalier de la table ronde...). Some people in the restaurant sung with me...
- And finnaly make an owth (don't remeber what i said)
After those hard trials I was made knight - Pierre the Brave!!!
And then we took the train for Lviv!
See you

The departure

Finnaly I find some time to upload some pictures! I know I was a bad boy not giving much news those last days... but you should know how I am, a bit lazy (a lot?) and always busy with more interesting stuff (visiting Ukraine).
So here they are, me happy in front of my parents house with my 10kg backpack - all my stuff for the next 7 months!

My mom was kind (sad?) enough to come with me to the airport to give me the final recommendations - it was very nice to share those moment with her!

See you soon,
Pida

Here we go! I am on the road in Budapest, enjoying this lovely city and its thermal bath with Giuliana. I will upload some pictures as soon as I find a cheap internet access.

Pida

The way to Moscow (2)

Dear Readers (hoping that at least 2 persons are following the blog ;-)

It has been some times since I last posted some news. It’s not because I suddenly stop thinking to my trip but I was so busy celebrating my return to Switzerland that I couldn’t find one second to write. A short day in England, to get my last luggage back, convinced my that I made a good choice to leave - the weather was so typically English (10oC, strong wind and rain) compare to the lovely month of May in all the rest of Europe (averaging 25oC, sunny and nice). Walking back to the office was like wandering across a ghost town, a traumatising experience that I wish no one to experience - good lucks guys (Mark, Ilias and all the others) for the future…

Back to the trip: I’m going to leave on my birthday, 29th of May, for Budapest to spend a lovely weekend with Giuliana and visiting my very good friend Fabien who is doing an internship there. I’ll meet as well with Matthias Kahl, ex internship at RRFCS, who will join me for a full month throughout Ukraine and Russia. The first stop is Lviv in west Ukraine, city rich in History that was conquest by different empires (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth than Austro-Hungary). After 2 days in this city we are heading east to Kiev, spending 4 days in the city, waiting for my Russian visa to start – 10th June) and then Moscow.

Talk to you soon,
Pida

The point of no return

My resignation letter is on my boss’s desk. That’s done! I’ll be leaving my job end of April to go back to Switzerland and get my travel sorted.

Everything seems so close now… last straight line!