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| This is overwhelming... |
So, safe to say at the moment I'm pretty terrified. In just over a week I'm flying to St Petersburg, courtesy of Estonian Air, landing at 22.40 Russian time and I'm not coming back for four months. Yippee?
Despite my initial reservations - about the journey, the weather, the food, money, what to bring, my first accommodation, finding a flat, speaking Russian to actual Russians - I'm actually starting to feel really excited. So, for anyone taking the trouble to read this, here are some things from the month I spent in Kazan' that I hope to see more of, so I can bring you many more beauties and oddities:
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| Romantic architecture |
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| Russian cuisine |
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| Unflinching obedience |
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| Eccentric taste |
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| Non-EU regulated produce |
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| Mind-boggling matryoshkas |
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| Health and safety? Not in your bed |
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| Or in your hallway. That's a feral dog |
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| A tearoom, please! Not a misleading Italian restaurant |
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| Local customs |
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| Infrastructure equipped for the weather |
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| Local celebrities |
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| The mother of all mosquito bites |
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| Devout Russian orthodoxy (holy water spring) |
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| Patriotism and/or babes |
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| Theatre and other cultural pursuits |
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| Babushkas! |
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| A pet monkey. Okay...this probably won't happen again |
So, there you go comrades, hopefully a taste of what's to come. I will try to bear this in mind if the going gets tough:
Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.
-Miriam Beard
But please do send me Marmite.
