Yearly Archives: 2014

Supermarket shopping in Russia

During my visit to Russia, I spent a number of days at the same place in Saint Petersburg, so I hit up the local supermarket for some provisions.

'хлопья Завтраки' (breakfast cereal) aisle in a Russian supermarket Continue reading

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Russian retailers advertising their nearest metro station

During my trip to Russia I discovered something I haven’t seen elsewhere – advertisements for retailers, where each store has the nearest metro station listed.

Onboard advertisement list the Metro stations to reach the store in question Continue reading

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Shopping at Ulmart – Russia’s answer to Amazon.com

Ulmart (Юлмарт) is a Russian retail chain selling computer hardware, digital and consumer electronics. Open 24 hours a day, each store is nothing like a retail store in the West, as I discovered when I visited one of their stores in Saint Petersburg.

Юлмарт (Ulmart) store in Saint Petersburg Continue reading

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Ukrainian grain goes by train

In the middle of winter you would never think that anything other than ice and snow cover the Ukrainian countryside, yet come summer the country becomes the “breadbasket of Europe”, as one of the world’s largest corn and wheat exporters.

Steel grain silos at Popilnia (Попільня), Ukraine Continue reading

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Romania’s home grown high-speed train

When you think of countries with high-speed rail, Romania isn’t one that comes to mind. However earlier this year a Romanian rolling stock manufacturer called Softronic released their newest electric multiple unit – the “Hyperion”.

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Bucharest to Kiev by train

One of the more interesting legs of our trip across Europe was the 27 hour long train ride from Bucharest in Romania to Kiev in Ukraine. We joined the train in Bucharest, where a Ca(ile Ferate Române (Romania Railways) locomotive hauled the train into the dead end station at Gara de Nord.

CFR Class 65 diesel locomotive 65-1295-8 arrives into Bucharest's Gara de Nord Continue reading

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Oddball warning signs on the Russian Railways

When travelling across Russia and you don’t understand the language, then any warning sign you see takes on a different tone.

«берегите свою жизнь! не прыгайте с платформы!» Continue reading

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Sochi and the multidimensional theatres

Sochi is a popular resort town on the Black Sea coast of Russia, and like anywhere tourists flock to, so do the gimmicky tourist traps – however a game of one-upmanship is afoot.

Last rays of sun fall on Приморская ул. (ulitsa Primorskaya) Continue reading

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Travelling across Russia: Sochi to St Petersburg by train

On our travels through Europe at the end of 2012, the longest rail journey we made was the 2300 kilometre, 45 hour long ride across Russia, from sunny Sochi on the shores of the Black Sea to snow covered Saint Petersburg beside the Gulf of Finland. So what did I see out of my train window?

Hoards of passengers board a northbound train from Sochi Continue reading

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So the hard work is done (my photos are all online)

It’s taken just over a year, but I’ve finally finished uploading and captioning all of my Europe photos to Flickr! During my month long trip I took 19,856 photos, of which 3,855 I’ve determined are of a standard to share with all and sundry.

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