Yesterday we landed in Russia, the Worlds biggest country, it took us 13 hours from Trondheim, Norway to Kaliningrad, Russia via Riga and Minsk. If we would have taken a direct flight it could have been done in 3 hours. So there you go, travelling here aren’t always fast, with bureaucracy, transfers and waiting as a normal routine. The Russian Federation is big, in fact the biggest country there is out there, with 145 million people in an area of 17,075,400 km². They have 9 time zones throughout the country with Kaliningrad Oblast starting at +3 to Magadans +12.
On this tour we are travelling to 4 different Russian cities to see and experience a bit of the country, this is actually a country you could spend years seeing but as everything else we need to take it in batches, some now and some later.
We are now in Kaliningrad, Russias smallest Oblast, the name Oblast is a type of Administrative division in some Slavic countries and is used as a term for province, state, zone or area. Kaliningrad is also different because they are not part of the country Russia, they are an exclave between the countries Lithuania and Poland. So to get here you either have to fly from Moscow, St Petersburg or Riga or by land via Lithuania or Poland. Kaliningrad is also referred to as Kaliningradskaya with a population of 1 mill facing the Baltic sea. Is been under Polish and Germans and the architecture in the city tells the story of that. After the war, Kaliningradskaya oblast became one of the most militarized regions of the USSR. Headquarters of the Baltic fleet was located in Kaliningrad, after 1991, the town of Baltiysk former Pillau remained the largest base of the fleet. The region has industries in machine building, ship building and repairing and possesses 90% of the Worlds Amber. The oblast name was officially Konigsberg until 1936 when it was changed to Kaliningrad.
Figuring out wich yacht for summer 15!Classic russian dolls!A russian oligark gave us a few shots with Beluga vodka at Buddha Bar the other night. Check out the size of the glass...The Red Square!Vasiliji Cathedral by night!Kreml!Communist building!Financial district, Moscow!Kremlin!Vasilij Cathedral!R8!Ferrari 458!Bolsjoj Theatre!Haute Couture!GUM shopping mall, red square!GUM mall, red square!Porsche cayene Gemballa Edition, with a smaller scratch on the side!A classical sight in The streets of Russia is couples with flowers, girls with flowers. It is normal for men to give flowers in The beggining of a relationship.Russians love glitter and glam and realy expensive things, thats why German Pillip Plein has his shop here!Man of the year 2007 according to Time Magazine!The river Volga at sunrise!Visiting Mother Russia Statue!Stalingrad Memorial!Volgograd is home to The terrible battle of Stalingrad! This is where its at!Bjørgum e klar for kamp!Battle of The vodka in Volgograd!Hotel Volgograd!Hotel Volgograd!Just landed in Volgograd!Apartment buildings in the suburbs of Moscow!Russian Caviar!Boatrip around The Saint Petersburg canals!As long there are tourists around, money will be made!Kazan Cathedral!Church of The savior on The spilled blood!Kazan Cathedral!Canalboat close to The church!Hans P and B in St P!Mercedes Benz SLS tuned up for oligark standards!In front of The Winter Palace, that now houses The State Hermitage Museum with 3 million artifacts.Aeroflot Fleet at Shermetyevo Airport, Moscow!Aeroflot flight attendant!Ural Airlines!A Konigsberg in old #Konigsberg, now #kaliningradEveryday is a wedding day!Kaliningrad Cathedral!When in Russia, drink #vodkaFlowers on a Memorial sight after WW2!Russias baltic warfleet!The Baltic Fleet of #russia
