Minsk, Belarus Travel Blogs

Day 2
Sep 16, 2006 (4 photos)

... the "Moscow Express" which for me is when the adventure really starts. It will pass through Germany and Poland today, and then Belarus and Russia tomorrow, arriving in Moscow around 8pm. I got on my train (the Moscow Express) in Berlin not sure which ...

Snow arrives
Nov 3, 2006 (2 photos)

... . We posted post-cards in the monolythic post office whose innards are structured in a manner of smaller kioks, a favourite arrangement of Belarus. We also booked our tickets for the slow trek down to the closest city to the Russian border, and Belarus' ...

Ah, my old friend bureaucracy
Oct 25, 2006

... . We bought a dictionary and now I at least know the city's name is MИHCK (the И is always I, the C is always S) and Russia is POCCИA. I'm not sure what Belarus is, because the dictionary only offers "Byelorussia", which is outdated.

Liza et al.
May 7, 2008 (6 photos)

... the old part of Minsk, The Isle of Tears, Gorky park as well as others - there are a lot of beautiful parks in Minsk - and several impressive, imposing government buildings on our way. Liza had to head off for dance class at 2:00pm. We met her there ...

Moscow to Minsk
Aug 31, 2008 (5 photos)

... to Minsk. The day was long and the journey unimpressive and tiring. Not much was seen along the way. However, we have been in Belarus, for what that is worth. We stopped at the Hotel Planeta. We had a good dinner there with the Irish contigent on the bus ...

Weekend roundup
Oct 30, 2006 (4 photos)

Saturday and Sunday we had Marie and another of Jeanne's friend's "Alvan" Fu around. On Saturday the three of us went to the large indoor market and then came home to see a Man United game was on TV, live (on the ЛAД channel of Belarussian TV ...

Minsk
May 31, 2006 (3 photos)

I spent the day in Minsk: Lukashenko's communist stronghold. Fortunately no anti-government riots today. I felt like about the only tourist around and no one anywhere seemed to speak anything other than Russian (or Belarussian). Nevertheless, one of the ...

Flamenco
Nov 11, 2006 (15 photos)

... performance. It was too long but we saw speeches... music (including a patriotic rally to China, odd to see in Belarus - but most of the audience were Chinese too. and (our reason for being there) dance - particularly Mari, who floated ...

Dumplings
Oct 27, 2006 (4 photos)

... pasta dumplings known as Pelmini with a Japanese class-mate of Jeanne's, Marie. I had thought that the perception that Belarus' president Lukashenko dominates news was overblown, but when he does speak he dominates the news. At least 10 minutes of a ...

Cinema and eating
Nov 8, 2006

Today was our second trip to the Aurora Lazunia (?) cinema, this time to watch an Aardman/DreamWorks cartoon called Flushed Away which is about a rat discovering life in the London sewers after being flushed down the toilet by his flatmate for objecting ...

My birthday (like the Queen - she has two!)
Nov 7, 2006 (3 photos)

... a Customs Union between Belarus and Russia seems to have mixed messages at its heart with Russia hinting at full integration and Belarus' President Lunkashenko insisting that is not what he wants. And there was no mass evidence of anything unusual on that ...

Oi
Oct 26, 2006 (1 photos)

Jeannine brought me some books she had also been given in English to help my Russian learning. A quick update - she's here to learn the language. Vocabulary is beyond me but I'm trying to get the alphabet nailed because at the moment I'm frightened to ...

The quintessential Soviet 'Hero City'
Aug 25, 2007

... are only slight (certainly no ger districts here!). My visa is pretty limited here, so I'm off to see a couple other places in Belarus from tomorrow. First stop is Brest, site of one of the most brutal conflicts in the early part of World War II. It's ...

Cinema and McDonalds
Nov 2, 2006

An American film called Open Season was enjoyed by me, Jeanne and Alvan although the plot was a bit formulaic. We preceded it by a necessary trip to McDonalds, where we were greeted by names such as БИГ МАК (if I tell ...

Ballet
Nov 1, 2006 (2 photos)

... . The venue is a temporary home to the ballet company, whose name is National Academic Bolshoi Theatre Ballet of the Republic of Belarus. I assume but do not know if this is "the" Bolshoi. It took an explanation from Sarah for us to understand the plot. ...

Travel To Minsk Belarus
Dec 24, 2006 (1 photos)

... difference? Most restaurants are privately owned and their survival depends on customer satisfaction. Geography, Climate and Lifestyle Belarus is a relatively flat country. The difference between its highest point and its lowest point is only 264 ...

Minsk - Belarus
Jun 17, 2006 (5 photos)

... : "Hello, wanna have nice massage, sexual pleasure....." I woke up and so I was quite angry, so I shouted into the phone: "Sounds good, but not tonight...."! By the way, they also called in the other rooms. All nine of us enjoyed the trip to Belarus.

I have arrived
Oct 24, 2006 (2 photos)

... a wait. Ich fand es auch lustig dass ich neben einer Deutscher (aus Hamburg, denke ich) sitzen zwischen Polen und Belarus. Er liest Bild und Welt Kompakt (komisch). Sitting on the Brasilian Embraer 170 and devouring the chocolate, pretzels and ...

Meetja and Mari
Nov 9, 2006

Tonight we headed off to the cinema again, this time to the Kinotheatr Oktobr to watch the decidely less chilled out "The Departed", which was originally a Chinese film and then was re-made recently with Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo di Caprio. ...

Library
Nov 10, 2006 (1 photos)

We started today by souvenir hunting, which in the end even needed us to buy a new bag to carry it all home! Anyway, we then went on to the National Library and I paid 5000 roubles and had my passport scanned before being given a Cyrillic name and an ID ...

Belarus 101
Sep 22, 2007 (2 photos)

... of the Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes in neighboring Ukraine, polluting 23% of Belarusian territory. August 25, 1991-Belarus declares independence from the USSR. June 23, 1994-Former collective farm boss, Alexander Lukashenko is elected president on a ...

Stalin's Model City
Sep 23, 2007 (13 photos)

... Moldova. Makes me really look forward to visiting those countries... But for all this cheeriness, I never forget that I am in Belarus. I avoid going camera crazy unless others are doing so (opted out of a shot of the block-long KGB headquarters) and I ...

Belarus - Minsk and Brest
May 25, 2008

... off well (although it was still raining). It all seemed to be going smoothly until we got to the immigration desk on the Belarus side. I (Gavin) passed through with no problem, and headed back to the bus. Although Matt was directly behind me in the queue, ...

Sisters Wedding
Aug 26, 2005

soon soon I promise!

Minsk
Sep 23, 2007 (7 photos)

 

Minsk
Aug 30, 2006 (4 photos)

Minsk was incredibly sterile and clean compared to Russia. It was also pissing down with rain so it wasn't very pleasant. We did manage to have a look through the GUM department store and realised it was nothing more than a bric-a-brac store with a lot of ...

belarus
Nov 11, 2005

nothing

Cities
Jun 24, 2006

...

Minsk
Jul 6, 1977

Thankfully a shorter drive today & not much rain - everyone still on edge after drama yesterday. Minsk - shopping better here than in Moscow

Minsk
Jul 7, 2008

Minsk