Tour of Russia and East Europe: Rodger's overview

Our tour of Russia and Eastern Europe in August 2012

Tour by train starting from Moscow, then to St Petersburg (Russia), Vilnius (Lithuania), Warsaw and Krakow (Poland), Budapest (Hungary), Prague (Czech Republic) and Berlin (Germany).

Our visit to Russia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and finally Berlin provided a great comparison of how these countries see their history and their relationships to each other.

It is 22 years since the collapse of the Berlin Wall and Russian domination of Eastern Europe; 67 years since the end of World War II; over 200 years since Napoleon attacked Russia.  Many of these cities and countries have histories going back 1,000 years. 

We stayed only a few days in each city.  Most of our input was through local guides, who were well educated but perhaps provided only one view of their country and its history.

Here’s a summary of what we heard and how it sits with the history we have been given in the West.

Russia is much more than Moscow and St Petersburg but these two cities provide an interesting contrast.

Moscow is alive with cars and lots of people getting into the business of capitalism. 

Moscow Airport

There is a divide in Moscow, separating those people who are young and educated from the older and less educated.

English is common with younger people, but not with the older and less educated, who are slow to adjust to the new environment.   The future lies with these younger people, and looking at the way they dress and act, they could be in any city in the world.

Moscow is much more expensive than the rest of Russia. This is recognised in the payment of pensions etc.: the Muscovites receive at least 20 per cent more in payments to compensate for their higher cost of living.

To give a hint of the costs in Moscow: at our hotel, a beer was $16 and a glass of house wine was $25!

Moscow suburb, seen from bus en route from the airport

Moscow suburb

There are plenty of memorials to the WW2 victory and also Napoleon.

The communist past still has many monuments but these are remembered more with cynicism than with reverence.

Graves of Communist leaders of the Kremlin are next to Lenin’s tomb, and these are considered to be historically significant. 

Red Square: Lenin's tomb is the small building between towers. 

Graves of Russia's Communist leaders

The guide pointed out that Khrushchev was not buried next to Lenin’s tomb because he didn’t die in office.  She added that his burial place was better away from all these “others”. 

St Petersburg is less wealthy; even so the locals are on the road to consumerism. 

Street scene, St Petersburg

They are comfortable with their history of Tsarist times and never discuss the loss of all the Republics after 1989 - except to have a crack at Gorbachev and Yeltsin for losing the “empire” and the hurtful inflation of the late 1990s.

However, there is no hint that they want it back or would be willing to chase that goal.

From Russia we passed into Latvia. The Russian attitude at the border was a little old fashioned.  They searched the train and warned against photography at the border.

They locked the toilets so we could not hide anyone without a passport.  They also unscrewed the roof lids of the train, and peered inside. 

In Lithuania, the wealth seemed to emerge, and seemed more evenly spread. They are very sure of their future and wanted all to know about their past.

The wartime occupation by Germany and Russia was high on the education agenda for Lithuanian school children. 

The Museum of Genocide Victims along with related art projects by school children

The awful deeds of the Gestapo and KGB are detailed the Museum of Genocide Victims in Vilnius.

One of the many grim art projects by school children, illustrating the fate of genicide victims

Not so prominent are the memorials to the Jewish community of Lithuania. They are there, but less conspicuous than in Berlin for example.

The Lithuanians want to tell you about their history and when they ruled to the Baltic, given that now their land is a tiny fraction of what it was.

Nevertheless, they are realistic about their future and I think happy to be in the EEC and NATO which offers security against the Russians - at least in military terms if not in economic terms, as all their fuel and heating gas comes from Russia.

Lithuania reminded me a little of Sweden - just across the Baltic and a similar climate and construction techniques.

Next was Poland - now free and confident about its economic future.  Agriculture and industry are both strong, but it is yet to join the Euro and is proud that its Zloty is appreciating against the Euro.

The city of Warsaw has been rebuilt - but right in its centre is the Stalinist building that was headquarters of the Russian invaders.

The locals don’t like this building as it towers over the city centre as a reminder of their troubled occupation by Russia. 

Stalin's gift to Warsaw: the Palace of Culture and Science

The Poles are proud of their role in the downfall of Russian domination.

Again consumerism is doing well and English is like a badge of honour.

A young woman cashier was proud to announce my bill in simple and strained English when it was clearly visible on the register. And again she was most careful and counted out change with slow and precise English. At the end she showed pride in being able to do the transaction in English.

They are on their way.

In Prague, consumerism is well established, judging by the large shopping mall in the city centre (Westfield on steroids, one wag called it) with lots of shops stuffed with clothes and goods of all descriptions.  Young people are walking around with their shopping, on their mobiles, never having known the shortages of food and goods under communism. They will just not understand their parents etc. when they tell them of rationing etc.).

Marx and Lenin would turn in their graves.

Auschwitz just north of Krakow shows us its horrors.  Many  people were looking around the site, seeing the story unfold about the systematic murder of so many people. It stands as a reminder of what not to do.

Into Hungary, and Budapest.  We visited Budapest four years ago when there was much more buildings under construction/repair than now.

It seems English has improved here, and shopping areas are well supported.

However, the economy is under pressure and its leaders are making the wrong noises about democracy.  For instance, all judges over 60 years old have been fired and new ones appointed by the Government head – a move that does not sit well with democracy.

The Hungarian Train manager tells us how Hungary really deserves to get back its lost territories in Romania.

Except for the Russians, these countries all talk longingly of bygone eras when they controlled large empires. (I remember the Italians had a big poster with a map of the 2,000-year-old Roman Empire, hinting that it would be good to get it back!).

Prague was next after travelling through clearly poorer Slovakia.  From the train, we could see huge derelict factories and thousands of workers apartments.

Suburbs of Slovakia

Derelict factory

Compared with modern western factories, the old Communist factories could not produce the goods.  The guides explained the inefficiencies of a system where workers’ pay and conditions were guaranteed.  There was no incentive to work hard, so production was slow.

The Polish guide told us about her life - her two parents worked so when she got home from school she had to go to the food shop and stand in the queue for a kilo of meat and bread. She didn’t mind - it was how it worked.

To Berlin - as we cross from Slovakia to Germany the trains become modern and clean - the countryside becomes neater – farms are much bigger than previous countries - villages look modern.

This was once East Germany but still it looks to have moved a lot since 1990.

Berlin - modern, rebuilt. As we arrive at out hotel in Potsdamer Plaza we see several pieces of the old “wall”. This was the divide. 

Segment of the Wall

The Wall, with wads of chewing gum.

Berlin offers a lot - many Museums, the Brandenburg gate, the Reichstag, palaces of old Emperors, reminders of the wall everywhere with a solid line in the road or footpath. 

The Berlin wall still makes itself useful, as a canvas for artists

The wall is a magnet for tourists

The Jewish Memorial site in the centre of Berlin occupies a complete city block - and is remarkable.  

Jewish Memorial Site

 By contrast, Hitler’s old bunker is merely a car park: unsealed dirt and grass: it is marked with a very simple sign showing the layout of the now filled in bunker. They don’t want to glorify it. 

The sign that marks Hitler's bunker

The Berliners are different to other Germans.  It reminds me of the relationship New Yorkers have with other Americans.

Berliners are confident, easy going and somehow more relaxed than their countrymen. The city reeks of German efficiency, especially compared with our Eastern European experiences where the Soviet era still not quite forgotten.

But the bureaucracy to gain entry into the Reichstag was memorable. A 4-minute interview after queuing for 45 minutes to be allocated a time slot several hours later - photo ID needed. Seems to be overkill but it will perhaps sort out the misbehavers??