Going inside St Basil’s Cathedral is exciting but it’s not exciting like going into the Kremlin. Even though it’s a standard tourist thing to do in Moscow and a lot of it is now a museum complex, it stills feels illicit, transgressive, as if you’re breaking into a high-security spy headquarters where ordinary civilians, let … More The day I was incarcerated in the Kremlin
The most exciting moment of my entire Russia trip was on my penultimate evening when I walked up the Kremlevskiy Prospekt slope from the north-west corner of Red Square and saw that iconic view laid out before me. I was in Moscow twice. I spent three full days there are the beginning of the trip … More The labyrinth cathedral, the dead man and the legs
Last week I told you that I went to Russia and today we start the blogs in earnest. I currently have plans for 15-20 of them over the next four months – I did quite a lot while I was out there. So, day one, city one – welcome to Moscow! I arrived late afternoon … More Exploring the Moscow metro
Welcome to my first Russia blog! Over the next couple of months, I’ll take you along on my journey, which I’ve been calling #JulietsRussianOdyssey on Instagram. In this post, I’m going to cover a few of the themes from the trip: where I went, the language barrier, the weather and what it was like being … More So, I went to Russia…
On Monday I told you all about my visit to Russia in 2002 – specifically the Moscow half of the trip. When we left the story, we were on the overnight train to St Petersburg. And now it’s very early in the morning and we’ve arrived in Russia’s second city. No one’s really slept much, … More Russia 2002: St Petersburg
While I’m in Russia in 2019, let me tell you about my first ever trip there. It was March 2002, I was sixteen and it was a school trip. I went to a very ordinary school and speaking to people around my age, it appears several local schools did pretty much exactly the same trip … More Russia 2002: Moscow
I’ve been talking about going to Russia for a long time. The trouble is, there’s a huge obstacle to getting there from the UK: how to get a Russian visa? You need a visa for lots of countries. I’ve done the forms and letters for people at work for Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Sierra … More How to get a Russian visa in the UK
At the moment, it seems like I add another place I just need to go to my to-go list – wow that’s a messed-up sentence! – every other week. So I thought I’d write them down. 1) Russia View this post on Instagram A post shared by Topaz Hooper (@topaztravelstheworld) Yes, let’s be specific with the … More 10 Places I Want to Go To in the Next Five Years
I Am A Polar Bear 