Transsiberian Railway; Abridged Version

In September this year I visited Translation Forum Russia, a great event organized by professional translators and interpreters for professional translations and interpreters. The event is something special in itself, and a lot of reviews have already been written about it both by Russian and foreign participants. I’m definitely going to write my own review, too, and the next year I’m going to visit it again and perhaps make a report. The forum is a travelling one, i.e. each time it takes place in a different city. This year Kazan, an old Russian city where Moslems have always lived, welcomed the Forum. However, in this post I’d like to write about my travel there, and one of the coming posts will be about the event itself.

Interpreting at the metal-recycling factory

The majority of the posts in this blog are about various sights of Siberia, in cieites, towns and about wonders of nature.
But I am also an interpreter, and I have still not written anything about places where I worked as an interpreter, though many of them are amazing, and I would never go there without a sound reason to do that. But interpreting, which I love as deeply as I love tour guiding, gives me endless opportunities to visit many interesting enterprises, institutions and events.

German National District in Siberia

I suppose this post can be more interesting for my German readers, but I hope everyone will find it informative.

Not long ago I had a chance to travel to the German National District. If you think that I had to make a long journey, you are mistaken.

Kolyvan, a historical town next to Novosibirsk

The settlement Kolyvan is one of the most interesting places in Novosibirsk Region and one of the oldest settlements in the region as well. Located only 30 km to the north of Novosibirsk and close to the river Ob, this settlement was founded much earlier than the Siberian capital, and it is definitely worth visiting if you are interested in Russian history and the history of Siberia in particular.

City tours in Novosibirsk for groups of up to 17 people

Dear visitors of Novosibirsk!
This spring and I started cooperating with a company offering transportation by minibuses (http://www.sibirturist.ru/). Currently this company offers Mercedes Sprinter (for 17 people) and Istana (14 people), perfectly equipped with everything tourists need. The seats are comfortable, you can take a half-lying position. All seats are equipped with belts for you to feel safe. There is a microphone for a tour guide so that every tourist could hear well. There is an air conditioner so that you could feel well in every season. The drivers are professionals with a lot of driving experience and you can be sure you will be safe during your tour.
The advantage of a minibus is its small size. It is much easier to find a parking place and make a turn, so that tourists can be brought to virtually any place.

With these minibuses your Novosibirsk city tour will be as comfortable as it can be.

Welcome to Novosibirsk!


 

Ust-Koksa and Tyungur, Altai

Now when it's about -30 outside, it's the right time to remember the summer and one of the most attractive and amazing destinations in Altai mountains - Ust-Koksa district, a mecca for thousands and thousands of hikers not only from Russia, but from all over the world. I've met a couple from Germany there, for example, and I often see questions and opinions about the district at various international forums and discussion boards.
The reason of such broad interest is Mt.Belukha, the highest peak in Altai and one of the highest in Russia, which is a hiking and mountaineering goal for loads of travelers, picturesque Akkem lake at the foot of this mountain, plenty of other beautiful mountain lakes, Multa lakes inclusive (I've written about it earlier) and a lot of other attractions, which make this long trip worth doing. Tyungur is about 900 km away from Novosibirsk, but we didn't mind, because we didn't drive too much within one day, so the travel was rather relaxed.
And what I liked most is that the region is really wild, with as little civilization as one can possibly imagine. Of course there are cell phones, internet connection and television there too, but  it is not pronounced and one doesn't even feel one needs all these things there.

Tomskaya Pisanitsa in winter

I've already written a post about Tomskaya Pisanitsa, an open-air museum of rock art containing a lot of other amazing artifacts of Russian and Siberian culture. http://mytravelog.blogspot.com/2011/05/tomskaya-pisanitsa.html
We went there in May and were determined to return either in summer or in winter, on one of Russian folk festivals. We failed to do it in summer, as there were a lot of other travels, short and long, but as the winter holidays were long and relatively warm for Siberia, we went there again. In winter Tomskaya Pisanitsa becomes the Siberian residence of Ded Moros (Father Frost), with several New Year trees, a log cabin where Ded Moros and Snegurochka dwell and two exciting long wooden slides.

The 12th festival of ice and snow sculptures in Novosibirsk

As it is Old New Year's Eve today, I want to give one more present to my readers.
Within the period from January 8 till the end of the month our city is happy to welcome the 12th festival of ice and snow sculptures.
I wrote about the previous one a year ago, I hope you liked it. If you haven't seen it yet,  here's the link: http://mytravelog.blogspot.com/2011/01/ice-and-snow-wonders-in-novosibirsk.html
Beautiful, isn't it?
This year they are superb, too! And it just cannot be different, snow looks beautiful even unformed, just lying around, and if a sculpture is made from it, it's a work of art, joint creation of man and nature.

Happy Old New Year!

The 14th of January is the strangest Russian Holiday, and the most difficult to explain to foreigners, but I'll try, and first of all I would like to wish all of you happy Old New Year!
The tradition dates back to 1918 when the young Soviet Russia officially adopted the Gregorian calendar, but the Russian Orthodox Church continued to use the Julian calendar. The New Year became a holiday which is celebrated by both calendars. At the same time Christianity was banned in Soviet Russia, but people here are tough, and they went on following Christian traditions, including New Year celebrations.
The Old New Year is an informal holiday. No one gets a day-off, but people keep congratulating each other, even giving present, cooking large meals, using fireworks, and arranging parties. The tradition of celebrating the coming of the New Year twice is widely enjoyed: January 1 (New New Year) and January 14 (Old New Year).
And it is normally on the 14th of January, when all Christmas and New Year decorations, illumination and Christmas trees are put away, though the ice and snow figures remain until they melt away in spring.

Town of ice on the Ob Embankment in Novosibirsk

This winter the embankment of the Ob river in Novosibirsk invites everyone to the 'town' of ice. This beautiful tradition has existed for I don't know how many years already, and snow and ice architects do their best to surprise people. This time they've beaten all their previous masterpieces, having created something like a miniature St.Petersburg, this year's theme.
I didn't manage to visit the 'town' the two previous winters, it was extremely cold, and I don't remember very well the themes of the winters I did manage to go there, but there is always a certain theme.
 It is huge work, with all the amount of ice needed to build the figures, so the entrance should be paid. This year it is 150 rubles per person (children under 7 are granted free access). Besides, if you leave the territory to get something from your car, for example, you have to buy a new ticket. Not very cheap, especially if you go with your whole family, but definitely worth the money.

More ice and snow decorations in Novosibirsk

The 1st of January is a perfect day for a city walk. Few people, nearly empty streets, plus perfect weather this time.
We went for a nice walk, visited several parks and took more photos of ice and snow decorations. It is about -8 C now, and after several previous years it is nature's gorgeous present. One can be out nearly all day long, and this is what we are going to do the next days as well.
 And now more snow and ice figures

 

Snow and ice decorations in Siberia in 2011-2012. The first out of many posts

Hello, everyone! First of all, I would like to wish all of you Happy New Year!
I was pretty busy these days, and not only was it business, but a lot of hectic with New Year preparations and celebrations.
We have already started celebrating with my children, both of them had a party at their kindergarten, and today we visited a public party for children in a big concert hall.
It was wonderful! All of us were really happy.
And after that we started visiting ice and snow 'towns', as we call them here. They are usually situated in parks, on squares and in yards of big houses.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dear readers! I know it's been again a long time since I last wrote. The end of a year is usually a pretty busy time, seems like everyone is trying to complete all the tasks one hasn't managed to fulfill during a year.
So I had a lot of translation, and it is mostly translation I do in winter. No guided tours since October. But I hope the Christmas week may be different. A year ago, for example, I had two city tours, on the 3rd and on the 7th of January, though it was about -30 on both days!

But this post is a Merry Christmas wish to everyone who happens to read my blog. I am very happy to see each of you here, as I see that I tend to have more readers and this year was special, as I started to receive comments to my posts. I would like to wish all of you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
May God bless you, your family and your friends!
May your business, should you have some, grow, and may all your dreams come true!

I promise to write a post about this year winter decorations in my city. A lot of snow and ice figures are under construction now, and I try to take my camera with me every time I leave my house.

Museum of Nikolas Roerich in Novosibirsk and Verkhniy Uymon, Altai

Nicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (Russian: Никола́й Константи́нович Рéрих; October 9 1874 – December 13, 1947), was a Russian mystic, painter, philosopher, scientist, writer, traveler, and public figure.
I love his paintings very much. His style is unique and recognizable, it's impossible to mix him up with someone else. As to his philosophy, I hadn't been interested in it much until recently. Perhaps it's my 'middle age' crisis, or I just reached the age when one starts some spiritual search for the meaning of this life, or mere coincidence, but somehow I feel that Roerich's philosophy and view of life is close to me. I haven't read any of his literary works yet, and I haven't read any of the works of his wife, Elena Roerich, but I'm definitely going to. Their philosophy is not completely Christian, and many true Christians say that the Roerichs were even opposed to Christianity, but to my mind its basic principles coincide with Christianity and all other common religions, as it is based on the principles of love and peace.
I don't want to dwell on the philosophy much, as I'm not an expert in it.

Who visits Novosibirsk?

There will be no pictures in this post, but I hope my readers will find it interesting.
The tourist season is over now, and I expect very few tourists in winter. I guided only three tours the previous winter, and it was luck, because many colleagues didn't have any at all.
But the season 2011 was very good for me, so I'd like to summarize it, analyze it and make some forecast for the next season.
My friends and family often ask me if I am honest to say that I have a lot of work with tourists. They cannot believe that Novosibirsk may be attractive for guests. I am convinced, however, that the number of tourists will be increasing, and the last summer can confirm it.
So, who visits Novosibirsk, where are these people from and why they come to the city?