my last blog 4 def - moscow et al

 on the road to moscow- people like to marry on bridges before throwing themselves off..

 first sight of red square

 rather nice mass going on in here

 one of the many ornate buildings

 lenins morsoleum

 the most sinister building ever

 outside the kremlin

 the monument in victory square

 monument to the oppression of russians by nazis

 riga

pottering around in boats in helsinki

penultimate blog

haha access to a computer. 15 hr trip by car yesterday to moscow. oy! about to head to centre to sight see and stuff..will post some pics later...

last blog

well this is the last day i'll be able to get on a computer, so an update on the last few days.

mm recording, recording and more recording

all vocals more or less done - some extra bits and bobs to record at home

to do -
photo shoot shortly, then some bars, beer and vodka..
tomorrow the car journey to moscow - all 650 miles..
the day after- moscow sight seeing

the following day heading back to helsinki then home..

gonna miss here..
hopefully will bring some russian ethos back with me..

thanks for following my trip
see you soon

typical road..

return of the giant hogweed (it may not look it on photos, but was about 15 ft high)

lost in russia

lots of recording and as seeing as it was a sunny day - we decided to go for a walk in a forest, and got lost. well for a while anyway. forests here are extremely still and quiet, but in all other respects very similar to our coniferous jobbies..no bears seen unfortunately..

dacha

well the snow eased and after a tad of recording we headed to nomys parents dacha (summer house). which was about 30 miles from syk..situated next to a lake and surrounded by forest, it was very tranquil..we drank russian vodka and albanian cognac and i had my first experience of a banya (equivalent to a sauna). which consists of stripping off and getting beaten with birch twigs in extreme heat. i could get used to it to be honest...

snow!

yes today its started snowing..mm as i write its just started coming down heavy.
last night we met up with Dorans brothers and played pool. good fun. today after recording we head off to a family dacha (country house) to see the scenery and maybe try a banya (sauna)..was shown some photos of the aftermath of  a bear attack..not much left of the poor guy..the bear was shot and it was eeeenormous. the paw was nearly as wide as a mans shoulders.

some photos from the school visit

'in british schools we have a budget this big'

essential knowledge for any child

keep hold of that signature young man, it may be worth pounds in the future

en masse

last night went to a friend of Nomy's who is a chess master..also in attendance was his friend Anastasia. we had tea in a hotel cafe to start then went back to his pad, where we talked about music til the small hours and drank more tea and fine cakes..
the following day i attended mass in the amazing church pictured..it was the full orthodox catholic monty. with angelic voices and priests wandering around swing their inscense. very aesthetically pleasing but complete hogwash

typical tower blocks

close up

tower blocks next to wooden houses..

same

that nice church again

every school should have a tank...

ah finally, where i belong; the judges chair in a courtroom ..

calling the religious types to mass

school day

two videos - one of a rehearsal by very good local band 'the kite runners' in a very nice practice room..the other from when i visited a school to talk about england etc..here they sing a russian song for me.

 nice song with some great guitar lines

ive no idea what they are singing about...but they were nice kids with some interesting questions..

day 8

not much new to report - just more recording..sat in on another bands rehearsal last night - quite interesting - good band..would do well here. nice to be in a rehearsal room thats not a shithole.. tomoro - i'm being taken to a school to talk to some classes...

in the studio

day 7

no pics today fraid.

went to the KGB buildings today...and am still free to tell the tale..also spent two hours in an awful immigration centre getting myself registered..will russian the bureauocracy ever end? but other than that a fairly normal day...ah - had the best spagetti bolognese equivalent i have ever tasted, made by my hosts.

day 6 slums

bread with caviar

 some of the typical flats at the lower end of scale

also common - delapadated wooden houses

a bit of weirdness

and then...

inside one of the wooden houses - someones kitchen..

shortly after, i was drafted...

some sort of pastry

lenin in the main square

 the KGB has found us already

 local church

inside

down by the river

first jam on bloody iphones

difficult parking..

rewriting a chorus (and struggling with a seven string)

day 5

well, it was decided to tackle the hardest song first and for the most part went well.we also had a tour of the local music college- which had more equipment than ours...had my first blini - which was nice. also raw fish which wa not too bad.

today more recording...

arrival

the band plus Dashiki

day 4 - recording

well, today we start recording. have seen the studio which is sited on an old military base.last night we all worked on changing the music for a chorus of a song. seeing as it was first time collaboration - it went well..and the chorus improved. another sunny warm day here - as a russian saying goes - 'you have brought the weather with you'

just to say- the welcome i have received has been great and have been made to feel at home.

доброе утро!

inside a cathedral i cant remember the name of

but at least it was dry

day 2- st petersburg

well, to say it was raining was an understatement. apperently was fine the day before..the train journey here was not as interesting as anticipated but i did have the border guards of doom. very serious people..some poor russian got a right grilling..on arrival was met by friendly guide, Konstya who took me from station to next friendly guide for the day, Alla. who showed me round the sights in the pissing rain..but the sights were good. so completely drenched we waited for taxi to airport...which never came..so we had to get a more expensive one, which initially was stuck in traffic for the first half of journey and for the rest was the scariest car ride ive ever been in, topping 120 mph at one point. got to gate with five minutes to spare...then it was the 50 seater tupolov. take off was like being strapped to a rocket..at one point a passenger had to repair a part of the plane that was leaking water..but what service! free sweets, juice, meal, tea, fizzy drinks and a final sweet. top.

hello. im alive..just

have reached my destination. and it has already been an interesting journey..hopefully tomorrow i will be able to sort out phone. helsinki was charming. daves missus was nice. and we sampled some local bars. as i was not, there long during daylight i got one shot of the railway station..