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It was kind of a memorial trip. My friends and I used to visit Ladoga lake many times a long time ago and we loved the lake and nearby forest. The Ladoga lake was favorite place of my friend LG, who recently died from cancer. It was on Ladoga where he broke his toe during soccer game, and broke my nose with his head during another rough soccer game. We were pretty reckless. It was not just our group habit, it was generally accepted approach to life in Russia and still is. If you put a safety belt in car for example, the driver will feel insulted. Once our recklessness resulted in tragic death, on Ladoga lake also. We took abandoned boat and tried to sail on it to the city of Priozersk. Boat sunk and one guy, VM, drowned.

Trip to Russia 2004

Alex Mumzhiu
2006-03-22 19:00:59

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Daniel Mumzhiu

My Dear readers,

You may remember that I planned to ride bike from Helsinki to Saint Petersburg. I was stopped by torrential rain on second day of my trip in town of Porvoo, Finland and return to SPB by bus. Soon my son came and we took a trip across Karelian peresheek (land bridge?) and to Priozerskie skali (rockies).

Attached is my son's Trip report.

Alex Mumzhiu
SPB, Russia
Aug 23 2004 4pm

Privet (Hi in Russian),

I arrived in Helsinki after three flights from DC. I was pretty tired and went straight to the hostel that I always stay at in Helsinki. Helsinki is a simple, clean little town and though it isn't very spectacular, its a charming place and it grows on me a little bit more every time I visit. After a quick stop at an internet cafe, I went walking down the main street at 10pm (it was still very light out). Street performers were all about and there was a group of guys with various musical instruments playing nice tunes so I stopped to listen. The next tune they struck up was the song that Al Pacino danced to with that beautiful girl in "Scent of a Woman" (I think its the Tango). It created such a jovial atmosphere that I wanted to grab one of the many gorgeous Finnish woman that were walking by and dance the tango with her right there and then. As I saw it, the only problem was that I don't know how to Tango. I continued my stroll and passed the super luxurious hotel where I had a cup of tea last year... the only difference was that I didn't see Bruce Springstein this time.

I took the train to St. Petersburg the next day... though the ride itself was of little note, I did have one story to tell about it. There was an American girl on the train who was chatting with some German guys. I didn't speak to her (she was rather unsavory) but I did overhear their conversation. They were talking politics and she ...