Mango Travel Events: Conference for System Integrator Company Trinity

Image Source - Trinity 

As we are not only holding queue-free tours to the Hermitage and other museums, here is a short report from our recent event for our dearest regular customer Trinity.  

Image Source - Trinity 

In November 2012 Trinity together with Hitachi Data Systems organised a conference on new effective IT components for organization of virtual cloud information landscapes for companies. Didn't understand a word in the last sentence? Well, we too. However it didn't obstract us from arranging the event, as we all did what we knew best: Trinity and Hitachi took care of IT solutions and server hardware, while Mango Travel Conference Manager Eva Simuni assured that all the participants enjoy comfortable atmosphere and delicious meal.

Image Source - Trinity 

The whole-day event took place in a beautiful 5-star hotel Sokos Palace Bridge. During the conference guests enjoyed presentation of Hitachi representative in Russia, mixed with delicious croissants and dances on servers (see the fist picture of this post). At the end of the conference participants were awarded with a great banquet in one of the most Spanish hotel’s restaurants Sevilla. 

Image Source - web-site of Sokos Hotels http://www.sokoshotels.fi

Companies and places mentioned in this article:
1. Trinity - System Integrator Company, creating your IT infrastructure in Russia
Offices in 4 major Russian cities including St. Petersburg and Moscow.

2. Sokos Hotel Palace Bridge 5* - excellent hotel for your comfortable stay and event
There are 2 more Sokos hotels in St. Petersburg - Sokos Hotel Vasilievsky 4* and Sokos Hotel Olympia Garden 4*

3. Mango Travel - Russian DMC (destination management company), MICE organiser in St. Petersburg, owner of this blog :)

P.S. Nearly forgot to mention that this Trinity was born way earlier than Matrix one and had nothing to do with Carrie-Anne Moss (unfortunately)!

Must See: State Hermitage Museum

"There are art galleries, there are museums, there are the great museums of the world and then there is the Hermitage", says Lonely Planet. "An unrivalled collection of art treasures housed in the magnificent palace from which the Romanov tsars ruled the Russian Empire, the State Hermitage will inevitably be the focus of any first visit to St Petersburg, and rightly so."

You haven't been to St. Petersburg if you miss the Hermitage. Apart from expected and widely known Western European  paintings you'll find there all sorts of art objects from Roman sculptures and Egyptian tombs to belongings of Peter the Great in Russian Department, numismatics, armour collection and even two treasure chambers with world-famous Carl Faberge jewellery.  

Can't visit St. Petersburg in the nearest planned future? Take a virtual tour of the Hermitage!

Tip: To skip the queues (especially suring the high season May to August) we highly recommend you to book your tickets in advance on the Hermitage web-site.  There are also 2-day combined tickets available with an access to the Menshikov Palace (the oldest stone building in the city and the home for the city's first Governor-general Alexey Menshikov, an associate and a close friend of Peter I), Winter palace of Peter the Great and even a Porcelain Museum!

At the information kiosk you can pick up a free colour map of the museum, available in most European languages. Immediately after ticket inspection you can hire an audio guide with recorded tours in English, German, French, Italian or Russian.

The State Hermitage Museum
Address: 2, Dvortsovaya Ploschad (Dvortsovaya Square)
Work days and hours: Tue, Thu-Sun 10.30-18.00, Wed 10.30-21.00\
Museum is closed on Mondays, January 1, May 9 

St Petersburg in 1 hour (and 8 minutes)

Oh my GOSH it has been so long since I last posted! (I must stop starting posts like this.) Anyway, I'm currently in St Petersburg for a few weeks and this afternoon I had a few free hours so I decided to set myself a challenge. As I've been here so many times before, I've visited all the main sites so today I thought I would try and see them all in 1 hour. The great thing about St Petes is that everything is so central so you can walk everywhere. I set off at 4pm and (almost!) managed to get round everything in an hour... Here's what I saw:

River Fontanka

Mikhailovsky Castle

River Fontanka

River Moyka

Mikhailovsky Garden

Russian Museum

Church of the Spilt Blood

Matryoshki!

Griboedov Canal

Nevskii Prospect

Kazan Cathedral

Nevskii Prospect

Kazan Cathedral

Dom Knigi (huge, massive bookshop!)

Kazan Cathedral

Nevskii Prospect

River Moyka

The Hermitage/Winter Palace

Dvortsovaya Ploshad

River Neva

Peter and Paul Fortress

Rostral Columns

River Neva

The Bronze Horseman

St Issac's Cathedral

River Moyka

Wedding locks on a bridge

1 hour 8 minutes well spent!

Babs: Not to be messed with.

Right now I'm sure you're all aware of the political furore surrounding Putin's presidential campaign. This would lead us to believe that it is the politicians that are in charge in Russia and that they are the ones who govern the people.

Wrong.

It is the babushkas.

These women are afraid of no-one.
They think nothing of informing strangers on the metro that they are dressed inappropriately - I remember my friend in Moscow being told off by a babushka for wearing Ugg boots when it wasn't winter.
They do not put up with time wasters - they would regularly push infront of me in the supermarket queue when I was taking too long.
They DO NOT need a man's help - more than once I've seen a little old lady carrying hundreds of bags at train stations and refusing help from young men.

Basically, they don't let anybody mess with them. For all his bare chested horseback riding, deep sea diving and matcho judo playing, I doubt Putin would ever dare take on an irrate babushka.

Babushkas have a certain look. To pull off your own babushka chic simply wear thick socks with all your shoes (even sandals in the summer), a below the knee floral skirt, a big baggy top and (of course) a scarf over your head.

(Thanks for the picture Toby.)

What my friends and I never understood is when exactly Russian women become babushkas. It is a fact (not a stereotype, a fact) that Russian women are beautiful. I've lived there, there is seriously something in the water. So when do these beautiful women become scarf wearing babushkas? Is there a time in every Russian woman's life when she morphs into a babushka?!

Joking aside, the babushkas may seem a simple source of easy humour but if you ever live in Russia for a bit it is more than likely that your khozaika (landlady) will be one. Then you will see that behind their tough exterior, the babushkas will really, truly care for you in their home. I guarantee you will never leave their home hungry.

Plus, they are the inspiration for one of my favourite Russian things....

Some of my collection :)

Also,

I graduated.

and became the poster girl for Russian Studies at the University of Birmingham:

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/government-society/departments/russian-east-european-studies/courses/index.aspx

Teehee! (Seriously, it's a good course.)

Snow.

WELL, today there has been drama in the UK. The worst has happened. It is likely that the economy is going to collapse (again) and basically our lives will have to be put on hold because the enemy is back...


It has snowed.


The fact that it has SNOWED is actually the second biggest news story on the BBC News website. If there is anything that the UK is not equipped for, it is snow. When it snows we cannot leave our house for fear of cars skidding, public transport failing and falling flat on our faces sliding all over the pavements.


Now if there is one thing that Russia is prepared for, it is snow. When it snowed in my second year of university naturally everyone skived their lessons... presumably their legs all stopped working due to the snow, as we only lived a 15 minute walk away from uni. However all the Russian Studies students received an e-mail from our teacher saying, "Our Russian class is still on today. In Russia, snow is not a reason for skiving." She was right - I'm sure all my Russian friends will agree that if they told their teachers they could not come into class because of 10cm of snow they would be in serious trouble!


I remember when it started snowing for the first time during my year abroad in Moscow. I was walking along Tverskaya with some friends and as soon as there was the first hint of snow loads of "snow mobiles" (road gritters or whatever they're called) appeared from nowhere. Their summer of hibernation was over and they were back to clear the roads and keep Russia moving!


The UK however is not so ready. The half hour of snowfall that Huddersfield had today has already affected my life. We were supposed to be going out for a meal for my Grandma's birthday tonight but because Huddersfield is a town of hills it is never a good idea to drive in the snow so we had to cancel. There is literally a tiny smattering of snow and yet I know from experience that our car will just not cope!


When I came home from Russia for Christmas in 2009 I had left a country where it was -20°C and metres of snow lined the pavements, to arrive in a country where it was -3°C and had around 10cm of snow. Russia was running as usual and England was in chaos. As soon as we British hear a mere mention of snow we panic. Tonight as I browse through (stalk people on) Facebook all I can see are status' (statuses? stati?... someone needs to clear this plural up for me) about how everyone's plans had been ruined because of the snow. I'm to blame too... I'll admit that tonight when I first saw a drop of snow I immediately worried about my boyfriends safety in getting home from work... he was unfazed as 1. he is a boy and so does not worry about a silly little thing like snow and 2. he was wearing Doc Martens.


Anyway, I'll leave you with Charlie Brooker's hilarious "report" on snow from 2010. 

Apols.

I really need to start writing this blog again.