peterlorenzen

10.09.09 Cheltenham. My wife Nan and I were among those who said that we might join you on this fine trip. We genuinely had to pull out because of my consultancy work and a plea from our eldest son to look after his children, but we apologise for disappointing you. I have read with pleasure the account of your experience and congratulate you all. I send to Nicolai, who is one year older than me, warm wishes for his recovery. The outcome for us was that we equipped ourselves with fine new touring bicycles for the trip, so we went in August for 2 weeks of cycle-touring in Brittany. For ten days we cycled west against the wind, very good for leg and stomach muscles. Then for three days we cycled back again, with the wind helping us. So, we had something of the open-air experience that you had, but we missed your cheerful company. Warm wishes from
Michael Dower

26.08.09 Flensburg. Elena found Natalia the correspondent, when she looked for a contact in Arkhangelsk. Swetlana from the local TV was interested to meet the bike team and a descendent of the Vice-Gouvernor more than 100 years ago. The Arkhangelsk Government was interested to meet us. So a short film strip was produced. Lorenzo Drews helped to put it in the blog..
Peter

11.08.09 Flensburg. The idea for the trip was born two years ago and the necessary preparations were considerable. Over 1000km were to be covered by bike, railway and boat. Most mornings we didn't know where we would be the same evening. We slept in tents, hostels, hotels, on the train or in private accomodation. The sense of the trip? The whole trip was a big challenge. The last time I had slept in a tent I was 14.This was my first long holiday by bike. We wanted to get to know Russia and the Russians better and we did. Tracing family roots also played an important role.
Peter

11.08.09 Flensburg. I asked members of our team and also others we met on our trip the question above. Katja in particular, the English lecturer at the St. Petersburg State University made it clear to me. In the course of last year we had invited three doctors and a journalist from Pensa to Flensburg for work experience. After their departure we heard more or less nothing from them. Here is my attempt at an explanation:
1. In Russia there is no tradition of keeping contact with foreign countries. 70 years behind the "iron curtain" is one explanation.
2. Too few young people learn English. There are language barriers in the west as well, but even those Russians who speak English don't keep contact.
3. The Russians have not yet realised that contacts are of personal as well as financial advantage for them.
4. Hierachical structures hinder contacts. Superiors block contacts, individual initiative is not encouraged and corruption frustrates any attempts.
5. Considerable possibilites for co-operation offered by the west are not acknowledged.
I would very much like to receive contributions from readers which could supplement this explanation.
Peter

30.07.09 Brussels. Dear friends, I am terribly sorry that we were not able to join you on this long expected,exciting trip from Archangelsk to St. Petersburg. We missed you all very much. A warm thanks to you who have prepared this unique discovery across Karelia and for not giving up in spite of a a relatively small cycling crew which finally showed up. For us the irreversable link between Russia -Europe anb biking started 5 years ago when one evening we got a phone call at our house in Brussels from Elena (with comments from Nikolaj in the background): We are here but we cannot find you". "Who?" I asked. "The four cyclists from Penza!". It was raining and it was dark and I finally found them in a bar in the suburbs of Brussels. Their bikes were too big and far too heavy to put them into my car so they followed me as theit pilot through the busy city. A Russian bikers delegation to Europe...
We had a wonderful time together in our kitchen that evening and the next day in our garden. It was like an old family meeting after a long time. And it was the greatest pleasure to be host for you and to hear about your adventures. I started to get an idea how you Russians see western Europe..."You only seem to look to the West", Nikolaj said. It is this feeling of belonging to a family of curious people; people who are trying to discover what this world is all about, daring to cross borders, mental and physical barriers, in order to see the essence of what we are here for:To respect and support each other.
Yesterday I saw a report about the efforts of the United States and Russia to come to grips about nuclear disarmament.The two superpowers feal uneasy about nuclear proliferation. Today there seem too many "smaller" superpowers in the world following ambitions which may undermine global peace. The "stuff", nuclear material and knowledge is being traded as if it was peanuts. I believe it is not only Russia and the United States being able to solve this problem. Europe needs to look east and play a role as an active mediator and as a respectful neigbour of Russia. Mutual support and respect need connectons, meetings, gatherings of people. Peace needs struggling to overcome old prejudices and new ambitions for global power play.
I am sure you have gone through wonderful and through very difficult moments during the trip from Archangelsk to St. Petersburg. But these moments bring our old family together, like the evening when you appeared in Brussels. I am looking forward to welcome Kate here in Brussels for an internship. She can become a young ambassador for connecting people with a big heart for peace and friendship in Russia, the United States and Europe. Greatings from Brussels,
Hannes and Christine

05.08.09 St. Petersburg. We are in the best internet cafe in town and are lucky to have found a young man here who can speak English. He helped us open our journal so that we could make entries, but he was unable to open the picture gallery for us so we can't include any more fotos at this stage. The film made in Archangel that we wanted to include would take several hours to put on the blog, so we've decided to call it a day. Perhaps our friend Lorenz in Flensburg can help us when we get home. Watch this space!
Peter

05.08.09 St. Petersburg. The registration problem has been solved, thank goodness, and we have seen a lot of this impressing city. For us it was very enjoyable to have an evenung walk with Katja who we had met at the camping site, along part of the main street to the Hermitage, to see the admiralty and other buildings on the bank of the Neva and also the statue of Peter the Great on his horse. It was all much more interesting for us in the company of someone who had grown up in the city and loved it.
From our window on the 14th floor of the student's hostel we have a view across to the Baltic Sea. We will be happy to set foot on the other bank of this sea in Flensburg tomorrow.
Pam

02.08.09 St. Petersburg. Yesterday after five hours train journey we arrived at the destination of our journey.We were forced to do this lap of the trip by train rather than by bike because of the disastrous state of the roads between Lahdenpohja and St. Petersburg. Our train arrived at the Finland Station in St. Petersburg.We went by bike across the River Newa and along the Newski Prospect (the main street in town) to the Moscow station, where Tatjania and Katja left their bikes and luggage as they were departing from there to Pensa at 6:30p.m. Their journey would take them 40 hours - what a distance!
Today we went on the search for suitable material in which to pack our bikes for the homeward flight, and spent some time in the internet cafe in the Litejnyl Street before reaching the Newski Prosoect and the town centre.
At number 18 Pisareva Street (formerly Alexeevskaja Street) we found the house where my mother lived with her parents and brothers from 1914 - 1917 before they had to flee the country.
We have to register here. The student hostel where we are staying sees this as a problem. Without this registration wit may be problematic for us to leave the country.
Peter

01.08.09 St. Petersburg. After his arrival back in Pensa the day before Galina, Nikolai's wife, sent us the following text message by sms:"Jaklisch (pet name for Nikolai) is missing you all. He regrets his bad luck. He is looking forward to hear your stories about the trip. He was very pleased to get the postcard you sent him and thanks you for everything."
Nikolai

28.07.09 Narjonorka. When I spent a year in America I became a journalist for the school newspaper. The editor of this newspaper told me that I could make a good investigative reporter. Now Peter asked me about media and journalism in Russia, and I told him the following: It is always said that Russian media is censored and influenced by the government a lot. Sometimes people push too hard, I'm not going to deny it, but I also want to say that of course we have the freedom of the press and speech and we have a lot of free papers and programmes. In my opinion sometimes the government has to control press of course, not totally but a bit because Russia has just got onto the right way and it is a developing country which finally got over the past. I think any influence from someone opposite the geovernment can mess it all up.
Katja

25.07.09 Lahdenpohja. The disco night club that we went to is the only place in this town for young people to hang out at night. We (David and I) came there almost by midnight and stayed till half past five in the morning. There we met only young people apart from a few adults (up to 35) too. As it goes in small towns everyone knew each other quite well. The DJ played some dance music like trance and drum and bass and a little bit of R n'B (Rhythm and Blues). I got to meet a lot of David's friends and classmates and liked it a lot.
Katja

31.07.09 Narjonorka. Staying in this wonderful place seems like a reward for all the difficulties we had during the trip. We really feel how much God loves us as He was the one who brought us into this camping site. Here we feel his love in everything. We met very friendly and hospitable people, we enjoy swimming in the clear lake of Ladoga as well as listening to the sounds of nature.I was impressed with the beauty of the lake when Alexei took us on a boat trip around it. On the way back it started to rain and we stopped on a sandy beach until the storm was over. Guess what we were doing there? Eating a lot of blueberries we found in the woods right near the beach. Alexei told us that there are a lot of mushrooms near our camping site, so we are going to pick them. It's almost the end of our trip as we are leaving tomorrow. I'm happy I could spend these three weeks together with this team. We managed to solve all the problems together as a team and everybody was helpful and reliable as well as patient with each other. I will certainly only have good memories of our trip.
Elena

30.07.09 Narjonorka. For the last few days of the trip we looked for a nice spot in the wooded rocky islands of Lake Ladoga and found a beautifully situated camping site run by the organisation "Lena" ( www.lenatur.ru). Stanislav 41, former medical doctor from Pensa and Alexei 43, electrician from St. Petersburg, are in charge. They offer accomodation for national and international guests all year round in cabins or tents. They let out rowing boats and canoes and if required a cook and organise trips around the lake. On our first day a group of young people from the "Hessische Sportjugend", Germany arrived. On the next day they left for a 2 day canoe trip to one of the islands in the lake. Stas and Alexei invited us to stay there free of charge because the russian participants of our group are also from Pensa. This meant we could use the facilities such as the camping site, rowing boats, summer sauna and private access to the lake for swimming. We are grateful to them and their boss Vladimir for this hospitality.
Peter
P.S. I want to tell about a special encounter: An international group of varying age spent a few days on our camping site. They belong to an ecomenical movement " Invitation to Life" (www.ivi-international.org) founded in 1983 by a belgian woman. One of the group leaders, Katja, a very pleasant young lecturer in English at the university of St. Petersburg, told us about the movement.

27.07.09. Narjonorka. We didnt plan to write a blog. When I found out that Katja knew an adress for the blog and knew how to put our thoughts and experiences into it, I decided it might be a good idea.

The communication in our group is trilingual. Elena, Tatiana and Katja (and Nikolai) converse in Russian, Pam and I in German. Elena and Katja, who was an exchange student in America speak English and translate for us. The point of this blog is to keep an update account of our trip. It is also a possibility for friends, relatives and those who were interested in going with us to hear about our adventure. We only have access to the internet in the rare towns we come through. In the internet cafés we have used so far there has been no possibility to put the television film that Svetlana made of us in Arkhangelsk into our blog. Perhaps that will be possible in St. Petersburg.
I am grateful to the members of our group for bearing with me when I have insisted on their contributions. Perhaps in retrospect they will all be glad to have used this unique opportunity to record our thoughts and experiences.
Peter

27.07. Narjonorka. Poets and writers compare the Russian soul with nature. The Russian soul is wide and full of emotions as a lake. It can be calm but if the wind blows it can be stormy. We can compare it with the snow storm in winter time. It can be cold but also warm and kind. Some people call it powerful.
Russian people like receiving guests giving them all the best they have including the best food they have. If a stranger comes into a Russian home he can not leave without having at least a cup of tea.
The Russian soul also means sympathy to other people and their problems. We do it not because we have to, but because it's deep in our hearts. But speaking about the Russian soul we should say that to understand it you should feel it by yourself.
Tatiana

25.07.09 Lahdenpoja. When we are not on our bikes we can have interesting conversations with each other in the group. Elena told me the following:
Until the perestroika Penza was closed city because of the production of chemical weapons there.
In the later days of the Sovjet regime the authorities gave a citizens accomodation almost free of charge. Later the occupants became the owners and are in the position to sell the flats for a good price.
Elderly people find it more difficult to ajust to the new era as it is the case with some citizens of the former GDR and have to manage on low income or small pensions.
Those who are financially in a position to do so spend their holidays abroad and keep contacts with foreigners. Problematic seems to me the fact that many young people can't communicate in English which would be important for studies or business contacts abroad.
There is still no tourist information office in Penza which is a sign that there is much to be done in this branch.
The interest that the Penza government shows for the Lorenzen brother is because of our family history. This is an important aspect for the history of the town.
Peter

25.07.09 Lahdenpohja. Today we are the guests of an Armenian family. Their son is at university in St.Petersburg with Katya (the youngest member of our group). As it is pouring with rain outside and we are grateful to be sitting in their cosy livingroom. Their hospitality is overwhelming. Half an our after our arrival the table was laid with fruit, homemade biscuits and cakes and sweets. We each had a cup of delicious Armenian coffee. It is interesting to talk to them and hear that they regard the Russians as their friends and have a chance of making a living here, which they no longer had in Armenia that they left 10 years ago. The housewife and the Russian members of our group are in the kitchen preparing an evening meal chatting 19 to a dozen. Arthur the father is waiting for the rain to stop so that he can barbeque shashlik that he has prepared for us.
27.07.09 Arthur and his wife insisted on us staying a second night and once again Sveta prepared a wonderful meal for us. I wish we could communicate more than just with hands and hearts. But that's better than nothing. They built the house they live in almost completely themselves and Sveta is very proud of her kitchen garden and the lovely flowers in front of the house. The dog Rada vociferously defences 8 days old pups if we come too close! Yesterday we had a bike trip from here over very bumpy roads and were glad to cycle without luggage.
Pam

24.07.09 Sortavala. Various conversations in the group and personal daily impressions have made me aware of certain things which I will note here. As I see them, Russians are warmhearted, patient, patriotic, emotional, religious, peaceloving, longsuffering, modern and traditional. Many of the Russian women are beautiful and fashion-consious, many of the Russian men walk around carrying bottles with some sort of alcohol in it. There are lots of stray cats and dogs.

The boat journey to Valaam reminded me of "The Voyage of the Dawntreader" by C.S. Lewis from the Narnia series: Calm sea like a mirror, magical islands in the mist, algie blooming on the water surface, danger and temptation? ...on our way to an entrancing, spiritual goal.

The following has become clear to me:
We had asked various friends and aquaintances to join us on this bike trip. They showed great interest at first, but eventually declined for various reasons. I wonder how we had managed the tour with a lot more people. Each of us now participating has a strong personal motivation which has bonded us together like a family.
Peter

24.07.09 Sortavala. Today is the beginning of the second half of our trip. The road calls us as always, despite the rocky landscape of the Ladoga Lake region. I want to admire the beautiful nature again and again. Only when you are on the bike trip you can see the border that nature makes between the greatness of the churches and the wideness of the lakes which lay nearby. When you are on the top of the next hill and you look down it seems like your breath is taken away and tears come out. Besides this mood I feel sad because trip will be over soon.
I like traveling with Peter and Pam, though they are the beginning biketravellers but they handle all the problems very brave and with a good sense of humor. We don't have any questions that we can't solve, because we do it all together and that's what is important when you are on a long trip. That's why we all always in a good mood and we continue the way. We are excited to get to St.Petersburg and see Neva River and the Finnish Bay.
When the trip is over I'll add up more impressions.
Tatiana

23.07.09 Sortavala. Today we went on a lovely boatride from Sortavala to Valaam, an island on Lake Ladoga. There is a stauropegion men's monastery on that island and it is a special place of pilgrimage for Russian orthodox christians. The restoration of the churches is amazing and very beautiful in it's way. I very much enjoyed listening to a choir singing in one of the churches. For me the flora of the island is also very beautiful, there are so many wild flowers in bloom. These wild flowers have been a source of pleasure and consolation for me during our bike trip. As there are no cycle tracks in Russia we have to share the road with motorized vehicles. This is no problem on the smaller roads; there we have to keep our eyes open for potholes! Where there is more traffic most of the motorists are very condsiderate to us cyclists and sound their horns in admiration. Getting back to the wild flowers they grow all along the wayside and in my mind I am picking bunches while cycling.
We novice campers (Peter and I) have coped well so far, though putting up our tent in the pouring rain while hungry and tired is not my idea of bliss, but that was only once. Otherwise we've had glorious weather so far and have found lovely places on the banks of lakes to camp and have a dip before breakfast.
P.S. Elena and I bought ourselves a hat on the island!
Pam

22.07.09 Sortavala. The first part of our trip was rather tiring as we had to travel by train with our bikes and to change one train for another.  It wasn't easy for us, and it was especially difficult for the oldest member of our team Nikolaj Platov, and we had to take him to hospital as he had a slight stroke.  He was the head of our team, and we all were very sad that we had to leave him in Petrozavodsk.  His wife Galina came over to Petrozavodsk to visit him in the hospital and she also took his luggage and bicycle back home.  We saw her off at the train station and the we started cycling towards Sortavala.  If you haven't tried this sort of travelling yet I strongly recommend you to do it.  Just imagine waking up in the morning on the bank of a beautiful lake ( there are 30, 000 lakes in Karelia and about 27,000 rivers ) with clear water which you can even drink!!!  You can hardly find such a lake in the middle part of Russia any more as many lakes are polluted.... Then you have a swim in the lake and cook your food on a camping gas.  The fresh wind is blowing, the birds are singing wishing you a good morning...You have your first cup of tea thinking how wonderful God's creation is!!!  We're Christians, and we pray before starting our bike trip asking God to help us on the way and keep us safe.  And He really does proving us with wonderful places to put up our tents, bringing helpful people on the way.  Even in an extraordinary situation when it was pouring cats and dogs He showed the right place for us to stay overnight.  It was a spot in the woods where there used to be an Orthodox Church, but we found only its steps leading high up to nowhere... and a newly erected cross as a memory of the old building.  Why did God want us to go through this hard time cycling in the rainy wheather and stop in that place?  We can only guess, as well as you can...  But we shouldn't definitely forget Him no matter what is going on in our lives. 
A hilly road brought us to Sortavalla, and as a reward for all the hardships this wonderful hospitable hotel in this town...A hot shower and long night sleep...We're refreshed and ready for new adventures!!!
Elena

18.07.09 Petrosavodsk. At first I was not going to go on this trip because I came to Penza (my hometown) only for two months (I study in St.Petersburg). I wanted to spend more time with my family and friends. But after a good thinking I've decided to go. Now I'm very glad that I went on this trip. First of all because we have a very cool group and we all have known each other for a while, so we are having pretty good time together. And besides that I haven't travelled a lot around Russia, especially it's Nothern Part , so everything here is new and really impressive for me.
Katya.

The dates of our trip.

09.07. Arrival to Arkhangelsk.
12.07. In Kem
13.07. Solovetskie Islands
16.07. Petrozavodsk
18.07. Jessoila
19.07. Jyrgkila
20.07. Koirinoja
21.07. Sortavala (459 km)
24.07. Paikjarvisee (502 km)
25.07. Lahdenpohja (506 km)
27.07. Narjonorka peninsula(570 km)
31.07. Lahdenpohja (588 km)
01.08. St. Petersburg (592 km)
06.08. Back in Flensburg

16.07.09 Petrosavodsk. Nikolai, the head of our group, suggested this bike tour, when he came to know that our grandfather Anatol von Lilienfeld-Toal was a vice- governor in Arkhangelsk (1902) and St. Petersburg (1906) before he was named governor of Penza (1910). Our friend and interpreter Elena has contacted the local government of Arkhangelsk  through Natalia from the press and later Svetlana from the local TV. We had a talk with the vice-governor Pavel Balakshin in the previous private house of governor Rimskij-Korsakov, where our grandparents were invited to a ball shortly after their arrival to Arkhangelsk, as our grandmother writes in her diary
Participants of our group are 6 people in the age from 17 to 76, from 3 nationalities: Nicolaj Platov 75, former polar aviator and head of Penza Bike Club, Peter Lorenzen 66, medical doctor from Flensburg, Germany and his wife Pamela Lorenzen 63, an English citizen and former teacher, Tatiana Domkina 55, former economist and a big sportswoman, Elena Nosova 54, English teacher, interpreter and Katya Stashkevich 17, law student in St. Petersburg and Tatiana's daughter.
Since Peter and his brother Hannes have first time visited Penza in 2007 several contacts between Penza and Flensburg developed: Three medical doctors and one journalist from Penza have visited Flensburg and six peole from Germany (3 medical doctors, 1 journalist, 1 member of the EU parliament and  1 teacher) came to Penza. They all aim at extending contacts between the Russian and the German people after the experiences of two World Wars and the dictatorships of Hitler and Stalin, hoping that those connections will lead to better understanding of the citizens of the two towns Penza and Flensburg.
Peter