The long way home

A few pictures from Russia and thoughts on returning home to a changed country

A rainbow is seen through the fountains on Moskovskaya Square in St Petersburg, Russia, as a fairy ground and a food market is set up next to the statue of Lenin — September 2023

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The last time I was in Russia to visit my parents was January 2022 - my first visit since after the pandemic locked the borders.

This September I returned, a year and a half later, to a country changed in ways that cannot be readily expressed in words. Everything is largely the same - and yet very different at the same time.