Our Moscow experience has been a bit like Fawlty Towers! Our confidence was high having successfully navigated our way around a very sunny St. Petersburg, and our inital impressions on the overnight journey were good. It was an old train (everything looks very Russian!) that looked like something out of Harry Potter, but it was clean and warm and exciting. We were sharing a cabin with 2 Russian (Natasha & Gregory) and despite our rather limited Russian vocabulary (4 words) we managed to have a 2 hour conversation that covered everything from King Harold and air conditioning to Siberian exile and God (well that's what we think we talked about!!). We also sort of learned a Russian Card game that I surprisingly won - still don't know how or why! All good fun!
Editor's note (Jay): Trish has kindly forgotten to mention that the 'friendly Russian woman' snored like a hefty Russian trooper for 4 and a 1/2 hours and MY God this woman could snore! I think I tried everything to stop her snoring apart from giving her a sly poke to wake her up. In the early hours I discovered that Russian pillows are completely the wrong size i.e. square not rectangular so you can't wear them like a big pair of headphones to muffle out the loud snores from the 'friendly Russian Woman'. I discovered that the best way to get to sleep was to tie a tea towel around your ears to drown out the noise. Pondering into the early hours I listed out a bit of a rant about Russia. Here is the 3am list (which has also been added to since arriving in Moscow).
1. No understanding of how a neat and orderly queue is formed.
2. Poor spacial awareness i.e. poeple walking into me - Am I invisible??
3. Moscow tube stations having up to 4 different names and 70 different exits
4. 12 lane roads with no crossings therefore taking 10 minutes to circum-navigate
5. Lenin's tomb opening for 5 minutes every third day (well ok 15 hours a week, ridiculous!)
6. 3 days with no hot water...
7. Did i mention the snoring Russian Woman...?
Anyway back to trish with the highlights...
Despite being really inept tourists (missing Lenin's tomb, visitng the Kremlin when it was closed, checking our camera into the luggage when actually visiting the Kremlin, searching for an internet cafe for 2 hours because it was 'just around the corner') we have taken in the sights of Moscow. The impressive Red Square, St Basil's (complete with its stunning icons inside), the grounds and cathedrals of the Kremlin and the more relaxed districts surrounding the centre.
We are going shopping to stock up for supplies for the Trans-Manchurian, 7 days (complete with ear plugs, tea towels and dictionary). Despite Jay's Russian rant he has come up with a list of the great things about Russia:
Oh yes, and as any list about Russia it should start with...
1. Vast supplies of vodka - Some different brands to note:
A. Stolichnaya
B. Pyccknn Ctahapt
C. Moskovskaya
D. Pshenichnaya
E. Nytnhka Putinka
F. Prazdnichinaya
G. Posolskaya
H. Zolotoe Koltso
I. Apdamckaya
2. Cheap supplies of vodka
3. Cheep beer
4. Tea
5. Pies
6. Stew
7. Tea towels..
Speak to you again from Beijing in a week!
Trish & Jay x
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