The train to Moscow

So the night before last was our first experience of a Russian sleeper train. We had been pre-warned by Olga that this would be the best of all the trains we were going to be going on. And of course the cabins were tiny and no one in our group slept very well at all! There are 6 in the group (2 Aussies, a Dutch girl, us and Louis - a nice boy from Great Shelford [a village in Cambridge where a large proportion of my friends come from for the non-natives among you!] on his gap year. Weird eh!?) and the train cabins were 4 berth so George and I ended up with a couple of burly, surly Russian men. I was a little bit frightened but we communicated in the usual way - lots of pointing and raised voices - and they responded in the usual way - a few nods and grunts and we all went to our bunk beds. Bring on the forthcoming 4 day train!!

We arrived in Moscow yesterday morning, rather dazed and confused, at 8am and were met by our Moscow honcho, Eugene. Immediately Moscow had a very different feel about it compared to St Petersburg. To me it feels much more like a big, cosmopolitan city, somehow a bit less hectic and noisy than St Petersburg. There's probably not some much history/culture to immerse yourself in here but I was surprised to feel much more comfortable here than in St P.

We dumped our stuff at the hostel (a huge improvement on the St P one but I am definitely too old for dorm-living - bring on the nice hotels!) and then Eugene took us for breakfast and COFFEE! After that and a shower we all felt more human again and headed of confidently into the centre to visit Lenin and check out the Kremlin. There's much less snow here so easier to get about. Unfortunately Lenin was closed by the time we got there and the Kremlin is closed all day on Thursday. So that went well! We consoled ourselves with some food and then set off on a walking tour of the sites of Moscow, followed by a trip to the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMoMA - yes really!).

The evening was also a resounding success - Eugene took us out to the suburbs (2 metro rides) with the plan to then get a bus to go t an Ice Hockey match - we were all VERY excited by this. But, alas, also not to be - the queue for the bus was around the block. We stood in it for a while (we are English after all) but then Eugene suggested that as we'd miss the first quarter, it was probably not worth going.

So we headed back where we came and went for a nice meal and some nice beers. We're really struggling with the smokiness of Russian bars and restaurants - not only is it not banned to smoke inside here (yet!?) but it doesn't even seem to be frowned upon to light up right next to someone who is just starting to eat. And the Russians are committed smokers!! It's horrible to be waking up in the morning with your hair and clothes smelling like an ashtray again - especially when we don't have that many clothes with us. Anyway, just something else to adapt to I guess!

George is currently at a flea market buying a Kalashnikov (I think this is a joke - a plan made after several Russian beers last night...) - I'm sure he'll regale us all with tales later on.

Today we hit the Museum of the Revolution and the Kremlin. After breakfast....

Much love,
Mels/Medge/Melons/Melanator etc