Sunday 7th October - Day 4 - Moscow

It felt as though we were going to miss the train last night as our cheque took forever at the restaurant and the taxi to the station got stuck in traffic on the very long and very wide road. A small diversion and we were pleasantly surprised to arrive at the station with plenty of time. The taxi man dropped us off in the street and said good luck without pointing us in the right direction. We made our way inside and found our train.

As we got to the start of the train we realised that our ticket was in Russian and so didn’t have a clue which wagon was ours and the train was so long it disappeared into the distance. We started a hike along the platform hoping we might bump into somebody that could point us in the right direction. We walked past nice wagons where Oi and Simon got on at number 7 in their upgraded private cabin. We kept walking and walking and walking. Finally we came across wagon number 14, which was second to last, and the standard had dropped considerably.

We squeezed onto the train and into cabin number 1 where we met Alex who was already drunk. We crushed our bags under Jon’s lower bunk and took a seat. We attempted to introduce ourselves in Russian when Andy joined us and was our saving grace as he spoke perfect English. As I said my name to Alex, Andy asked if I had enjoyed wonderland! The close proximity made the atmosphere slightly awkward at first however, as Alex got his beers out and Andy got his Gin out the conversation started flowing.

I attempted my best Russian phrases from the guide book such as Where is the toilet, How are you, Where are you from etc. It was going swimmingly until I said ‘I don’t understand’ in Russian or so I thought. It threw them both completely and when Alex fell about laughing I realised on closer inspection I was reading the Mongolian phrase which Andy advised us was a completely different language altogether. For some reason we ended up talking about fishing as Alex got his tackle out (newly purchased floats!) When Alex disappeared and returned to the cabin with a bottle of Whisky in hand we decided at 1.30am it was time to retire.

I climbed to my top bunk where I did not get a great deal of sleep as before long there was a trio of snoring. They all took it in turns and lets just say it was no harmony. Arriving in Moscow we got off the train at 8.30am and the heavens opened. Luckily we had done all the walking last night as we were at the end of the train and jumped under the shelter. Poor Oi and Simon had to trek along and got drenched! We met our taxi driver with his Go Russia sign board and drove to our hotel along the 12 lane highway! It is like the M25 going round the city.

We checked in to our 4 and a half star hotel, very nice! Jon turned the light on then off then on then off then on then off. It even has a gym but with our 6 hour walking tour today I am not sure we will have time to use it! We only had a couple of hours to have a lovely breakfast then shower before meeting in the lobby at 11am. The four of us met Eva and Alec (nosh) from Edinburgh and our guide Dariah a.k.a. Mary Poppins. She was very hard to miss with her bright orange hair, purple coat and multi coloured trainers.

We hopped on the metro and took a short ride into the city centre. We got off and walked to the Red Square passing some fabulous porta loos. We stood at the entrance of the square being the exact centre point of Moscow. We tossed a coin in the air for good luck and the little old lady collected it off the floor. We entered the square and headed towards St Basils Church. We stood awestruck in the centre of the square taking in the amazing architecture. We saw the walls of the Kremlin and Lenin’s tomb and the yellow lines on the floor where the tank procession occurs annually in remembrance.

We entered St Basils Church and although the singing choir in one of the chambers was fantastic, the interior décor was not so impressive as the outside and came a definite second in comparison to the equivalent Church in St Petersburg. Dariah kept pointing out various buildings that looked really old but were actually newly built as they had been destroyed under the orders of Starlin. For example the Christ of the saviour cathedral we went in was only finished 12 years ago. It was very windy and a bit cold and we had walked for 3 and half hours when we came across the pedestrian street and another coffee shop was calling.

We had time out for an hour and a half where I got my second postcard and we enjoyed resting our aching legs. We met up with the others again and set off on a tour of the amazing underground stations. When we stepped off the train it felt as though we were walking through a stately home with all the chandeliers and works of art. There was no expense sparred in the decoration of each of the stations. We got back to the hotel at 5 pm and slept until 7 pm it was very much needed. We had dinner in the lighting shop and headed back to rest before our 5 hour walking tour tomorrow! Its not everyday you see a horse on an underpass! We learnt today that exit has 5 letters and enter has 4 letters. Bolyat Nogi!