Day 22 - 16/06/2010 - 23:46 - St Petersburg, Russia
So at the very moment , we are sat on the Red Arrow - the Kpachaя Ctepna - train number 1 to Moscow. We've yet to depart.
Today has not been great for a number of reasons - a succession of continuous blips from day 1 in St Petersburg - right up to just boarding the train, there was a dead body on the platform next to us! He was only covered up with a blanket - the authorities were inspecting his things on the platform next to the one we were one. On the video we took of the platform, you can just see the ambulance before I stop the first part of the video on the platform!
Anyway, back to the train. It is immaculate. The interior is beautiful, the cabin is spacious - we are sharing a cabin with a Russian couple but still plenty of room - much better than the Prague to Krakow train!
And we're off! Just as I'm writing this!
As for today - we checked out at no great pace and went to the station to drop off our bags at the lockers - mine wouldn't shut (I'd done everything Laura had) and the guy that worked there had to play with the lock to shut it, setting all of the alarms off! Unsurprisingly, the same thing happened when collecting the bags later in the day.
We had lunch at an internet café and then headed to Yusupov Palace - where Rasputin was famously shot and then thrown into a river in winter. Afte, we walked back to town via St Issacs, a beautiful cathedral.
We then went out of our way to find a post office to post some cards, on the other side of the city as it was the only one we knew of - it was closed! Yay!
Back on Nevksy, we made our way to a sports bar that we went to yesterday to watch the Spain v Swizterland game - it was very animated in there and most people were cheering for Switzerland - which paid off for the Swiss - obviously! The place erupted when the scored, it was well funny. Afterwards we had tea at a café, we didn't realised they charged by weight and got massively, massively ripped off - the most expensive café I've ever been to!
It's not great, some things have gone wrong but we've enjoyed St Petersburg, I certainly have and and has dispelled many of my ideas of Russia and the people already (although I always had a feeling it was a Western perception)! And of course at least we are still alive and well, unlike the guy on the platform!
Day 23 - 17/06/2010 - 10:55 - Moscow, Russia
So we've arrived. The train journey was very comfortable, and I actually slept very well, once I'd fallen asleep! I was woken up at about 6:20am by light and the female half of the Russian couple rummaging around and doing her makeup! Nevermind! At least I slept well!
We got into Moscow on time, which was nice and headed for the Metro, which is only slightly more expensive for a single ride than St Petersburg (26 rubles - about 57p - rather than 22 rubles, around 48p). We managed to get to the metro station we needed to, it took a while - it's a long way from the centre - Moscow is massive! As well as that, the rush hour crowds were mad, I've never seen anything like it, just hoardes and hoardes of people, all going separate ways!
When we got to the station, we tried to find the hotel - I didn't have a map, merely had written two road names on a piece of paper, both in Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. I stupidly assumed the road we were one was the first one, when it wasn't and subsequntly took Laura on an early morning stroll a bit out of the way. We found our way back, I got my bearings and it was 10 minutes from there! Easy!
We've now checked in - my my what an improvement! Whilst we still have a shared bathroom, it's only shared between 3 rooms, not the whole floor like St Petersburg! We have CURTAINS! Unlike St Petersburg. We have a TV in our room - WORLD CUP!! OK I won't make friends with a security guard in the lobby - but we don't need to spend our money on drinks in bars either - they are expensive here - like the UK!
So, lets see where today gets us, I REALLY want to see some of Red Square!
Day 24 - 18/06/2010 - 10:52 - Moscow, Russia
Yesterday was good fun. We set out after showering and freshening up we headed out towards the centre of Moscow, we got off south east of the Kremlin and walked up to red square, passing lots of churches on the way. We made it into red square where we were in awe at St Basils and even walked around it before heading inside for 50 rubles each - a bargain - it was so beautiful inside. The photo license cost more but was worth every penny.
After that, we walked through Red Square, past Lenin's Mausoleum which was closed (only open 3 hours a day, not Friday though unfortunately) and around the Kremlin wall. We stopped for lunch in a food court in a shopping centre undergrond, just outside the Kremlin, before continuing to walk around the Kremiln walls, looking at parks, towers and the tomb of the Unknown soldier - we even saw the changing of the guard!
We spent the evening in the hotel (I had a nap) watching the 2 evening world cup games and going through our photos and videos so far, it's all very great!
Today we are planning to see the Kremlin, hopefully!
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