We left Moscow on Sunday, after staying up way too late watching the outrageous Eurovision. I was very outraged, as France should have won, and I thought England's entry was fab.
At least the vodka was good.
Sunday we just chucked our bags into left luggage - in this not-so-paranoid/careful part of the world you can still leave your bags everywhere! Then we raced off to see Lenin, and of course the entire Red Square was closed (at least we got to see the famous Red Square gates)
Then we spent hours roaming around the Kremlin. I was especially thrilled to see the Black Madonna icon - or copy of - and the Jesus of the Fiery Eye icon. They aare are pretty incredible. Like, really, what the were the artists thinking??
After lunch at My My (Moo Moo - for which I want a franchise) we saddled up and went off to Yaroslavl station with our knapsacks on our backs, and boarded with supplies on the Tomya train
Three. Days. On. The. Train....
OK, I didn't know this but the BEST food in Moscow is all Uzbekistani. They make great tea, too, so it's been a real treat to find. The street food is good, plentiful, cheap, filling - all good for foot sore travellers
this was in the huge sprawling market pretty much outside our hotel.
The hotel was a Soviet dream. We were in Delta, but hung out in Gamma, too. Five huge mega towers of rooms, clean as whistles with burly providnistas on every floor. They are the professional curtain twitchers/cleaners. Very comforting to have around.
Here's a beautiful Moscow moment - taken while we floated down the Moscow River on a lovely scenic cruise.
I liked seeing a different point of view of the place - cities always looks so amazing from the water.
Here is the absolutely OTT tribute to Peter the Great, next to this great Soviet era billboard..This fantastically fantastic statue was on my list of highlights, and i was thrilled to see it! And the Power to the People is Achieved through Strong and Healthy Children propaganda was a great bonus (details of the ad are in the Flickr)
Remnants of the Soviet era are still around, but are largely replaced by massive Playstation, Dolce & Gabbana and Starbucks ads...On the boat we were joined by two snot nosed kids and three little cutie throwbacks in Punks Not Dead gear (sigh). They all steadfastly 'ignored' us but didn't miss a thing :-)
Mostly, we have been asleep. Moscow is great, the people are as dour and humourless as you would expect. Nyet is, without any doubt, their most favourite word. I kind of feel like when I see the Beefeaters outside Horse Guard in London - I have an uncontrollable urge to make these people crack a smile
Sadly we missed the big hurrah party on the 9th of May, Victory Day. And the detritus and stuff is still up everywhere, so we can't see Lenin!! Argh. He is currenltly swamped under 3 tons of Russians flags.
Ah, but St. Basils, so pretty and the city is small enough to boot around, it's really cool
ohmigod Eurovision is on tonight, and man, do they take it super seriously here, it's kind of humbling. Not.
INternet access is stupid expensive, so this will be brief, photos up soon
Off to the Railway tomorrow - first stop is TOMSK, which is a mere 55 hours. Which we are taking third class. That's 34 bunks in a carriage. Thank dog for ear plugs....
We leave, it's true!, Wednesday May 09, flying to Cologne where our kind Wayne Yung lives 10 minutes away from the airport - making the 9pm arrival/630am connection to Moscow just that little bit more doable.
And, joy of joys, we got a room in the biggest hotel in Russia - the seven city block, 40 thousand room behemoth that Stalin personally signed off on. Breakfast is not included. Lets hope a bed is...
Packing sucks.
This is what happens when you have too much time on your hands. With Chris in tow hobbling on his broken toe, i managed to hurl myself down the stairs of a London bus and banged up my ankles in a formidable way. Apparently I broke a tiny bone in my right ankle, to add to the torn ligament just now healing in my left. ARGH.
Planning to spend a lot of time with my feet up on Russian trains, pouring vodka over the ankle - and down my neck - to assist healing
Currently in sunny west sussex trying to find a flight out of here to Moscow. Our visas officially start today, so we want to fly and maximize our limited 30 days time span in Russia, so the train from London is out.
Oh, those Russians. You think they would be paying us to go there, right? well, almost uniquely nowadays in the travelling world, Russia has a firm entry date on their visas. For example, we applied for May 4th, and the max stay of 30 days. Our interveneing injuries mean a delay, but the appartchiks don't care - we have 30 days beginning May 4, and that is it. Even though we will now be spending less time, and obviously contributing less to their economy, there is no way to budge a Russian with a form.
