Train WIndowOne hour from Moscow and 6:00am in the morning. Luxury russian breakfast in the foreground!
So I awake early after another night of fifteen minutes sleep to see one of the great sights so far - the train is moving over a lake with no sign of land whatsoever and there is a blood red line of sunrise in the Horizon. The three russian bears were still asleep and snoring soundly bit I managed to sneak a picture although it does not do the scene justice! Then later when the three bears have arrived we tuck into the breakfast supplied. Food in Russia seems to have one key quality by which to rate it - how long can it survive! Eating a croissant which is called stay fresh seven days is as bad as it sounds - maybe the russians switch the title to english when they need to make it more exotic but it was not good. This was the highlight though as the remainder of the breakfast consisted of some form of dehydrated mueseli - I know that sounds like all muesili but this one required you to add hot water before eating - I gave it to one of the russians who packed it away in his briefcase looking pleased that he would
have something for lunch! After that there was some bread - but it was very strange - some jam and butter and a very odd type of chocalate caramel biscuit. All very odd but at least there was a complimentary bottle of water to go with it. The water in ST Petersburg (tap) is famous for making you ill but in talking with russians they reccomended that you never drink any russian tap water. The strange thing is that the main mineral water brand here is made by coca-cola - who as you may remember tried to introduce a mineral water into the english market but collapsed when it was found that they were simply sourcing the water from the tap - so am I drinking tap water courtesy of the mighty coca cola company - well so far no illness but we will see! On arrival at Lenningrad Station Moscow - which is another of those strange huge platforms with no roof just long tarmack strips and nothing to suggest that you are in a major city with a building tagged on at the end. I go to the luggage storage area (and everything about this place seems to
fit the cold war stereotype) a hefty guy takes my kit while I look for a cashpoint and a phone to call a hostel. Finding a working cash machine in Moscow is an ar form as many simply do not have any cash in them so there is a brief moment where I start thinking that I may be on the plane home. But soon I find a suitably large russian queue that suggests a functional cashpoint and I manage to get my roubles. I call the Godzilla Hostel (personal note to myself never stay at a place with Godzilla in the title) and arrange a room. Then I go back to get my things and one of the two luggage windows has now closed. STanding in a long queue again - and learning that the russians have a rule that if they approach a queue diagonally they are somehow aloud to move to the front! I finally manage to get to the window and give the guy my token and try and put on a sorry I'm foreign and stupid smile but swiftly get dispensed with a nyet and a hand gesture pinting me towards some other part of
the station. Confused I thought ok there is obviously some local custom that I am not observing here and so I decide to go for the tourist information and see if I can get them to help me with the problem. So I start following the signs for tourist information - but unlike St Petersburg none of the signs are copied in English - but I wander around the station following the i signs which seriously go left right left back up down left right and so on. I think there real function is to allow the thieves to identify any foreigners in the station by the strange dance like routine that they end up having to follow to try and get information. After half an hour I reach the end of the trail - and a mobile phone store! Next to the mobile phone store is some kind of russian admin room so thinking ok this must be the tourist information I approach the counter but get ignored no matter how often I ask - So by now extremely amused at the whole situation I realise that I am on my own and that I will just have to
figure it out. SO I head back to the luggage area and pull out my phrasebook and start trying to decipher it. I soon realise that there is some type of time difference shown between the two windows as one has 8:00-10:00 and the other has 8:30-10:30 so I though ok this should open again at 8:30 maybe and as it is 8:25 I wait around. Sure enough my little tattoed russian friend shuts the window he is in at 8:29 and opens the first window at 8:30 and I give him the token and bingo here come the bags - but just to be clear both windows open onto exactly the same luggage storage area so I learn a useful lesson about the old fashioned russian mindset - and I guess I am lucky that I did not have a train to catch - but Moscow really does feel very different. Jumping in a cab that could be best described as a tractor with bodywork my chain smoking driver has to keep pumping the accelerator to stop the engine stalling. After ten minutes I get dispatched outside the Godzilla hostel which is as bad as it sounds the driver
pulls the I don't have any change mate routine - and now I am really in Russia. But I manage to change some money and pack him off and dump my things and head into red square which is five minutes from the Hostel - so one saving feature. On the way down I realise that Moscow has real wealth but in comparison the St Petersburg's style Moscow is all bling. After a few hours touring I head back to the hostel to get some sleep for a few hours. I am sharing with a russian couple from Murmansk and they tell me some great stories from there city and seem very amused that I plan to go to SIberia - why would you go there? It is only they who come here to see there capital and then go back. SO no point asking if they have been to SIberia - Why would we go there - they have tundra but we have tundra in Murmansk! But then a smile and - but they do have the tiger - we do not have tiger in Murmansk we just have azerbajani shopkeepers. I do not understand the connection but nevermind.
There then follows hours of storytelling of how dangerous Russia is for theft and corrupt police, it seems to be a real pastime here and the conclusion is always well I did not make the system I just have to work within it! They are very nice people and they give me many lucky charms to protect me in SIberia - they also cross themselves before they leave which does start to make me think.
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