Trans Mongolian Express underway

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After our few days in St. Petersburg we took the overnight train to Moscow. The Russians made it very dramatic by broadcasting old marching music over the loud speakers as the train pulled in to the platform. I felt like I was part of one of those old black and white movies where people run along the platform chasing a loved one as the train chugs out of the station. The music lasted about 10 minutes and then continued for the whole train journey (thankfully we discovered the volume control in the carriage). It was a pretty comfortable cabin for 4 that we had (we were sharing with an Aussie couple of about the same age who we on their trip home after traveling for a while), including free toiletries and breakfast in bed (pancakes or cheese omlette).
One decent night's sleep later (and plenty of queueing for the two carriage toilets later) and we were into Moscow and straight into a city tour. "Zoya" our guide actually managed an occasional smile but tended to give a very positive spin on everything or avoided difficult questions altogether. Still, Moscow is certainly not a dour grey city...hmm, how can I sumarise this. The highlight for both Seppy and I were the Metro stations built in the 1930's with stained glass windows, chandeliers etc. decorating the platform between the two raillines - it must add some pleasure to the journey, as each station has different types of decoration.
Besides that we have seen the impressive Red Square, the not quite so impressive but difficult to get into Kremlin, a trip around an "armoury" that had feck all armour but tons of diamond and jewel encrusted gold and silver stuff that the czars used to use once or twice and give or receive as gifts (yes, even the carriages though there was an impressive Faberge egg with a gold model of the Trans-Siberian express train), a nunery/monastery where woman of rich familes used to be locked up for good if they had been "naughty", the lake that inspired Swan Lake, a gravestone made with a model tank on top, KGB headquarters where the "view from the roof was of one place: Siberia", and plenty of eloborately decorated Russian Orthodox churches complete with explanation of the icons and why women have to cover up as they are "vessels of sin" (I think you get the picture). Surprisingly after hearing the religious bit, we have never seen as many high heels being worn for so long. It appears to be de rigour, though the Moscovites are not quite as well dressed as their St. Petersburg counterparts. Russian Cyrillic script is tricky to manage with as similar letters sound completely different.
The impression we have is that Peter the Great (all 2+ metres of him despite his small feet, a useful rower too) and Lenin are adored, while Stalin is ostracised. Also, it is pretty clear that Moscow is immune to how the rest of Russia feels - even in times of hardship for the rest of the country, Moscow would embark on serious spending sprees and this has not changed. Seppy thinks that the food is great, especially a place on the top floor (near back) of the old GUM state department store on Red Square (as the guidebook says, it was once a monument to shortages, but no longer).
Staying in the old atletes village from the 1980 Olympics - a 25 concrete monstrosity called Hotel Beta (yes, there are 3 other similar buildings beside it, Alpha, Gamma and Delta - how original!). However, the rooms have been done up recently so it is actually pretty nice and I can't fault it - the fact that you can have beef strognov and mashed potato, or cream cakes for breakfast is strange.
We are hoping to get to the Russian circus tomorrow, stock up for the next part of the journey (maybe the obligatory bottle of vodka too), and then board the train to Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. It is 4 nights on the train so no internet for a while. Infact it is likely that it will be Mongolia before we can get online again (should be enough time for that country to calm down a bit too ;-).
Thanks for the e-mails - much appreciated.

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