2008: A Trans-Siberian Odyssey

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Part 4: You've Got Mail

Pre-Blog
Well beloved readers we are home in 4 days, but our tales will continue. Here is the latest (or should we say late) installment from our journey through Russia. Enjoy :-)

Blog
As we settled into our sleeper carriage for yet another overnight train ride through Russia we were pleasantly surprised by 2 things: firstly, this was our nicest train carriage yet and secondly, as we pulled away from the station it appeared we had it to ourselves once again (this would later be disproved). The compartment walls had little storage nooks hidden behind the headrests of the chairs.They opened from the bottom on spring loaded hinges so when you opened them they shot up to a horizontal position with quite a force. Of course we put various bits of our loose crap in them to make ourselves feel at home: food, tickets, passports etc. When our non-English speaking provodnista came in and asked for our tickets Kerry knew exactly where they were - in the little nook right by her head. A little too close to her head it seemed as she opened it and it shot up and clubbed her right in the eye socket. The provodnista gasped and said "oy oy oy!" but couldn't do much more. Fortunately it didn't bruise too much but it was more painful than it looked and Kerry was a bit shell shocked for a while - or perhaps that should be 'shelf shocked' - ha ha!

We were traveling this time from Ekaterinburg, out of Siberia, out of Asia and into European Moscow. One major city we passed through on the way was Kazan at around 11pm which is were we were joined by two Russian travelers, Dieter and Roshana. They did not know each other and both traveling separately to Moscow for work training purposes. We were pleased to welcome them as they were very friendly and interested in our travels - and somewhat amazed at the journey we had ahead of us. Deiter also helped Lee to learn the pronunciation of Russian words written in the Cyrillic alphabet. This was intended to help with the navigation of the Moscow metro system as tourist information often has station and place names written in English but most metro signs and almost all city/business signs are only in Cyrillic. Learning this proved very helpful all over Moscow, not just in the metro. For example, within minutes of leaving the metro Lee was able to read a sign we had seen all over Siberia: 'Pectopah' - Lee was able to correctly pronounce this word as "Restoran" which of course is restaurant! It's amazing how many words are quite similar to English when you know how to pronounce them.

We were met at the Moscow station by another Svetlana and transferred to our hotel. Moscow is reportedly one of the most expensive cities in the world for accommodation but the Zara hotel was recommended as a good compromise of price/quality. Certainly it was obvious that the reception staff had received plenty of hospitality training. They were very happy, friendly and helpful - a considerable contrast to almost every other shop assistant or ticket seller we had come across in Russia. It actually got a little tiresome after a while - it was just too sickly sweet. Every request was dealt with with efficiency and friendliness and also "Mm-hm, yeah, ah-ha!" and every time we left the hotel it was "Mm-hm, and we wish you a pleasant day, mm-hm, yeah, ah-ha!". We did not have any tours booked here which we were thankful for particularly on this day as Kerry's cold had worsened and she just wanted to rest. So while Kerry hit the sack, Lee went out to hunt for provisions in our new neighbourhood. Firstly a visit to the pharmacy down the road for some Panadol and cough medicine for Kerry. They actually had Panadol which Lee was able to read in Cyrillic but the lady there spoke no English and Lee wasn't able to get the request for cough medicine across no matter how much coughing and throat clutching he tried. He eventually gave up and went back to the hotel to get a note from reception asking for the goods which worked like a charm. Back to the hotel again to dose Kerry up with drugs and then it was off on the next mission.

The next thing to find was a supermarket to get a few basic items like fruit, bottled water as well as tea, lemons and throat lozenges for Kerry's cold. We also needed a small pair of scissors, an eraser, a permanent marker and some sticky tape. We had never thought of bringing these things with us but it's surprising how often you find yourself needing them on a trip like this. Lee got some directions from reception ("Mm-hm, you're welcome, mm-hm, yeah, ah-ha!") and set off in the opposite direction to the pharmacy. Up the street across the train lines, through the little muddy street of small shops with bits of wood across the big puddle, past the dodgy looking night club/8 ball hall, along the long, tall, grey fence, through the local market and the bus station, past the Metro station and to the main road. There on the other side was a very small supermarket. Was that it? Surely if Ekaterinburg can produce an enormous supermarket with everything we could need then Moscow can do the same... surely! Lee went out to the main road, looked in both directions, weighed up what he could see and decided which was more likely to yield a good shopping centre ("eenee, meenee, minee, mo..."). After a while the paved foot path turned to dirt, then the dirt to mud, then the mud to swamp. Half the swamp ended up all over Lee's shoes and up the legs of his pants. Just as it began to rain he thought he had found a supermarket - a large building with the sign 'Metpo Mapket' or 'Metro Market'. Of course it turned out to be a kids clothes and toy shop but, always looking on the bright side, Lee thought "great, I'll get the scissors, eraser, marker and tape here". In the craft section he found some good scissors and an eraser (3 times the price of the scissors - huh?) but no permanent marker or sticky tape. By this time Lee had been away from the hotel for over an hour and a half and so gave up on the idea of a descent supermarket and headed back to the little crappy one to see what he could get, this time taking a slightly different route back to avoid the swamp-path. Surprisingly they had pretty much everything we needed albeit with few options to choose from. Lee returned to hotel to find Kerry still sleeping heavily which continued for some time into the evening. After a surprisingly pleasant dinner in the hotel we both crashed heavily after each having had a very different first day in Moscow.

The following morning Kerry was much improved for the previous day's rest and medicine and we headed for the local Metro to go into Moscow city centre. With the help of our guide book Lee was able to ask for two tickets but had to admit defeat and abort his first attempt when the cashier, who did not speak English, asked a question in Russian and could not/would not proceed without an answer. Kerry, savvy as ever, found the Russian phrase for requesting two return tickets and sent him back for another attempt which proved successful. Moments later we were learning about dealing with crowds in Russia. There was a large scrum of people slowly surging through the ticket turnstiles like a large piece of meat forcing itself through too small a mincing machine. No lines or queuing here, but also no aggravation or aggression. People would move up on either side and push themselves in and nobody seemed to mind, it's just how it's done. A similar effect would then happen as everyone tried to get down to the platform except that the same amount of people were pushing onto just one escalator. It seemed a little absurd then that after pushing and shoving and elbowing their way through the crowd almost everyone would stand on the right hand side of the escalator to let those who were actually in a hurry run down the left side. And if you were in a hurry you certainly needed to run: at several stations, including this one, the escalator was so long and leisurely that Lee timed the descent at just over two and a half minutes! The Moscow Metro is ruthlessly efficient, trains depart roughly every two minutes so there's little time for getting on/off and there is often a smaller scale repeat of the scrum to get on the train, though here there are sometimes people still trying to get off when the push inwards starts. Lee experienced something like this in St. Petersburg which will be covered in our next blog.

As in any city, riding the public transport gives a good opportunity to observe the locals in all their daily grind glory. There is a distinct plastic bag culture in Moscow: a large percentage of people carry their stuff from day to day in one and it seems to have become some kind of fashion statement, perhaps in a similar way to the Harrods bag in England. You will often see an impeccably dressed lady, young or old, with a Gucci or Prada hand bag as well as plastic bag from some presumably exclusive and expensive fashion store. It's also a little sad to see a person who is obviously not able to shop at these kinds of stores, at least not very often, with one of these same bags that is showing considerable wear and tear. You know that when the bottom drops out of the bag the same will have happened to their intended image some time ago. Of course most of the people on the Metro could be in any city. Families, couples, oldies, sleepers, drunks, "I'm not here, your not here, don't talk to me" iPod listeners, goths and other alternative types. And of course the drones, but the typical fed up office workers in Moscow seem a little more past caring (and breathing) than we have seen in other countries. We saw several middle aged, over coat wearing, brief case wielders get on the train turn around just inside the door and, after it closed, lean forward and squelch their sticky forehead on the glass and close their eyes. At the next station when the door slides open they jolt back, check the name of the station and either get off or repeat the process. These people seem to have given up trying to work out how to live but have worked out how to merely exist instead. Of course these are just our impressions.

We emerged from the Metro upon a busy street right in the guts of old Moscow. Across the road was a long open public square/garden with (dry) water features and big round glass domes which turned out to be skylights for the multi storey underground shopping mall. Behind this was the Kremlin and access way through to Red Square. Once again we were on the hunt for a descent internet cafe. On a trip like this the need to check emails and bank accounts and pay bills is ever present. We could buy and use wi-fi internet in the lobby/bar of our hotel but not surprisingly it was horribly expensive. Our guide book suggested that there was a good net cafe in a large and imposing looking old building along one side of this square. Apparently this was a department store but there were no signs and only one small entrance. After summoning the courage to attempt an entrance we found there were a bunch of security guards inside the entrance who assured us the internet cafe was no longer there. What was in there is still a mystery. Getting hungry we decided to go down into the underground shopping centre and descended to the (minus?) fourth floor to eat in the food court and use their (pay) toilets. Public loos are almost as hard to find as internet cafes! The guide book had a couple more web cafes listed, the closest of which was also non existent but on the way we did find the post office so we thought we would inquire about the cost of sending home a parcel of stuff we had brought or bought but did not want to carry any further. Again the guide book said there would be sheets of information in English regarding postage rates, again there was nothing. Again there was no one who spoke English so again we aborted that particular mission for today. The last net cafe was some way off but we decided to walk as no metro stations were convenient to it. Amazingly we actually found it, though not where the guide book had said and it was rather more expensive also.

After completing our business there we got out of the cafe as quickly as we could and decided we needed to do some sight seeing to salvage this ruin of a day. We hit the Metro and headed for a station near the Novodevichy Convent (see pics). When we surfaced we found an unexpected sight - going from the entrance of the station across the road, along the footpath and out of sight were two rows of police in riot gear, some on horse back. They were forming a safe passage into the station through which strolled a large number of people; ordinary men, women and chidren. At first we were at a loss as to what was going on but later our suspicion was confirmed that we were near a sports field where a soccer match had been played that day and the supporters of the visiting team were being escorted away - for their safety or for that of the locals? Who knows - probably both! After the convent we visited Little Arbat Street which was formerly a very trendy cafe and shopping strip in Moscow. These days it is aimed squarely at tourists and therefore rather expensive but good fun to wander along, get a meal and look in all the souvenir shops and stalls.

We were hoping our 3rd day in Moscow would be more fun than the first two, first up was another visit to the post office but this time we were armed with another note from the hotel reception girl ("Mm-hm, of course, mm-hm you're welcome, mm-hm, yeah, ah-ha!") so we confidently took the things we wanted to send with us. Arriving at the post office again we presented our note to another non-English speaking cashier who made it obvious enough that we had to go elsewhere to send our package. We presented our map and she wrote the address on it and marked the location. OK, not what we expected but not a dead end either. We took a breath and headed off on foot. After a considerable walk we located the next post office and once again presented our note to yet another non-English speaking cashier, this time to find out we were still not quite there. We had to go out, head left around the corner and under the arch - or so we interpreted her various gesticulations! We followed these directions and found, on the other side of the arch a courtyard between 3 tall buildings, 1 door in each and little information. We tried the first door but only found a stairwell, with a door or two on each level but again no signs. We retreated back to the courtyard and from this door found we could see people with packages through the window in one of the other doors. Success! We were in there in a triumphant flash... now what? There was one long counter across the width of the room with 3 windows in it with signs above each that were of no help to us. And there were people every where: queuing at all the windows, arguing with the staff behind, putting things in boxes on the floor or at one of the large tables, writing on sealed boxes, putting goods into large material sacks and sewing them closed with thick string and big needles.

We wandered along the counter trying to figure out which window we needed to go to and were just realising how it all worked when a man in the queue for the window farthest from the entrance spoke to us in broken English. He asked if we needed help - we obviously looked like we did - and then confirmed our suspicion that we needed to use all 3 windows! He told us we needed to buy a box from the lady at this window, then once we had packed what we wanted to send at one of the tables we should go to the middle window and then to the last one. After thanking the gentleman Lee went to the end of the relatively short line of people while Kerry waited at a table. Lee could see the lady at the window was working away at something but the queue wasn't moving so he shifted to the side a little to see what was happening. The customer at the window was sending a large parcel and, like several women in the room on our side of the counter, the lady behind the window had put the parcel into a large beige cotton sack and was rolling and folding the opening neatly down onto the package. She cut a length of string off a large conical roll, threaded one of the big needles and began to sew the fold down onto the top of the bagged parcel. Lee was transfixed, it seemed to take ages but he couldn't pull his eyes away. It was a work of art. A perfect half round seam ran from one corner on top of the package around and back to the adjacent corner like a big smile, quite flat and beautifully stitched. She was then interrupted by one of the women who had been doing similar work (though with somewhat less perfect results) and a small argument ensued after which the lady behind the window slammed the large roll of string down onto the big stainless steel scales just behind her side of the window. The customer reached through the window and took the roll back to where she had been working, both women grumbling the whole time.

We had had a previous post office experience in the first Russian city we visited, Ulan Ude. There we were amazed to see counter staff using big pots of gluggy paste and a big paint brush to stick address labels on parcels and then tying string around them then using a stick to dribble a wax seal over the knots. Surely, we thought, the systems in the Moscow post office would be more advanced than that. Apparently not. Completing her excellent sewing, the lady behind window #1 produced a large pot containing hot, dark red wax and a stick and proceeded to dribble a blob onto the stitching about every 10cm along. She then used a wooden handled stamp to press the post office mark into each seal. As she completed this and began to finalise the paper work for the customer who was sending this package. The woman who had borrowed the roll of string returned it through the window and onto the scales. The postal seamstress grabbed it and slammed it down on her bench away from the window, again both women grumbling at each other the whole time.

Eventually at the front of the line Lee was asking, and gesturing, for a postage box when the man who had previously helped us appeared and began to make the request in Russian. Although it was easy enough for Lee to make the lady at counter number 1 understand what he wanted,this man obviously felt we would need his help and was happy to give it. After packing our stuff into the box Lee went to the second window where our helpful friend was at the front of the line with his wife. Once Lee was at the window the man gave him a smile and nod from the queue at the third window but offered no help so he just pushed the box through figuring this was an easy step. The lady said a few words of Russian and began to seal the box with official Post Office packing tape. "Where do I get me a roll of that?" Lee thought enviously to himself! Like postal lady number one, she did a lovely job and with a few more words pushed the box back into Lee's hands. Easy indeed!

We had both noticed the queue at window number 3 continually lengthening while we were there and now Lee added himself to that line. Our helper and his wife did not seem to have gotten any closer to the window. After about 15 minutes of nothing discernible happening our friend came down the line to Lee and saw the sealed box. He asked someone nearer the front to pass back a piece of paper which turned out to be a delivery address and declaration form which, of course, was all in Russian. He told Lee what to write and where, with help from one or two others in the line (all in very broken English). Lee felt bad that this man's wife may get angry because he was spending time helping tourists while she stood waiting alone but then noticed that she would sometimes seem to be reminding him of something and he would then come back down the line to check the form Lee was trying to fill out. It seemed everyone was quite willing to help out wherever they could. Time passed and our self appointed guardian and his wife reached the front of the queue and completed their business. Once more they came back to Lee for a final check that he had everything in order and actually apologise that they had to leave. After all the help they had freely given - such kindness! We thanked them very much and we all bid each other goodbyes & best wishes. And then we continued to wait - Lee in line, Kerry sitting across the room looking appropriately bored.

Another significant chunk of eternity whizzed by and suddenly Lee was in pole position. The front of the queue! Hoorah! He almost cried! We were almost done, the goodies were safely packed, the declaration form all filled in, nothing could go wrong. Unless our faithful helper had forgotten to tell us one tiny little detail...

As Lee reached window number 3 he greeted postal lady number 3 and she quickly made it quite clear she could not speak English. It seemed she did have a couple of words at her disposal though because when she read the declaration form her immediate reaction was to say "No! No books!".

What? Although Lee was unable to form the words lady number 3 must have seen the question in his face...

"No Books" she repeated and took the package away to a place along her work bench a little further away from the window where she grabbed a knife and began to cut open the tape lovingly applied by lady number 2. Among the assorted stuff we were intending to send home were the instruction books and leaflets from the video camera and notebook computer we had purchased in Shanghai and a book of travel stories brought from home. The lady brought the open package back to the window and began pulling these things out and shoving them back under the window. No printed material was spared - even a tiny little leaflet telling us in about 12 different languages not throw the battery from the computer in a fire was taken out (we don't even know why were bothering to send that home anyway). Once this task was briskly completed she took the now half empty box and visited lady number 2 where she re-sealed the box - a comparatively shoddy job it was - and came back to window number 3. Lee had just finished telling Kerry what was going on (using about 80% swear words) and it was now her turn for a little stunned silence. Lady number 3 planked the depleted package on the scales and while working out the cost of sending it fired out a babble of Russian which Lee understood as an instruction to go back to window number 1 if we wanted to send the books.

After 3 hours in this place Lee's first thought was: You can %$@#*%* go and %$@#*%* stick window number %$@#*%* 1 up your %$@#*%* @$$!!! And once again lady number 3 seemed to see the thought in his face. She fell silent and continued stabbing at the calculator. She then had the last laugh as she asked for the equivalent of 120 Australian dollars! Lee's turn for stunned silence. When he found his voice he told Kerry and expected her to refuse to pay, grab the package and leave. After 3 hours in this place Kerry could have kicked a puppy in frustration.

"%$@# it!" she said, "Just %$@#*%* pay it and lets get out of this %$@#*%* place!".

Finally back out on the street we both just wanted to scream. We didn't! Instead we decided once again to do the only thing we could do - some sight seeing to salvage the ruin of another day.

The famous Moscow amusement park 'Gorky Park' at this time of year (mid March, early spring, damned cold) is sometimes used for ice skating but is apparently mostly deserted as it was when we arrived. Although the gates were open there was nothing going on inside. We did not mind this as it was not our intended destination. Across the road, next door to the State Opera House is a sculpture park. Kerry loves a sculpture park! This place has become somewhat of a repository for statues and busts of former communist leaders from Soviet times. Every so often some community somewhere decides to yank the now irrelevant Comrade What's-his-name out of their town square and this is where he sometimes ends up. And what a handsome and cheerful looking collection they are (don't expect photos of them). Fortunately most of the park is dedicated to more stimulating sculptures - though Lee doesn't pretend to understand most of them! By far the most impressive sculpture to see is not even in the park but stands in the middle of the river flowing along side. Peter the Great was a pretty busy guy and the Russians think pretty highly of him, hence this massive monument.

Afterwards it was time to eat some dinner so we found what appeared to be a Russian fried chicken chain store. After deciding what we wanted Lee spent some time working out the pronunciations so he could order effectively. The spotty teenage boy behind the counter (some things are international) heard Lee's attempts at Russian and immediately ran away! He returned a few seconds later with a printed English version of the menu. After having learnt his order though, Lee refused to use it and finished placing the order in Russian - hoping the whole time the boy wouldn't ask him any questions! It was only as we noticed that the food tasted remarkably similar to KFC that we also noticed a little KFC logo in corner of all the advertisements around the store. "The Golden Arches" are already very well established in Moscow and it seems this chain is now being taken over by the western competition.

From there we headed directly to the nearest Metro station to begin what was to be one of our favorite (and cheapest) activities in Moscow. A self guided tour of the Metro system itself! If you have ever used an underground rail system in another part of the world this may not sound either fun or interesting but Moscow has some stunning sub-terrainian surprises waiting - if you know where to look. Dotted among the dozens of utterly expected, drab and somewhat grubby underground stations with their plain tiled, or even more plain concreted, walls and fluoro lights are a select few stations worth visiting as a tourist rather than just a commuter. And you can see all of them for just 19 rubles - the price of a single Metro ticket. You will see some beautiful design, grace, elegance, workmanship, artistry and a very significant dose of Soviet pride and propaganda, all of which probably goes completely unnoticed by 99% of the sleepwalking commuter population. More information on the stations themselves with the photos - check 'em out!

The next day was our last in Moscow, we were to take our final train in Russia that evening - another over-nighter heading for St. Petersburg. In the meantime we had to check out of the hotel and deposit our packs in their luggage room for the day while we headed into the city. We had left some of the major Moscow attractions until last - namely The Kremlin and Red Square. We thought this would be a good way to spend our last day here, although, perhaps due in part to our post office experience, we were not in love with Moscow and quite ready to hit the road and move on. Perhaps today would redeem the city for us though. Yeah, or maybe not! The main entrance to the Kremlin is flanked by 2 similar looking glass booths, each emitting a long line of tourists. These seemed to be Russians and foreigners in more or less equal measure - and all seemed to be as confused as each other when reading the information on the front of the booths regarding ticket types and prices. There seemed to be a general entry ticket and then an additional ticket for several exhibitions in some of the buildings inside. All of the tickets were expensive and we decided to just get the general entry. There was a single door into the booth and once inside there was a short and very narrow corridor along which were 3 ticket windows. You had to squeeze your way past the other confused tourists to get to the available window to buy your tickets. Then you had to get back to that single door and so had to squeeze your way fighting through the other tourists trying to squeeze past you to get their tickets. Once back at the booth entrance you had the option of pushing your way into another tiny room to get an electronic audio guide to take inside with you. Apart from the unreasonably high hire fee, confusing information and several people asking for another audio guide because the one they were given had crapped out after 3 minutes (something the staff seemed very hesitant to rectify) we were also expected to hand over a sizable cash deposit for the gadget. We didn't have enough cash with us and decided this was probably for the best. We couldn't take our day pack inside so we went off and located the bag check room (in spite of the hopeless directions) and finally queued at entrance security check. With the ticket prices and the number of people crushing into the place it seemed Moscow's new found prosperity was centred right here!

Inside there were some nice views, unusual artifacts, interesting looking buildings and copious grumpy security personnel with never fired machine guns and frequently blown whistles. Those who had given up more tourist Rubles than us could access two of the buildings to see the exhibitions within but that was all. Generally we found the interest factor to be pretty low and the whole experience rather a let down.

After heading out of The Kremlin (Ooooh, I've been to The Kremlin! BFD!!!) and reclaiming our day pack we headed down into the shopping centre underneath the adjacent parkland. We knew from our previous visit that there were bathrooms on the lowest floor. We didn't know that one of the internet cafes we had spent almost our entire first day in the city searching for was there also. Right at the start of that day we had stood 5 metres away and not noticed it. Can you blame an entire city for something like that? Sure, why not? Thanks Moscow! Lee finally spotted it as we stepped onto the escalator to leave and could only point at it. He spent the next 4 escalators worth of temporary insanity issuing a stream of profanity speckled mumblings about internet cafes, post offices and reading material. His sanity returned to it's normal, admittedly low level as we emerged into natural daylight once more.

We were hoping a visit to Red Square would be an improvement to the day. Turns out it's a rectangle... and it's not red! It didn't cost us anything to get in though and that was something. We had been warned by the Irish boys we met in Listvyanka about the cops here supplementing their income by imposing hefty (cash) 'fines' on tourists for imaginary passport problems, but happily we suffered no such difficulties and that was something too. The square's attractions are the surrounding buildings, especially St Basil's with is colourful and decorated onion domes (see pics). Comrade Lenin's tomb was closed to the public but we didn't mind as we had already decided we weren't interested in gawking at some Soviet stiff in a glass box. Rumour has it that these days he actually has a wax head as the original began to deteriorate and look even more ugly and evil than when he was alive! Perhaps they'd popped him down to Madame Tosaud's for a touch up? It would be funny if they had a return delivery mix-up and the masses found themselves reverently filing past Kylie Minogue or Bob Geldorf!

We decided to end the day with another visit to Little Arbat Street where we had an expensive but damned good hot chocolate... not 'Milo' either but a mug of melted chocolate! Hmmm... this town's got it's good points after all! Something we didn't expect to see was people selling animals along the street. Rabbits, kittens, puppies, mice... and all sitting a little too calmly waiting for someone to buy them. We couldn't help wondering if they had been given something to make them placid and therefore even more irresistibly cute than usual. We headed back to our hotel - without any new and furry traveling companions, collected our bags, took a taxi to the train station, got ripped off by the driver and boarded our train to St. Pete's.

"Well, that was Moscow..." we thought, "it was weird and frustrating but thanks for having us!".




"Mm-hm, you're welcome, mm-hm, yeah, ah-ha!"

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Photos

Vendor Box
This glorified shipping container is actually a convenience store. Many of these can be found all along the Trans-Siberian line, not just at the stations but also down virtually every street in the towns and cities. They sell everything from cigarettes to deodorant, toys to perfume, shampoo to beer. There is a happy little comrade in there (sometimes several) to assist you with all your 4am shopping needs. Actually we could never find any sign of a door so we suspect they may live in there! (just kidding) The central window of the 3 tiny windows in the middle is where the sale occurs. There are 2 methods of making a purchase: a) if you are Russian you push any lingering
tourists out of the way, belch out your desired product, shove a fistful of rubles in the window, grab your goodies, fart loudly and stagger off. b) if you are a tourist you wait until most of the drunk ruskies have passed out, you bend down and stick your face in the window, look up at the comrade(s) inside, stammer out "Bon Aqua?" (most common brand of bottled water), slide in a 10 ruble note, hope like hell you get your water and hope like hell you get some change. Some of these booths also have one or more fridges of cold drinks right next door. You tell the person inside (the booth, not the fridge) what you want and pay for it, they then unlock the appropriate fridge with a push button remote control and you take your drink. We assume if you take more than you have paid for they are legally allowed to shoot you through the little window (and that's gotta hurt!).

New definition of white picket fence.
Look closely, the bits of wood sticking up in the foreground are actually the pickets of a fence. The snow almost as high as the roof of many houses. We never tired of the quaint little villages covered in snow along the thousands of kilometres of railway.

Trans Siberian sunset
Our first spectacular sunset. Ahhh - beautiful.

Novodevichy Convent - Bell Tower & Smolensky Cathedral
Cathedral was built in 1525.

Novodevichy Convent
We wandered through an exhibition of various religious artifacts. Check out the size of this thing - it's 5 feet tall and they refer to it as a cup! It's supposedly for holy water. Can you imagine how big the one for the holy wine must have been?

Novodevichy Convent
A monument/burial chamber for some 19th century military figure. Adorned with his image carved into the marble and with two beautiful and unusual bronze statues on top.

Novodevichy Convent
Close up of those beautiful and unusual bronze statues on the afore mentioned monument.

Novodevichy Convent - Bell Tower & Smolensky Cathedral
We went inside this Russian Orthodox cathedral while there was a service in progress. The congregation were singing like angels and the religious icons adorning the walls were stunning. The large cathedral was full and unlike Christian churches there are no pews, everyone stands. It was a surreal moment.

Peter the Great
This guy is a giant in Russian history and the scale of this monument is intended to convey precisely that fact. It protrudes from the waters of the Moscow river - dominating and slightly terrifying - near Gorky Park.

Sculpture Park
Acrobat on the back of a bull (most of bull missing)

Sculpture Park - a reflection on Soviet times?
A wall of concrete heads behind bars along side a statue of a past Soviet Leader. We wandered through this park - known as the as the Park of Fallen Idols - a repository of statues of Soviet leaders that were ripped from there pedestals post 1991. These statues are also
surrounded by modern sculptures.

Sculpture Park
Another statue of a former Soviet leader... well, he's got the nose for it anyway!

Moscow Underground
Welcome to the most incredible and efficient underground we have encountered on our travels (now
through 24 countries)! This is the entrance to one of the Metro stations that plunges down into the depths below the city and suburbs.

Moscow Underground
The tunnels between lines provide perfect acoustics for buskers. This chap wasn't bad. The archway provides a glimpse of the spectacularly decorated stations of the Moscow Underground that we toured on a 19 Ruble Metro ticket!

Moscow Underground
Trains arrive every 2 minutes and don't miss a beat. The number of people, the Metro culture, the pace and the decor are overwhelming. No cruddy fluorescents lights in this station! When the train arrives, you need to push to get on, otherwise you can stand there while several trains pass without catching one. This train was just about to depart, Lee managed to capture this photo at a rare moment when the platform was clear.

Moscow Underground - Kropotkinskaya
This station is known for it's rich marble walls, carved frescoes and mosaics on the ceiling. We did this tour in the evening to avoid crowds.

Moscow Underground
Decorative plaster and ceramic moldings lined the ceilings of this station.

Moscow Underground - Ploshchad Revolyutsii
This station is known for its pairs of bronze statues. Every archway has a statue on either side of both ends, each set of statues are different but with the same \"everyone working for the common good\" theme. These ones depicting workers - a laborer and an architect or similar.

Moscow Underground - Komsomolskaya
The chandeliers, ornate moldings, columns and arches and ceiling mosaics made this station a must see on our tour.

Moscow Underground - Komsomolskaya
Close up of one of the ceiling mosaics. Lee laid down on his back in the middle of the station (good thing it wasn't peak hour!) to take this photo. Several commuters looked at him in wonder and then looked around as if to try and figure out what could be worth photographing down here. At least one man did a double take when looking around as if someone had opened his eyes to something amazing that he had walked past many times and never seen. Perhaps that is exactly what happened.

Moscow Underground - Novoslobodskaya
Patriotic symbolism and Soviet propoganda abounds. Oh great and glorious Russia!

Moscow Underground - Novoslobodskaya
More national pride inspiring imagery in every back lit stained glass panel.

Exhausted!!!
After the DREADED POST OFFICE SAGA - AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!! and after exploring the Sculpture Park and then doing a self-guided metro tour that involved navigation using cyrillic! What a day.

Don
After a full day a hot shower was in order... When Lee turned on the shower it ran red! When he called reception they said they would send someone from maintenance to fix it. Seconds later there was a knock on the door and a grumpy little babushka (from housekeeping) says something in Russian, turned all the taps on and runs the water. Then says something in Russian that we guess was along the lines of... "let the water run until it goes clear" and then she left. It took a
full 5 minutes but eventually it cleared. We had a slight pang of deja vu.

Kremlin
Double Headed Eagle, Symbol of Russia.

Kremlin
Cathedral of the Archangel Michael on the left and Cathedral of the Annunciation Cathedral on the right

Kremlin
Gold onion domes.

Kremlin
Ivan the Great Bell Tower

Kremlin
It was a lovely 6 degrees Celsius the day we went to the Kremlin and Red Square. A warm change from -10!