A Bumpy Arrival in Moscow

Well we made it and we're in Moscow!

To be honest our 16 hour bus trip from Riga to Moscow really wasn't that bad. It certainly was as bad as we had anticipated despite Christopher's broken seat on the bus and the two guys sitting in front of us who clearly hadn't showered in a few days. However, the process of crossing the Russian border, although pretty smooth, was a somewhat nerve wracking experience involving a tearful family being removed from the bus, sniffer dogs and stern looking guards. We managed to get some sleep in bits and pieces. I used to laugh at the thought of using earplugs and a travel pillow on any journey. They proved to be invaluable.

As the sun rose durnig the final stages of our bus journey through rural Russia, huge towering conifers lined the bumpy, seemingly endless road. We passed a soviet monument next to a pretty bad ass tank set against the background of a bright red sky. At that point the environment around us reflected the Russia we had envisaged. From that point forward, however, Russia has not been as we expected it to be. The parts of Moscow that we've seen have been much less intimidating than we'd prepared ourselves for. It's such a nice city with a real buzz.

During our bus adventure we got chatting to an English language teacher who lives here in Moscow. Our meeting with Sam would later prove to be a blessing after kindly introducing us the complex metro system and set us on our way to our hostel. How would we have coped without him?... I've no idea.

The Russian language uses it's own characters and alphabet and it's tough trying to work out what things are and where they are. Although I think thats a sign of our western ignorance that expects that everyone should speak English. Given our non existent Russian have struggled a couple of times in restaraunts. Our first dining experience was a challenge. We went to a steak house (safe bet) and were served by a waitress who had a very limited grasp of English. Given that the menu was purely in Russian, we tried to order something pretty simple. We ended up with a cold beef sandwich with chips which wasn't too far off the mark and, given the heat and our exhaustion from our bus trip, proved to be a better option than the burger and chips we'd initially hoped for. After getting used to the initial culture shock and getting used to there being no signs in Engish and few English speakers we've really taken to the place. We are now pros at wizzing around the extensive metro network.

Our hostel is pretty nice, very clean and the staff are very friendly. We've also been assured by the manager that "it's the safest place in Russia". Being that it's opposite offices of what were formerly known as the KGB.

We made it to the Red Square and St Basils Cathedral. It's so amazing and it's such a surreal experience.

---

---