Back in Moscow and beyond

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I de-boarded the train from Siberia at 5:30am, relatively unscathed, but altogether dirty. 3 full days without showering and I still had almost a whole day to wander Moscow before flying to Paris. I carted my luggage down the steps to the metro, bought a ticket and hopped on to the get to the end of the metro line. After I got off the metro (several lovely staircases later), I crossed the street and boarded the bus to go to the airport (about a 45 minute ride). I got to the airport at about 8:30am, dropped my luggage off at the “kamera okhraneniya” (luggage storage) and got back on the bus to go to downtown.

I like Moscow much better when I’m not burdened by luggage. Granted I probably could have saved time and had more time to explore if I had left my luggage at the train station luggage storage area, but I didn’t want to risk carting all that baggage around with me during traffic hours.

At this point, Moscow seems so far in the past I’m having difficulty remembering what I saw, where I went and what I thought. I know I was very impressed by the metro—the subway is super easy to use, very inexpensive and the different stations are beautiful. They are one of the few areas in Moscow not plastered over with hundreds of ads. That said, for some reason I think it is illegal to take pictures in some of the stations, so I didn’t risk more than one or two photos… there was no way in hell I was going to get stuck in Russia, because while I still love the Russian language, culture and arts, Russia still has a long way to go to become modern and to become a ‘comfortable’ tourist area. Most things are outdated or non-functional and even the smallest tasks can take a day to accomplish because nothing is very efficient or user-friendly.

I was quite happy to get on the plane and depart. Just like the last time I flew out of Moscow, there were birds in the airport gates. Strange. My flight was uneventful, aside from a minor delay due to a blizzard that had just begun as we were about to leave. (And yes I was mentally willing the plane to get the hell in the air.)

I arrived at the Copenhagen airport and had time to brush my teeth, grab a sandwich, wander around the duty-free shops for a while and get on my flight to Paris. The Copenhagen airport is probably the poshest airport I’ve ever been to. The seats were leather and super cushy. The restaurants looked like they were four-star quality, or at least very tasty and fashionable. The stores were also filled with interesting products and designer clothes, etc. The Copenhagen airport seems more like an enormous and classy shopping mall that just happens to have airplanes instead of cars. I was amazed, especially after coming from Russia. Everything was so clean and inviting. I was almost in tears as I stared longingly at the walls of beauty products, thinking to myself, “oh, how I long to douse myself in all these products.” I was salivating at the idea of being clean (this is day 4 without a shower... my hair was greasy, my skin felt like it was covered in a thin layer of plaster, and I didn’t even want to think about the condition of my feet). But alas, I still had one plane ride and yet another metro ride to go before I could take a shower.

I arrived in Paris at about 8:00pm Paris time. I have no idea how many hours I was traveling or how many times zones I crossed, all I knew was that I wanted a shower. Everything else could wait. As I was trying to figure out the train system to take a RER train to the metro, I made friends with a very friendly lady from Stockholm (and originally from Turkey). She had been to Paris several times and was going the same direction as me, so she basically showed me exactly what to do and where to go. I am extremely grateful for her help, because figuring out the RER trains wasn’t nearly as easy as I’d expected. I got off the RER train, walked up and down, up and down, up and down several sets of stairs in underground (with 24kg in my suitcase, 11kg on my back, and a 3 kg laptop) and finally arrived at my subway stop. Never again will I travel with more than I can carry comfortably through a Paris or Moscow subway system unless I am going into the middle of nowhere. It’s just not worth it.

The RER train ride from the airport to the metro was a bit disturbing. I really didn’t feel like I was in Paris, because you couldn’t see anything from the windows really and at one point the train was stopped in a questionable area with the doors open for about 10 minutes because some people in another part of the train were fighting. Kinda creepy. I was also so sleepy and dirty, I couldn’t think about much more than warm water. After I finally got out of the metro, it was pretty easy to find my hotel. A friendly concierge opened the door for me and helped me to my room. The room and hotel were small and modest, but also very clean and cheerful. FINALLY, I could get clean. I think I spent at least 45 minutes in the bathroom, enjoying being clean. I went to a phone, called home, and went to sleep… the first real bed I’d slept on in months. AHHHhhhh.

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