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Published: October 14th 2008
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WARSAW - MOSCOW 05.10.08-06.10.08
POLONEZ
Km traveled 4695
I simply love to open my eyes in the morning and look at the blue. It's a wonderful morning in Warsaw, despite the screaming and running of the kids in the other room. That really pissed me off! I was so stressed, I couldn't even have a shower because the kids didn't leave the toilet for more than five seconds! But outside it was beautiful. So we left the bags at the hostel and went for breakfast and walk in the park. On Sunday everyone dresses up here to go to church and then maybe to the park.
Park Lazienkowski is quite a big one, with a Botanic Garden, lake, villa, peacocks and squirrels. Fully equipped! It's been the perfect choice to spend our last few hours in Warsaw. Then back on tracks, pick up the bags from the hostel, walk to the station, buy some food for the night and...here it comes again!
I come back from the supermarket and meet Michael at the station; I sit with the bags and he goes to grab a snack. As I sit down the lady beside me asks where Mike's from. What
Park Lazienkowski
Sparrow with rose petals a question! She obviously asked only because she's part of the plan “meet the kiwis” organized against me! Jokes apart, so we met Sharyn and her polish frien Pietra. Both working for a company that organizes one year off volunteering for kiwis and polish in other countries. Sounds good. They're off to Kracow, Sharyn is now the manager of the company in kiwiland and came over to check how it is. This time we had no problems with the train, apparently, but we are in two different coaches. Here with me there's only an old Belarus lady with more gold in her mouth than you can find in a jewelery, and she wanted to open the beds straight away as we got in the cabin! It's 4.30 pm! I think I'm gonna go and see what the other half is doing.
It's a bit of a nightmare. I won't hide that I'm really shocked that on this train there's no person able to understand an English word. I don't like it, when people talks to me and I can't understand a word. I really feel ashamed. So it won't help much but I pick the Russian phrasebook and see if
Park Lazienkowski
Little boy with squirrel I can at least remember the basics of Russian.
It's been a bit useful and I feel more confident now. We passed the border and we're in Belarus now. Everything was fine and pretty smooth, even thou Michael came to visit me after and said the officer wasn't too sure about being him the same on the passport picture. I bet you! With the beard and eight years older!! On the passport a teenager and now an old man! While the train was at the station some ladies got on to sell some food and vodka from plastic bags. It's like I imagined it to be. A few of them stayed on and are now in the cabin beside where there was only a man...they're singing...
I finished to read the second book of this travel. It's been my first book in Italian in more than two years. It was a warm feeling.
One thing to mention, on this train everyone is wearing slippers, including all the staff!
MOSCOW 06.10.08
I'll be honest, very honest. This first day in Moscow has been an absolute nightmare. So bad that only now, sitting on the comfortable bed of our lovely
Park Lazienkowski
A garden fit for roses hostel, I start to reconsider the possibility that this city is gonna be a splendid place to visit. Our train from Warsaw arrived perfectly on time. My old cabin mate waved at me and I jumped from the train to meet Michael on the platform. I guess for both of us has been immediately a little shock to find ourselves for the first time in our lives, or at least for me, in a place where you can't even try to find the exit sign! It's obviously there somewhere, but to you it simply doesn't mean anything. Let's go straight to the fact, to the core of the day. I will never forgive myself for having done such a stupid mistake in a situation like this. What have I done? I simply didn't check on the reservation if there was the address of the hostel. Not too bad? I couldn't do worst! I'll try to make it short, because seriously, I think we tried our best to make up. First thing everyone would have thought, let's ring the hostel and ask for address and, in case, directions. I forgot to mention that unexpectedly, at least for us, is very warm
Park Lazienkowski
Thoughtful peacock today in Moscow. So we look for a public phone. Plenty of them. Of course, it's a train station. But all of them only accept telephone cards so we need to buy one. I can't even number the places where we asked, or should we say playing nice games of charades, and looked for a card. Useless. Everyone sending you to someone else. After one hour and half we gave up, already tired (never forget that we're going around with bags like Santa!). Michael finds that some telephones accept credit cards. We try but nothing. No one seems to work. It's now clear that there's no hope around the station. Even an Internet point that was shown on the map, turned into a ghost. So we look at the guide and we think it's better to take the tube and go to the center. Why should I waste my time saying that even there the Internet point shown on the guide had mysteriously disappeared?
Now I'm afraid I'm gonna have to say this. Thanks to globalization there's a McDonald's at every corner of the world. And McDonald's has got wi-fi everywhere. So we finally get there, sure that that was
the last bit. I would have loved someone to explain to me which movement in the planets of the universe made Mike's laptop run out of batteries just when we got to the page with the location. But no one did. Nevertheless we've been so lucky to meet a guy from Sydney and at the same time hearing the first English words of the day. He stopped to talk to Mike and addressed us to an Internet point not far away. It must be a new fashion, because this as well, guess what? Yes, it didn't appear to be there.
Hopeless, tired and stressed, now after four hours walking with the backpack, we decided to go to the tube station that we reminded the Aussie pointed as the closest to the hostel. We get out of the tube but we don't know where to go. Running out of energy we go through an underpass and we find a telephone that accept coins! It's the last chance. We try to ring the hostel. Someone picks up but he can't hear me, and he puts down! Oh god, I'm at the end. We have few more coins. We try again. This time
On the train to Moscow
"L'elegance du l'herisson" he can hear me! I explain, I ask for the address, he says the name of the street, and the line is cut off. No more money. And how am I supposed to remember a Russian name never heard before, not spelt, and I don't even know where in the city it could be!! That was the end. I couldn't bear it anymore. After all those hours, I had no strength left, my hip soar, stressed and frustrated to have to do all this for such a stupid thing. I started crying. At first I was trying to keep it. But I couldn't anymore. I had to get the stress out. Poor Michael, as if it wasn't already enough for him as well! So I provided to wet his shoulder for a bit and then he sorted out everything. Bought a drink, changed the money, rang again, got the address. We're here.
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