Leaving Moscow

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I thought I'd write something because I have a few minutes free on the internet at the hostel. We're leaving Moscow tomorrow- we are going on the train to Irkutsk which is the city nearest to Lake Baikal. It's a 5-day non-stop journey!! We're quite nervous about it but really excited at the same time. We'll be crossing the Urals into Asia and crossing loads of time zones as when we get there we'll be 8 hours ahead of GMT. We're quite proud of ourselves having successfully managed to buy another train ticket using our written Russian skills. I think the tickets cost about 150pounds each- not bad considering the distance!

Moscow has been fantastic. We've been to all the main sights but we've done some other interesting stuff too. Today's been the best day- we got up early and took the Metro out of the city centre to a fantastic market. We bought a Russian doll and Tristan got his trademark football shirt (he has one from every country he's visited). We ate the most fantastic barbecued lamb chops in a little room looking down onto the market. We saw Lenin in his Mausoleum- very spooky. It was a really weird place, guarded by masses of police in their big furry hats.

Also, it snowed today!! It made it really slippy walking around but I guess we're going to have to get used to that. We went back to Red Square this evening to see St. Basils etc in the snow and it looked fantastic. It's such an iconic building.

Had another cheap tea in the hostel tonight. Hopefully things will be a bit cheaper in Irkutsk and we'll be able to branch away from pasta and tomato sauce.

So it's goodbye for now- until we arrive in Irkutsk on the 24th. Hopefully we'll be able to upload some photos there.

x x x x

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Photos

At Ismaylovsky Market
Fantastic kebabs

Comments

[Bonny Britland]

Vodka & spinach!
Apparently, round about 100BC, China was importing spinach from Persia which was used in ancient Iran as an antidote to hangovers! .. you'd best get on the spinach, Charlie ! Big hug to you both! Love, Bon-Mum xxx