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Day 156
This morning we woke early Moscow time, quite late local time (4 hours ahead). It didn't matter as we had all day on the train today. We spent our time reading, playing games on the DS and listening to music on the Ipod. The train made several stops on the way where we could go onto the platform for some fresh air. One of the main stops was at Novosibirsk, the capital of Western Siberia and the largest train station in Siberia, we stopped here for a full 18 minutes.
Occasionally loud music would be played in the cabins which was OK if you weren't sitting on the top bunk, where it was blearing in your ears! This journey is not as interesting as the 2 previous train journeys as the landscape does not change much. It is nice having the air-conditioning but we did like sticking our heads out of the windows of the older trains. We are now 3 hours ahead of Moscow, 6 hurs ahead of GMT.
3/7
Day 157
Today was much the same as yesterday except the girl in our cabin got off the train in the early hours
of the morning in Omsk and we were joined by another young lady who just slept all day and didn't speak much to us at all.
For lunch we did venture to the buffet car where we had beef stroganov and pork schnitzel with potatoes. The food was quite tasty and cost us about £14.
In the afternoon we stopped at Yekateringburg and soon after passed the Europe - Asia border obelisk at Kilometre 1777.We are now in Europe!! only another 24 hours to go until we arrive in Moscow.
At Perm 2 the lady in our carriage got off the train and we were joined by Valantine a man in his late 20's who was travelling home. It was fun trying to have a conversation with him and Igor, our Russian phrase book came in handy. Although Valentine understood quite well when we offered him a shot of vodka!
4/7
Day 158 Moscow
Valentine was gone when we woke up this morning, we enjoyed the extra space without his big bag on the seat. The scenery hasn't changed much during the 4 day journey. We have passed forest after forest of silver birch
trees and now pine trees, the occasional fields and rivers with large towns and cities in between.
After a couple of stops today we slowly got closer to our destination. We counted the kilometres down and watched as the train slowly travelled towards the city of Moscow. The train arrived early into Moscow just before 5pm. We headed for the underground metro station where we managed to buy some tickets to get us to the station near our hotel.
The hotel Maxima Zayra is located north of the city and only took us about 30 minutes on the underground. The Moscow metro underground was built in the 1930's, the stations elegantly designed mostly in marble with fantastic mosaics and chandeliers. The escalators travel fast, are very long and steep. The underground is very deep as it was also built as a public bomb shelter. It reminds us of the London underground as it is old and noisy, except its décor is very different.
In the evening we ate at the hotels restaurant, the food was good and tasted like food from home. Before our meal we were bought a shot of vodka from a guy called Mark
who was on holiday here from Stoke on Trent. It was very generous of him and we enjoyed a quick chat with him and his Russian girlfriend.
We have really enjoyed our epic journey home to Europe. It has taken us 6 weeks to travel overland from Hong Kong to Moscow. We have travelled through 6 times zones, 2 continents, 4 countries and travelled over 6500 miles. It has taken us 152 hours (6 days) on a train from Beijing.
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