Of course he's the f-ing farmer

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In Battlestar Galactica, two hapless aliens come down to 1980's LA in order to rescue the Earth but seem to spend most of their time trying to fit in and inevitably end up getting into countless culture-shock japes. As I emerged from the train into the new day in St Petersburg with Spanish guy in tow (Miguel) acting as tour guide that is exactly how I felt. One must at least *try* to fit in if only to not be stopped by the Rusky Fuzz and either stiffed for cash because you haven't yet registered your visa (more red tape) or because they now have your passport and will not give it back. I saw one Jonny Foreigner having this done to them. Luckily, Seville were playing St.P. and next to a few hundred pissed Spanish footie fans, I looked like Boris Yeltsin. To really fit in, I need to drink beer on the street, on the train - in fact be a 24 hour piss 'ead.

If it's gonna be one place in Russia, make it St.Petersburg. However, that means you will miss Red Square in Moscow, which is THE symbol of Russia, so you takes your pick. Beware of mosquitoes - really. St. Petersburg was built on a swamp. It was -9 centigrade outside and the little buggers were taking refuge in my hostel.

The border crossing via train into Russia was not as painful as I had expected due to the efforts of the multilingual Spanish guy in the
same carriage as me in negotiating with the many different types of inspector. Having said that, I have to carry around 5 pieces of documentation along with my Passport and, lets face it, I am screwed without them.

I arrived In Moscow at 6am after a very sweaty night on the sleeper train from St. P. I got a free couch to sleep on for a few days as a friend I met in Riga lives there - how cool is that! It also meant getting to go to a party with the locals on the Friday (but accidentally slept through the more superior party, so I was told, on the Sat). Saw the main bits - Red Square, Gorky Park, very nice in the snow.

Now I am actually doing the Trans-Siberian (with a couple of stops). I relished the challenge of buying my own tickets for the journey in Moscow. Don't do this. I got the tickets as far as Irkutsk (which sits nicely above Mongolia) and that is it so far. I was told in Mosow that the weekly train from there to Beijing is full - shit! I was then told that it may be that they may have all of the tickets in Irkutsk, so I have to go there to find out if I am stranded!

The first section of the Trans-Sib trip was 26 hours to Yekaterinburg, only just in Siberian Russia. The trip was pretty boring - nobody's English was as good as my Russian and the guy in the same carriage as mine's only redeeming feature was his pack of nude playing cards. Ace of hearts was my favourite.

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Photos

St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square, Moscow
If you think it looks bizarre on the outside, you should see inside.

The Winter Palace, St. Petersburg
This huge wedding cake of a building now holds an enormous museum, the Hermitage, chocked full of famous art.

Land of Nod
In the Hermitage, all of the staff are sound asleep. I swear I could have got out with a Degas or a Van Gogh under my jumper.

Quite nice, really
View over the Moscow river.

Afghanistan War Monument, Yekaterinburg
It is VERY cold here.