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Published: July 15th 2017
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For any of you considering traveling to Russia for the world cup, if you are, to do the trek from St Petersburg to Moscow, there is only one way to do it and that is by the high speed Cancah train service. It can do 250km per hour and travels from St Petersburg to Moscow in 4 hours a distance of 800km. This is equivalent of traveling from the most southern tip of Ireland to the most Northern, realising you forgot to turn the emersion off and going back to turn it off.
Its now day 3 in Russia and at this stage I should have moved beyond the world for thank you which is prenounced as Spasiba. I have gone from saying gazibo, pasiba, pasibo to just giving up. Not sure I can take much more locals laughing at my attempts though the nice waitress in the restaurant this evening printing off some basic sayings. Again my attempts to grasp them proved sh@t to say the least.
We were taken on a night walking tour around red Square and some of the subway system. The subway stations are built and designed as bunkers should a nuclear attack occur, with the
deepest subway 80metres under ground. They are something else to witness.Red Square and Kremlin look really cool at night.
The next day we took a trip to the Kremlin, unfortunately Vladimir denied knowing us and refused to meet us for tea. We did however get to visit some of the museum's in the Kremlin, i unfortunately didn't get to visit the armoury, so if you go, try get tickets for it.
Due to time constraints we took another city hop on hop off bus tour, which meant I had my customary half hour snooze.
The Trans Siberian Adventure
At Moscow train station we waited nervously to aboard the train and see who we would be sharing with.
We need not have been worried, our compartment mates for the three days were two Russian gentlemen who on the first night shared their bottle of vodka and food with us, in return we shared our beer. This didn't go down well with the female carriage attendant who gave out to us for making too much noise.
The next day I got some dirty looks in the morning from the attendant and quickly realised she was not on for been chatted up
or exchanging numbers. The second night a party was held in another carriage and we brought our vodka down as we felt be better to share with more. However after a while the female attendent stopped by and berated one of our carriage comrades for drinking, this quickly put a halt to the party.
The third night , we were sitting quietly having a beer, she stopped by and started berating our comrade again, in my best Russian I said only one in which she raised her fist at me. You don't have to be Jessica Fletcher to figure out she blames me, I may be old enough to be the guys father but I ain't no babysitter. I decided to try ease the cold war between us by gifting her a packet of Colleen Irish Sweet's, hopefully that is the war now over. If not tonight is the last night and I will have to try plan B - Lyons Tea bags.
A View From A Window
The thoughts of 4 nights , 3 days on a train can seem daunting however, it's a chance to relax. There is no WiFi so you have no choice. Everything outside the
window is new to the eyes, granted at times it can get a bit repetitive but aren't most of our daily lives anyways. A Russian phrase book is a must ( if you're not Russian) and it has made communicating with our compartment Russian comrades a lot easier meaning we can have conversation while sharing food and drink.
The train does make daily stops at stations meaning you can get off and stretch the legs , also you pass through 6 time zones which means the journey is not as long.
The train crew do not speak English which has made it a bit of a challenge. Yesterday I bought an ice cream at a train station and another attendent gave out to me, I think for not buying one from her earlier, this morning she walked by selling them again said something to me and walked on, whatever she was selling I was getting none, she probably knows I was too much a cheapskate to buy at her prices.
I have found traveling through the Russian countryside interesting, passing small villages and big cities and the complete vastness of the forests and plains. As well meeting people of different
nationalities.
I feel ashamed now that i didn't put aside some time to learn the language. Granted I may still be bad at it but at least could communicate more. I am on the last few hours before lake Baikal, I am not sure what day, date or time it is but I don't care, here it's not important, until you have to leave the train.
The Road to Lake Baikal
From the train station in Irkutsk to lake Baikal is a 45 minute journey by minibus. The driver introduced himself as the Russian Michael Schumacher as he drove like he was behind the wheel of a Ferrari F50 rather than a 5 year old clapped out ford transit . I assume his companies policy is not arrive alive but arrive on time. Half the time we were airborne with road landings even Ryan air would not be proud of. This bus journey should come with a health warning as you could end up with a seriously bruised rear.
The hostel itself is 25 minutes walk up hill, with no WiFi though it is nice. However there always is a however it strikes me as a hippie compound. The bathroom
advises no flushing any material down the toilet , which I have already broken as a force of habit twice, eventhough I am only here an hour. I would not be surprised to be woken at dawn to join hands and form a circle around an oak tree and sing combiyah.
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