Москва

 

Oh my GAAAD!! Russian railway lines appear to made from exploding pieces of lumpy, disjointed scrap metal. Why sleep when you can be thrown around your tiny bench all night, and be startled awake by a cacophony of screeching, banging and crunching metal noises?!

I slept between 9 and 9:35am. I awoke to find myself in Moscow. Looked cold.

 

I was hot (thanks to the stream of hot air pumped into the windowless coffin all night), aching and hungry. Again. I got my stuff together, thanked the train manager and stepped onto Russian soil. EXCITED!!

 

With my addled mind I found the Metro and got on a train to my hostel. The Moscow Metro system is a triumph in Art Deco exuberance, however I was too tired and grumpy to stop and appreciate it so I only have this one photo. Sorry. More to follow.

Moscow in the snow is beautiful. I would have appreciated it more if I hadn't encountered more police idiocy. With my limited ability to read the Cyrillic alphabet, and no map as yet,  I was relying on the kindness of strangers to get around. Two guards, two ladies and a shopkeeper all helped me with the Metro and getting roughly to my hostel area. I knew I was close but couldn't find it. I asked three different policemen in a row and each one gave me duff directions. With my growling stomach, my increasingly heavy pack and my googlie eyballs, walking in big slippy, snowy, sweaty circles was not number one on my list of fun things to do. I found a tourist map in front of the Bolshoi theatre (which I hadn't bothered to stop and admire yet) and sat on a wall, looking at it like it was an apparition sent to destroy me. It was at this point a lovely lady called Tammy appeared, who was American-Russian, and not only found the hostel (which was sign-less and up an alley, behind a security gate, above a restaurant. Silly me.), but took me upstairs to check in, to ensure it wasn't a dive. Also, on the way to the hostel, we passed one of the idiot policemen who had given me duff directions. She innocuously asked me if that was one of them and I innocently replied yes. She marched up to him and gave him a rather sizeable piece of her mind. He sheepishly said sorry! She informed me that the police are generally either useless or arseholes. I made a mental note.

 

Anyway, I checked in, had a much needed shower then set off to find a nice meal and an opportunity to email home to let everyone know that I was not yet dead, although it felt a little like it might be the case. I took a moment to admire the Bolshoi:

 

and the way that Moscow is under masses of snow, but thanks to these guys, who appear to be everywhere, it just gets on with it:

Snow is just pushed to the side in massive piles, all over the city and people park/walk/work around it.

 

Lovely big dinner, one glass of beer and a brisk walk gave me an appetite for sleep, so back to my hostel to complete my recuperation in readiness for some serious sightseeing tomorrow. Nighty night.