Godzillas Hostel Moscow

After packing and unpacking a record number of times I finally decided which skirts to bring and which tops to leave behind and Mark was very supportive thoughout this stressful episode. We jumped on the plane to Moscow, but alas - against his friends better judgement Mark brought a blonde along on his trip who had totally failed to bring a map of how to get to the hostel in Moscow (despite making him carry an abundance of useless paperwork) and we headed for the Travellers Inn for an hour be...

Day 110. Who needs a 5th wheel anyway 2/8/08 We left Yekaterinburg just after 9 am for the 26 hr trip to Moscow. Unfortunately we were joined in our cabin by an intense odor of a man, Russian. I tried to tell myself it was some old man aftershave, but I knew it was BO and I would have to accept for a day. Then, after the train started rolling Dan (American couple) came to our cabin, he said, "we left Arnold behind". He was in an alternative carriage as opposed to with Chinhan and I. Going alo...

Day 114. 29th Birthday Party of sorts 6/8/08 Photos 20+ I meet up with Natasha (Bunbury girl at heart) at 1pm. She has been in Moscow the last 2mths sorting stuff out and saying goodbyes to her greater family as she settles down in Oz for good. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and drinks at TGI Fridays. We only had two cocktails, but them count. They were my favorites, long island ice tea and mojito. The ribs were special man, the dessert was broownie-lishus and the free birthday sundae was probab...

Day 115. cuda, shuda, wuda 7/8/08 This was where I was intending to start by saying I mounted a train and was in Vladimir by lunch...... The day before I didn't drink major quantities, but I certainly OD'ed on sugar. Maybe this was a factor in such a bad nights sleep. Can't say I was warm and cozy either. Getting out of bed was a grumpy time. By 10 am I left the hostel after eventually packing my big backpack to leave there. Travel light, but prepared. This should allow me to cover more groun...

Day 119. No excuses 12/8/08 Of course you would go to Ayres Rock if you were passing through Alice Springs. So how could I leave Moscow without entering the Kremlin. I flashed my student card for discount (50Rup from 300). But touring round I was like a robot rather than enjoying it. Leaving and sitting down to contemplate my next move, it was decided to head to a park outside the inner ring. I'd just had enough of the city center! Arriving at Park Pobedy I was aroused by something other than...

Did you know, the first Russian king was Norwegian? Det er den tysk-russiske legen som ligger ovenfor meg på nattoget fra St. Petersburg til Moskva som spør meg. Well the experts do not agree.. but I believe so! Jeg ankommer Moskva kl. 6 på morningen. Det er rivende kaldt ute, så jeg bestemmer meg for å sitte litt på togstasjonen før jeg finner hostellet mitt. Ned i undergrunnen bærer det igjen, denne gang finner jeg fram blant russiske metro-stasjoner og fordømt lite engelsk skilting på egen...

'Like a stranger in Moscow' The train pulled into the Poland-Belarus border at around 10pm. On came the sniffer dogs and soldiers, Polish ones I think. They checked our passports and that was that. Shortly afterwards our new room-mate joined us. A Belarussian who looked a bit like Patrick Swayze. Luckily he spoke a few words of English, which was more than anyone else on the train seemed to. Lucky, because the growling carriage attendant had handed us an imigration form and customs declaratio...

Arriving early in the morning we decided to walk to our hostel Zimmer Frie. We'd booked this and our Moscow accommodation back in August as part of getting our Russian Visas. In Moscow we'd stayed at a place called Godzillaz. Godzillaz was great and we'd recommend it to anyone. Now, Zimmer Frie was a bit different, it looked and felt like a squat. It appeared we were the only backpackers staying there and even though we'd booked a dorm room, we were advised they had only female dorms (this co...

Why is there always something to report from the train journey?! This time it involves Ed offending a Russian lady, although in his defense it was completely her own fault. We got on the train in Perm and were struggling down the very narrow hallway to our cabin with our huge backpacks. Now you would think it would be sensible for people standing in the corridor to move inside their cabin so we can get through, but not this lady. She stands in the middle of the corridor watching us struggle a...

So what have we done since we last blogged. We started the next day with a heartily dodgy breakfast of egg and bulgar wheat, where we met a couple of our traveling companions, and then set off into town. Went up St Issacs cathedral and checked out the 360 panorama of the city (mostly obscured by cranes) then walked over the bridge to the nose and watched some crazy guys cut a hole in the ice and then apparently later jump in. There were also some old women talking to a statue but we're not 10...