(Emma here)
Got the train Sunday night from St Petersburg which was like something out of a film. The train carriages are very old fashioned and as you get on the train loud classical music is playing. Were in a 4 berth cabin with 2 other Russians and basically 99% of the journey we were asleep or attempting to be asleep as there was hot air blasting through the carriage - talk about extremes in temperature!
Arrived on time in Moscow Mon morning just before 8 to be met by a local guide to take us by metro to our homestay which was an interesting journey in the rush hour with our rucksacks! We are staying with Galina a Russian widow who is lovely. She doesn't speak English so we are bizarrely conversing in French which is working really well although we are getting very confused about which language we should be attempting to speak when!
Yesterday we toured around the Kremlin, GUM department store, walked around the streets and went to find out about 2 things we wanted to do here:
- Ballet or Opera - thought it had to be done here. I have never seen so many theatres in all my life. We asked at a posh hotel what was on and how much and were told that to see the ballet Giselle at the Kremlin theatre it was $50 each. Surprisingly enough we decided not to go for that and so went to the theatre ticket office to ask them there instead. Whilst we were queueing an old Russian woman tried to sell us a couple of tickets for Giselle that night for 150 rubles each (about 3 quid)so we went for it and spent the rest of the day thinking we were conned! Anyway to cut a long story short we basically got in about 4 rows from the front and saw the ballet which was pretty impressive, if slightly embarassing when we were dressed like eskimos rather different to the stylish Russians.
- KGB museum and tour. Apparently this can only be done through a tour so we asked at the same hotel who told us it was $100 each. Again imagine our response?! Went to the Russian tourist agency today to ask them about it (possibly not the best day after the UK spy story! See UK diplomats in Moscow spying row) The lady in there was obviously very welcoming of British tourists (not) and just flatly said no when we asked her about it and that was the end of the conversation.
Today we have done Red Square, St Basils, walked around the Moskva river and down Arbat Street. Are currently a few streets away from Red Square.
And now for the regular update on the weather which I am sure you are waiting for! It is slightly warmer in Moscow thank God. Apparently it is now only -5 in St Petersburg but will get a bit warmer here in the next few days which makes it a lot more enjoyable. The coldest bit appears to await us in Ulan Bataar where it is currently about -30 - great! My layering system is working fine at the moment which I will now bore you with as it may interest someone out there if they are planning on doing the trip in Winter (are v few tourists here at the moment which is good).
Feet - bridgedale summit socks and Merrell boots
Legs - icebreaker wool thermals, thin tracksuit bottoms, craghopper zip off trousers
top - icebreaker thermals, longsleeve top/t-shirt, thick jacket type fleece, padded jacket
head - thermal baclava/scarf, fleece hat (and hood in jacket if necc)
hands (most important bit for me!) - leather gloves, fleece gloves, ski gloves!! And sometimes I still cant feel my fingers.
Next couple of days plan to do more sights of Moscow before we get the train Thursday pm for Ekaterinburg - in 1st class which we are looking forward to (basically dont have to share with anyone). Are on that for a couple of days before we do the dog sledging and more activities to freeze us! May not be on the internet for a while but who knows. Russia has certainly surprised me so far as is a lot more western than I expected.
Dosverdanya for now!
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