Overnight train to Moscow

  Moscow, Central Russia, Russian Federation
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Train to Moscow

Although the budget tour operator assured me the package for St. Petersburg and Moscow was guided, when our driver left us at the curb outside Moscow Station in St. Petersburg I realized we were on our own.  We had the tickets for the overnight train to Moscow, but without knowing how to speak Russian or finding a Russian person who spoke English, it was quite a challenge to find the train we were supposed to take.  I was lucky my friend Kathie was able to match the Cyrillic symbols on the train tickets with the symbols listed next to the departing platforms posted on the large overhead board. If it was left to me I would have interpreted 22.09 as the departure time instead of departure date, and we would have been stranded at the St. Petersburg train station.

After we found the train to Moscow and boarded the car, we searched the aisle for our cabin.  After I realized that I passed my assigned room, a group of confused Chinese tourists with large suitcases blocked the aisle behind me.  I could speak a little Chinese so I helped them find their seats, but I only did it because I wanted to get by. When the last of the group found his seat, the aisle was finally clear and I was able to move to my cabin.  There I found a small utilitarian compartment designed for four people, with one bunk bed to each side.  To access the top bunk there was a ship's ladder that pulled away from the wall and allowed a person to gain a toehold to boost him or herself up.   As we tried to figure out how to store our luggage two familiar faces appeared in the cabin.

Mark and Sorena were the only other tourists in our group, a couple that we met on the first day of our trip in St. Petersburg.  We later found out that it was also their first day together.  He flew from his home in Cleveland, Ohio to meet her in person in Russia, after chatting online for a month.  He spoke no Russian and she spoke a few words in English, and as they sat next to each other in silence it was painfully clear that there was no chemistry between them. Throughout the trip he made clumsy attempts at conversation and when she didn't understand he used the tour guide as an interpreter.  "She looks like she has a lazy eye," he said of the painting in the Hermitage.  Sorena was utterly confused, but the guide with an advanced art history degree was very polite and explained to her his imbecilic interpretation of art.  After a while he monopolized the tour guide's attention to translating his conversations with his date, and with all the fascinating events that happened in Russia's history his only interest was regarding the city's water supply because that was his line of work in Ohio.

Sorena showed us how to store our bags by lifting the bottom bunk that was hinged to the frame and putting them in the metal box underneath.  After we settled in and started talking we learned that she lived in Moscow with her mother and sister and worked as a doctor.  She looked kind and poised, and after studying English for only one month she was able to carry on an intelligent conversation.  Kathie and I wanted to tell her to ditch the loser she was with. We speculated she was after a green card, but if she got one he would be the one to have the better deal.

St. Basil's Cathedral

The sky was still dark when our tour guide met us at the train platform.  Alexi was a stocky bald man in his fifties who looked like an airport baggage handler, so I was surprised to hear him speak with a sharp English accent.  He introduced us to our driver and led us to our van that smelled of stale cigarette smoke.  I was hoping to take a shower at the hotel but he told us we wouldn't be able to check in until 3:00pm.  Instead we headed to the first stop on our tour, Red Square.  At 6:30 in the morning Russia's most recognizable landmark, St. Basil's Cathedral, glowed in white light.