Moscow Moscow!(In the tune of 'New York New York')

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  Moscow, Central Russia, Russian Federation
Saturday, November 7, 2009

7/11 - Arriving to Moscow. After arriving on the night train from St.Petersburg, we went straight to the hostel to drop our bags off, with the aid of Rory, a Chinese man that we had acquired from the hostel in St.Petersburg. It being only 10am and too early to check in, we read a 'Top Secret' letter that was left for us behind reception from Fabien & Samuel telling us of a Revolution Parade in the center of town, by the Red Square. We decided to head down, with the intention of bumping into them if possible. Once we found our way into town, we stood an watched the parade with the rest of the Russians. Everyone was brandishing a Soviet flag, shouting words of Stalin, something about "screw America" and Nazis'. It was a rather emotional time, with the war veterans slowly but surely walking around with the aid of walking sticks or other people, and everyone shouting in chorus. We later stood and listened to a speech, but left to go back to hostel after a while as it was freezing and we were not fluent in Russian! We found out from the two Swede's once we had checked in & found ourselves in the same room, that it was a restricted area, with access only past the Russian Police. That evening after Ashley bumping into an old school friend, we managed to find ourself at a small local Russian production with dance, acting and poetry! It was not quite what we thought it was going to be, but was definitely an experience. We met with the two Swede's, the three guys including Ashley's old school friend and others back at the hostel and had a few drinks. We all decided that we wanted to go to a Karaoke bar, so grabbed some directions from the receptionist and all headed out. We spent roughly an hour there in what was actually a Karaoke booth and then attempted to get home by foot (the Metro was closed & a taxi would cost a bomb it being 2.30am or so). We finally made it back and all passed out for the night.

8/11 - We had a nice lay in in the morning until about 11am, nursing our hangovers. Whilst sitting in the living-room, we got word of everyone going to a football match nearby in the Olympic Stadium. After being invited along, we left a bit earlier in order to get us some tickets. The tickets were 200 rubles, which is roughly £4 so a bargain really, especially as it was to see CSKA Moscow Vs Rubin. Afterwards we went back to the hostel to warm our bones and meet Fabian, then headed to Maccy D's for dinner! In the evening we started our quest to try and buy our Trans-Mongolian tickets to Ulan-Bator. We hadn't realized that it would be so difficult until we got back to the hostel at 10pm empty handed. We even went with someone from the hostel to translate, but everywhere was shut before their closing times.

9/11 - We were up early on this morning as we had arranged to meet the same lady who helped us with our ticket search the night before. We went back to the biggest station, but again had no luck as they were asking for 14,000 rubles each. After deciding as a group that that was too much, we again headed back for the hostel to search online for some tickets at a better price. Whilst waiting for some replys about cheaper tickets, we walked into town and visited the Red Square and the famous St. Basil Cathedral, which were both pretty impressive. We then walked onto one other cathedral, Saviour Of Christ, as The Kremlin (which is a famous fortress just by The Red Square) was closed. We were all pretty knackered so we went home and had a good lounge in the living-room, where another receptionist phoned up the rail companies to get some prices. She found some for 10,000 rubles, which was much better, so after not hearing anything back from the online companies and the trip being in two days time, we thought that we would go for those early the next morning. The receptionist wrote us a note for us to present to the ticket office, to ensure that we got the exact tickets that we wanted. We all went to bed a bit anxious that night, as it could be a possibility that all tickets would be gone the next day.

10/11 - We waited around until 11am to make sure that the cheaper online tickets were out of the question before heading to the train station to buy the 10,000 ruble ones. Together with the stress of not yet having the train tickets and the departure day the next day & me (Kt) feeling upset at not being at home for my Mummy's birthday, we waited a long 45 minutes in the queue, finally, the job was done & suddenly our spirits were lifted. We then made our way straight to the Novodevichy Monastery by Metro, but it was unfortunately closed! Instead we went to another Metro station where we caught the Tram No.39, which was a sort of 'sight seeing' tram. It mainly showed the rural and industrial side of Moscow, but it was nice to sit down in the warm. It also gave the boys a good excuse for a few power-naps also. We were all quite tired after a stressful few days, so we went home and watched Dumb & Dumber and then Beavis & Butthead: the latter being a bit boring, sent me for an early night!

11/11 - After packing and checking out of the hostel, we hit The Red Square nice and early to see Lenin in his tomb. It was an interesting sight to see to say the least. There was no talking allowed, no hands in pockets, you had to constantly be moving and strictly no photos, all enforced by the many guards every five meters or so. Afterwards, we finally managed to get into the Kremlin, as it had been closed all of the previous days. The Kremlin contained the Tsar Bell which weighed 200 tons and broke even before it was first struck. There was also the Tsar Cannon from the 1500's that weighed 40 tons and was 5.34 meters long. We also saw The Assumption Cathedral, The Archangel Cathedral, The Annunciation Cathedral, The Church of Desposition of The Robe of the Holy Virgin (!) & The Patriarch's Palace with The Twelve Apostle's Church, all of which sat on Cathedral Square! So a lot of religious sites! We also went into The Bell Tower Museum, The Arsenal Museum & The Armory Chamber that held a priceless amount of Jewels, Gold, Silver, Faberge & other rare items.
We then got back to the hostel at roughly 5pm and shot to the local shop to buy them out of noodles. We each had about 15 - 20 packets of noodles, as this was all that we would be able to eat on the 5 day train to Ulan-Bator. We also got a lot of fruit to keep the works moving & to have a bit of excitement to our unhealthy diet! We then sorted our bags & the trip to the station for our long journey. Someone at the hostel offered to help us to the station with all of our bags of food & litres of water, which was very kind. We got the station in good time & found our platform, where we were surrounded by Mongolians and a million packets. They wouldn't have been intimidating if they had not surrounded us and also demand to see our train tickets. We obviously were very skeptical about this, wondering if they would then mug us of our expensive train tickets or want to pay us a visit in our cabin once on the train, so they remained in my inner pocket. Getting onto the train was definitely an experience. Once we fought our way to the door through the packets & people, the train attendant started ushering me on, forcing me to fight my way past the other Mongolians who were rapidly throwing packets onto the train & putting them where ever possible. I passed the cabin that was meant to be ours & thrown in, closely followed by Ash, Samuel & Fabien. She locked us in, which was when we noticed all of the packets & someones personal belongings. When we unlocked the door & dared to put our head out, we shouted at the train attendant "Why are we not in our cabin? And what the hell is all of this in here?". After some angry words were shouted by her & some of the Mongolians to each other, this man charged into our cabin shouting at us. So we shouted back, "These, packets, out. Get them out. This, our cabin. We pay for cabin. This, all, out!!" to which he refused & started getting violent. He grabbed at the tickets in my hands, whilst I was sat on the table, when all three guys lunged from the bunks & grabbed them back. It started getting out of hand at this point, so all the guys were stood around the door (and were easily towering over the Mongolians) and started throwing everything that wasn't ours out of the door. This got the Mongolians even more angry & he gave Fabien a short jab in the stomach. Fabien, as were we all, ready to fight with our adrenaline soaring, when a nearby Mongolian made it clear that we shouldn't start a fight too quickly obviously. The train attendant came over at this point & shouted at the aggressive man to get his things out of our room (as our cabin next door was now full of packages) & leave us alone. We threw all of his things out the door, even though he was trying to throw everything back in. He finally realized that we were not going to budge & started moving everything out. Once everything was gone, we locked the door & didn't open it for some time, only to throw his sandals out 30 minutes or so later. We all breathed & reflected on what just happened, whilst making the room homely. We were given linen & towels & were getting ready for bed once the adrenaline died down. It was about 12.30am when we were all ready for sleep & locked up for the first quite restless night on our trip.

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