The Train and Russia

Ok so it was ages ago now, but once upon a time we were in Russia! Here's what happened...

Basically we got on the train from Mongolia for a four and a half day train journey. Yes, that's right 4.5 days! The train itself was better than the one from China because it had air-conditioning even if it was turned off and on randomly. However the food car was really expensive and quite dodgy so we pretty much had to provide for ourselves which wasn't much fun when you don't have a fridge or any cooking facilities. There was some stuff at the stations in shops and also a few Babushkas(below) selling random things like smoked fish, bread, fruit etc.

We amused ourselves with sleeping, vodka and talking about food we'd like to eat and finally arrived in Moscow. And we were just in time to experience the biggest down pour of rain i think I've ever seen or maybe the biggest downpour I've ever been stupid enough to go out in. Here's a pic of Paul and Chris enjoying our first taste of the European summer.

While we were in Moscow we checked out the usual suspects; The Kremlin, Red Square (pictured below) and the vodka museum which was pretty cool. Including a free shot of vodka which i had to sit out on due to the fact that i already felt like i was going to throw up.

We also went to the markets which is where Nate and I had the photo in the Russian hats. They had a dancing bear which was really sad.

Anyway i ended up being sick while we were there and spent two days in bed or walking around like i was dead. Not much fun and i feel like i didn't get enough time to really enjoy Moscow. Luckily we had booked for an extra two nights after the tour. Also the weather was horrendous and it poured with rain the whole time we were there so i also didn't get too many photos which I'm a bit disappointed about.

We did get a feel for the place and we managed to check out quite a few of the flash Metro stations. We also saw heaps of the local dogs which seem to just hang around the Metro. And of course women selling random things on the street. The women in the photo below is selling stethoscopes!

On the last day i was feeling much better so we went in search of the Moscow Cat Theatre. Anyway the guide we had told us that it would be open and that there was a show at 4pm, so we rocked up there to find out it was closed. We were disappointed, but we ended up walking for another 10 minutes and finding the hugest shopping mall I've ever seen (i think it was 6 levels). It had an ice rink at the top! Anyway, here's a pic. We ended up hanging there for ages and eating lots of delicious treats.

Moscow was a really expensive city to visit as everything was really pricey. I was whinging about having to pay $8 for a coffee but i just saw a friend on facebook say that he was in Moscow and wasn't too keen on forking out $20 for a side order of steamed rice at a Moscow restaurant. Enough said!