Moscow day one ...

::playschool voice:: “Our first day in Moscow ... through the funky, weird-arse Russian window”

Got picked up by car from train at 8am this morning and decided that driving in Russia is actually really fun, so long as you pretend it is just a rollercoaster and you can’t actually die:P Made it out of hotel again by 2pm after a failed attempt to order a pizza (i got confused and he, in standard russian style, hung up, so i waited in vain then gave up and we had tuna, crackers and chocolate for brunch), a sleep for me and a doze then a read for Vera (who Ve? read? i hear you say lol).

Found the metro station with the help of the girl at the front desk “you turn left, then up some stairs, then just follow some people”... yes well, i should really say we eventually found the metro station :P Made it into the centre of Moscow – aiming generally for the Red Square via food. Had a slight bit of trouble actually finding food as everyone seems to supply alcohol and icecreams (plus half the streets are blocked off – but more about that later) but no actual food! And no Steph – alcohol is not a food group ;D

Eventually followed a sign to cafe (haha we know the Cyrillic for that one!) down an alley, round a corner, past the enterprising lady with the portaloo and through a whole bunch of blokes in uniforms (“don’t make any bomb jokes, don’t make any bomb jokes, ...”) to an unmarked door that actually led to food (“food glorious food” just think of Oliver and hum along...).

Surprisingly enough found a very funky upmarket cafe upstairs! Even managed to entertain the dour waitress when we both actually whooped in delight upon finding English translations in the menu :P

Anyway back on the streets (dunno which ones cos we never did figure that out), fed and watered and back to aimless wandering with lots of whispered “is that the red square?” and “why did the army feel the need to block off just half of the markets?” and “what the heck does a backwards captital R sound like”. Kept wandering but we had to go through a few one-way road blocks which really didn’t make our chances of ever getting back to the same metro station look very good! Anyway we persevered (ok aimlessly wandered for a while ;) through crowds of frustrated Russians and about a billion people in uniform from cute little cadets to camouflage army guys (though how well blue camouflage gear works in the city is anyone’s guess).

Eventually we realised that (a) it was Russian Independence Day, (b) every single thing we were trying to get to was down a blocked off street and (c) there was no way on earth we were getting back to our metro stop. By then it was about 5pm, so we figured we could count ourselves as “having made an effort” (to do something other than read and sleep and bath all day in our flash hotel room with larrrrge towels – those who’ve travelled like we do will get the huge importance of this fact) and conclude that we could end our adventure by navigating three metro lines in Cyrillic to get back to the hotel!

Which we successfully did (oh yeah! i’m goooood) and then ... wait for it ... actually managed to order a pizza (2^nd time lucky) in total Russian. Not only that but it actually arrived too!

Notes to put this brief interlude into context:

1) Caught train from St Petersburg last night – departing midnight-8am (nice sleeper carriage, but still not that much sleep :)

2) there seem to always be lots of people in uniform (army, police, navy, ??) so for today to seem out of the ordinary in terms of numbers of armed forces is saying something!

3) taxi drivers in Russia ... well the less said the better :P

4) no photos today cos never actually saw anything worth taking photo of and snapping the armed guards just didn’t seem like the best idea!

Note for concerned relatives ::waves to Mum::

2) Up until this point we have been eating very well with usual day of bread, muesli and yoghurt for breaky; bread/crackers, cheese, meat/tin fish, boiled egg and fruit for lunch and fresh veg and pasta soup for tea. However if we ever get scurvy it would be here in Russia :P

Note for person who decided Russia should go with the Cyrillic alphabet:

::pokes tongue out::