First I must apologise for how long it has taken me to update the blog, I have been distracted the last few days with the places we visited just taking it all in. Moscow the first of the final big two cities in this massive country, arriving in the late afternoon we met up with Katcha our honcho who took us out for a nice dinner and a wander around the city. I must admit there are some very attractive men in this city, it's like the handsome city of Russia and all the women trying to pull in the men with their sky high heels and tiny outfits. As Katcha told us, the idea in Moscow is to find yourself a man and even after you have there is no need to have a family straight away..career always comes first. I did notice there were so few young families or even children running around it's all about career, success and finding your equal partner to share your dreams.
My first experience in a hostel, felt a little babied by the girls telling me I HAD to lock everything as if I didn't know that already (rewind to my dad's own words, repeating themselves). I was quite comfortable if not a little shy about meeting all these new people who were happy to just chatter away with you about where you have been and where they have been and were everyone was going to next. In true Jenny fashion I kept mostly to myself and then slowly became more comfortable with my surroundings, we were sharing with two Brazillian boys, one of which was a CHRONIC snorer...the trick was to get into bed before he did and make sure you were asleep before him. Though Bec struggled being right next to him I think, Ipod blasting and we could all hear it over his snores, really comfy beds though.
Katcha came and picked us up to head off to the museum of Russian history close to the hostel, we were able to make our way through understanding most of what we were looking at with the help of English museum cards for each room. I really wish we had learned Russian history at school it's not the nicest history but it certainly is fascinating, especially to see in person. The paintings in the museum were quite harrowing and dark, especially the ones depicting the bloody Sunday rally and the countless casualties as a result of that demonstration. Seeing the way that the Russian people following the revolution began to take hold and get back on their feet, gaining back all the freedom that was withheld. The way they moved on from what was a very depressing part of their history and made a true name of honour for their country with the development of the Russian space program, putting Russia back on the map for all the right reasons.
After lunch we went to the area near the Kremlin to visit the church of spilt blood which was quite moving, the area around it was so full of tourists from everywhere but we managed to squeeze through ok. What an incredible design...so beautiful, the colours, the shapes, the style. A building that to me seems completely out of place when you consider that this nation of people were prevented from free thinking creativity for such a long time. Tonight we attended a piano concerto made up of two sisters who were absolutely incredible...I had chills the whole time, they played together on one piano and then separately on grand pianos. When they played you could see the expression on their faces, the way they almost contorted their bodies as the music ran through them to their fingertips, absolutely inspirational to watch and feel the chords vibrate through the room. I wish I had taken the time to learn an instrument or even had the patience to learn now, but I guess I do not have the time anymore but you never know :)
Another beautiful Moscow day and without Katcha today we are left to fend for ourselves, Alison and Talitha went off to do their own thing and so did Bec, Aimee and I...first order of business, go the completely wrong direction and get lost. Of course we went a lot further before we cared to admit that we were lost, Bec asked a young man who looked like he was off to work where we should go. This lovely guy pointed us in the right direction but then ended up guiding us almost all the way to the Kremlin where we were looking for in the first place, in the complete opposite direction. He was so nice, turns out he was job hunting and lived two hours out of Moscow looking to find a job and move to the city as an English teacher, another stroke of good fortune.
By this time we had used up a good hour searching for the one place we had thought we knew how to get to. Braving the McDonalds Kremlin we had a really quick lunch and a stroll around the outer gardens of the Kremlin before heading down to the oldest church in Moscow. Today I was definitely the winger, I was so tired and had had enough of strolling backwards and forwards on a rushed schedule for the day....I had my cranky pants on indeed! I tried to suck it up and we found our way to the church, I have to say it was worth it in the end as it was stunning especially with the sun setting in the background, there was a beautiful big bridge that stretched over the river running through the city. Making our way back to the hostel we took the Metro which we thought we knew exactly were to
go and once again our 6th sense failed :/ Looking at our little metro map we knew where we were we just needed to get to our final spot on the station, a man stopped and asked us where we were going, we told him and he said, "follow me" in the typical Russian tone and led us to the station we needed as he was heading the same way. So many people have told us that Russians are not friendly, including the guide books but they could not be further from the truth, every person we have come across has been so beautifully kind and helpful.
Our final night in Moscow, what else...the Russian Ballet!!!!! We got all dolled up in our 'fancy' outfits and journeyed back to the Kremlin with Talitha and Alison as well to the Kremlin Theatre, of course this time we had no trouble making our way there and with time to spare took our seats. Ok, so being the tallest in the group I wasn't surprised when a monstrous man sat in front of me...great! Not only that but during the entire first act he was swaying from side to side as if he had any trouble seeing, I think he was probably falling asleep. For the second part I enjoyed it much more because I moved to a better seat that was free, with no giant head in the way :)
The ballet was sleeping beauty and I was enjoying it as my first ballet, though it did go a little bit strangely towards the end...after sleeping beauty had been awoken and the evil queen defeated there was a ball, during this 3rd hour of ballet every single character had a 30 second dance solo and this included Red riding Hood and the Wolf? Two white striped cats chasing each other? Sinbad (or similar) and his princess? Yep we were lost after that. One thing we noticed was there was no appropriate time to clap, Russian's clap whenever they want at whatever they want. This was prevalent in the piano concert as well, someone jumps everyone clap..it seemed so awkward especially with one dancer's family in the theatre screaming "BRAVO!!!" without her actually doing anything apart from walking on stage and taking her place. Though all that in mind I really did enjoy myself at the Russian Ballet.
We were leaving for Saint Petersburg tonight on the train at 12:50am so packed up at the hostel after the ballet and found the driver we organised earlier, not an actual taxi driver but he drives all the hostel travellers in his tiny LADA all covered in stickers from around the world and signatures of fellow travellers on the back of the headrests in his car (which naturally we signed). Squished into the back of Aleksi's LADA we drove to the train station, Aleksi was definitely a character, trying to find a music channel we all liked and singing along. Aleksi was a big help though getting us onto the platform and helping us with the tickets.
Finally the last stop in Russia is one sleep away...St Petersburg here we come!!!
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