Big Spender

Yesterday I dropped seven grand on a pair of boots.

Lucky it was in Russia, where the exchange rate with the Aussie Dollar is about 20 to 1 - but it's still probably more than the accumulated total that I've spent on shoes in the last 5 years.

They're really awesome. Thanks to sister-Claire, Meggi-poo and Hizza for partaking in the adventure.

Alphabetter

"I can't be bothered to learn to read the acrylic"
- Simone, fellow Vodkatrain traveller.

Unlike the lazy git Simone, I decided to invest a little time in learning to read Cyrillic, the alphabet in which Mongolian and Russian are written. It's definitely had it's advantages, there's actually a lot of use of English words, but written in the Cyrillic alphabet. eg интернет сафе is an internet cafe and фреш салад, if read aloud, is fresh salad. This is really a source of hours of entertainment for me.

That, combined with my smattering of Polish, has come in a lot of use.

Russin Around

There's been so much sightseeing to do over the last five days or so that I've been a big to distracted to blog. Thus, I would like to present my top three highlights from the capital of Russia, Moscow, and the 'Northern Capital', St Petersburg:

Moscow
- I'm sure I've said it before, but the metro is amazing. Every station is unique, and decorated with mosaics, or leadlight, paintings, bronze sculpture, plaster moulding. The trains are occasionally rickety, but it's an incredibly fast, efficent and effective way to move around the city.
- Visiting Lenin. Claire was excited as she's now completed the trifecta (Ho Chi Minh, Mao and Lenin). I was excited as it was a rainy day so we had Lenin to ourselves (excluding guards). Also, we got to walk in along red square - which was the only way we got in there as it was still closed after Moscow day.
- St Basil's - It looks like it's made out of icing, it's so colourful. Ivan may have been terriblee, but he was also terribly cool for getting it built.

St Petersburg
- The Hermitage and Winter Palace. Over 3 million works of art - that's one for every member of the population of the city. We spent about 4 hours there and only saw a fraction of the art. There were whole rooms of Rubens and Rembrants and a couple of great Da Vinci Madonnas. You'd have to spend a week there and still not get to see everything properly.
- The city itself is beautiful, full of lovely churches and buildings and places of historical importance (I studied the Russian revolution and this place is seeping with important events, places and people from that time).
- The Hermitage. What can I say? I am an art nerd and this is art nerd heaven.

Tonight Claire and I are catching a bus, and when we wake up we'll be in Estonia and back in the EU! I'll make sure to write again from Tallinn.

Happy Moscow Day

The city with the world's most beautiful Metro system is celebrating it's annual day today with a lovely late burst of warm weather.

it's so good to be back in Europe - and back in the (former) USSR. How I have missed you Eastern Europe! And also your fondness for baked goods, potatoes and white cheese. I know there's more to love than the food, but I'll get to that after visiting Red Square tomorrow.

3762 Things To Do On Trains

Having completed the 78 hour train journey from Irkutsk in Siberia to Moscow, I have decided to publish a book with the above name. Below is an excerpt:

Idea 2456: Eat
We decided to use our time and money creatively and instigated a cooking challenge. The group divided the nights up among us and 2-3 people cooked for all 8. This is especially challenging given the tiny preparation area and the fact that the only cooking process you have is access to boiled water. My group made a trifle for dessert, it was awesome

Idea 2457: Get Crafty
Claire did general repairs, Meg sewed flag patches on her backpack from different countries. I found some wool for sale at one stop and decided to knit a scarf using my chopsticks. It's bright green (the scarf, that is).

Idea 2458: Discuss All Bodily Functions
Spending all day and night with the same people in a tiny box brings a new level of intimacy, discussing toilet events is a topic that everyone has something to say about.

Idea 2459: Befriend The Cabin Guard
Even if you don't speak the same language. Then you can find out all about how he's dating the other cabin guard, but also seeing his boss, who as a boyfriend at the next stop. Who knew trains were so exciting.

Idea 2460: Get Sick
Claire, Bella and Jules all did this. It gives the others something to talk about. Works especially well with idea 2458, but not idea 2456.

The land of bread and cheese....

In my first year of uni I did a European Politics class in which we spent hours of our tutorial debating whether Russia was really a part of Europe, and, if it's western flank is, whether the whole country is? Or is the eastern half more Asian because of it's geographic location?

I can safely give three arguments as to why the Eastern part of Russia, where we are currently located, can safely be classified as European and not a part of Asia:

1. Ready access to quality bread
2. Ready access to quality yoghurt
3. Ready access to quality bread

There has been much consumption of the above staples over the last couple of days, which may also account for the improvement in health.

We spent the last couple of days living on the lake - and not just any lake. We've been at a lovely guest house on lake Baikal, the largest fresh water lake in the world. It's over 600km ong at over 60km wide at most points, so it was more like being at the sea than a lake - albeit a sea with no tides, no waves and fresh water.

Two nights of sleeping on the train cured me of whatever variety of stomach bug I had, and the fresh air has done the rest. The place is rather beautiful - a deep still pool of water with mountains that come tumbling down from all sides, all lush with green pines. The lake is actually a tectonic rift that will one day split the continents of Asia and Europe in half.

We went for a couple of long walks, had a boat ride and a traditional Russian sauna, which was much like any other sauna I've had except at the end you hit each other with bouqets of birch branches. This is actually a bit less kinky than it sounds - it's a massage technique where you feel like your being hit with wet plastic bags. Very relaxing, much like the last few days.

This afternoon we start the 3 night train ride to Moscow. Next time I write I'll either be very relaxed or completely destroyed by it.