Warsaw to Moscow

Louise about to board the sleeper train to Moscow
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James writes...

It’s 11am and we’re sitting in the lush surroundings of our grey Moscow hotel. In just 4 hours time we’re leaving on one of the world’s longest rail journeys from Moscow to Beijing, 6 days non-stop. So needless to say I’m a bit nervous. I used to like the commute from Staines to Hammersmith but I imagine this is going to be a bit different…I’m just wondering whether they’ll have any mirrors on board?

Anyway before we leave Moscow I’m going to update you on our travels since Berlin

Warsaw Old Square from our hotel window
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Friday

We left Berlin midday from a very east German looking railway station and joined a train compartment with 4 other travellers, all Polish and on their way home. Not knowing a word of Polish we tried to introduce ourselves. Immediately we felt very much at home, as everyone looked apprehensive and uncomfortable that we’d attempted to start a conversation. Fortunately one of our travelling companions spoke some English and taught us a few basic words.

We arrived in Warsaw at 6pm, the station was bright, busy, and full of small kiosks more like Stafford market than an international train station. After walking around it for 20 mins and realising that ’yes/no/please/thanks’ and ’beer’ were not going to help us get to our accommodation we were rescued by a little Irishman. He showed us where the taxis were and told us what to say to our driver who sped us to our accommodation, The Castle Hostel, situated in the heart of the old medieval town.

Warsaw's medieval city walls
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We were here for one night only so after exploring the old town, a beautiful network of cobbled streets and alleys that felt like a very different city to the one we’d arrived in, we looked for a place to eat. Cabbage soup and meat stew seemed to be the only things on Polish menus but as they say ‘when in Rome’…so we found an Italian restaurant.

Saturday

Louise ordered breakfast in bed, which was a nice start to the day, but it got even better when we sat down for lunch. We’d explored Warsaw further in the morning, walking around the old town walls in the clear blue winter sky, and sat down to eat some goulash in a local tavern only to turn around and see the Arsenal/Man U match kicking off on a big screen. Perfect timing. It got even better when United lost 2-1, result! (sorry Louise & Anthony).

Moscow's Underground
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Our Moscow train was leaving late afternoon so we headed to our station, a small Stalinesque building, just as the sun was setting. This was to be our first experience on a sleeper train - a little taste of the bigger journey to come. We boarded the train and was greeted by the Provodnista (a female Russian carriage attendant) who waved several Russian forms at us. As our Russian was even worse than our Polish and she didn’t speak any English she dragged a big but friendly looking Russian man to us who, in his uniform, looked like a ship’s captain who’d lost his way. He shooed me to one side, sat down in our cabin and began translating…very slowly.

Us in Red Square
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We fell asleep around midnight despite every door, panel and screw rattling louder and louder as the train picked up speed travelling out of Poland and through Belarus during the night.

Sunday

We awoke in Russia in the early morning as back-to-front Russian words sped past us on buildings and advertising hoardings. Arriving in Moscow at 1pm, we said dasvidanya to the Provodnista and Captain, and with our heads still dizzy from the journey set off to find our hotel in the Russian capital, home of 12 million people. Heading straight for the underground, and already sweating from the weight of our rucksacks and arctic clothing, the job of navigating our way just added to the strain.

St Basil's Cathedral, Red Square
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Moscow’s underground, or Metro, was however amazing. Built after the October uprising of 1917 when the Communists came to power, they looked more like the corridors and chambers of decaying palaces than a transport system built 50ft underground. The Russians riding the Metro looked less regal. Dressed mostly in black and with sullen, pale faces they looked like they hadn’t been above ground for years.

Hot and sticky and an hour and a half later we walked in to our hotel room. From the smell it clearly wasn’t the non-smoking room we’d requested, but given it was 11 floors up and it had taken 30 mins to check-in we decided to stay put.

GUM Shopping Centre (a bit like the Trafford Centre!)
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Another Metro journey later and we arrived at the hugely impressive Red Square, named after the original red cobbles that were laid down when the old city market was cleared. On the east side of the square is the beautiful glass roofed GUM shopping arcade (a bit like Manchester’s Trafford Centre but built 100 years before!); on the north side the red bricked State History Museum; to the south sits St Basil’s Cathedral, an amazing fairytale like creation built in 1561; and finally along the western edge the Kremlin, a large walled citadel and the seat of Russian power. With dusk turning to night and a full moon shining brightly down the place felt magical. With it’s beauty, it’s history and of course Louise next me I felt inspired.

One of Stalin's Seven Sisters
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Monday

I awoke in a nostalgic mood and soon realised it was the stale tobacco smell reminding me of the times I’d get up with a hangover from a night at the Colosseum to find my clothes stinking of smoke. Ahhh.

With a full breakfast inside us we headed into Moscow where we:

- Visited the Kremlin; the Armoury inside had original Faberge eggs on display (Louise seemed a little disappointed, I think she’d have preferred them to be by Kinder). Although no longer officially President Putin still goes to work here each day as whole roads are cleared for his daily commute. We said hello to him and he gave his regards to my Dad, although strangely enough when I spoke to Dad later he claimed never to have met him.

Inside the Kremlin
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- Went inside St Basil’s Cathedral; from the outside it looks like it’s been created from the imagination of sweet shop owner with it’s candy bar towers, twisting spires and ice cream shaped domes. On the inside it’s much more intimate although just as colourful.

- Went shopping along Ul Arbat; one of the main shopping and tourist streets where we relaxed, had some coffee, visited a Russian doll shop for Louise’s Mum (see Pic) and walked, lots!

- Saw Stalin’s Seven Sisters; no this isn’t a euphemism for something, but 7 huge skyscrapers each looking a little like the Empire State Building. After defeating the Nazi’s in 1945 it’s claimed Stalin thought tourists would flock to Moscow but was worried they wouldn’t be impressed unless they saw some tall buildings - how wise he was!

The Kremlin & Lenin's Mausoleum
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- Bored and annoyed Louise; well that was just me really. I decided to learn the Cyrillic alphabet and some Russian words. This did prove usual to decode the Russian around us but apparently it became slightly tiresome when I tried to decipher every word I saw. I’m not quick at translating and there were lots of words about.

- Ate in a typical Russian restaurant; well it was Persian but apparently the Russians don’t really have much of a cuisine besides Slavic and Georgian (who I don’t think they’re friends with now).

Sculpture at Moscow's Modern Art Museum
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Tuesday

….walked around more, checked out our departing station for later in the day and in general found Moscow to be far from what I was expecting. Further out the city has the concrete tenements that you’d associate with the old Soviet block but the main city areas are grand and beautiful. This is the world’s most expensive city and I guess that doesn’t happen without a reason.

We’re now full circle and about to leave our hotel for the longest train journey of our lives, but before I go I wanted to finish with a few extra notes on Moscow:

The toilet IN our compartment (did anyone ever use it as a toilet??!) - now in use as a coffee table
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The people

To say they are cold and grumpy may be a little unfair; it’s difficult to understand a nation’s psyche when you don’t speak their language. Saying that the only time I saw a Russian smile or laugh was when I tried speaking Russian to them.

The cars

Black seems to be the favourite colour of the discerning Moscovite motorist, and I haven’t seen this many blacked out windows and 4x4s since I was last in Waitrose car park in Sunningdale.

Top 10 cities

I’m putting Moscow in my top 10 cities but it wouldn’t be a great place for a stag do (or for ‘any excuse Matty‘) due to price and distance. Louise claims that the Russians are the ugliest people she’s seen. Although I couldn’t agree with her on the women I think she’s right about the blokes so if you’re down on your luck this is the place to come.

Finally sorry Louise, this is even longer than your first blog and probably less readable!

Louise writes …

Wowzers! Is anyone actually still reading this? Or perhaps you’ve just skipped to where it says Louise writes hoping it will be less painful, he he … James can never say I’m longwinded again!

Here are my thoughts:

• Warsaw’s old town is beautiful and we didn’t really have enough chance to get under the skin of the city properly but very much enjoyed our stay.
• The sleeper train from Warsaw to Moscow was something of an experience as James described. Probably best summed up by the fact that we were using a table cloth covered toilet as a coffee table (see pic)!
• Moscow’s a great city - my mood swung between disorientated on day 1, loving the city on day 2, and shattered and longing for western comforts/a smiling face on day 3. Overall it was so much more beautiful than I expected and I hope you can see from some of the pics how amazing it is, especially around Red Square at night which is just so special.
• The metro is fantastic … James kept referring to it as a ‘subterranean horse’ though, something he just made up … this is the kind of nonsense I’ve got to put up with 24 hours a day. At times it felt very Kafkaesque (now, that’s a big word for a blog and the sort of nonsense James has to put up with!)
• The Russian people really are the ugliest I’ve ever seen (sallow skin, sunken eyes, all sorts of shapes and sizes of faces, noses and ears!) I’m not being funny - it’s like when you go on holiday to Spanish or Italian resorts and the locals are petite, toned and tanned leaving you feeling big, ugly and white. Well, if ever your ego needs a boost head to Russia - you’ll feel like a million dollars even on a bad hair day. If you need to find a man on the other hand, I’d give it a miss!
• James has not shaved since we set off and now has what is almost a beard - he’s either trying to keep warm or to fit in with the locals.
• We picked up our tickets for the Trans-Mongolian Express from a company based in a weird little hotel room on the other side of Moscow to us. It took me back to role-play exercises at assessment centres in random hotel rooms - anyway, the tickets were legit and we were on our way … more about that in the next instalment though.

PS - Favourite moment in Moscow - apple and cinnamon pancakes in a coffee shop … mmmm!