Even so, my train station is called Partizanskaya but in Russian that's ПАРТИЗАНСКАЯ... (Pi_A_P_T_back-to-front-N_3_A_H_C_K_A_back-to-front-R, for those with squares) and i had to find it at 1am in the rain after i landed at one of Moscow's 4 international airports. Not so hard i hear you say.. well it is when you understand that Moscow has something like 200 train stations and about 15 different lines (and that's just the metro), AND, you have to catch some private airport (which isn't even on the map) train to connect with the public lines... plus no-one speaks english.
anyway i did make it, only due to the directions i got from some considerate pimp (i had to decline his offer of entertainment for the remainder of the evening). unfortunately i hadn't been very successful in extending my accommodation to include sunday night over the phone - mainly due to the language barrier, but probably also due to the limited mental capacity of the staff member. so when i rocked up at 1am looking for a room i was informed that my booking was for monday and tuesday nights only. luckily the staff member (from phone conversation fame) called her manager over who told me that the hotel's day started at 2am and so my room for the following night would be available at 2am!! so i had to wait around in the lobby for an hour but in the end scored 3 nights for the price of 2 :) i think i was the only person in the lobby who didn't charge by the minute.
so this is all very interesting but doesn't really tell you anything about moscow except that it's full of dodgey people. Second only to the number of dodgey men and women are the number of police officers, although it's a close race between them and the stray dogs - at least the dogs aren't corrupt. however, other than all this moscow is quite a beautiful city - much like prague on a larger scale. this unfortunately means it's impossible to walk around and see everything. i did try a walking tour from my hotel (which is 4 metro stations from red square, well actually 5 but one is closed for some reason) but after walking for 2.5 hours in a state of semi-knowledge of where i was (the big landmarks like rivers and above ground train lines were where they should have been but the smaller land marks like roads and walking paths didn't correlate with what was on the map) i eventually stumbled into a station (i'll come back to this) to discover i had only advanced 2 stations down the line in 2.5 hours! i promptly jumped on the first train that came by and arrived at red square 10 min later.
now, about stumbling into the station: metro stations (ie the underground lines) are impossible to find. and i'm not joking, even ignoring the language barrier. every 2nd building in moscow looks the same. it's either a brick/concrete box or a gold encrusted church. the stations are some of the boxes but they're tucked away down back streets, miles apart and there's no signs. the only way i found this station was by walking in whichever direction there was more people.
but again, i digress. my hotel is located near the old olympic village, right next to a large park and a market area so the area is 'quite nice' (very relatively speaking). the area around revolution (red) square in central moscow is also very nice, with many beautiful buildings and parks right next to the river. i had a look inside the kremlin walls one afternoon (for 300 rubles ~ US$15) and i'm really glad i did. visitors are tightly restricted to a small area inside the walls but this area includes many small chapels, palaces and cathedrals. inside there are many tombs of kings from the middle ages plus some of the most decorated interiors i've seen, rivaling the raphael rooms in the vatican museum. the exteriors are no less impressive - gold capped onion domes ahoy.
there was also the tsar cannon and tsar bell. the cannon has a caliber of about 1m and each shot must weight a *&^$load. the cannon itself weights something like 40t and is about 3m high and 6m long but unfortunately i don't think it was ever fired (although the descriptive plaque was in russian so not 100% sure). the bell is even more ridiculous.. over 200t and 6m high. i don't think it was ever used either tho. apparently it was used as a chapel at some stage tho (i'm not joking, that's how big it is).
so moscow is very beautiful although it would probably be more so during winter when all the rubbish and concrete is covered with snow. tonight i'm getting on the train and heading towards beijing, therefore i'm not sure how much net i'll have until i arrive in china (2nd May). so that's why i've tried to update the posts if you're wondering why the sudden spurt in news. i'm in a 4-berth cabin but i don't know who else will be in there so that could be exciting. the first stop is at Ulaanbataar in Mongolia in just over 4 (!!) days. hopefully the windows are clear enough to get some decent photos. so that's all for now, hope everyone is well and keeping up with the posts. i'm off to the market to stock up on biscuits and vodka.
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