Sunday, May 25, 2008

From rainy Russia

Four days on the train and many pots of ramen noodles later we have arrived in Moscow.
We had a bit of an issue leaving Ulaan Bator because we didn't stock up on supplies beforehand and couldn't exchange our money anywhere before the train left.
That left us with little food, a wad of Mongolian money and no place to spend it.
JR ended up running to an ATM during a 15 minute station break and grabbing a little cash along with some noodles and beer.
It was really neat watching the scenery because we went from sand, rock and gers tolush little siberian villages filled with gardens and curving rivers.
We traveled along Lake Baikal for hours watching people rowing and fishing. It is the deepest lake in the world, making up 20 per cent of the world's fresh water. There are supposed to be seals living in it.
When we arrived in Moscow we took the subway to the hostel which is on a touristy pedestrian mall filled with buskers, sketch artists and men wearing sandwich boards advertising tattoo parlors.
It is interesting to be in Europe because it is the first time on the trip where we could walk down the street and not look obviously like tourists. People come up to us speaking Russian and then smile when we apologise for having no clue what they just said.
We saw a bit of the Kremlin yesterday but has been very cold and wet and unpleasent to wander around. Today we plan to see pickled Lenin and tour subway stations.
Each one was designed by a different architect and go from being very modern to massive historcal mosaics.
No pictures yet because our internet connection is super crappy and it won't let me upload pics to either blogger or flickr.
Tomorrow we leave for Berlin where our hostel is supposed to be party central.
Though this city is very beautiful, I am anxious for Berlin . This morning I woke up with bug bites on my hands that I hope are just spider bites.
JR has none. Either way i can't wait for Berlin tomorrow.
Take care and we'll post pictures from there.

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