Hi guys! It's good to be back. It's been a long couple of days with little or no internet, so the posts may be quite inconsistent at times.
This is how our journey began yesterday.
But first, our last night in Moscow was a late one, we planned to meet up with a travelling friend who was also doing the journey but from east to west. Needless to say, the night lasted until the early hours. The following pictures are from our last night.
This was outside a Moscow club.
This was also outside the club, it was a new one for us!!
During the day though, we had had a typically lazy last day, trying to check off all the things we hadn't done. Luckily it wasn't many.
We went to see Lenon, who is preserved in a kind of open casket at Red Square. This was a bit weird but interesting. Outside were also a display of important men from Russia's history, including Stalin.
We then made the important pilgrimage to the first and largest McDonald's in Russia, the irony of the soviet CCCP on the wall behind was not lost.
Anyway, to the Trans-Siberian rail journey. It has truly started! 26 hours from Moscow, to arrive in Yekaterinburg. Unfortunately the scenery from the train was not to exciting and the time in general was a bit of a blur.
As you can see, not very exciting!! Hopefully we can bring some amazing vistas in the near future.
In the train, I can only describe it to be what I imagine cabin fever is.
It was tough! But at least our feet got a rest from all the walking we had done previously. Every cloud.
We were in a 4 bed compartment with an old lady and man who were there individually. They were so nice, the man had to translate everything we said and then translate everything she said to us. It got quite socially exhausting for all of us but we ended up being given sweets, bread and sausage as well as a cup of tea. There hospitality was amazing. To make it even more humbling, we found out that the man had learned French and was now a university teacher of the language. When we asked him if he had been to France or had any plans to go, he replied that he just couldn't because it was to expensive for him to get there. Since speaking about it we can't believe how someone could dedicate there lives to learning and teaching another language and never get the chance to speak with native speakers and experience the culture of that country. Here we are traveling half way across the world, by no means rich, but still having the opportunity to visit somewhere we have dreamed of. To think they are still happy to share their food with us! It's made us appreciate our situation as well as the kindness of strangers.
So we arrived in Yekaterinburg, after not eating very much on the train we were ready to gorge. Unfortunately we didn't even consider taking any pictures as we were only concerned with our stomachs! We did remember when desert came though.
We will go back though as the food was amazing.
On the way home we saw a couple of sights and hopefully they will wet your appetite for more.
