Thursday, May 15, 2014

Victory Day

Early in the morning we took a fast train from St. Petersburg to Moscow.  A luxurious train similar to the Allegro we took from Finland we settled in for a 3 hour nap in the quiet car. 

We woke as train slowed and suburban Moscow came into view, complete with enormous apartment complexes in the picture below.

Upon arriving in Moscow, our friend Alicia met us (she was on a train the arrived 20 minutes prior) with her Moscovite hostess, Tatiana.  They were there to help us get from one of the regional train station, Leningradsky, to long transit trains departing from Yaroslavasky. For which we are very very thankful. 

A military band struck up the national anthem and other passengers sung along as we exited the platform. Alicia and Tatiana's smiles greeted us, along with red carnations in celebration of Victory Day. These same carnations decorated our table in the train to Irkutsk.

Outside in the warm air we stopped to see the flyover on their way to the grand stand at the Kremlin. Josh became quite animated and pointed out the new stealth fighters, cargo planes, and migs.  As always it was more impressive with the naked eye. The distance shown in the camera phone is a bit deceiving.

After a quick tour of the outdoor placards which list the departing trains' platforms, we thanked the gals with some coffee and small snacks at a nearby cafe.  Josh and I split some rabbit filled pelmenies and I sampled a regional favorite, berry tea.

We bid good bye to our lovely friends and navigated the crowds to our platform to begin our adventure. We discussed the women's 4 inch stilletos (very common), the few dogs (very uncommon), and the International mix of people at the station.  Overall, 2.5 hours in Moscow without incident. Go us.

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