Shushed

Woke up to the 2nd highest TV tower in the world (next to Toronto's CN Tower) as the Russian capital emerged from the distance. Were met by our guide and briefly hit major spots-- the Orthodox Church of Our Savior, which at one point was demolished to build a freakish city capitol/monument with a giant statue of Lenin, complete with with a heliopad in the palm of his hand. The entire plan was mysteriously scrapped and the church was painstakingly recreated as the symbolic center of the city. The view from Sparrow Hill was a nice (if smoggy) overview. The aesthetically controversial giant statue of Peter the Great at a ship's wheel (head much smaller proportionately than the body). Then there was the Metro -- absoutely unrivaled as a work of art in itself and must be seen to be believed. Here, you are allowed to take photographs, but still not without that Russian-y feeling that you're doing something wrong and that even if you're not, they will find something wrong and a "fine" or threatened trip to the police station will be forthcoming. Andy took a chance on taking video and was told by a group of scary policemen to stop. In St. Petersburg, you were fined about $4 USD for taking ANY pictures in the Metro. A fine which Andy happily paid after being caught there.

The next few days saw all the greatest hits -- St. Basil's Cathedral, The Kremlin/Armory, Red Square and even a creepy visit to see the preserved body of Lenin enshrined in a dark, cold masoleum with lines of russian military and police in sets of 5 surprising you around each corner eerily standing in silence looking at you as provokingly, challengingly, and antagonizingly as humanly possible without words after every turn. They even shushed Sarah as she wondered out loud why she couldn't see the steps in front of her.


We also tried to get closer to hear Pink Floyd playing a concert in Red Square, but it looked like the going price of around 200 Rubles to the police for access to another barricade might not be so great so we were content to hear 'Dark Side of the Moon' trilling from behind three sets of barricades instead of two.

Moscow turned out to be a wonderful though, seemingly more cosmopolitan (and even more "relaxed"!) than St. Petersburg. The food was another story, but as long as you could get bilinis, you were ok.

We did make it to the Sundoyevsky Baths, though. Which would be our introduction to the unforgettable and unmissable Russian experience of the "Banya:" a series of trips back and forth from withering hot saunas to bracingly cold tubs, and yes, the proverbial wooden bucket. Not to mention the healing (read: exfoliating) power of being flogged with soggy juniper branches.

It was a appropriate preparation before boarding the world's longest train route, the "Trans-Siberian" which stretches from Moscow to Vladivostok -- the length of the world's largest country, or about a fourth of the planet. At Irkutsk, we would change to the "Trans-Mongolian" line which turns South through Mongolia and finally ending in Beijing China. Total time with two or three day stopovers in three places along the way: about 15 days and 10,000 kilometers.


We board at 11pm for the first leg: a solid 4-day stint going through European Russia crossing the Ural Mountains into Central Asia (and thus Siberia) to Irkutsk and the world's deepest and oldest lake, Lake Baikal. We also heard there might be a shower aboard.