Day 8 - Moscow Morning and the beginning of the Trans Siberian

Got up early to make up for lost time yesterday but also to allow time in the morning to get some accommodation sorted for the next part of my journey in Siberia and Mongolia. Being without internet for a few days will be strange but also refreshing I would expect.

I decided to head back to the Red Square and take it from there. I ended up walking along the main shopping streets with very expensive boutique shops of all kinds of brands. What I found surprising is that some even have their own cafes, like 'Versace Cafe' or 'Emporio Armani Cafe'. Guess anything to feel special and brand loyal even when stopping for coffee.

Despite setting off earlier to have time for photography, I was mostly walking around taking in the city but not many pictures. Maybe I should have gone to a different part of the city or planned things better but I thought that I got the pictures I wanted yesterday. Sometimes it's also nice to just take in a place without having to see it via an LCD screen.

Before heading to Yaroslavskiy station to get train number 2 to Irkutsk,  had brunch at the same place I had lunch yesterday. It is cheap and has nice sandwiches, pies, coffee and very nice fresh smoothies. In case you're interested its called 'Ludi kak ludi' and it's worth a stop for a quick bite.

Heading to the station, it started to dawn on me that this will not be just a overnight train journey but one lasting 3 days. I kind of hoped my travel companions would at least speak enough English to have a chat or maybe some other tourists but I ended up sharing the compartment with a Russian family not speaking any English and neither did the attendants. This promised to be a fun experience as I could only half get what the attendant was saying with respect to the food and other things but this is after all the fun and interesting part of travel in foreign countries.

When you are reading this, I will have completed this journey so will probably know the answer to the question. Right now however as I am typing this, while having a beer in the restaurant car, I am curious how I will spend all the time in the train. It might mean you will have a lot of text to read, assuming people not only look at the pictures. ;)

This train is not quite as luxurious as the 'Red Arrow' but quite clean and comfortable overall. There are other trains going the same route but they don't seem quite as nice from my brief impressions at the station.

Finishing my GR review will certainly be one thing to do as will be writing more about my travel, preparations for it and how my equipment is holding up and has served me so far. I have to apologize to the people coming here for the pictures if there will be more text than usual in the coming days (or by now days past).

Despite my reservations about taking pictures through train windows, it is at times the only option to capture the passing landscape. Here the TAv mode on tbe GR works great as it allows me to set a fast enough shutter speed and low aperture to get enough in focus. You can see my results in this post and in the next posts.

Day 7 - Moscow

After a nice and relaxing train journey in the 'Red Arrow', I arrived in Moscow earlier than I remembered so it was a nice surprise. Little did I know that this would not rally give me extra time in Moscow.

After making my way to the hotel via the pretty cool metro, the fun started. The hotel did not bother to put up any signs on the building, doors or anywhere else so that one can actually find it. After spending half an hour looking for the right entrance, after finding the building hidden away from the street, I got fed up and tried to call but nobody picked up. Since it was hot and I was carrying my bag, I decided to do what I always do, go and get a coffee/drink somewhere and give things time to fall into place.

Just while enjoying a nice Ice Coffee, I got a call back from the hotel offering to meet me in front of the building or coffee shop. After finishing my coffee I did indeed find the person leading me to the unmarked black door to what was more a b&b, where I would spend the night. Given the crazy prices for hotels in Moscow, I was not really surprised with this being more b&b style but it will do the job and was cheap. They can certainly do with a sign though to avoid pissing people off.

After the delays in the morning, I set out to pick up my train ticket for Irkutsk first and then after having some lunch, I could finally set out to do some sightseeing and take photos.

It was a beautiful, sunny and warm day in Moscow, too warm and too sunny for photography almost. My fist impression of Moscow, already in the morning, was that it just feels big and very busy. The good thing is that most of the must see sights are all located almost next to each other and the hotel is very close to all.

As usual, I have done a lot of walking and managed to see again everything and more than I wanted, despite the late start. While I am quite happy with this way of exploring a city, my feet are not always the same opinion, despite wearing comfortable shoes. At least after today, I will have 3 days of putting my feet up on the trans Siberian train to Irkutsk.

Unfortunately, my timing for arriving in Moscow is not ideal as the Red Square is full of scaffolding for some upcoming marching band or similar event. This made taking pictures there less pleasant but afforded me some different type of photos.

Seeing how the lights in the evening transformed St. Petersburg, I had high hopes for the buildings around the Red Square but was a bit disappointed to see that they simply turn a big spotlight on each building so it's not overly impressive.

Today's post is only about Moscow since I did not take any photos in the train this morning and by the time I got up the train was near Moscow anyway. Tomorrow morning, I will have some more time here before taking the 13:50 train to Irkutsk. This means there will not be any more posts for the next 3-4 days since I doubt the train has wifi. This should give me some time to catch up with my (neglected) Ricoh GR review.