Russia & Trans Siberian/Mongolian

So, it seems we have been slack in our blog posts so far... thank you Mrs Hereshoff for that comment! I think we have an excuse though. We arrived this afternoon in Beijing, after being on the train for 6 days. Couldn't exactly pick up wireless internet while we were cruising along through the wilds of Russia, Siberia, Mongolia and China! Not to say we didn't try though....

Our arrival in China has come after spending three days in St Petersburg, 3 days in Moscow and 6 on the train. Russia was definitely interesting to say the least. St Petersburg was freezing and it seems like we didn't choose the best time of year to be there. Not only was it freezing, but we weren't quite close enough to summertime. All the trees were still very bare, so the city didn't seem to be all that pretty. We tried to visit the Summer Garden, apparently St Petersburg's prettiest park. That didn't work though, as it was closed for drying! All we could do was look through the fence at bare, brown trees and dirt. The old buildings of St Petersburg kept us busy for the majority of our time there. We spent a fair few hours wandering around the Hermitage, a pretty impressive museum. Although the Winter Palace of Peter the Great was a complete waste of time and money. It took all of 5 minutes to get in and out again. The only positive was that we somehow managed to talk them into giving us two student tickets, even though we have no student cards between us. Students get in for free so it wasn't a complete waste of 5 minutes! We also did a river/canal cruise, which was a nice way to spend an hour and see the city. The non stop commentary was totally in Russian, so we learnt nothing about what we saw. But it was nice to rest the legs for a little while. Overall, St Petersburg was a little underwhelming. Not as good as expected....

And so it was on to Moscow. We caught an overnight train, it took about 8 hours. Our carriage mate was a nice Russian girl, we helped her practice her English. We arrived at 6am and promptly spent at least half an hour wandering around in circles looking for the metro. We seemed to have many troubles finding a giant big M.... I can only say that we were all very tired at the point. It was early and our bags were heavy! At last we found it and were on our way again. Hostel reached, we dumped our bags and headed off into the big city of Moscow. I was a little apprehensive, having heard all kinds of stories about the people being grumpy and the police picking on tourists. But our stay there was a pleasant surprise. It was very warm and sunny, and the parks weren't closed for drying! Day one was spent on the usual tourist trail, Red Square, St Basil's (smaller than I imagined it to be), around the Kremlin, the Bolshoi Theatre. We did a little shopping from the markets near Red Square and than had a little sleep in the park. Well, Katherine slept anyway. Day two was spent meandering around in the Kremlin.....endless cathedrals, they all looked the same after a few hours. Afternoon we wandered through the old part of Moscow, stopping on the way back to the hostel for our first bottle of genuine Russian vodka. First bottle did not last very long and was swiftly followed by the second... Day 3 involved more walking, lots of Pelmeni and preparation for the epic train trip soon to come.

At 9.30pm, after numerous failed attempts to buy more vodka (seems it's not sold at train stations, a valuable lesson learnt) we set off for Beijing. Our cabin was a four person berth, a very cosy little home for the next 6 nights. We thought the train was going to be very busy, but there was only 5 of us in our carriage. We quickly made friends with Peter, from London, and played our first (of many) card games with a wee bottle of vodka....also the first of many. Throughout the majority of Russia, the scenery was pretty much the same. Lots of silver birch trees and lots of grass. We passed the time by playing cards, travel Scrabble, reading lots of books and meeting many interesting people from all corners of the world. At each stop we would hop off, stretch our legs and stock up on more food. There were generally locals at every stop, selling all kinds of food and bits and pieces. It was easier to buy food on the station as it was cheaper than the dining car and it was generally pretty tasty and fresh. Most nights on the train were pretty sleepless. We crossed 7 time zones during the trip, so half the time we never even knew what time it was. The last two nights were super long as they were spent crossing borders and going through customs. From Russia to Mongolia it took 5 hours on the Russian side, than another two on the Mongolian side. A similar amount of time was spent crossing from Mongolia to China. And so we arrived in Beijing today, tired, dirty and very pleased to be here. The train was an amazing experience, we saw some beautiful scenery, ate interesting food and met many great people who we look forward to catching up with here in Beijing or elsewhere. But it was very, very nice to get off and be able to shower and sleep in a normal size bed. So it's off to sleep for tonight and tomorrow more exciting stuff to do. We'll keep you updated.......

Two Kats and a Nat :)