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I slept very well last night. Either I am getting used to it or the Russian bogies/railway tracks are much more comfortable. Because I had put my watch forward one hour yesterday it was late by the time I got up. Particularly as I had to then put it forward yet another hour to match Moscow time this morning. It would seem that nearly every day I have to change the time on my watch. Even more so once I am on the Trans Siberian train.
The morning went by just as quickly as yesterday. Then at 11.49 a.m. the train pulled into Moscow station only two minutes late. The journey had been a lot less painful than I thought it might have been, even with the food problems. At least I have learned some lessons for next time. Even though I know the Trans Siberian has a restaurant car I will still take some food along.
Unlike Koln, I didn’t have to find any accommodation as I had already booked homestay along with a “transfer”. At the front of the train was a chap called Sergey who held up a piece of paper with my name on it. He is the Moscow representative for the travel agents with whom I had booked my train tickets. As he escorted me to the flat where I was to stay I felt really relieved that I wasn’t doing this on my own. The Russian alphabet is completely different to our own and I wouldn’t know where to start when it comes to pronouncing the place names or even recognizing them at a later date.
Sergey took me on the Metro for part of the way, doing his best to explain to me how it worked. People have to buy a token for their journey now because the prices are going up every week. My guidebook said it would cost about 15 kopecks for a ride (100 kopecks = 1 rouble). That was printed two years ago when one pound got you 50 roubles. Now the ride on the metro cost a staggering 10 roubles and one dollar is worth 1000 roubles! So you can see it is very cheap. Sergey says I have come at the right time, as a lot of things will go up by 200% from 1st September including the Trans Siberian. Then all the notes less than 100 roubles will become worthless. Already you cannot buy anything with the kopeck coins, let alone 1 rouble coin.
The Metro was very busy on the platforms but not so crowded in the trains due to the frequency. We had to change after one stop and then go five stops on a new line. They are not colour coded like in London and also if there is an intersection each station then has a different name. Another thing I noticed was that the escalators go much faster here.
The apartment where I am staying is in the northeast of Moscow. It took us about 15 minutes to reach the nearest Metro Station and then a further five minutes to walk to the flat. Sergey wrote down for me the Russian names for the local Metro, Tshukinskaya, and the street I was staying, Novikov Street. He wrote it in Russina letters too.
At the apartment Sergey went through everything for me. He first gave me my tickets for the Trans Siberian and then on a Metro map he explained how to get to the right station on Thursday. He also gave me a map of central Moscow marking places I might want to see tomorrow. He seemed confident enough that I would find my way around. But, I’m not so sure.
The situation with the apartment is that it belongs to a friend of Sergey’s. He was out at work when we arrived. His name is pronounced Sarsha. I have a room to myself. I can use all the facilities and even help myself to the food. So, the first thing I did was to have a bite to eat and then I did my laundry. It is a good idea to do this whenever an opportunity presents itself. I then decided to go off exploring while I waited for Sarsha to come home. I will now do my best to give my first impressions of the Russians and this area.
There are no shops in the normal sense, which we would recognize in England. The shop buildings are pretty nondescript and as there are no window displays it is not always obvious what is being sold. I ventured inside a few. In appearance they look a bit like a jumble sale though must of the items are behind the counter and there isn’t much variety. This doesn’t mean that the goods are at all shoddy, it is just that there aren’t much of them.
Outside these shops there is more activity at a number of market stalls. My first impression was that of a car boot sale. Some of them sold fruit and vegetables and others clothes and other items. Most of the latter were new items. However, quite a few people were selling secondhand merchandise. I saw some people just standing around holding up a packet of cigarettes, others a bottle of alcohol or even electrical items. So it would seem that anyone could come here and sell what they like.
The majority of the people around here dress in Western style clothes – so I don’t really stand out. Jeans seem to be quite popular. A lot of the children wear baseball hats with “USA” printed on them. Other foreign influences can be seen in the music tapes being sold. Most of them are familiar to me. Also, Pepsi and Cocoa Cola cans.
It is difficult to give you a price comparison. Some things do seem to be cheap but others much the same as us. Can drinks are 450 roubles, Mars Bar 300 roubles, cigarettes 1000 roubles. The only long queues I have seen were for eggs and bread.
Though the standard of living seems to be much lower, it is not always obvious by the way they dress. Particularly the younger ones. Some of the apartment blocks around here look a bit battered but it is pleasant enough with plenty of open spaces and trees in-between.
Back at the flat, Sarsha had come home from work. Unfortunately, he doesn’t speak any English. But through sign language and a Russian/English dictionary we managed to get by. From what I could gather, he is 37 years old and he is an electrician. His wife is living in St. Petersburg at the moment. With great pride he showed me his coin and medal collection. He then played chess with me, which he won both times.
Our evening meal consisted of fried beef pieces and sliced potatoes. This was washed down with quite a few glasses of Vodka. On the subject of drinks, Sergey told me how strange it is for Westerners to have milk with their tea. Milk is a drink only for children. What they do is pour half a cup of either hot or cold tea into a mug and then it is filled up with boiling water. They then sweeten it. It is actually quite pleasant.
Tomorrow I will attempt to explore Moscow City center. That is if I can work out the metro system and then find my way around.
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