physikality: March 2012

Moscow is about 9 hours train ride from Saint Petersburg, if you are taking the cheapest and oldest trains available from the railway company. You take the train from the Moskovsky train station where you need to validate your online pre-booked ticket. If you really have an online pre-booked ticket, you would not have a seat number and would have to wait outside the train wagon for someone to tell the conductor that you are a valid passenger. This is what happened to me. The Russian train has many conductors and they are in charge of at least one wagon.

After the long journey by train which I should have bought sleeping berths, the train stopped at the Leningradsky train station. Coincidentally, the nearest Metro station is directly connected to the Fruzenskaya station which my first Moscow couch host is staying at. It was easy to just get on the train and get off at the right station. After a few days in Russia, I have started to be able to read and pick out Russia words which was really helpful when listening to the Metro announcements.

I got a bit lost after exiting the Metro station. After running around for a while, I found the right way to the couch host's apartment. We had some pizza for dinner. Alex, the couch host was mulling over where to go for vacation and contemplated China. As I was learning some basic Russian, we had a google-translate session of him reading out Chinese characters with Russian phonetics. It was really an amusing night. There were quite a few transliterated phrases which I had no idea what he was saying. He did teach me a lot of Russian words in exchange, most of them I have forgotten (no worries! I have a English-Russian phrasebook!)

The next day, I went around Moscow to check out some tourist sites like the Peter the Great statue on the river, the red square, St Basil's cathedral, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Gorky Park. Of course, since I am also a gastronomic-traveler, I sampled some of the daily cuisines enjoyed by the local populace, namely pancakes, buckwheat (there is a name, I forgot what. Someone please help) and kvass in Теремок, a popular fast food chain in Russia.

The second day, I went to visit the inside of the Kremlin area, but only the Armory. The Kremlin itself is closed probably due to the upcoming presidential elections. It was really a pity since It is a major part of the fortress that I wanted to see. In addition to that, I went inside the State Historical Museum. I forgot to mention that if you bring your student card, you enjoy massive savings on all entrance fees to these state sponsored museums and galleries.

In the evening, I went to visit Я́ндекс, the company in which Alex works in. They had a English speaking club which I participated as a guest and we shared a lot of interesting stories of living in Moscow.

You can see the space shuttle Buran across the river.

Statue of Peter the Great navigating a small boat.

The busy streets of Moscow.

I love cats.

Statue of Lenin on the grounds of the State Library.

Outside the fortress near the red square.

The street outside the fortress. Lots of Russian tourists here, disappointed ones as the Kremlin was close probably due to the upcoming presidential elections.

Buckwheat and Kvass for lunch.

There is a three level shopping centre right below these glass domes.

Medan is not in Borneo.

The Russian State Museum.

Ice skating on the red square.

World famous St Basil's cathedral

Pancakes and fish roe for tea break.

The weather got misty and rainy at that moment. Coupled with ice on the river, you might think that its a very cold day, which is quite bearable actually since there is no wind.