Moscow - St. Petersburg - Home! (Vodkatrain part IV)

It's strange now the school has started again and I am still about to finish my story about the vodkatrain. Been home now since the 16th of August already. Tonight I am actually planning to finish it all. After this is finished I will work on making a book-like version of all this and put all the pictures online, since I haven't done that yet. This is mostly due to my lazyness but also because since I got back home I spend a lot of time with people I hadn't seen in a while. Back to the story then. last time I stopped just before arriving in Moscow, so there is where I am going to continue from here on.

On that saterday the 11th of August we finally arrived in Moscow after a full 3-day train trip. Relieved as we where we got out of the train where we were met by our honcho. We were brought to a van that took us to our hostel. The hostel was a bit outside the city centre. Our honcho said the red square is reachable by foot, but it would take about 20 minutes. Our hostel seemed quite good, it was a shared dorm, but boys and girls were separated. We all refreshed before heading for a metro station that would take us near the red square. Actually we first went to a theatre because some people wanted to see a ballet and wanted to get tickets for the next days evening performance. I hadn't decided yet if I wanted to go, but upon arrival I decided to go anyway. It's like Yoko said; when in Moscow, you've got to see a ballet. After purchasing we headed over to the red square. It was still light outside but soon enough night started to kick in. Red square is pretty awesome, just for the fact that it's the red square. The st. basils cathedral is beautiful and looks even better litten up during nighttime. Before entering the red square you see a big red building which serves now as the national museum. In front of it is a big statue of a guy on a horse... I forgot to ask who it is... Everything looks really impressive. Lenin's mausoleum is also located on the red square and looks quite dull. However with the kremlin walls on the background it sort of looks like Lenin is guarded by its immensity and this gives a strong feeling of history and what the kremlin ment for Russia and the former Soviet Union. Speaking of it, the USSR is still vividly appearant in the Russian streetlife. A lot of stands and tourist shops surrounding the red square almost exclusively sell Soviet stuff, and a lot of museums in the city remind people of the not so distant history of the country. However, it is obvious that Soviet times are history since Moscow on first account really is a cosmopolitan city. Especially the neighbourhood surrounding red square breaths capitalism, money and progress: completely something different than the rest we had seen from Russia. I found Moscow quite stunning and I wasn't the only one. That night we didn't do much more. We went to an internet cafe and back to our hostel.

The next day we woke early to go to Lenins mausoleum. Not everybody went though, Helen and Jack didn't want to go. I can understand why, but I still wanted to go for the sake of being able to say afterwards I've seen it. Not the best argument, but that's just how it is. We had to stand in line for an hour and were inside for not even 30 seconds. Lenin was lying there in a black suite lit up by lamps. I had my hands in my pockets but even that was seen as disrespectful because some guard came over asking me to get my hands out of my pockets. We had to keep walking as well, and in no time we were outside again. Lenin looked more like a doll since his body is preserved with the use of wax. Every 18 months he receives a full treatment and every 2 months a minor one. And imagine this, he actually wanted to be buried next to his mother in St. Petersburg... Outside we walked passed graves of significant Soviet leaders including Stalins.
Afterwards we walked through the park of the kremlin towards the entrance of the kremlin. prices to enter where quite outrages. If I remember well it was 250 roubles to enter if you aren't a student (not all of us where) and something like 40 for students. Never seen such a price difference, but so be it. Luckily I had a student card on me so I had the discount price. Afterwards I found out we have to pay seperately for the armoury (a museum within the kremlin which is filled with treasures and such). The armoury was way more expensive even for a student, so I decided not to get in. Steve, Dave and I just went around the kremlin grounds before going out again. We hung around for a bit, had lunch and wandered around the tourist stalls before chill in the park. By that time Dave and I lost Steve since he has the tendency to wonder off without notifying anyone. We rendez-vouz-d with the group in the afternoon and some of us went to see the insides of St. Basils cathedral, as did I. It wasn't as impressive as from the outside but it was worth it anyway. We then proceeded to the theatre for the ballet. The theatre looked nice upon entering, compete with balconies and stuff and I must admit that ballet itself wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it still isn't something I would do again in the near future.

The next day we headed to 'Sparrow Hill' where we could witness the skyline of Moscow to the fullest. However, it's not as spectacular as Hong Kong I'm afraid... Afterwards we to a local market and to a vodkamuseum where we drank vodka with certain added flavours which tasted real nice. Next we went to the Church of Christ the saviour which is a big white church with golden towers. Unfortunately we could not enter because most of us wore shorts which weren't permitted. Afterwards we headed for the park again and ended the day in a local pub.
The next day would mark the last day in Moscow and me, Tash and Dave went to the museum of revolution in the morning. Next we went to a park to chill out for a bit before having lunch and continued to do not to much. It was a relaxing day and not much mentionable happened. The ending of the day wasn't perfect by all means. The thing is that the night before we would depart to St. Petersburg a train was bombed between Moscow and St. Petersburg. It was the exact same train as ours but one night earlier. The Russian authorities assured that all trains would as scheduled that day from 3 pm and we arrived that evening at 0.15 am for the 0.30 am train. At first it was delayed half an hour but this became more and more and eventually we left by approcimately 4 am. It would only be a 7 hour trainride and we were supossed to enter St. Petersburg by 8 am the next day but this was not possible any more. I was hugely dissapointed by this since I already would have one full day in St. Petersburg because of our plane leaving the next day at 12 am. Things got worse however because when we all woke up we were only half way yet and not much later we stopped completely. Nobody knew what was happening or when we would arrive. Every once in a while the train would go again, but only for a short amount of time. During the stops airconditioning would be turned off and the temperature would rise immediatly. Even the train conductor ended up wearing nothing but his jogs. Eventually we arrived at 11 pm that day, a delay of 14 hours and Jamie and I only had 10 hourse left before having to depart for the airport. We then decided to just stay awake and wonder around St. Petersburg by night.

At 11 pm I was already quite tired but I might be in St. Petersburg only this once so I had to make the most out of it anyway. I already thought Moscow was awesome and beautiful, but St. Petersburg is way better in that aspect. Although I have only seen it by night now, I can tell it's like walking through a museums of buildings. The only people on the streets were either drunks or (Chinese) tourists. It was amazing that at 3 am we saw 4 tourbusses stop around the centre square. Having that said St. Petersburg is a city which I would love to visit again. It's a city of palaces, statues and cathedrals of the kind I've never seen before, and as I said it's like walking through a musuem of architecture.

At 8 am that morning we went back to the hostel to pack our stuff and say goodbye to the group. We had such a cool group and it was a pity to leave them and I hope to see them again in the future if I can. If everything goes according to plan I might see Dave soon enough since he says he wants to come to the Netherlands. Steve and I intend to go running from bulls next summer in Pamplona, Spain, and you never know, I might meet some of the others again as well.
That morning of the 16th we left the hostel at 9 am to go to the airport. First we took the subway to a certain stop from which a bus would take us to the airport. The bus was really late and we started to worry, but we reached the airport in time. it was the weirdest airport I've ever seen since all people had to line up in fron of the building to get there bags checked even before entering. Than we had to enter the building to get in line for our check in desk. However, this wasn't our desk yet. First they check a list and if you are on there we could proceed. There our handlugage was checked and finally we could proceed to the desk where a long waiting line was formed. Once we were finally checked in we had to wait in line for customs again. This process is so inefficient, it's unbelievable. But finally we made it through and set off back to home!

We arrived 2 hours and 45 minutes later in Köln where we were awaited by our family. It was good to see everyone again after such a long time. Since I hadn't slept at all for more than 24 hours at that point I felt like I was on drugs or something. My dad saw me and decided to not let me drive... probably a good call. After an hours drive I was back home, and noticed everything was the same as always. Not suprising, but it still felt weird, sort of an anticlimax. I felt like that for a couple of days before it went and over the passed weeks I met almost everybody again I know back here. It's now hard to imagen everything actually happened but writing this took me back a bit and I feel like going on a trip as soon as I can. And I will, because coming January we all have to go on an 25 weeks internship in a foreign country. I am now aiming at a place in New Zealands, Autralia or the Pacific. School has started again and I am in my first week now. Back to normal completely, but my class is cool so I'll manage. This marks the end of my story. It was a good experience and I would love to relive it all again. Unfortunately I can't but I hope to have a similar experience again.

For now,

Thank you, bye bye!