You'd think my body would be all about the sleep. Alas no. So at 5am, there I was, awake and listening to Moscow come alive again.
My bag had not been delivered overnight and there was still no update from Aeroflot so Mark and I hit the breakfast buffet and oh what a buffet it was! OMG, the coffee was amazing, but so was everything else. I had muesli that reminded me of my childhood, fresh fruit, some sort of cottage cheese bake, smoked fish and a nut pastry that rivaled any Parisian patisserie item. It's true what they say... Moscow IS a foodie city!
Today's plan was that of 'relaxed tourism'. We wandered down to the theater district and bought tickets for the hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus. It was great to sit and be guided around the most famous sites of Moscow - to be wowed by architecture and amazed by it's history.
Somewhere in the middle of the day, it was time to brave the Metro and work our way north of the city to where RealRussia.co.uk had their Moscow office. Our paper copy rail tickets needed to be picked up before the end of the work day today if we wanted to board the Trans-Siberian tomorrow night.
I'm so proud of us!
From the Metro stop I will call Biblioteka, we got rudimentary directions and Metro tickets. "Take the red train to Chesty, change to orange" this old lady said. Ok....
Turns out that "chesty" was Chisty-Prudy, a station on the red line that was connected to Targen-something, a station on the orange line. We had a short but interesting walk underground to change to the orange train going north, then 4 more stops before arriving at Alekseevskaya station - the intended destination. Everything was in Russian. And when I say Russian, I mean they don't even use the same alphabet we are used to, so the connections from verbal directions to google maps are ... non-existent. It was way iffy!
From there, a 10 minute walk through a decidedly more working class neighborhood and we found the RealRussia.co.uk office and our Trans-Siberian train tickets. God bless the internet and the little treasure we found in our Russian travel agent 6 months ago.
We also found a supermarket (well, a market anyway) and had a hilarious time with Google Translate as we scanned labels with our phone cameras and received some very warped direct translations. If Google is correct, then my "just add water" noodle bowl has lots of wife in it and features a meat sauce... presumably wife meat?! Looks like chicken in the picture and if I hold that thought, I feel confident it will probably taste like chicken too. Enough said. We are glad to have found some instant food and snacks to take on the train with us. :-)
It was back to the hotel to safely stow our tickets and food... and to check on the status of the missing suitcase. Guess what? I had a text message from Aeroflot!
"We have found a bag that is similar to yours. Located at the airport. We will text when we have confirmation"
WTF does similar to mine mean? Um... well, it has an extendable handle, wheels and is black according to the now updated tracking website.
What airport you ask? Yeah no, we didnt get the answer to that important question! And as we headed back out to explore more of Moscow, it was becoming abundantly clear that I needed to pick up a few more essentials, unless I wanted to wear that pretty dress and 4" heels all across Siberia!
Mark and I spent the afternoon riding the rest of the sightseeing bus route, stopping to take pictures at the Bolshoi, Red Square, Aleksandrov Gardens more.
Then we found the mall that we now believe dear Maria sent us to yesterday. Way cheaper and much more clothes and shoes to choose from. LOL
On top of the jeans, tights, 1 t-shirt, 1 long sleeved shirt, 2 underwear, 1 bra and 2 socks that I have with me (and have been wearing for 3 days), I am now the proud owner of some more socks, underwear, another bra and another t-shirt. Mark's keen eye spotted a Russian to USA outlet adapter so we bought that too.
Woohoo! In the event my bag or one "similar to mine", never arrives in time, we will board the Trans-Siberian train tomorrow night and I WILL be ok with my limited wardrobe for the next month. The trip has never been about the outfits and as long as I can take photos, charge batteries, journal, stay a bit warm and wash out the clothes I have, I'm sure I will survive.
(I know... I'm wearing the same clothes in all the pictures. If I can get over it, you can too.)
Super grateful for Mark today. He is a trooper. His aching feet and smiley face have been by my side through Metro and mall, despite my bouts of luggage-related irritation and in spite of my well used attire. The question is... Will he still be by my side if I receive a "similar" suitcase to my own tomorrow and end up dressed like an old Russian man, or worse?!
...I just hope the suitcase that arrives has clean clothes in it. If there are pants and they fit, well that's just a bonus!
My bag had not been delivered overnight and there was still no update from Aeroflot so Mark and I hit the breakfast buffet and oh what a buffet it was! OMG, the coffee was amazing, but so was everything else. I had muesli that reminded me of my childhood, fresh fruit, some sort of cottage cheese bake, smoked fish and a nut pastry that rivaled any Parisian patisserie item. It's true what they say... Moscow IS a foodie city!
Today's plan was that of 'relaxed tourism'. We wandered down to the theater district and bought tickets for the hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus. It was great to sit and be guided around the most famous sites of Moscow - to be wowed by architecture and amazed by it's history.
Somewhere in the middle of the day, it was time to brave the Metro and work our way north of the city to where RealRussia.co.uk had their Moscow office. Our paper copy rail tickets needed to be picked up before the end of the work day today if we wanted to board the Trans-Siberian tomorrow night.
I'm so proud of us!
From the Metro stop I will call Biblioteka, we got rudimentary directions and Metro tickets. "Take the red train to Chesty, change to orange" this old lady said. Ok....
Turns out that "chesty" was Chisty-Prudy, a station on the red line that was connected to Targen-something, a station on the orange line. We had a short but interesting walk underground to change to the orange train going north, then 4 more stops before arriving at Alekseevskaya station - the intended destination. Everything was in Russian. And when I say Russian, I mean they don't even use the same alphabet we are used to, so the connections from verbal directions to google maps are ... non-existent. It was way iffy!
From there, a 10 minute walk through a decidedly more working class neighborhood and we found the RealRussia.co.uk office and our Trans-Siberian train tickets. God bless the internet and the little treasure we found in our Russian travel agent 6 months ago.
We also found a supermarket (well, a market anyway) and had a hilarious time with Google Translate as we scanned labels with our phone cameras and received some very warped direct translations. If Google is correct, then my "just add water" noodle bowl has lots of wife in it and features a meat sauce... presumably wife meat?! Looks like chicken in the picture and if I hold that thought, I feel confident it will probably taste like chicken too. Enough said. We are glad to have found some instant food and snacks to take on the train with us. :-)
It was back to the hotel to safely stow our tickets and food... and to check on the status of the missing suitcase. Guess what? I had a text message from Aeroflot!
"We have found a bag that is similar to yours. Located at the airport. We will text when we have confirmation"
WTF does similar to mine mean? Um... well, it has an extendable handle, wheels and is black according to the now updated tracking website.
What airport you ask? Yeah no, we didnt get the answer to that important question! And as we headed back out to explore more of Moscow, it was becoming abundantly clear that I needed to pick up a few more essentials, unless I wanted to wear that pretty dress and 4" heels all across Siberia!
Mark and I spent the afternoon riding the rest of the sightseeing bus route, stopping to take pictures at the Bolshoi, Red Square, Aleksandrov Gardens more.
We also visited the famous Gum department store. Harrods has nothing on this place! It's gorgeous, sells everything and is decorated for fall with real harvest vegetables. Legend/poetry/song (?) has it, that if you lose yourself or others at Gum, you are to meet at the fountain. Mark and I thought this was an excellent plan... until we either failed to find the fountain or really did discover that it's covered in wheat decorations at this time of year. Hmm...
On top of the jeans, tights, 1 t-shirt, 1 long sleeved shirt, 2 underwear, 1 bra and 2 socks that I have with me (and have been wearing for 3 days), I am now the proud owner of some more socks, underwear, another bra and another t-shirt. Mark's keen eye spotted a Russian to USA outlet adapter so we bought that too.
Woohoo! In the event my bag or one "similar to mine", never arrives in time, we will board the Trans-Siberian train tomorrow night and I WILL be ok with my limited wardrobe for the next month. The trip has never been about the outfits and as long as I can take photos, charge batteries, journal, stay a bit warm and wash out the clothes I have, I'm sure I will survive.
(I know... I'm wearing the same clothes in all the pictures. If I can get over it, you can too.)
Super grateful for Mark today. He is a trooper. His aching feet and smiley face have been by my side through Metro and mall, despite my bouts of luggage-related irritation and in spite of my well used attire. The question is... Will he still be by my side if I receive a "similar" suitcase to my own tomorrow and end up dressed like an old Russian man, or worse?!
...I just hope the suitcase that arrives has clean clothes in it. If there are pants and they fit, well that's just a bonus!
No comments:
Post a Comment