September 22nd : Moscow Day 3

Overnight, a miracle happened.
11:45 pm and the phone rang in our room. We didnt know we HAD a phone until it rang and in the darkness, I stumbled around and found it under Marks stuff on the desk. The receptionist informed me that my luggage had arrived and I got the distinct impression that she needed to me to come and collect it right now. So I did.

The next morning I had the pleasure of choosing what to wear, then we hit that amazing breakfast buffet and checked out. The hotel stored our luggage for the day so we could once again be tourists in Moscow.

It was a spectacularly pleasant day. A tour of Saint Basils Cathedral was first on the list - actually it’s 9 churches melded together, which explains a little bit, the appearance.

Then we bussed, hiked and floundered our way to Gorky Park. Gorky Park is huge and it frequently finds itself on the 10 most wonderful things to do in Moscow, list. We were not discouraged even after overhearing other tourists tell us what a non-event it was and I’m super glad about that in hindsight. The park is amazing… and on a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon, it is filled with Moscovites and their families enjoying picnics, boat rides, games, gardens and kids play equipent. Trails are wide and paved. Flowers are perfectly pruned. People are smiling and laughing. The vibe is… well… excellent! There are almost 12 million people who call Moscow home. It thrilled me to learn that many if not most of them appear to have a firm grip on enjoying the free things in life... they hang with family and friends, eat cotton candy and ice cream, soak up sunshine and stop to smell the flowers. 

Mark and I found a cute little cafe somewhere in the middle and stopped for lunch.

The menu was out of this world, translated to English and featured artistic photography of many of the dishes. We both enjoyed unusual salads, but mine was so good and so interesting that I had to take some notes! I plan to try and recreate it at home and in case you want to, here you go:
Crispy eggplant bites
Cilantro leaves
Mint leaves
Soft mild cheese in little firm dollops
Tomato chunks
Sunflower seeds
All tossed in a sweet chilli sauce

It was served with an Armenian bread and a tomato based dipping sauce - slightly spicy and smokey in flavor.

After lunch we walked along the embankment of the Moscow River and through the Artists Center. 

The plan to tour the Kremlin fell by the wayside as walking in the sunshine become the activity of choice. Rain looked like it was coming… and somewhere around dusk, it arrived. Us and 5000 of our new friends hanging out at Red Square and in front of The Four Seasons Hotel all of a sudden felt big drops. Everyone scattered sooo fast! Mark and I took shelter at the entrance to the Four Seasons just as the heavens opened up and torrential rain and wind battered the city. It was crazy and all the doorman could do to keep the riff-raff out of the hotel lobby! LOL

When it passed, the sun had set and the wet stone pavement of downtown Moscow reflected city life and lights like nothing you can imagine. It was beautiful!

I stopped at a puddle near the Bolshoi and shot this one….

And then these:

Then we headed back to the hotel. Coffee was on order… It was another 3 or so hours before we needed to head out to Yaroslavsky Station and after a long day with lots of walking, caffeine was in order. 

What is it they say about idle hands?

Hanging in the cafe of the Budapest Hotel was our last event in Moscow unless you count the adventure that followed; Getting to Yaroslavsky station.

September 21st: Moscow Day 2

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.

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... 

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!

September 20th: Moscow Day 1

What a debacle!

Our flight, only about an hour late, arrived safely in Moscow around lunch time and we were off. Passport control was easy and friendly and at the arriving baggage conveyor, we relaxed as bags came around about a half dozen every 5 minutes. I think they had just one guy working as a baggage handler today. LOL

Mark's bag was pretty much last off. And mine.... never arrived. The Aeroflot service desk was super nice and the young lady who helped me used all of her English skills and was enthusiastic about it too. I liked her a lot but she couldnt solve the missing suitcase problem despite her best efforts. At some point she tapped on her computer and announced that my bag looked like it was still in NYC. Sweet! The next step was to fill out an "irregular action" report and some preemptive customs paperwork so that Aeroflot could whip it through then hand it off to a courier for delivery to our hotel later. They anticipated it would be arriving around 5:10pm and would deliver that same night.

Ok, so Im no math whiz, but it's an 8 hour flight from NY and it was now 1:30pm. If the suitcase had indeed been traced to JFK, just how was it going to make Moscow by dinner time?
(There is a place and a time to be sarcastic about this, but that place is not Russia if you don't speak Russian and the time was not then... I was too tired.)

Dragging only one suitcase to the curb in search for a taxi was actually going to be easier than 2 anyway.

Outside, we were immediately accosted by a VERY friendly, engaging and funny Russian dude. He assured us he was there to put us in a "genuine taxi" and in about an hour we'd be near Red Square and at our hotel. The Budapest Hotel. It wasn't until he was loading the suitcase into the trunk that he showed us his non-negotiable fare card. Laminated, to prove that's what everyone paid. Hahaha.

4800 Rubles = about $80 US. And about 3600 Rubles to much according to my research.

Out came the bags and we stormed off, the happy-go-lucky taxi dude following 4 feet behind us the whole way and trying to apologize. His price dropping about every 30 seconds. When it hit 1200 Rubles a deal was struck and once again the bags and ourselves were loaded into a taxi. Albeit a less fancy looking taxi.

Our driver was a little crazy but we liked him. He spoke not a word of English and seemed to enjoy lane-splitting, using the off-ramp as a passing lane then diving back onto the highway or riding the shoulder like it was the extra lane built just for us. In all fairness, he got us to the hotel in one piece and still had a smile on his face at arrival. That's a win!

Hotel Budapest is pretty swanky. I guess our travel agent is a keeper too.
Our Junior Suite was not ready on arrival but we were assured it would be in 30 minutes and Maria at the front desk gave us directions to the nearest shopping area so I could buy a dress and shoes for the ballet. Shopping had never been on my list for Moscow, but I had no choice. What stood in front of Maria was a woman who hadn't showered in 2 days, wore leggings and sneakers and sported a bed-head. The Bolshoi has standards and I didn't even come close to meeting them.

Between 3pm and 5:30pm Mark and I hit the local high end mall. Downtown Moscow is akin to Cherry Creek, Denver. I had no business shopping there, but again... had no choice either and at some point I just took out my credit card and walked away with a dress and shoes that would certainly fool anyone into thinking I deserved box seats at the Bolshoi. We followed shopping with a quick bite (stroganoff of course) at a casual bar not far from the hotel and then it was time to shower and get ready to go out again.

You might remember little OCD me printing off duplicate tickets for the ballet? That paid off. The first set was packed in my suitcase, somewhere between NYC and Moscow(?) but the second, was spiral bound in my "itineraries and useful info" book and stashed in my computer case of my carry on bag.

First Dress Circle, Box 2, Seats 3 and 5. Perched on the left and overlooking the orchestral pit with a fab view of the stage, we propped ourselves up against the railing and settled in for the evening. Tchaikovsky wafted up and lights dimmed for each of the scenes set at night - Swan Lake, so that's about half of the show! I knew I should have had caffeine with dinner!!!

In the last 72 hours, I think I was lucky enough to have had almost 8 hours sleep and Mark, a lot less. We had run ourselves ragged and skipped through time zones willy-nilly and now, it was all taking its toll. I only had to blink slowly and I my body started to twitch with the first signs of sleep. Making it through the performance, one of the most beautiful experiences of my life, was tough. But it was nothing short of magical too... every costume was a work of art, every ballerina/swan was in perfect synchronicity and the music was heavenly. We shared our box with a Russian couple who were just as delighted to be there as we were and I couldn't help but remember how fortunate (and just plain lucky) we were to have been awarded these seats as part of the randomness of the universe.

Back at the hotel, there was no sign of my luggage and the Aeroflot website that I could track my delayed baggage case number through, was still saying "baggage is being traced". Perhaps it would be there in the morning, as our chipper service desk gal optimistically suggested.

Trans-Mongolian Railway : Packing already? No, packed already!

Remember when I was packing for the Camino de Santiago? How my pack was 15.5 lb all up and I was finding creative ways to shave 0.1 lb off various things?

Yeah... that's not this trip at all!  LOL

Check it out:

What we have here is the 2-months-out version of me being packed for Russia.

At the top is the day pack. Big enough to comfortably contain a jacket and some sleep wear and spare underwear items- for the two red eye flights. Also some essentials... disinfecting wipes for the icky things that I might encounter, wet ones for me when I get all icky too, headlamp, Chapstick, watch, tiny packable bag, toothbrush, hairbrush and the like, camera, fish-eye lens, headphones, computer, phone and compatible cables. And of course passport, assorted travel docs and info, money, journal and pen.

It's entirely possible that this pack alone is more than I carried on Camino!

Then there are the checked luggage items;

Enough clothes to alleviate any discomfort at my complete and utter lack of knowledge regarding availability and regularity of laundry facilities on this trip. Of course I expect there to be ample opportunities to wash, but honestly if it came down to a choice between doing laundry and seeing Red Square or Lake Baikal or hiking up a dune in the Gobi Desert, I'm not going to pick laundry - I'd rather wear smelly clothes!

The main suitcase therefore contains 4 t-shirts and 4 long-sleeved tops, 3 pairs of pants and some yoga tights, a weeks worth of underwear, 2 sweatshirts, down jacket and vest, rain jacket. I threw in a skort too... but will probably take it out again soon. Miscellaneous items include buff, hat, gloves, waterproof pants and a travel towel. Sometimes I think I will take out the gloves and hat... I'm on the fence still.

Shoes: Sneaker of course. There are many days of sightseeing ahead and if I'm not taking care of my feet, then who is? They will be paired with merino socks at all times. I'm packing a pair of slip on black flats too, for... I dunno, going out for dinner or those days I need to recapture a little girlish charm. And last but not least some black patent heels to rock the Bolshoi for Swan Lake ballet in Moscow. I'll break out my little black dress and crimson cashmere wrap for that occasion if nothing else.

You might be surprised to learn that all this fits into a carry-on sized suitcase.  The plan is that we'll be checking it all the way through from Denver to Moscow so we don't need to collect it at JFK and tow it around Manhattan all day.

So that's it. I'm super excited for our trip that begins September 18th.

I'm hoping to have practiced blogging a little more from this here new Chromebook so to have the picture editing, saving and inserting, done to an art by then. It might be the one skill I really use during our month away, since my the plan is really to unplug from this life and fully engage in the life of a tourist, adventurer and traveler... and keep a diary the whole way.