Moscow, the heart of the Bear (Part 1, because Moscow is huge)

     Regular announcements over the loudspeakers, announcing the arrival and departure of trains from Saint Petersburg's Московский Вокзал (Moscovskii Vokzal/Moscow Train station), filled the air. Augmenting them were the sounds of hundreds of people hurrying to and fro. Restaurants, cafés, bars, and shops with souvenirs, books, and anything else you could want, lined the path to the platforms where the trains sat, ready to bear their passengers away on journeys across Russia.

Here ya go, the central hall of the train station. The statue
in the middle in of Peter the Great. That was our meeting point.

    This was the atmosphere in which I found myself the night of November 3rd (Thursday). It was at once exciting and frightening. The amount of people at once put me into "caution mode" as I clung tightly onto my things. I had packed light: one backpack, a coat, hat, gloves, a sweater, the clothes on my back. This made it easier to keep track of my things. But I was still sure to not let anything out of my sight for too long, if at all.

   This isn't to say that people aren't trustworthy, but in any place like this (anywhere in the world), you don't want to leave your stuff unattended. Either thieves or security personnel might get the wrong idea. But, that has little to do with the story.

Some of our group awaiting the call to board. Plus a few
Russians wondering why I'm taking a picture in their direction.

    I wandered around the hall, exploring some souvenir shops and an electronics store. Interesting items in each, but nothing to buy. One by one, everyone arrived at our meeting spot and we received boarding information, maps of Moscow, and the final version of the itinerary for the trip. Everyone was full of exciting for the trip (especially those who had not yet been to Moscow). Pretty soon, 11 o'clock came around (the time for boarding). We headed to the platform. It was at this moment that I remembered that train platforms are usually outside. Usually this would not be a problem, but as it was really warm in the hall, I had taken my coat and sweater off. So I marched onto the platform sporting my khakis and a t-shirt, coat and sweater in my arms. It was rather chilly. As we approached our wagon, I realized that we'd be waiting outside until being able to board. I stopped and put on the sweater and coat. Best not to be sick in Moscow.

   I snapped a few picks, chatted with some peeps, and decided to make the time on the platform educational by asking for a translation/interpretation of Russian train tickets. I was shown the one we used for our trip and learned the proper method of reading the ticket so as not to get lost or board the wrong train. This came in handy on the return trip (as I will explain later), and I plan to keep the information handy for future travels on the Russian rail system.

The hallway (as if you didn't know that
already...)

   The time to board arrived and we were given our room assignments. I'll give a brief description of the way cross-country Russian trains work. So, you have three options (most of the time) when traveling on a train over long distances in Russia. From most expensive to least, they are: люкс (lookc/luxury), купе (koopay/compartments), плацкарт (platzkart/open compartments). So, as люкс suggests, this is top notch service. You stay in the same type of compartment as a passenger in купе but you get served meals and beverages during the trip. The купе option is the luxury without the meals. And плацкарт is the cheapest of the three options. In this area of the train, you will find a set up similar to the купе or compartment, but there are not walls enclosing the compartment, so you have a small space with the other passengers in your area, but they other passengers in плацкарт are next to you and there isn't anything to seal off for privacy.

Inside the compartment.

   It was four to a compartment for us. I got my room assignment and headed into the train. I settled in with my compartment mates and set about getting my things stashed out of the way of the door. There wasn't a lot of room in the compartment, but it was very nice. That was definitely the nicest train I've ever been on. I told this to our program director and he said that the trains can go down from here as far as interior quality goes....noted for future reference. I climbed into my bed (I was on the top bunk) and was surprised at how comfortable it was. As I sat up top observing the commotion below as my compartment mates unpacked their things, I opened up the car package my host mom had given me. Chocolate, two things of yogurt, and a package of печение (pecheniye/cookies) plus some Cheezits from my real mom (thanks mom!). I began to feast, sharing the chocolate, but devouring the rest. I decided that my task for the night would be to memorize the words to "Подмосковные Вечера" (Moscow Nights).

Ready for bed!

    It was after 11 PM and we were due to arrive in Moscow around 6:30 PM so we should have gone straight to bed.....not. Everyone was too excited to sleep so we settled into friendly conversation. We talked about travel around Russia and around the world and after awhile, some people from another compartment joined us. In true купе fashion, everyone seated themselves on the coaches that would later turn into the beds for the two people sleeping on the bottom bunks. It was cramped, but it was fun! We chatted into the wee hours of the morning until we all realized that sleep would probably be a good idea. So I climbed up (or rather half climbed, half threw myself) into my bed and settled into a restful sleep....

Moscow. Early.

    My restful sleep was disturbed by a combination of my alarm going off followed by one big knock on the door. The knock was from the train attendant signaling that we'd be arriving soon at the train station in Moscow. I woke up and started packing my things. My cabin mates were still snoozing. Soon, our assistant program manager came around to tell us that we had 5 minutes to get off the train. This was a bit of a surprise to everyone, because we thought we'd have a bit more time. So, it was a flight of the bubble bee "Welcome to Moscow!"
I gathered my things and headed off the train onto the platform. I stopped and looked around and jokingly (but also quite seriously) asked if we were still in St. Petersburg. The platform looked the same and (I kid you not) the same advertisements hung from the roof....It was weird. I was reassured that we were indeed in Moscow. The sight of quite a few policemen all gathered around the entrance to the station helped put down my skepticism (It's something you wouldn't really see in Piter). But then, as we entered into the main hall of the station, I paused again to make sure that we weren't still in Piter. The station looked exactly like the one in St. Petersburg, except that Peter the Great's statue was replaced by Lenin's.

    We left the station (it was dark still) and headed underground into the Moscow metro....Before I continue, I need you to get a grasp of the scale of the Moscow metro.

Please click here for a map of the St. Petersburg metro.

Now click here for a map of Moscow's monster (I mean metro).

You get the idea.

We headed into the that and stuck together closely. Nobody was lost on the way to our hostel. I'm going to end this post here now, but to prove that we did make it to the hostel, I give you this:

The hostel. "Godzillas"

The street outside the hostel.