Russia trip- Day 2 'Sleep is for the weak!'

Change of plans was one of the most frequently heard statements on this trip. Instead of showers in Moscow, we decided to drop our things at the train station and make a mad rush around Moscow to stay awake until the train left that night. Our first real experience with Moscow was packed in a van making our way through the city with LOTS of luggage. It was hot and I slept through most of it. The parking lot smelled horrible and the train station itself was not much better. Luggage was dropped off in a hallway that Janet would have described as "sketchy". Bathroom stop and we're off, right? Umm almost. Finding our way to the bathroom, Marc mentions that it will probably require us to pay someone and they won't make change so we start digging for small amounts. Once we realize there really isn't enough small $ to go around, we decide to wait it out and let the guys go. Really... I think the Lord was looking after us! Once the guys described the conditions of the train station bathroom, we were immensely thankful that we didn't try it out.





St Basil's Cathedral was beautiful. I keep looking at the pictures I took and thinking it looks almost fake, it's so pretty. Something out of DisneyWorld, you know? Lunch was actually more like dinner and we didn't realize at the time that most of our days would be like this. We tried Sbarro and Janet and I decided to order & pay without Marc translating. The cashier was more than a little impatient and Janet finally had to resort to holding out a handful of rubles and letting her pick out the right amount.
After lunch (which was really dinner) we headed back to the train station to rescue our luggage and find our train. Janet wisely grabbed everyone a bottle of water or sprite. We didn't realize until later how much we would need those. By this time, I was pretty much just putting one foot in front of the other without realizing what was being said or done. I’m reasonably sure people spoke to me but all I heard was noise like something out of a Peanuts cartoon. I couldn’t concentrate and my head felt like it was ready to burst. I don’t know how long I managed to stay awake on the train. Pretty much all I remember was getting on, changing in to train clothes and climbing on the top bunk. I fell asleep on top of a stack of clean linens for my bed clutching a battery operated fan. I think that was one of the worst moments of the trip for me. I was just so far gone that I couldn’t think straight.

Waiting to board the train


Janet taking a picture of me taking her picture