3rd class to Москва

While completely lacking of comfort and style, 3rd class--at least in my books--is indeed a necessary element to experience whilst traveling abroad. And so that's exactly what I've done this past weekend, on a short trip to Москва.

Pronounced "mosk-va" in Russian, Moscow is only a short train ride away. We bought our train tickets at the station here (struggling to find the right desk to go to, but found it in time.) Our way to Moscow would be overnight on a sleeper-train, and our way back to St Pete's would be through the day on a regular train. We also reserved two nights at the "Napoleon Hostel" which was a very affordable place to stay, and only a five minutes walk to Red Square! Excluding food, souvenirs, and entrance fees to places, our trip cost less than $100.

Here I am laying on my bed in the train. You can see everything was a brown color in the car. It was also very cramped, with the walk-ways being very small. We were given padding, sheets, a pillow, pillow case, and a blanket. Surprisingly it was pretty darn comfy, although I didn't sleep very well.

Looking down from my bed. There were four beds in one compartment, plus one across from us on the other side of the walk-way.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of our very nice, slightly creepy, and purely Russian bunk mate.

 

Our train arrived in Moscow at 5am. We had a bit of a struggle finding our hostel, and being tired & carrying your luggage around at that time doesn't help! But it's all part of the adventure, and eventually we made it.

 

Napoleon Hostel

All seven of us girls stayed in a 10-bedded dorm. We had new room-mates every night it seemed. Two English men, an Asian guy, and an Asian girl. We didn't talk a lot with them, but when we did they were nice.

 

Our room's "name"...Novosibirsk, a Russian city.

 

My bed in our hostel

 

 

 

Morning #1

Here we are walking to Red Square for the first time. I was very excited!

St. Basil's

 

 

 The Kremlin

Walk-way next to the Kremlin

View of Moscow whilst walking inside the Kremlin

Huge square and cathedrals (which we toured) inside the Kremlin

Walking around and having fun on a cold day!

 

 On the streets

This was a world map, with St Basil's sticking out where "Moscow" is located

Lit up street right next to "G.U.M." -- the largest and most expensive mall in Russia (which we walked around in for a bit)

Red Square lit up at night

Not all soldiers are serious all the time

 

"Izmailovsky" market 

 

Outside restaurant

 

My meal: pork, bread, onions, pickles, & sauce. So good!

 

 

 St Basil's

St Basil's

A steep staircase. Gotta love 'em!

View of Moscow while inside St. Basil's

I loved the walls, ceilings, and low lighting in St Basil's

 

 

 

Signed the guest book in St Basils!

 

 Russian country-side

Views from our train ride home

 

Our 8 hour train ride home--just like the sleeper train--was definitely 3rd class. I had barely any room to move my feet (and having the guy across from me fall asleep, slump in his chair, and take up most of the room didn't help.) I passed my time by reading a book, but I finished it and let me tell you: after that, the trip home seemed to drag on forever! I actually would prefer the sleeper-train to the sitting-train.

 

We barely scratched the surface in our two full days there, but what we did see was great. Here is a list...

 

1. Red Square

2. St Basil's

3. The Kremlin

4. Moscow's metro (much more complicated than St Pete's)

5. Izmailovsky market

6. Lenin's body

7. GUM mall

8. Streets of Moscow

 

Moscow was awesome, and it had a different feeling than St. Pete's. It was a great weekend getaway. But it felt so good to come home to our lovely Saint Petersburg.

 

That's all for now, folks. Hope you enjoyed all of the pictures! This weekend we are going to start planning for our long vacation (where we will travel outside of Russia) in November.

 

Talk to you all soon,

Maegan