The Mission: Two train tickets to St. Petersburg

A short diversion before I continue the photo-accompanied daily recaps (I’ll document a couple Darrenisms to compensate for this photo-free post)…

On Monday, Kristin and I went to work. Kristin began her three day conference and I went to work on procuring train tickets for us to St. Petersburg. I clearly had the shorter and presumably easier (at least if I spoke Russian) job. We’d planned to purchase the train tickets before the trip, but I was unthrilled with the travel agency’s attempts to tie my visa support to the tickets (from which waytorussia.net liberated me), and then we were told by another agency that “all tickets on all classes of all trains are sold out” (which made me question burning bridges with the first agency…apparently I am not at my most cordial when I get up a 4am to have an email exchange during Russian work hours), so we were left to try our luck purchasing tickets in country.

I was well prepared. Joe let us copy his train tickets and I wrote out a note asking for two more tickets exactly like his, which the front desk crew was kind enough to translate and transcribe for me into Cyrillic (so what if you have to iron in the maid’s quarters with a friendly staff like that!). I followed Joe’s map to the Kaccas (ticket windows) in the Belaruskaya train station and was feeling pretty good as I handed first the note, then the tickets, and then a copy of each of our passports to the ticket woman. Everything was going so smoothly in fact that I felt emboldened to try to confirm that the tickets were first-class “spalny vagon” tickets with only two beds in a cabin. It worked. Not only did she understand my request (well, on my third pronunciation of “spalny vagon”) but I understood her confused question “vamistya?” (together with? if I remembered the lessons correctly) and was able to explain that yes Kristin and I would be “vamistya” in a two-person car but not “vamistya” Joe obviously. This was too easy!

And it was. After some clicks on the keyboard, her face registered there was a problem and she began explaining the situation to me. Shortly, it was clear I had no idea what she was saying (I got lucky with “vamistya”) and I sheepishly asked if she spoke English (at least I asked in Russian). She didn’t. This was going to be fun. In a mix of English, Russian and charades, I found out “this train no spalny vagon”. Joe’s first-class tickets weren’t as classy as he’d thought. Kristin and I really wanted to get the best night’s sleep possible on the leg of the train to St. Petersburg since we’d be busy touristing all day. To us this meant avoiding sharing a cabin with some of the boisterous vodka-fueled cabin-mates we’d read about before the trip (on the way back to Moscow we had no such qualms and had planned to get third-class platzkart tickets before we found they actually were sold out). I got across that I wanted to consider other trains that did have “spalny vagon” cars. She understood and spun her screen towards me. My consideration didn’t last long as all of those tickets were 25% more for one way than the round-trip tickets I was trying to buy. The ticket woman solved the problem by showing me the beds available on Joe’s train and pointing out that Kristin and I could travel in the same cabin “vamistya” Joe. Sold. We’d only have one stranger with us. One Russian couldn’t be that loud… right?

She went on to purchasing the return trip. Click, click, concerned face. We knew each other well enough now that I got a single word and a hand gesture instead of a string of Russian. I didn’t know the word but the gesture said “higher”. I guess the price had gone up since Sunday. She spun the screen to show me the new fee. God bless the Russians for using the same Arabic numerals that we use because although I couldn’t read much on her screen, I could see the new higher price and more importantly I could see what I was pretty sure was the date. 25.05. May 25^th. Not April 25^th. Now that would be a problem. Of course seeing this issue and conveying it to my charades partner were two very different things. I tried the most direct route of contorting my arm through the hole in the ticket window and pointing to the error. My Go-Go-Gadget finger wasn’t working though and I came up a couple feet short. Thankfully we had a good rapport by this point and she didn’t feel threatened by me reaching through the window at her (in hindsight that could have been a bad idea). What followed was a string of me saying “four” or pointing and saying “not four” (I couldn’t remember “five” in Russian). The problem was she took this to mean I didn’t want four people in my cabin! This was not going well. I smiled apologetically at the growing line of Russians behind me… and proceeded to spend the next five minutes looping through the number for four, the hand signal for five, and the arm signal for I-want-to-point-to-something-on-your-screen- but-can’t-twist-my-arm-through-your-window. Then I remembered the word “Date” in Russian was something like “Datee” (only afterwards did I learn that April and May are equally close cognates in Russian and English!). I tried that. Success! She fixed the date of the request and viola, the price matched Joe’s ticket once again. As I learned throughout the trip, the tourist season starts in May and therefore a May ticket is more expensive than an April one.

I purchased the tickets with the cash I’d brought (6,600 Rubles or about $280 total for the two round-trip second-class tickets). Like the rest of my experience in Moscow, they didn’t take credit cards. Tickets in hand I spent five minutes next to the counter matching every single name and number between our tickets and Joe’s until I was convinced that we had the right tickets (or that they were at least as right as Joe’s). Of course you’ll have to read the future entries to find out if the tickets actually got us to St. Petersburg and back… or if we wound up getting a tour of all those Russian territories I only know from playing Risk (Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Kamchatka anyone?)

<-- Day 2 ---- Days 3 and 4 -->

Russia Recap: Day 2

Sunday April 20th

Sunday was Kristin’s only full day (as a tourist) in Moscow. As such, we had a rigorous sight-seeing schedule to cover it all. Not that I’m a demanding travel partner or anything… :-p Thankfully, like the National Mall here in D.C., Moscow has all of their top attractions packaged in one convenient spot. In Moscow that’s The Kremlin and Red Square (which lives directly outside the Kremlin’s east wall).

After the President Hotel’s bountiful breakfast buffet, our first stop was Red Square, or as the language courses taught us Krasnaya Ploshad, which frankly was pronounced in the lectures as “Krasnaya bullshit” (I’m sorry, it sounded exactly like that to both of us). Needless to say we got some laughs out of standing in Red Square and telling each other Krasnaya Ploshad izdees (Red Square is here!). It’s here that Lenin lays embalmed waiting to greet us. He gets tired though so he’s only available between 10am and 1pm, and on Monday and Friday he’s out of the office altogether (it’s my understanding that’s when they wipe him down and touch him up). Apparently there is usually a horrendous line and we were nearly suckered into hiring a tour guide who supposedly could get us right to the front of the line. As it turned out the line was only about 10 minutes (on a rainy April day at least) and we actually were in line next to two guys who had been on the vodka tour with us the night before (perhaps they were actually hired to follow us… or we were hired to follow them). At any rate Lenin is looking pretty good; embalmed, but not as fake as some writings implied. There’s no talking (to him or anyone else) and they move you through pretty quickly so it’s only about a 15 second experience. He’s free so at least it’s a good value.

Next stop was the Armoury, which is essentially a history museum inside the Kremlin. You can’t enter or exit the Kremlin from the east side so we had to walk all the way around the Kremlin, past the tomb of the unknown soldier, an old looking section of wall, and the Alexandrovsky Gardens (which like most things in Moscow will probably look much better… and be much more crowded… next month). “April renovations bring May tourists” was a common theme throughout the trip, as you’ll see. But the Armoury was open and we made our noon timeslot (although Kristin was forced to forage for nourishment since I wouldn’t stop for lunch—she ended up with a ketchup-soaked hot dog that was none too appetizing). Like the rest of Russia, there was very little English in the museum, but you go through the gift shop on the way in (and out) and they sell an English book on the Armoury for about $8 (and they actually take credit cards!), so I recommend buying that as a guide and souvenir. Some of the more exciting items here were the actual throne where Peter and Ivan were anointed co-tsars, along with the crowns they wore (all of which was shown in the Peter the Great miniseries that planted the seed in high school for me to eventually take this trip). The Faberge eggs and Elizabeth’s 23 horse carriage also made this one of the highlights of the trip. When you go, explore the room of outfits worn by the clergy and look for the one which we swore was decorated with South Park-style people (sadly this one is missing from the Armoury guidebook). Maybe it really is from the South Park folks and they have it there like we have the Colbert painting at our National Portrait Gallery.

The rest of the time in The Kremlin was spent dodging the rain, ducking from one cathedral to another (half of which wound up being closed). Everytime we entered a building we hoped when we left the rain would have stopped... it was always raining harder. We did come across the impressive Tsar Bell (largest in the world), but failed to find a way to exit the Kremlin out onto Red Square (there were plenty of guards around to stymie each attempt down a new path we thought might get us out that way). So we did another half-lap around the outside of the Kremlin walls, where we worked up an expensive appetite.

After a $50 snack at GUM (the boutique mall that lines the whole east side of Red Square) we wound our way through St. Basil’s Cathedral. The outside is far more interesting than the inside where the highlight was probably realizing that there were multiple exits which meant they were forced to have multiple mini-gift shops to catch you on your way out. Each time we went a different way inside to be sure we had covered everything we wound up in a different gift shop.

Our last tourist destination was the State History Museum. Kristin and I were both uninspired by this museum and the highlight hands down was bumping into her co-worker Joe who had just bought train tickets to St. Petersburg… at the exact times we needed to buy ours for. I formulated a plan of getting a copy of them to take with me to the train ticket office on Monday. Kristin and I were so bored of the English-free second floor of the museum that we decided to skip out on the first floor (which we learned later from Joe actually had information in English!). Therefore it was all the more ironic to us when we exited the museum and heard a speaker enticing tourists inside… in English. In the museum’s defense it had been a long day and I’m sure had we hired a guide, or bought a guidebook, or started on the first floor(!) we’d have enjoyed it more.

Dinner was at the Lonely Planet’s second successful recommendation. This time it was the Uzbek restaurant “Eastern Quarter” just off Ulitsa Arbat. Their Plov was second only to Saturday’s Horcha on my list of top Russian meals. In addition to being delicious, dinner was cheaper than our afternoon snack! But I’ll admit that sitting at the café in GUM was a nice break from the non-stop tourist-a-thon… and from the rain. Since I’d be outside all day on Monday I was really hoping for some sunshine…

Kristin on the other hand had to prepare for her conference on Monday. An $800 a night hotel in Russia may have a spectacular view and great breakfast, but there are some things it does not have. A clock. An iron. No worries. Kristin called to have an iron brought to the room to undo the wrinkle damage that a 9 hour flight will do. The response: "No". And then instructions to go down to some other room number, where there was an iron. It turns out it was the maid's room, so Kristin ironed away while we looked around at all of the random knick-knacks (a table-top tree with fake $100 bills as leaves) and potential freebies (extra hotel slippers—which we passed on because President Hotel was written in English—but sadly none of their $150 bathrobes).

<-- Day 1 ---- Day 3 Train Tickets -->

Back in the U.S.S.A.

I have returned from an amazing week in Russia and am working my way through my photos and stories. Kristin and I combined to take about 1500 pictures, which I’ve whittled down below 300 (you're welcome) and have broken into (hopefully) manageable sections, so I am finally ready to begin the recap (the delay in getting this started actually had nothing to do with jet lag, which we managed to avoid both ways, and more to do with spending the past three days with lawn mowers—breaking two, failing to fix them, buying a new one, and finally mowing the jungle of plants that was swallowing the house).

Before I recap day one, I have some thanks to give.

Much like my Africa trip wouldn’t have been possible without Chris, I wouldn’t have gotten to Russia this year without Kristin who brought me along on her business trip (and I surely would never have traveled there in such impressive accommodations). I can’t possibly thank her enough for this opportunity and for putting up with me as a travel partner! Thanks also to Dana, Erin and my uncle for great advice on what to see in Moscow and St. Petersburg. As you’ll see from the recap your input guided the itinerary.

For future travelers I should also give a shout out to www.waytorussia.net. For U.S. citizens, Russia requires an invitation letter… in order to get a visa… which then has to be registered at a hotel upon arrival. It’s not a terribly tourist friendly system (though probably easier than what a Russian wanting to visit the U.S. goes through). Hotels and travel agencies in Russia will issue an invitation letter… but as I found out, they would only issue an invitation for the exact dates that you booked accommodations with them. This can be a problem when your final night is on an overnight train and the travel agency will only offer visa support through the day before your flight home (it’s apparently a very bad thing to overstay your visa, even by a single day). www.waytorussia.net on the other hand is an online site where you can pay $30 and they will get a Russian agency to issue you a visa invitation for whatever days you request (up to the tourist visa limit of 30 days). Initially that seemed about as legitimate as a Russian-mail-order-bride site or the emails that I observed the young African man “Edith” send to all of the 60-year old men on a German dating site. But in the end it was $30 well spent. I got an invitation letter that covered my entire trip and it was legitimate enough that I was issued a visa which didn’t lead to any problems entering or leaving Russia (it may actually be a sanctioned way of ensuring that we fund the Russian travel industry). There’s also lots of other good travel advice on the site including a language section that I used to learn the Cyrillic alphabet, which proved extremely handy (like for deciphering their invitation letter which doesn’t come with any English instructions!).

Day One (which in this case was from about 10am Friday to 3pm Saturday east coast time)

After an uneventful Delta connection through JFK (skipping the iPod vending machine there) we arrived at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport along with all of our luggage! I even had my name on a sign for a car at the airport (a first I believe). We got to the (five star!) President Hotel shortly after noon and were able to check in immediately. After getting over my shock about the view from the room (in one direction we could see right into the Kremlin) and getting clean we set off to Izmaylovo market. Normally I wouldn’t advise going souvenir shopping immediately upon arrival, but this market was supposedly the best deal in Moscow and it’s only in full swing on the weekend. Since we’d be touring the Kremlin and Red Square all day Sunday, this was our only chance to visit.

On the way in we passed a bear show. I realized when looking back through the photos that the painting in the background was actually one of my favorite paintings that I saw a week later at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg (Ivan Shishkin’s “Morning in a Pine Forest”). One of the other things we saw throughout the trip was a T-shirt aimed at tourists that says “I’ve been to Moscow… there are no bears”. It lies.

The market lived up to the hype because not only was it our best shopping experience in Russia, it was probably my best foreign shopping experience ever. There’s an endless supply of the usual souvenirs (as well as unusual ones like Boston Red Sox nesting dolls which I had to resist), the prices are the cheapest we found on the trip, and the vendors are helpful but not pushy (well as you see in the picture we did have hats pushed on our heads—but they took the photo and didn’t get particularly upset when we moved along without buying anything). The bargaining is mostly a game here where all the vendors seem to have a starting price and a “minimum price” (about 10-20% less) which they sometimes offer in the same breathe. It’s probably possible to bargain some down further (although on several occasions they truly didn’t seem interested and were happy to let us walk away) and in general the prices are reasonable enough that it’s not really necessary. If our flight had been later the next Saturday I definitely would have come back here then once I had a better idea of what I wanted to buy and how much money I had left.

Also inside the market (but not included in the 40 cent entrance price to the market) was the Vodka History Museum. We jumped on a group tour (in English, which turned out to be quite rare in Russia) and Kristin sampled some vodka included in the admission price before we purchased yet more souvenirs. It was a bit hard to follow but I know the funniest part of the tour for me was when the guide explained how three people would pool their money for a bottle of vodka and needed a way to split it evenly. They determined that vodka bottles make 21 “blurps” as they are poured (she made the sound effects). Each person got seven blurps. Blurp, blurp, blurp…

Still managing to stay awake we tracked down the Georgian restaurant (or PECTOPAH as it’s spelled in Cyrillic—PECTOPAH is pronounced Restoran, isn’t Cyrillic fun!?!) called Dioskuriya that was recommended in the Lonely Planet. Thankfully it was still there, still cheapish (I think $40 for the two of us), and the best food I had the whole trip (particularly my favorite dish Horcha). I also noticed the handy requirement that menus in Russia print the serving size (in grams or mL) along with the price. It’s a little hard to find because the “street” it is on looks more like a driveway going through a gate in a building along Novy Arbat (walking from the Kremlin if you get to T.G.I. Friday’s—yes T.G.I. Friday’s—you’ve gone too far). It’s well worth seeking out though and was the perfect cap to our first day in Russia!

Day 2 -->

From Russia with Love!

Day four update, probably the last of the trip since we won't have internet access unless we go to a cafe. Today the sun finally came out... and I was inside at museums! The Pushkin Gallery and the Tretyakov Gallery. Tonight I saw Eugene Onegin performed in Russian. Oh the bit of news I forgot from yesterday is that I got our train tickets to St. Petersburg so the trip will continue!Here are a couple more photos:

Update through day three: I have limited internet access so I won't write much but I will try to post a few more photos. The last two days have been rainy but I've still enjoyed seeing Lenin, the Kremlin (with the world's largest bell), St.Basil's, Novodevichy Convent, The nesting dolls (Matryoshka) museum, and watching Don Quixote (a ballet I thought was an opera) at the State Kremlin Theatre. My favorite part of Moscow so far though may be the Metro. More on that later. Here are some more photos.





One day done and everything has gone smoothly. Other than meager success on the airplane I haven't slept in two days so I won't be writing but I will post a couple of today's photos. Enjoy!

Dosvedanya Yankee Stadium

Joel is leaving the East Coast and the Yankees are moving out of Yankee Stadium (they're going to the new stadium right next door). That made it the perfect time to finally catch a game at Yankee Stadium and of course that game needed to be a Sox/Yankees game. I have plenty to say about the experience of being one of four Sox fans surrounded by a horde of chanting "bleacher creatures"... but unfortunately that will all have to wait until I return from Russia since I leave in less than 12 hours and have just barely packed. For now I will just have to give you this picture worth 1000 words... or at least two words... and those words of course are "Yankees Suck!"

Hopefully the next post is from Russia!

Paintball Haiku

Mission Accomplished:
I didn't eat any paint...
But that shot still hurt!

The Rite of Spring

Spring has finally arrived. I know because this was the first Friday that Darren and I ate our weekly burrito lunch outside, and because NPR’s All Songs Considered previewed the spring music releases. Since I didn’t blog about anything else this week, I figured I would take after my friend Chris, who likes to make top 10 lists, and preview the top 10 events I am most excited about this spring and summer.

I had a hard time paring the list down so I’ve cheated by grouping some activities together and by disqualifying the long-standing annual traditions which would show up on this list every year (e.g. croquet at Screen on Jon and Darren’s Green, Gold Cup, Tubing on the 4^th, and the CSC Invitational). It’s going to be a busy spring and summer. Which reminds me that Darren and I have a debate about whether I like to be busy. For the record, I don’t like to be busy. I like all of the individual activities that I do, and I don’t mind that they make me busy. See the difference? (Somehow that always reminds me of the SNL debate skit during the 2004 election where “Kerry” says [see when I was for the war I was speaking to a pro-war audience, and when I was against the war I was speaking to an anti-war audience. That’s not flip-flopping. That’s pandering. And you deserve a president who knows the difference!])

10. Kevin and Jamie’s wedding: There is no safe spot to put them on the list so consider this event unranked (or if you prefer, they are at the “top” of the list). I’ve been to a Match wedding, but this will be the first wedding for a couple that met at one of our BBQs (the BBQs are indeed magical as I can envision at least one more SOJDG wedding).

9. Hamlet at the Shakespeare Free for All (May 22^nd-June 1^st): It’ll be hard to surpass Love’s Labor’s Lost but I’ll be there to see if The Shakespeare Theatre Company can do it. Technically, this should be disqualified since this is my fourth year going.

8. SilverDocs (June 16^th-23^rd): One of the few things that irritates Darren more than me saying “I don’t like to be busy”, is how much I like documentaries. Although, I only got to see Chicago 10 last year, I intend to see plenty more this time around. Maybe even my friends' second documentary, 10 Yards, will make the cut.

7. Artomatic 2008 (May 9^th- June 15th): For the first time since I started going, Artomatic is showing in back-to-back years. I still remember last year’s show well so it will be interesting to see how much of the artwork is recycled. Hopefully I will finally find a piece to go over the mantle (otherwise the Dr. Dremo’s sign may have found its new home).

6. Wolf Trap: The greatest concert venue on earth (and not just because I performed there) and the only National Park for the Performing Arts. I’d see anything at Wolf Trap (ok, that’s a lie… I won’t see the Backstreet Boys) I already have a stack of 28 tickets at home for my friends and me to go see Prairie Home Companion, Pilobolus, Tcheers for Tchaikovsky, Not the Messiah, ‘H’ is for Hitchcock, and Hawaii Revisited.

5. Concerts: It’s a good summer when three out of the top four bands I want to see are all coming through D.C. Thanks to AB, I’ve got tickets to see The Flight of the Conchords. I’ll get to see my second favorite band, Bishop Allen, for the first time, and my favorite band, Modest Mouse, for the second time (with the ridiculous lineup including The National and R.E.M.). Now if James would only announce a North American Tour…

4. Red Sox Games: I’ll be going to enemy territory for the first time next Wednesday to watch the Red Sox win at Yankee Stadium before the Yanks move to their new home next year. And of course Jeffrey and I will be following our flawlessly refined routine for catching nearly every Sox/O’s game over at Fenway South.

3. Capital Fringe Festival (July 10^th-27^th): While I don’t participate in theatre anymore (that’s how I managed to perform at Wolf Trap… it was at the Barns and our High School’s production of Terminal was selected to perform) I’ve been known to watch a play or two. Will this be the year that someone tops Journeymen Theatre’s Bartleby?

2. XXIX Olympiad (August 8^th-24^th): Host-country controversy aside, I love the Olympics (only surpassed by World Cup Soccer) and can’t wait to watch some hard-core table tennis again (yes, I’m completely serious – and yes, I’m hooked on Curling in the winter Olympics).

1. RUSSIA! (April 18^th-26^th): That’s right, the main reason I haven’t written much lately is that I am getting ready for my trip to Russia one week from today. Most of my free time has been spent studying Pimsleur Russian courses, listening to Russian music lectures, rereading Russka, and rewatching the Peter the Great miniseries. Well that and trying to get a visa (check) and train tickets between Moscow and St. Petersburg (not-so-much check). Let's hope this trip makes the blog a bit more entertaining!