Today we took the night train to Moscow! An authentic Russian experience, or so we are told. Our journey started at Saint Petersburg Moscow station, where we departed around midnight. After walking almost the entire length of the train (it’s much longer than we’re used to), we arrive at our cabin. It’s a cozy cabin with 4 beds, a table and a single 220V outlet. Of course we enjoyed the start of our trip in the authentic Russian way: with beer and without shirts. Apparently you are expected to sleep on a night train, as the conductor didn’t enjoy our jokes as much as we did. After confiscating the triangular key we used to lock our cabin (you’re not supposed to have those), the on-board police officer sent us to bed. Even though it was pretty short, I had a decent night of sleep on the way to Moscow.
I was woken up in the best possible way: by a knock on the door and the smell of fresh coffee. About an hour later we arrived at the Kazansky Rail Terminal, where we were swiftly picked up by a bus to be taken to the hostel near the center of Moscow. While waiting outside the hostel, we immediately saw three squatting Russians: we were finally in the real Russia! After dumping the luggage, the rest of the day program was put into effect: chilling at the Gorkogo Park. This large park is quite vibrant, with a lot of Russians enjoying this nice Sunday. There are options to rent roller skates or skateboards, eat food or ice-cream, go to an outside cinema (in Russian), and/or grab a beer.
Around 2 PM we could check in and get comfortable in the hostel, take a shower and get settled. As we had the rest of the day off, the group spilt up into the usual smaller groups and people headed for the city. From what we heard plans ranged from going to the aquarium, to catching some extra sleep, to exploring the Moscow city center. We went with the last option and used our 7-day unlimited public transport card to take the metro to “Biblioteka Imeni Lenina” station from “Park Kultury” station, which is a 10-minute walk from our hostel. After quickly finding our way out of the station, we immediately saw the back entrance of the Kremlin across the street. We decided not to visit, as a guided tour is planned somewhere in the coming week. Instead, we crossed the bridge to Balchug island, which is located between the Moskca river and the Vodootvodny Canal.
Three hours of walking around the neighborhood introduced us to unexpected aspects of Moscow: Next to the beautiful old buildings, Moscow appears to have a vibrant luxurious neighborhood with a lot of small parks and expensive bars, just south of the island. We finally headed back across the island across a nice bridge towards the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which is an impressive building with a gilded roof. On the tip of the island, an old factory neighborhood was transformed into a very hipster-like “Strijp-S” copy is located, where we set out to find a restaurant after dubbin the place “Strijp-K” (There was a sign that sounded vaguely like it). We ended up at a nice Georgian restaurant where a lot of mixed grills were served. Suffice it to say we had a decent meal and headed back to the hostel fairly early, to catch up on some lost sleep from the night train.
– Stefan Molenschot