Moskva

Last Saturday, as part of our Group Bonding experience, we took the morning train to Moscow - the closest major city, it's 2.5hrs by train (faster than driving). Since we have all been there before, no one was in a great hurry to see tourist attractions. August is a peak month for visiting and the crowds in line to see Lenin's tomb proved it.

I visited Moscow once before, in the winter of 1997. It felt very different then. Red Square was more exotic and less touristy. Now, everything has been repainted and looks a little bit too perfect. Moscow is obviously wealthier and much more expensive than I remember, though I have no idea how proportionately this wealth is distributed.

Realizing that we kept bickering about what to do next because our group was too large, we split up to look at different things. Eric and I ended up wandering the city and people-watching, which quickly regressed into looking for park benches to nap on. Several benches, bottles of water and bookstores later, it was time to head back to the train station.

We got there in plenty of time. Really. Despite my sense of direction. Early, even. I haggled with a pirog vendor for some greasy food. We checked the schedule. It began to rain. We walked to the train. It wasn't there.

Departure time approached quickly. We asked for directions - and received 6 different sets. Running through several tunnels, staircases, and side streets - we kept looking for the train but couldn't find it. We began to sprint.

We found the train, but there was a fence in the way. I considered jumping it. At this point we had been running for several minutes. We found a path around the fence, and ran to the train. The doors were closed and it was ready to leave. We pounded on windows and doors begging for someone to help us. We found an open window - and a very suprised man in the restroom. We kept running down the side of the platform. Attracting the attention of a ticket lady, we knocked on the door and held up our tickets. She said something, turned and disappeared. The train began to pull away and the doors were still closed. We banged lounder. The train jerked, stopped, and she opened the door. We slipped in, thanked her and made a long walk, dripping rain and sweat, through the nicest cabin back to the least expensive, where we were all sitting.

A close call, but we made it. 2 more seconds and we would have missed it. A little blurry, but we took a picture to commemorate the moment.