Red Arrow Train - September 29, 2005

I depart St. Petersburg at 23:00 on the over night Red Arrow Train bound for Moscow. The Red Arrow is the old Communist Party train. As I explained in a previous post I was able to obtain a 1st class ticket for about $ 100.00 u.s. less than I would have if I made my reservation on line.

I checked out of my hotel at 5:00 pm. I was able to leave my bag there all day so that I did not have to carry it with me all day. I went to the train station and found an area with storage lockers. The cost is 40 Rubles. That's about $ 1.50 u.s. Not too bad. So now I'm sitting my my favorite little internet cafe killing time. I also found a "Supermarket" below the train station. It has a lot of great products. I'll get some more orange juice, fruit and some "junk" for the train trip.

I'm hoping that I'm one person traveling alone that I will get a sleeper compartment to myself. When I was on the ship from Stockholm to Helsinki I had an entire cabin to myself. It had two berths. But I had the entire cabin to myself. This was very nice. I was at the train station the night before last and there were a great number of people boarding the Red Arrow. Something tells me I will not be as lucky as I was on the ship. Besides, it will make life very interesting. I'll have to speak Russian ! Imagine that.

It's a little rainy here in St. Petersburg. It reminds me of typical Sept/Oct Seattle weather. I prefer the fall. The leaves are turning and it's not hot !

I stumbled onto an old church (Russia has tons of them) yesterday and it had an old graveyard around it with a path leading through it. The leaves have been turning colors and fallen down onto the path leading the way to the entrance of the church (this pictures does not do it justice). It was quite surreal. It was later in the evening and I was surprised that the church was open. There were people going in so I decided to turn off my music and go inside. There were at least 10 people inside busy cleaning and tidying up. There are no pews (sp?). In a Russian Orthodox church. Everyone stands during a service. There was no service being given at this time but people were lighting candles, praying in front of different Icons, etc. It was very interesting. I was surprised to to see a large number of younger individuals worshiping. most were under 30. There were a few "Babushkas". The cute little bossy old ladies. They tell you what to do but no one ever listens to them.

So...back to heading to Moscow. I'm sure this will be an intersting adventure...but that's what it's all about. Judy.....drop me an e-mail message at - jgerike @ comcast.net