Moscow

That's it we're off!!! Didn't sleep a wink, too excited... we left at 4:30 am for the airport, and everything went smoothly. Russia is just like I imagined : very bare and dry, vast forests of naked silver birches (hope that's the right one : thin trunks with white and black bark), tiny colourful datchas dotting the countryside and the massive grey city. But the houses are warm and well lit and everyone, apart from the officials, is very friendly and welcoming! Domodedovo Airport is very modern, young women wearing a dark green uniform (military jacket and miniskirt) examine you sternly through their mascara, type on their computers for ten minutes that feel like forever before applying the much desired stamps onto your passport...we are through! Straight away I was grateful for the few Russian lessons I had at college...makes it easier to read the signs in Cyrillic. We somehow managed to work our way round the airport and to buy two train tickets to Moscow(150 roubles each - 3 pounds for a 45 min journey).The train is enormous, easily 1 and a half times as wide as your standard British one. The seats are massive and the central alley is about 5 feet wide, and little curtains are hanging from the windows! Our tickets get checked by more glamourous ladies, this time wearing fur coats and civvies. Then a young man and an older lady pass through the train pushing supermarket shopping trolleys full of drinks and magazines for the passengers to buy. After arriving in Moscow we join the crowd heading for the underground. We queue for a ticket, and for 34 roubles ( about 70p) we buy one ticket apparently valid for two people. I go first and scan the ticket (there are no gates) then Pete follows...and some gates spring out of the scanning machine to block his passage, emitting a musical alarm! We finally understand that he was meant to scan the ticket a second time, then come through... The metro stations are all beautifully decorated with marble and murals. The escalators are at least twice as long and high as the ones in London Underground, and each one has got its own attendant sitting in a little cabin at the foot. We found the hostel easily, it is warm and friendly, and very close to the main attractions. Last night we went to bed at 10pm (7pm english time!) and slept like logs till the morning. And when we woke up it was snowing lightly....today we're off to explore...to be continued!