Lenin - still got it...even after 70 years...(posting from the road)

If you ever need to bond nations...I have the secret...it's pizza and beer. Exhausted with the dining options Russian dumplings and Borsch, we decided to "stay in" one night and attempt to order Russian take out. Fantastic delivery options exist here...pizza and beer can be delivered right to your hostel! So we recruited our city honcho, a Russian, and three Americans that we had be-friended back in St. Petersburg and sat down with a delicious dinner and a classic film - the Hangover. Four nations that night laughed at the antics of a drunken Vegas night gone wrong.

The 10 of us re-grouped in the morning for a trip to see the well preserved corpse of the popular leader, Lenin. The 6 of us were departing later in the day for the next lag of our Trans-Siberian train journey but the 3 Americans elected to join us merely to see the reaction of Pete. You see we told them about a discussion that occured on our previous train trip. Pete, our youngest by more than a decade, has been studying Russian history and has been quite excited to see it up close. When we asked him 3 days ago if he was intending on visiting the mausoleum and he replied "I will probably orgasm when I see Lenin".

Needless to say, a young boys potential...strong reaction to a waxy corpse would draw most people's attention. So after we part with all our possessions to ensure no photos or funny business near their hero, we all file into the cool mausoleum, the eyes of our group focused on Pete...not the waxy corpse in the center (okay - I took one peak). But Pete was able to demonstrate more control then the average 18 year old boy and we left without an awkward international incident.

It was time to bid farwell to our three American friends; Michael (Misha), Karen (Katya) and Blake...all three are students at GW in D.C. They are off on a huge adventure and I am insanely jealous. We are hoping to meet up with them down the road as there are a few times where we overlap cities. (They all have fantastic blogs...I will be posting the address to all at the bottom of my blog page) The best place to say good-bye to Americans...Starbucks. (Okay - it was my idea...needed a mug for the collection.)

Starbucks also gave us some more material to tease Pete with for the upcoming days. You see Pete bears a strong resemblence to a member of the British Boyband, JLS. This means that he is an international sensation amoungst teenage girls, the Moscow Starbucks being no exception to this...Pete could have easily left that day with some young 16 y.o. girls had him morals and elders allowed.

Off again...boarding a train shortly for a long 89 hours...will write when I can! Spajalesta for reading!