The smelliest Russians had nothing on us today...

Sleep was hard to come by last night on our first official overnight train trip of this cross continential journey. Excitement and giddiness translated into hours of chatting and laughing but no meaningful rest. This is why the first day in Moscow was so hard.

I don't think I smell, at least not on an average day, but I try and be contientious and practice good hygeine. After a day and night in my clothes consisting of a long sleeve shirt and thick yoga pants I was excited to check in to the hostel and freshen up before tackling the Moscow Metropolitian area. The plans crumbled when our room was not ready and our city guide 'honcho' decided to use this opportunity to take us on an absolutely random tour of the city that went on...and on...

Hour 1 - Breakfast at a some sort of cafeteria-like establishment where our options were Borsch (both hot and cold) chicken, pork, broccoli and rice.

Hour 2 - Wandering through various parks to admire statues of Russian rockstars and famous clowns. Then we spent 20 min trying to cross a variety of streets to peer through the window of a car dealershop at our guides favourite type of car.
Hour 3 - Hike through the streets to Red Square. It was amazing to see this infamous square up close but by this point, after walking in the hot sun, we all smelled horrific...so we all stood there, in the square, several feet from each other, each jockying foth the prime 'downwind' location to avoid being offensive

Hour 4 - Tour St. Basil's Cathedral. Easily one of Russia's most iconic buildings, up close it looks like a gingerbread house. The inside is actually nine small churches in various stages of restoration...some thought it was beautiful but I was underwhelmed.

Hour 5 - Walked through the streets some more. I should explain something here...I am 5'5. Our guide, Ivan, is at least 6'2 and one memeber of our group, Will, is 6'4. This means that while Ivan and Will meander, I have to slow jog to keep pace. I can see Ivan, far in the distance, point to some sort of point of interest and explain it to those close to hime, but overall I no idea where we are, or more importantly when I might be returning to my clothes and a shower. We did convince Ivan to let us take a much needed break in a cafe, so we could at least visit a washroom.


Hour 6 - Board a boat. I know, I was thinking the same thing - why when you smell like absolute ass are you boarding a boat!?! If I had met anyone other then a drunk Russian women on the boat I certainly would have set back diplomatic relations a few decades. I will say this, you can certainly see how random Moscow is from the water. First we would sail by the imposing but impressive Kremlin walls...then by a large statue that was so unattractive the USA refused it as a gift...then a masssive gold-topped cathedral on one bank with an amusement park on the other side...a bit further on there was a Russian Spcaeship sitting on the riverbank...ummm I guess you could call it eclectic.

Hour 7 - With the sun continuing to blare down upon us we disembarked from the boat to board a chairlift. Yes, there is a chairlift in the center of Moscow and we rode it to the top for a view of the city. Which was impressive, but by this point I was disgusting myself and getting ridiculously anxious to bathe. The sun had also managed to fry my scalp a nice crisp red colour with it's powerful rays which also served to raise the temperature several degrees higher than the St. Pertersburg level we had been accustomed, and dressed for.

Hour 8 - Moscow is known for it's impressive underground tube stations, but at this point I was more relived that with so many people squished together that it would be hard to differentiate who was smelling.

Hour 9 - We finally arrive back at our hostel, where clean clothes and lukewarm bathing water are available. The 6 of us are all in the same room again, along with a Canadian couple (Toronto) and a random Australian. It will be an early night tonight after some beers and borsch - planning to pay a visit to the Kremlin tomorrow - don't worry fellow Canadians - I have no intent of giving a poor/smelly impression, I'll be freshly showered!