Backing up a little
Okay, I'm going to begin my narration of "Desi and John: the reunion tour" as best as I can, but this is going to take awhile. Why? Because on that damned bus ride to Finland we decided it would be a good idea to take notes on everything we'd seen and done, and we kept it up the whole trip and I'm still transcribing them all into some sort of coherent form. And each day is written separately, so please excuse inconsistencies in style.
And if you don't already know the story behind the story, John and I were on the same study abroad program in 1997 and while I continue to torture myself by coming back to this country, he hasn't been back since then.
So let's get started!
Day 1 – Back in the U.S.S.R., or something like that
Saturday, 4 June 2005
John arrived at Domodedovo International Airport, by far Moscow’s most modern, most western airport and easily accessible by "express" elektrichka from Paveletskii Vokzal. I was amazed when I saw the place - it looks like....an airport! It is a far cry from Sheremetovo 2, and in his jet-lagged state, John wondered if he was in the right city. But he was, since I was there to meet him at the gate and to guide his tired, time-confused self home, where he was welcomed by Liudmilla Yakovlevna, my elderly apartment mate, an over-firm bed that is really just a few blankets thrown on the floor, and a shower that isn’t really a shower since you have to bathe yourself while on your knees.
We ate dinner on the old Arbat, and wandered around a bit, exhausted. I was also wiped out because in a bout of sympathy jet-lag, I hadn’t slept in the 3 days before John’s arrival. But you know how sometimes you're so tired you can't fall asleep because your body just doesn't know what to do? Yeah, that sucks.
Day 2 – The more things change, the more they stay the same
Sunday, 5 June 2005
Sometime in the late morning, early afteroon we get ourselves out the door. We go and buy our train tickets to St. Petersburg and then go to Red Square and walk around. John is disappointed to note the disappearance of both the Intourist Hotel and the Hotel Moskva (the asymmetrical building build during the Stalin era). But I note that Lenin is open again, after being closed for “remont” for some time, and we resolve to go see him this week. We walk through GUM Department store and up to Lubianka where we sit in a little park just off the circle, shooing pigeons away and watching a group of semi-intoxicated Russians drink in public in the middle of the day and do dumb things like climb trees.
The weather is great, so we decide to change venues and take the Metro to the Sparrow/Lenin Hills station, which has re-opened since John’s last trip here. The station is all modern glass and steel, set over the river. We discuss the intricacies of concrete pylons (or rather John informs me about them) and wonder where the old metro station used to be. Then we walk down the river and up the hill by the ski jump to a cafe overlooking the city and have some beers. We set off again, in the direction of the metro and we notice a strange construction area below the road. We cut down through the trees to look at what looks like an old highway, but not quite. As we get lower, we realize that we are standing in front of the ruins of the first Lenin Hills metro station, now crumbling, overgrown and filled with beer bottles and the traces of late night parties. It’s eerie because strange things like the escalator ramps are still visible and amazing because we feel like we’ve stumbled upon some relic of Moscow, back then.
We decide that for old times’ sake we should have dinner at Guriya, the Georgian restaurant near my old dormitory and classroom building at Park Kul’tury metro. I test John’s memory, and sure enough, he remembers the way to the restaurant. The place is practically empty, the decor has changed for the worse, and the lack of service hasn’t changed a bit. Thankfully the hachapuri are still delicious and we have an all around tasty dinner, although the karaoke interferes with conversation a little. We walk home, passing Leo Tol’stoi’s house, the cosmic bowling alley, the Frunze Academy, several churches and the Korean Embassy.
I am finally exhausted beyond compare and sleep like the dead. John's brain and body are still really confused and he doesn't fare as well I do, but I'm asleep so I don't notice!
Day 3 – Russian: Use it, or lose it
Monday, 6 June 2005
I decided to be a diligent researcher and went off to the archive for the afternoon leaving John to his own devices. I had a great day at the archives - read some really interesting stuff and only briefly wondered if John had gotten into any language pickles. He decided to go to Park Pobedy, only to discover that the museum was closed on Mondays. The new metro station impressed him, although the high number of police checking documents in the park didn't and eventually forced him to flee. So he went to Ploshchad’ Revoliutsii/Tverskaia, where he butchered the Russian language trying to order a pirogi. He ate some ice cream in Pushkin Square, somehow missing a large gathering of people marking the anniversary of the poet’s death.
We meet up in the park and go home, and change to go to my friend Zhenya’s birthday party. In honor of Zhenya's birthday I wear my heels and wonder how Russian women don’t break their ankles when walking. We have dinner and John holds his own with a bunch of Russians while getting some unexpected language immersion. Zhenya’s friend, Natasha leaves quite an impression on both of us with her opinions about Bill Clinton, the Statue of Liberty, the state of Vermont, American clothing stores, shoplifting, John F. Kennedy, "Sex and the City" and just about anything else in America you can possibly think of.
Bozhe Moi.
Day 4 – tbf
Tuesday, 7 June 2005
We leave in the morning with the intention of seeing Lenin, only to discover that Red Square is closed and that Lenin will not open until noon. So we walk up Tverskaia to the Coffee Bean. When John asks where it is, and I answer “its right up the street” and he discovers that I walk a lot and that my sense of distance is screwed up as a result. At the Coffee Bean, which has one of the coolest interiors ever, John discovers that Russians make their lattes ass-backward, pouring the steamed milk in first, adding the coffee later. We go back to Lenin and stand in line to wait. People approach us asking if we want to cut the line and have a personal tour, but we decline. We should have accepted because the line was cut off 3 people before us. No Lenin today.
After walking through the Alexander gardens and turning down more offers of English-speaking tours, we go home. It is too late for me to go to the archive so I work at home while John catches up on some sleep.
Later we go to meet my friends Maya and Sean before leaving for St. Pete's. We sit around with them at Cafe Gogol for a few hours, have some dinner and a few beers and John regales us with tales of the zoo. Did you know that tigers can have sex as many as 60 times a day? You do now. Thankfully John has not had to witness this. He's witnessed many other things, but can you blame me for having that factoid burned into my brain?
We pack for our trip and shower (knowing that it will be almost 2 days until our next access to one) before heading to the station to catch our train to St. Petersburg. While standing in the train station we both agree that traveling with someone is way more fun than traveling alone. John gets to experience his first 3rd class Russian train trip, which will seem like a luxury liner compared to the bus! But he didn't know that at the time.
Day 5 – You get what you pay for
Wednesday, 8 June 2005
Since I already told the bus story, there really isn't any need to foreshadow here, but suffice it to say we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we bought those bus tickets right after getting off the train in Piter.
We had breakfast at the Chainaia Lozhka (Teaspoon) which has blini made to order and loose-leaf tea. We needed something to perk us up since neither of us slept that well on the train, although considering I've taken that train now 14 times, I'm pretty used to it. We walk down to Palace Square so that John can replace his pictures taken of it in the dark (i.e. 3pm on a November afternoon in St. Petersburg). We didn’t go to the Hermitage and both of us were okay with that. In fact we didn't look at one single peice of art work in that city and were perfectly happy not doing so.
We did, however, go to Peterhof by hyrofoil, the palace-garden built on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. Peterhof was modeled on Versailles and has all sorts of fountains scattered throughout the grounds. Fountains, however, run on water, and standing water is prime breeding ground for mosquitoes. LOTS of mosquitoes. They liked John quite a bit and he spent most of the day fending them off. At Peterhof they also had pools full of trout where you could catch your own, take it over to a caf? and they’ll cook it up for you. Go figure! After wandering around for a few hours and donating several pints of blood we head back to the city.
It took us a while to find the mini-bus back to St. Petersburg and the ride was nothing short of terrifying for me, as I don't like riding in passenger vehicles in Russia. We got to the metro and then went to Vasilyi Island to see Marina for a few hours before catching the bus. I was fading on the way back, but a visit with Marina was enough to perk me back up (and I was able to wash my hair before getting on the bus!) John decided that Marina was a lovely, and extremely energetic woman, met Ritchie the parrot and was impressed most of all by Marina’s orchid which has 5 blooms. He tried to speak a little Russian, which was pretty comical for all involved. Sasha was away at her grandfathers and we only saw Alina briefly before she had to head out somewhere.
And I'll actually give you some pictures to go with this part of the story. I did, though, take me 1 HOUR to upload these 11 pictures to the internet. I gotta find a faster connection.
View Pictures Here
I'll leave the story here....please refer to the bus to Helsinki blog for the next segment of the trip....more to come later.
