Moscow, Russia – 09/09 Museum and Train

(Michelle) Before we could hit the museum, we still needed to drop our bags off somewhere first. Our book said that there is a left luggage place at the station where our train leaves later that night. So we finally find it in the basement of the station and there are like 6 different windows. We of course have no idea which one to use. I was fiddling with the lingo for a while to see if I could find a Russian phrase for “what time do you close”, because we want to make sure we get our bags out before then. So I finally get it worked out and he indicates that they don’t close and that he is the guy to leave them with, (at least that is what I think he is indicating) so ok.

We then take the Metro back over to the Russian history museum. Like all history museums we go to, it’s starts off with information about Homo Erectus. I only know it was talking about Homo Erectus because I am starting to read the Cyrillic alphabet and after you sort out the letters, that’s what it spells. From there until about 1600s, I had no idea what anything else said because there were nothing in English words even if you adjust for the Cyrillic alphabet. Then the next three rooms, we were handed complete English leaflets for every exhibit. Then back to nothing for the 1800s on. So bizarre, I don’t know how they determine which rooms should get translations and which shouldn’t. Also disappointing was that it had nothing from 1917 on, which I think the recent history would have been a lot more interesting.

When we get on the train at 11pm, we will be on the Trans-Mongolian train for 3 days straight. How do you prepare for 3 days straight on a train? Fortunately we found a huge grocery store near the train station and we did another supermarket sweep. I also found a great pair of grocery store sweat pants that will do just fine for lounging around on the train.

(TJ) The part I found the most interesting in the Russian history museum was the 1800’s period. They had tons of rooms with costumes and everyday items from aristocratic households. They also had quite a few rooms dedicated to the Napoleonic wars which I found very interesting. I did find it rather ironic that they had almost no items regarding the vast proportion of the people who worked the land and were by law serfs to their landlords during this period. They also had a small room showing the history of the trans-Siberian railroad and including an exhibit on the train of the future. No idea when said train of the future will actually hit Russian rails, probably about the same time that the US will get one.

Grocery shopping list: Ramen, Ramen, Mashed Potatoes, Ramen, Coke