On Thursday night I took my first ever overnight train. Apart from some logistical challenges getting onto our (upper. Note to self: wrong choice!) bunks the whole thing went without a hitch, and we arrived in Moscow to bright skies. We managed to walk straight past our host Anna who was holding a massive 'Andy and Ellen' sign but luckily for us she is much more gifted in the practicality department and finally picked us out sometwhere near the main exit. On arrival at her appartment she explained that she works a lot and often stays with her boyfriend in the evenings, so for the time being at least we seem to have ended up with our own flat in Moscow - woo-hoo! On the one hand this is A Good Thing as we could do with some quiet space to catch up with ourselves, and certainly its convenient in terms of coming and going. But on the other hand Anna seems really nice and it would be lovely if she comes out to play while we're here.
On Anna's advice we went to her local market, which was huge and varied. Its excellent to be able to shop locally at the market and come home to cook, this few days is allowing us live a relatively normal life. Well, apart from the strange item I chose for this morning's breakfast. It was square, and on the oustisde was made from flakey pastry which had clearly been folded. Aha! Pastie, or a fruit pasty at the very least I thought, but no: the inside was made of flakey pastry too. I've no idea what you are supposed to do with these things but a dish so thoroughly lacking in any interesting ingredients has to be called a Soviet Pasty.
The rest of the day was spent going from pillar to post in search of someone who will register our Visas we finally got it done, and today I found myself stood in Red Square not really believing that it was happening. The sheer scale and power of the place is quite overwhelming, and the sesne of unreality was reinforced by the fact that one in ten people there were strolling around in either a wedding dress or morning jacket. The completely bonkers St Basil's Church at one end of Red Square has to be seen to be believed, and will have to be revisited as a seperate trip before we depart.
We may delay getting Mongolian visas until we reach Irkutsk, which we believe is possible to do. For now all we need to do is book tickets to Irkusk and confirm plans with our next HC hosts - then lie back and take in to atmosphere of this immense, although surprisingly clean and couteous, city. Hoorah for Russia!