Arrived Moscow 7.12

Well, after a 34 hour bus ride filled with many adventures, we arrived in Moscow. The trip was punctuated by several stops, some very long (3-4 hours at a convenience store just inside the Russian border), and others short, along side the highway so the drivers could smoke or switch. The border experience went smoothly, but had a pervasively serious and grave feeling. None of the Russian agents smiled—a show of “authority” and checked our paperwork several times over. As others pointed out, they like to stamp things, giving them an air of power. Once we were through, things were relaxed again. We hung out at a convenience store parking lot for several hours, where we bought vodka, bootleg cds, candy, and other snacks. I had good conversations with Sami, our Finnish (or Suomien) security guard, and Yuri, another Finn who drove the bus. Both nice and very funny. Finally the trucks cleared customs, and we hit the road (lackadaddy).

The roads were uniformly quite bad: bumpy, narrow, rough, thus making for a swerving generally uncomfortable ride. It was light until about 10pm. Not sleeping very well the night before in Helsinki, I was very tired, more tired, in fact, than I have ever been. Finally after a late dinner of borscht, bread, breaded fried steak (of some gristly mystery meat) and French fries chased with Carlsberg beer and three shots of Russian vodka that we picked up inside the border, I was pulled under by sleep. But due to the bumps, I was only able to sleep in 1-2 hour intervals, so never felt rested. By 4am it was light again. We stopped at a small truck stop holding area where the drivers had a small breakfast, coffee, and cigarettes.

We stopped for a more formal breakfast at a rough truck stop kind of place. A few of us followed the drivers inside, and had coffee and pastry, while one of the drivers, whose mother and wife were textile artists affiliated with the Marimekko company, told us stories of his German and Sweedish heritage. He was a great storyteller with great delivery. We then reboarded the bus and passed through several small villages of small traditional Russian homes, some occupied, others dilapidated and abandoned. We made the final stretch into Moscow in about 7 hours. Whew.

Driving through the Moscow suburbs took forever. Immediately, the signage, all in Cyrillic, was instantly off putting, even more so than the signs in Shanghai. It felt as if we had landed in the country of Bizarro, Superman’s arch nemesis. When we arrived at the hotel, we had just enough time to put down our bags before we were driven to the Pushkin Museum. Very quickly, the city took on a more beautiful and tranquil aspect, as we crossed the Moscow river, and headed toward to the old city center. After a snack with some others in a small café, we returned to the hotel, where I slept for 12 hours. Feeling much better this morning.

Today, I’m accompanying some of the guys to the Tretyakov Gallery. Should be fun. More to come.