Hop Along Express

We had a busy day of sightseeing in Moscow, but I honestly don't have the heart to write about it. In all, what I saw of Moscow was disappointing. Maybe we tried to do it too quickly, maybe I was expecting too much. I do know that we were disheartened on many occasions when our maps and guides failed us and we were sent on a maze-like journey to the simplest of destinations within a major city. Anyway: Kremlin, Red Square...

We got to the train station that night and stood aghast at the hoards of travellers with mountains of luggage. I am absolutely not exaggerating. It brought to mind the school yard "king of the mountain" game. And you could easily have hopped aboard one of these piles of bags and been lost for many months. We were anxious about getting on the train and securing an area for our bags, knowing we might be sharing space with anyone of these groups for several days. We stared expectantly at the notice board, waiting for our train's gate to be announced. Finally it was and there was a great, speedy migration in that general direction. Well... as fast as you can go with a cart piled to the clouds with bags. When we finally did get into our cabin on the train we hurriedly unpacked necessities for the night, tucked our bags beneath the seats and sat politely, waiting for the onslaught of the herd... It never came.