Today should have been one of the big days of the trip. A 23 hour train ride from Moscow to Sochi. We booked it and everything. A Grand Cabin with plush red velour furnishings; en suite bathroom; dining car and butler service. An Orient Express experience for a very reasonable $400 for the two of us. I’ve dreamed of a railway journey through Russia for years. I originally planned to fly to Vladivostok, on Russia’s Pacific Coast ,and take the Trans Siberian express to Europe for the World Cup, stopping at Ulaan Baatarr, Irkutsk and Lake Bykal along the way.
But that was a flight of fancy. It would have taken six weeks and I’m pretty sure they’d have noticed my absence at work eventually.
So the Moscow – Sochi train ride was the compromise…..until they called two weeks ago to say they weren’t running a Grand Cabin on this train any more. Booooooo. But we could have a couple spots in a second class sleeper. Yeaayyyyyy!!! We thought about it. For a moment. But no. Our strategy for World Cup survival is to stay with the herd, and we were already taking a risk by going it alone by train to Sochi: even in a Grand Cabin. So we declined and took the safer, more humdrum flight.
But, yes, we have ridden Russia trains this trip. This morning Dave and I tackled the rush hour Moscow Metro: and won! The public transport system is one of Stalin’s few lasting legacies. A gift to the people, it is a thing of joy and beauty. Architecturally stunning with an efficiency and punctuality second to none. I only wish I had a phone to take some photographs.
But wait: serendipitously, I do! We rode the metro across town to pick up our tickets at the FIFA office. But we didn’t have time to do that and hunt down the mobile phone shop to buy a phone. I’d just have to wait and get one when we got to Sochi. However, the metro was far easier than we expected and so the ticket office was still closed when we got there. Lets find a coffee . And bugger me; right beside the coffee shop is the mobile phone store that I couldn’t be arsed hunting down. Through Google Translate (what technology; I mean WHAT technology!!!) I explained my dilemma to the very nice young man and within half an hour, voila, I am back on line!
Beautiful moment in the phone shop. Three Mexican fans walked in and through a mixture of Spangruslish and Google Translate (what technology!!!!) explained that they had exactly the same problem as me. Sounds like the start of a joke – three Mexicans, two Russians and a Scotsman walked into a mobile phone store. And the punch line was that despite the language and cultural differences, and after a lot of laughing and football banter, we all left with functioning phones! Beautiful.
Still no football to talk about! This is a different World Cup experience from Brazil. There, it was the group stages. If we weren’t at a game, we were watching in the bars or the Fan Fest. A conference of nations, a constant party with football at the center. This time we’re here for the knock out rounds and there are fewer games. Our Cup experience really kicks-off today. We’ll decide afterwards which was better.
I’m typing this at 9 am in the hotel breakfast bar. Confusingly a Bavarian Bierkellar with liter steins and Fraulein in customary dress. Lot’s of guys watching the match build up on a wall of tvs, the conference of nations: Argentina, Malaysia, Brazil, USA, England, Croatia, Libya (Libya?!?) There’s been no football for a couple of days and there’s an air of expectancy. The talk is all Brazil : Belgium. This could be the match of the tournament and I have goose bumps just thinking about the atmosphere in the Fan Fest tonight. Our table is split, Dave in Brazilian blue; me in Belgian red. But no matter. Both are excellent and on this occasion its more about the game than about who wins. Can’t wait. I’ll show the pictures tomorrow! Just don’t go near Neymar!
What! Scotland Qualified!!! 