Elbrus Expedition Dispatch
July 2, 2012 – The Midnight Train to Moscow
At 8:35 this morning we arrived at Leningrad Station near Moscow’s city center. Nadia, our Moscow guide, and a driver from the Ararat Park Hyatt hotel were waiting for us with a mini bus. We are travelling with our large expedition duffels full of double boots, crampons and enough warm clothes for us to scale Mount Elbrus in the coming days. All this gear makes us quite different from any other travellers who we run across, but the support of our friends has made moving around go smoothly; it is all part of the adventure.
Our train rolled out at precisely 11:41 PM last night. The midnight sky was still light in St. Petersburg. We are all very tired from full days spent enjoying the city, but it took us an hour or so after the train began to roll to get to bed. The excitement of being on the night train to Moscow had us a bit giddy and most of us sat on in our comfortable berths talking, getting to know one another, telling stories of past trips and anticipating the adventures ahead.
As I send this dispatch off, Hugo, Lennie, Karen, Barbara, Mac and Jason are off with Nadia for a walking tour of Moscow. We are staying next to the Bolshoi Theater, across the street from Red Square, so there is no need to walk far to find something interesting to see here. I am sure the gang will be back looking for saunas and showers to freshen up soon.
Meanwhile, as they are enjoying Moscow, I will share some photos of our experience transferring from Nvesky Prospect in St. Petersburg to Red Square via the midnight train.
Just before 11:00 we loaded our duffels on to the hotel van to be transferred to Moscow Station. We walked the two blocks to the station, while the hotel staff dealt with the luggage.
Moscow Station, our departure point
We can see where to get a pizza, but how do we find out where our train leaves from?
As he has done for many years now, Vage came along to assist us at the train station. He and Hugo share a smile before we begin to move toward our carriage, number 8 on the Red Arrow Express.
We were all interested to look around the station for a bit. Mac said, “no problem, I’ve got bag watch.” He sat on our pile of baggage while we all looked around.
There goes the climbing gear, toward carriage number 8.
Vage helps with the document check.
Jason boarding the Midnight Train to Moscow
In Moscow the porter were ready to move big bags.
Mac was still on “bag watch” in Moscow.
The Moscow porters had things under control however.
We continued to get strange looks – we are not your normal Monday morning passengers, but everyone was courteous and helpful.