Day 1, Moscow

So, it's 9pm in Moscow and I am about 15 minutes from falling asleep. Left Atlanta at 9am Monday morning, flew to NY and then to Moscow, landed here at 10am Tuesday (today). Then 3 hours in transit to the hotel, negotiating the Metro. Thank god we have a Russian speaker and expereinced navigator with us - it's very intimidating. We took an express train from the airport to the metro in the city (35 minute ride), and walking out onto the train tracks was awesome - there were 4 red trains lined up across the paltforms, all said MOCKBA on the front. If I'd had my wits about me I would have taken a picture; it was pretty iconic. While waiting for the train we had coffee (a cappucino is a cappucino, very convenient!) and a potato/mushroom crepe, with sour cream.

Pulling into the Moscow train station, I was reminded of train stations in Paris, London, and Sydney - there is just something about the apartment buildings/flats/tenements and graffiti around train stations that is the same no matter the country. Our intrepid leader procured metro passes for us (including an extra single pass for our luggage becuause it was large) and away we went, into the mass of humanity that is the Moscow metro. Old escalators, of varying speeds, people EVERYWHERE, lots of Russian with no english, a maze of tunnels, a train transfer, and then we were out. Whew. Again - so glad we have an experienced person with us!!

The hotel is great - pretty standard. Because I'm here for 2 weeks I got a handwritten welcome card (4 paragraphs of welcome and good luck for success in my business) and a bowl of fresh fruit and a chocolate bar (85% cocoa!). Awesome. And internet is free. Double awesome. I went to the fitness room since sitting for that long is hard to do for me, and then we met with our Russian colleagues in the lobby. Then we went to dinner across the way, an Uzbekistan cafe - DELICIOUS. Of course, it was the most food I've had since breakfast Monday, but I would have thought it delicious even if I wasn't starving. Lamb in many forms - soup, sausage, kebobs, pilaf, dumplings... yummo.

Now for a bite of chocolate and off to dreamland.