Monday.
Dave Wolf showed up at our hotel in Moscow around 9:30 AM. He took the overnight train from Nizhny, sleeping in a railcar with 55 others, so he could spend the day with us and then help us navigate the rail system back to Nizhny. This is just a small example of his servant’s heart. He, his wife Cathy, and their daughter Stephanie are truly wonderful hosts and servants.
After the breakfast, we headed downtown for a tour of St. Basil’s and the Kremlin. To be honest, both were a disappointment. I suppose I shouldn’t have expected a cathedral built by Ivan “the Terrible” to be a spiritually uplifting experience. After all, he is purported to have blinded the architect to make sure he couldn’t build a more beautiful cathedral for someone else (which he figured was the merciful thing to do instead killing him…like he did his favorite son in a fit of jealous rage.) Likewise the Kremlin for the most part gave us all the creeps. Lots of beautiful imagery, but all the churches (and there are seven of them within the Kremlin) are actually quite small inside, intended for the Prince or Tsar and his entourage. And of course there is the lingering spirit of fear and oppression which lingers over Moscow, only exceeded by the spirit of materialism that is really simply fear in another form (can’t get left behind or…).
Ate a quick lunch at Sbarro’s in the mall just off the Kremlin. It was ironic to us that the bastions of soviet communism, Red Square and the Kremlin are now surrounded by the ultimate capitalist symbol…the mall and a huge billboard for Rolex watches.
Then back to the hotel to get our bags and head to the train station. Thank God Dave was with us. We were greeted by this “friendly” porter who was very “kind” to help us get our bags from the car to the train. He even knew a short-cut around back that got us to the train platform without going through the terminal. Dave asked him three times how much it was going to cost. At first the guy couldn’t say until he saw the bags, and then when they did come it was go, go, go to the train. Then the hammer fell….”that will be 2800 rubles” he says (~$100!). Yeah right. No way, we say, but the guy is firm in his price. Thankfully there were more of us than him and Dave spoke Russian so he could negotiate peacefully. In the end I was able to play bad cop to support Dave. The guy came down to 1500 rubles and Dave seemed like he might concede and I just said “No way”…I have nothing against paying for good service. The bags were heavy. He was a big help, but $10/bag was still to much and it was clear he was trying to take advantage. In the end we gave him 1000 rubles and walked away, half expecting the guy to return with “friends” but in fact, we’re told he still got the better of us compared to the prevailing rate.
In comparison to the boarding process, the ride itself was uneventful and enjoyable. It took 5 hours and we were greeted in Nizhny by Dave’s family and the smiling faces of Sergei, Mischa, and Marina…the first truly smiling faces we had seen since Church on Sunday.
Then we had the meal we had all been waiting for…Russian MacDonald’s…ah…I can still savor the flavors ;-) Seriously, Elena had told us all how much better MacDonald’s was in Russia….maybe, but fast-food is fast-food. But…as we were to learn several times over the course of the next few days, the concept of “fast, friendly service” is not something easily found in Russia. The people are nice enough, but you really don’t realize how good you have it until its gone
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