Trans-Siberian Railway, the conclusion

There are some things a civilized person never thinks they'll become, and "serial napkin thief" is one of them. And yet, both Mallory and I are now indisputable scourges to napkin dispensers worldwide. Our descent into nap-kleptomania started because Russia is cold (and therefore sniffly), and the supply of Kleenex/napkins is unsteady at best. Some days you may run into four or five establishments with well stocked napkin dispensers. On the other hand, sometimes you can go days without seeing a single one. As such, we've developed the habit of finishing our meals, looking furtively around the restaurant, and then stealthily pocketing as many napkins as we think we can safely get away with. I'm not proud of it, but that's the way it is.

Anyways, the trip from Irkutsk to Moscow went pretty smoothly. Start to finish, it only took 78 hours, not 96 as we'd initially thought. We were in almost-spacious four berth compartments, and we stopped at towns and cities every few hours which gave us a chance to stretch our legs and fill up on delicious piroshkies, which are big deep-fried pastry things filled with stuff. Part of the fun of buying them was the surprise of figuring out what kind of filling they had. We learned the Russian word for potato (kartofyel!), but for some reason they interpreted our "kartofyel peroshki" as "please give me a pastry filled with whatever filling you happened to have in the fridge this morning". Most of them were pretty tasty regardless.

We had 2 days in Moscow, and we used them to see all the big things people think of when they picture Russia (the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral, the mummified body of Vladimir Lenin). The company we booked our train trip with (Vodkatrain, highly recommended) also arranges for a local student to act as a sort of guide/human reference book while you're in a particular city, and our guide in Moscow set up some awesome evening activities.

The first night, we went to a Russian Continental Hockey League (KHL) hockey game between the Spartak Moskva and the Moscow Atlant, which was awesome. Hockey crowds in Russia are intense. It's more like a European soccer game, with team scarves waving in the air and non-stop chanting/singing from the hardcore fans. We were cheering for the Spartak, partly because our local guide (Eugene) was cheering for them, and partly because their logo was a Roman Spartan soldier that looked eerily similar to another hockey team, and I liked that. The other team gets full points for logo quality though - a huge growling polar bear face in a giant purple and yellow explosion. The Spartak won 4-1. Hooray!

The second night, we went to check out a show that our guide recommended after hearing that I'm a big afrobeat fan. The band billed themselves as "Russian afrobeat/ska", and it was awesome. They had a total of six horn players, including one guy playing a Sousaphone, and their music was like afrobeat meets traditional Russian folk music, played as fast as possible.

We spent the rest of the time in Moscow trying to avoid paying $18 for a cup of coffee. Oh, also, the Moscow metro system is the most ridiculously ornate transportation network in the world. Almost every station in the city has at least six chandeliers, plus marble sculptures and gold leaf on everything else.

We're now in St. Petersburg, with one day left before heading to Tallinn, Estonia bright and early tomorrow morning. And then, for REAL this time, we'll post some pictures.