Day 15: Moscow, Russia

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Today is the last day for me to stay in Moscow and I am going back home in the afternoon. Before leaving the hostel, something absurd happened. The story started when I went in to the bathroom to take shower. It was actually a unisex bathroom, there was a toilet and a bathtub with a small half-transparent curtain. I usually spend around 15 minutes to take shower including brushing my teeth, and today is no exception. However, someone knocked on the door after 5 minutes I went inside the bathroom. I ignored it and continued my shower. Then it was knocked again. I kept ignoring it while the door was still being knocked. Until I went out from the bathroom, the woman who stayed in the same room with me looked fiercely at me and shouted in her broken English, "What were you doing in the bathroom?" I was like, "Taking shower, duh." Of course I didn't speak like this but I wish I did, because what she said afterwards was totally ludicrous.

Store in Izmailovsky Market

She then gave me a lecture, which she thought was making sense. She said, "If you go to toilet, you can lock the door. If you take shower, don't lock." I was dumbfounded. How could this even make sense? What the heck were she having in her mind? I didn't fight back, but gave her a sarcastic smile instead. 

Not only was her saying very ridiculous, her behavior was also very weird. She opened the door of our room and crouched in front of it with her half naked body. She was actually packing her luggage but I didn't get the naked part. Would it be more efficient to pack half naked? After a while, she slowly took out a bra and wore it IN FRONT OF the opened door. OMG, was she really that proud of her body or what? I just found she was very fat. 

Obviously, she felt indignant when I didn't give her any response. Therefore she kept fiercely staring at me no matter where I went. When I met her again in the kitchen, she still gave me the obnoxious look, but all I did was to smile back hypocritically. This situation persisted until I left the hostel to go to the airport. What a lunatic!!!

Gorky

The airport I was going is Domodedovo Airport, where I could take the aeroexpress train from Paveletsky Rail Terminal. The train station is not directly next to the metro station Paveletskaya. After exiting the metro, I still had to walk a pretty long tunnel to get to the railway station. The aeroexpress train was easy to find with many direction signs. And the ticket machine was advanced enough for me to buy it with no worry of the luggage barrier. In the end, I got on the express train just in time. The whole train ride took around 45 minutes, and I officially had to say goodbye to Moscow. I hope I will come back for the third time very soon~~~

Aeroexpress train

Epilogue:
The first time I visited Moscow was in a summer 8 years ago. That trip was an unforgettable and meaningful one, because it was the first time I traveled to Europe. Since that trip, I fell deeply in love with Moscow for no particular reason. I just love this city, that's all. I was very exhilarated this time that I could come back to Moscow again, therefore I have promised myself to enjoy Moscow to the fullest. I did have that volition, nevertheless, the weather did not allow me to do that. The temperature was like below 20 everyday and my hands, even with 2 gloves on, were painfully tortured by the freezing coldness. I wouldn't say I was stupid to choose to come here in Winter, I would  prefer I was an unorthodox traveler. It turned out that there was another beauty I could see in Moscow, which was so different from summer. Besides, before going to Moscow, I had read so much stuff on the internet saying there would be the problem of fake police, skinhead, gypsy and pickpocket. I had been quite scared, yet I didn't encounter any of them in the city. In my honest opinion, Moscow is not as notorious as her bad reputation. Moscow has changed, changed to be an even better place!