Day 1 - Journey To The Cosmos!

Hi all.
Cripes, major outpouring of emotion back there. So I slept on it, that's always a good thing to do. After a refreshing session in the gym, everything seems a lot clearer, and I've decided I don't really mean what I said yesterday. I mean, I do, kind of. Like, it would be awesome if I could find someone just like that, and if whoever lives "upstairs" likes me, I hope they'll be able to sort something out, but I know I might not achieve my goal exactly, so I guess I'm back to where I was when I started this blog. Which isn't a bad place to be, I guess. Yeah, whatever Larkin, I know it's the failure of ideals, and the gap between dreams and reality, and all that malarkey, but this time it's on my terms. So eat that, Larkin! You're dead and I'm not!
So, moving swiftly on, I present for you today the first entry from my Russia Diary! If I hype it up too much you'll be sorely disappointed, so I'll let past-me do the talking instead.

It's another one of those exciting early-morning starts. After a final check of my now-tidy room and a mouthful of breakfast I was on my way to school. The journey was easy, if foggy, and we saw a grand total of six cars on the road. Once I'd tried on my awesome Russia hoodie and loaded my case into the bus, I said goodbye to Mum and took my seat. Quarter of an hour later we were all present and correct and on our way to Heathrow!
The journey was uneventful; for the most part, I people-watched and listened to my recently-purchased Taylor Swift album, Fearless. It's not bad work by Swift: A little samey, perhaps, but in a good way. Tracks that stand out to me are "You Belong With Me", "You're Not Sorry", and of course, "Love Story". I'd reccomend this to anyone who enjoyed Let Go by Avril Lavigne, Sonya Kitchell's "Let Me Go" or the Veronicas' debut album.
Anyway, time passed surprisingly quickly and when I next looked out the window we were pulling up in front of Terminal 5. Now, we've all heard the criticism that has been hurled at T5 since its opening, but personally, I saw no difference between this and the other Terminals. So we got through security fine, no liquid-realted fiascos this time, and we split up to explore Departures. I got a coffee to energize me for the day ahead (ZING!), and then set out on a quest to find something for 24p. Alas, my struggles were in vain, and I now had to face the complication of mixed pence and roubles!
My ticket got a bit trashed as well, but what can you expect when you print onto paper? I always preferred card, but I guess auto-check-in is quicker. So yeah, we got on board eventually, and after a half-hour delay (yawn) and having to give way to a 747 (more yawn) we were off, through the fog, above the clouds and into the blue sky. The crew were having a faf with the videos, but I came prepared! After a scrummy breakfast including the biggest yoghurt in the world, and a short update to the diary, it was time for Indiana Jones!
One swashbuckling adventure and some mind-boggling form completion later, we began the descent. The clouds were quite low today, heavy with snow, so the moment of revelation was somewhat delayed this time. However, when it did come, it was unlike anything else I've ever landed on. Actually, I tell a lie, there was that embarassing incident involving a lot of ice and a lack of balance. But anyway, I can't say it was especially inspiring, it was the sort of slush-snow greyness that we seem to get a lot back home. Our guide told us later that this weather was unusual for spring - usually most of the snow comes in winter, as you'd expect.
Anyway, we taxied in and got through customs fairly smoothly, apart from Mr E leaving some important documents on the plane. D'oh! So we got outside, into the pouring snow. Brr, it was freezing! Luckily I had my new hoodie to protect me as we waited outside the airport for our coach to arrive. This is another country where they drive on the other side, and judging by the frequent horn-tooting, they're quite agressive with it!
Soon we were cruising down the motorway, during which time our guide, Irina, filled us in on some interesting facts. For instance, did you know that Moscow has a population of over 10 million? Yeah, it's pretty incredible. Most of them live on the outskirts, which makes sense, and it takes them on average 40 minutes to get from there to Red Square on the Metro. The Metro comes in handy, apparently, because it's always rush hour! Did you also know that the Moscow State Circus has been around since the 16th Century? Well, there you go!
So we continued our tour of Moscow, slowly but surely. Whilst it has a lot of quite impressive architechture to show off, it seemed quite depressing in the drizzle. We passed a huge wooden building that used to be Tsars' summer palace, as well as the headquarters of the KGB. The trafic was manic, five lanes wide throughout most parts of the city, although lanes appear to have little meaning. It's more of a free-for-all!
Eventually, after two hours of negotiating Moscow, we arrived at Hotel Cosmos. What it lacked in aesthetics it made up for in sheer size - I was on the 20th floor and that still wasn't the top! So I got landed with a Year 13, Ian Robinson, in Room 2020. The room is a generic hotel layout, just in a different decor. Ian is quite quiet, in a kind way. A bit like me, I suppose. That did mean, though, that the conversation didn't exactly flow! So I chilled out and added to my diary, and at Eight we headed town for dinner in the restaurant.
Dinner seemed to be extremely meat-based. It might just have been me getting to the selection late, but after the starter there appeared to be very little veg. Essentially it was your regular buffet, I think there might have been some squid in there, which was cool. I even ended up trying liver - Eurggh! It was horrible! I have a reputation for eating almost anything, but even I refused to finish the liver. The juice was good, though. You could get this generic "fruit" juice, which was.... like, pineapple, melon, hints of apple and maybe a bit of kiwi all mixed up together. Mmmm... That made dinner worthwhile for me.
So afterwards, we trooped down through the rain to the local supermarket to stock up on provisions for the days to come. Whilst there, I tried to decipher the Russian alphabet, but I got confused between the different types of B. And there was way too much alcohol in the shop. Oh well, at least they had cherry juice!
Returning from that, I took the time to explore all the souvenir shops in the hotel, and they were all offering pretty much the same things. I bought a couple of postcards today, and investigated Russian hats as well - on average they'll set me back about 600 roubles, so maybe I should shop around first!
With nothing else to do, I returned to the room and finished my first entry in the diary. I also got in some photos of the city at night, which I think came out quite well. So yeah, I decided to go for a shower then, and by that time I was well and truly exhausted!

Hope you enjoyed reading that. I enjoyed writing it! Anyway, stay tuned, because tomorrow we'll start exploring the city for real! Prepare for more gold and jewels, more rants and reccomendations, and a trip to the actual Kremlin and the actual Red Square!!

See ya 'round!

Jack