The temperature was lingering around -10C, perhaps a little lower, quite reasonable in fact when you’ve got decent layers on but if there’s a breeze – no matter how strong – it whips round you and chills anything exposed. This usually means your face gets incredibly cold and in about 10 minutes facial expressions are reduced to a weak grimace, if your eyelids haven’t been frozen shut. So kids, if you make a face and the wind changes you really will be stuck that way! I tested this but it requires further experimentation…and definitely ‘go’ before you go.
In daylight its possible to see our immediate surroundings; roads and pavements lie under several inches of snow with ice at the base when you brush it away. White everywhere, on any surface capable of holding snow at rest, fences, walls, trees, telegraph wires… The worst of the snow has been pushed to clear the roads and pavements but a considerable amount still remains, we pass shop keepers shoveling snow and hard-packed ice off the paths in front of their shops into great mounts by the roadside. Despite the continued traffic a slippery layer of gritty-ice remains on the roads and in many places deep ruts had formed that cars struggle to get going in, wheel spins and skids set the tone for staying alert when crossing the roads!
Thick heavy coats the choice of many, complete with an unfeasibly large hat – I suspected the previous possessor to be a bear or raccoon of sorts – I was told that these are owned by the well-to-do crowd more than anything but going by the numbers of them about I suspect there’s more to it than that. Snow is dry and crystalline and doesn’t hold together well, it twinkles in what weak sunlight there is before being whipped up and pushed by the wind, tumbling back in waves like sand on a windy beach across pavement and roads ending up collecting in growing mounds around parked cars, trees and shop-front steps.
At night we walked from the hotel (guided by a couple of girls from Moscow who could actually read the map!) to find the Cathedral on the Blood; a church built to commemorate the death of the Russian Tsar and the royal family in 1917 (because of the political climate nothing could be build until recently). Some 30 minutes walk at -17C, add wind-chill and we’re at roughly -25C!, and you really appreciate the warnings about wearing the right gear when going out for any length of time. On the way we passed a memorial to fallen soldiers in Afghanistan…rather sobering.
Once we saw the church it was decided that we’d had enough exposure for one day so figured a taxi would be the best way home. Taxi’s in Russia – at least where we were – didn’t seem officially to exist, instead you flag any car down you can, hop in and give directions to where you wanted to go, pay the driver and hop out. This is quite new to us but our Russian walking companions thought nothing of it and bundled us into two separate cars – spoke with the driver – and we were off. After considering this a while later I figured this is perhaps largely thanks to the way the climate has moulded culture meaning everyone sticks together more, sort of very ‘brotherly’ between strangers. Certainly you would be hard pressed to receive the same treatment in, say, London…you’d probably get a soaking as the car swerved into the puddle next to where you stood! Sure enough we ended up at the hotel and headed inside for a drink…What ever you’ve heard about Russians drinking Vodka until the small hours; its all true. Vodka after a stint in the cold is very warming. Indeed. After several shots you’re no longer concerned about the cold, in fact very little concerns you at all! Every round is toasted, usually after a moral story or tale involving the daring rescue of a fair damsel who’s beauty surpasses all in the land…quirky translations tend to make these even more humourous. Nevertheless, language barriers fail to quell the forging friendships
Vodka bottles 3: People 12…Result!
