After Barcelona, I felt like getting a massive training in the russian way, a little bit like In Rocky Balboa III ;) So I packed up & flew to the capital of Russia... Then, started to look for a coach... I found a real one, a though guy named Bruno... as a matter of fact, he is a good friend of mine, living there for more than 16 years... From the first day, I knew he would challenge me....It started with his local.. gym not pub ;). I landed at 3am & at 10am I was exercising & trying to build up some muscles with weights... fortunately, I was saved by a running machine, more the kind of machine I am familiar with. The hamman at the end was more than welcome as we stayed there 5 hours... I am not saying I trained for 5 hours... We did some exercices & talked a bit with some other french people in the place... Big bosses as Bruno of french subsidiairies... Seems like the block is fancied by the french community !!!
The second day was dedicated to cardio work... & Bruno showed me the surroundings of the block of Dinamo where he is living with his wife & daughter. 4 hours bike riding with a mix between pavements, paths in the Moscovit Parks (forests, lakes), a bit of roads. Good training with an ex-competitor taking part in cycling events (competition) when he was a teenager. It was hard for me to follow him and he lost me twice. He was out of sight, I did not have any clue where we were, I had no phone & did not know his address.... I can tell you my russian is quite basic so not enough vocabulary to ask my way...I had some memories from my previous stay 14 years ago... A lovely Manager working for Bruno at that time was eager to learn french and we exchanged in English. I could imagine the titles in the Newspapers the next morning: "A french lost in Moscow !!!!"... Fortunately, he was looking behind him once in a while and realised he had lost me....
The following days, I did some training on my own... different one. Indeed, the weekend was over & Bruno had to go to work. I decided then to visit & discover the capital by foot... Moscow on a shoe string, a title we could certainly read in the "Lonely Planet." dedicated to the city. A challenge in itself & I must admit... I like it. Why? because we are loosing our marks, we have to cope with a new alphabet, a new way to pronunce words, it creates some confusion, people do not understand you at first... it obliged you to make more efforts in your communication skills, miming like the Mime Marceau, doing mimics, showing them a map... All this confusion is so good. It makes people laugh or looking at you with a very illustrative way... God, It reminds me my year off. I like to be in such position. You need to be open minded, smiling, exchanging with people. As a matter of fact, the harder, the better that is why I loved to be in Russia. Only people less than 35 years old can speak in English. Moscow has changed a bit over the years.
The first time I came, there was a lot of prostitution in the street, police men were controlling people in the street. It was no good to be from Armenia or Azerbaidjan at that time because you were stopped often in the street. The FSB was posted in front of many buildings entrance with Uzi machine guns. All that seems to have dissappeared but you still have a lot of electonic gates at the entrance of shops, hotels, universities. I even saw a row of them on a bridge to give you access to a manifestation on the Red Square. Regarding the population, life is still hard for a major part of them as the cost of living is very high in Moscow while the average salary is about 1000 €. Not a lot of people in their thirties can afford to buy an appartment. Nevertheless, the young people at the end of the winter want to make the most of the summer time as there is no spring here. Young people are going out. Women make efforts to be trendy, well dressed, looking good on high heels. They are fashion victims but to be honest, they are gorgeous.
During 5 days, I paced up & down the metro, the streets, visited monasteries, churches, the Red Square, visited the Kremlin (the churches, the armoured room), the Tretiakov Galeria with dozen & dozen of paintings only from Russian artists, studied the way they painted a river & make the stream come true, beautiful landscapes, life scenes from different period, draw portraits of famous people (Tsar etc...).
I admired the architecture & lines of some old buildings (rym, hotels...) , drew some in aquarelles, saw massive Stalinian buildings such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the MSU, the University of Moscow with its 36 floors.
All in all, I think I walked everyday on average more than five hours. A fairly good experience. On top, to have a good overview of the Moscovit life, two nights out, having good time with my friends but it does not count as training just entertainment.
After 8 days, I have the feeling I always lived in that place, feeling like being home or almost. It reminds me the words I pronunced while I was on my way back to France 10 years ago after travelling during a sabbatical year: "The world is my playground, Europe is my garden & France is my home". That is in those special days that I feel alive, free as the wind and it feels good. Trailwalker will be without any doubt a fantastic experience & I am very happy to be part of it in 2012
Sébastien
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