Moscow

There are two reasons I take these trips and the way I take them.
One is to mark time. I decided a while ago I wasn't going to wake up , feeble and full of regret because my time just slipped past me. I want to fill my time with as much as I can before it's all gone. No regrets.
The second is to test myself. I cut back the planning a little bit more each trip to see if I can survive... Adapt. One day I won't. That day will suck but today was not that day and it was good.

Twelve hours on the plane. Long then into the terminal. Customs , immigration... No problem. Then out...catch the train into the city. Comfy...a little wifi, some water. Not too cold. Feeling good.
Train pulls into the station and I'm out.
Up to now there gas been English on everything..but now I can't read a fucking thing. Everything is gibberish. I looked in the book on the way over and Cyrillic has letters which look roman but don't have the same sound so announcements don't help me. FUCK!
So I adapt. Follow the crowd. Good...they get me to the metro.
I check the station I'm looking for but I have the roman letters. I can't keep the Cyrillic straight in my head. Look at the map. My hotel is two stations down! Yea!
Hop on the train. Good! No. Wrong train. Map. Read. Map. Read. Go back. Map. Sign. Read. Ok.
Two stations down.
Off the train at the second station. Wrong. Signs. Read. Read. Look. Read. Fuck...
Wait! My station connects to this one. You might think I would ask someone but the struggle us part of it. I know, sick but it works.
Sign. Follow long stucco corridors with chandeliers in the stations. Steep escalators take us down to the pit then up into the open cold.
Turn. Up. Turn. Yes! Right station!
I'm out in the street. There is the fucking kremlin!
Soldiers are everywhere. It's the Putin election. People are ok. No demonstrations but I don't know everything so I follow my map.
I'm getting dusted by snow. Tshirt, jeans and my snow jacket. It's cold but I'm close.
A soldier saw I was lost and pointed me to the hotel.
Yea!
Hotel national. Historic landmark. Government was formed here. My rewards club upgraded me to a studio. Oh! This is the way to go! Red velvet chairs on old parkay heated floor. The bed high and heated too overlooking a side street. Snow falling on the window. Quiet.
Sleep.
This was a tough day. I'm close to my limit but I can still get through shit.
It's 2 am. Wandering tomorrow. Later today actually. First day of a long trip. No bad.
Hungry,
Sleep.