who likes logic?

6/19/2006
Athina, Greece to Thessaloniki, Greece

Ugh, more fond caressing going on across the tiny train compartment. I cannot wait until I do not have to watch any more of this (sorry Chris).

This trip is getting less and less logical & more and more twisted by the day! Currently we are traveling by train to Thessaloniki, in northern Greece near Macedonia, where we will sleep tonight (we actually thought to make reservations this time!). Tomorrow we will bum around town (hopefully hopefully hopefully do laundry!), maybe catch up on email, then head back to the train station where I will hop a train to Istanbul, Turkey...alone...& Chris and Rosanne will take this train back to Athina. Yup, that's right...we are parting ways. Only temporarily though. Chris & I will meet again in St. Pete, Russia on the 26th. Provided he can get into the country that is. If all else fails, we'll meet in Helsinki. Yup, Finland. How's that for a strategy! How about I back up a little bit, hmmm? (Now that's cute, he's tenderly wiping the sweat from her brow, & he even got a kiss for it! How in god's name can they cuddle in this fucking heat??)

Chris & I needed a way to get into Russia, & time was constantly against us; our visas are valid only from 12 June though 26 June. (Aww, now she's testing how sweaty his chest is & teasingly playing with his nipple...) While it's true we still have one full week left, Russia is motherfuckin' huge. It takes days to get anywhere from anywhere. Days I tell you! So training it the whole way is out. We found a flight on Orbitz from Athina to Moscow on Aeroflot Airlines that we could afford (though barely), but they had to mail paper tickets. No time; no mailing address. No chance. So we tried calling the local Aeroflot office to see if they could issue the tickets for a comparable price. No answer. We then were pleased to discover that the very same office was less than a five-minute walk away! We walked there. We approached the ghetto elevator. We walked up the five flights of stairs. We saw they were closed until 09.00 Monday morning. We turned around. We took the ghetto elevator down the five stories. We walked back.

The only option that remained was to take the long, hot bus to the airport & pray, both of which Chris & I did. Upon arriving (& after a bit of searching), we found the Aeroflot ticket counter! Deserted. The friendly Turks at the Turkish Airlines counter next door informed us that the Russians man the counter only when they have a flight, & followed up with a comment on laziness accompanied by a mischievous grin. They were so friendly in fact that we all got to talking. We told them our soap opera & after trying many options (all of which failed miserably), it finally was discovered that we could afford to send one of us to Ekaterinburg (near Chelyabinsk, where we were headed) by way of Istanbul. We bought Russian visas. Neither of us going would mean wasting them. We're stubborn bitches. We bought me the ticket for Wednesday the 21st.

And so soon begins our journey apart. I will fly direct to Ekaterinburg & take a train or bus to Chelyabinsk. After just two days with Olga I will board yet another goddamned train on the 24th, & live there for the two days it takes to get to St. Petersburg, where Chris & I will have our glorious reunion. A train to Helsinki & a 23-hour ferry across the Baltic to Rostock will return us to the land of beer, Eurail & 24/7 World Cup madness: Germany!

Of course while I'm off drinking vodka & trying desperately to keep my skinny ass out of some Russian prison in Siberia, Chris has got to be doing something! He & Rosanne will fly from Athina back to Milano, Italy, & then jump a train to Interlaken, Switzerland in the Alps. Kinda jealous about that. After relaxing a few days there goodbyes will be said (most likely long & terribly painful...to watch), & she will head to Paris while Chris will take many, many trains in a mad dash to reach the Russian border by the 24th or the 25th. On the 26th we meet in St. Pete. UNLESS, for some reason, they don't let him in. Not enough hair or something. Should that happen & I can't find him in the train station, we will make our ways separately to Helsinki's main train station & meet under the arrival/departure board. It's foolproof. Too bad we're idiots & not fools.

It has been a long, strange & often awkward and painful trail so far. I have no idea what to expect in Russia. I'm excited, but also anxious. I suppose the unknown will do that to you. Even so I remain obstinately & illogically optimistic. I just hope that doesn't land me in some northeastern Russian work camp.