Goodbye Moscow, Hello Kazan

2^nd July 2013

The reality of leaving Moscow and moving on to Kazan hit when re-packing my bag seemed a much more challenging task than it was the first time I did it. How, I will never know, but I am convinced I had accumulated more stuff whilst in Moscow and my bag now seemed twice as full!

Team GB Men's Team in action in Moscow

Before leaving for Moscow we had a chance to watch the Men’s GB Team in action as they were playing a friendly and from what I saw I have high expectations of what they can achieve this year. They went and won silver at the Games in Shenzhen in 2011 and it is hopefully they can emulate that feat this year.

Onwards from here we headed for a ‘day out’ in Moscow where we were treated to life as a tourist checking out the sights and views as organised by our Team Manager Alex. We were also treated to the company of Alexander, our Russian tour guide for the day, who without a doubt was the most enthusiastic person I had met when talking about Russian history! “Look right… Look left… follow the flag” his knowledge was pretty impressive and I have to say it was one of the most informative history lessons I have ever had, although I’m not quite sure I remember much of it now!

Watch out tourists about!

We visited a view point over Moscow and had the opportunity to see part of the city I doubt we will ever visit again. Then onto the Kremlin, which despite hearing the name of it many times, I still struggled to fully understand what it is. Wikipedia informs me that it is a “historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow” and the magnitude of it fully reflected that. Beautifully crafted buildings, a hand painted church and a (large) number of security guards all formed what I have been told is the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation.

The team arriving at the Kremlin

Excuse my ignorance, I wish I had researched it more prior to my visit, but I did enjoy looking around and embracing a new culture and way of life. It is my first ever visit to Moscow and I am glad we had the chance to check out a bit of its history.

On arrival at the airport we found out that our flight was delayed by 5 hours which meant a 7 hour wait in the airport! Not quite the plan our staff had put in place but sometimes things are out of their hands and you just have to make the best of a bad situation. And with the discovery of free Wi-Fi, yes Wi-Fi in the airport, this wait didn’t seem quite as disastrous or boring as we expected. It felt like we had just re-entered the 21^st century after being without internet access for a few days! The smiles all around camp showed the joy of this discovery :) 

Despite the discovery of Wi-Fi we reverted to
 'Snap'to keep us entertained!

Once our plane finally took flight we landed in Kazan at about 3am. It was an unexpectedly long day but nonetheless enjoyable. By the time we had arrived in the village the sun had begun to rise for the next day and after a detailed security check on entrance to the village we were eventually at our home for the next weeks. Rest and recovery was needed and despite being 4am by the time we got into bed it felt good to be ‘home’.

The excitement for tomorrow is already building where we will get the chance to explore the sights and atmosphere of life in the village and I think the realisation of the magnitude of the event is beginning to set in as all the girls are in awe at what we have already seen. I have a feeling it’s going to be a good one!

Block 19 - What we call 'home' in the Village