KALUGA HO

We've just had a three day holiday weekend. I'd like to tell you which holiday we were celebrating, but even the Russians here didn't exactly seem sure. Perhaps something to do with the constitution? Or the revolution? Or both?

Anyway, we decided to get out of Moscow for a day or two so four of us took the train down to Kaluga, about 200km south of Moscow. In my first year in Russia I was working in Kaluga region but never made it to the regional capital. So it has been an unfulfilled ambition - until now. Actually, another reason we went to Kaluga was that we could get there on the electric 'local' train, rather than the book-in-advance overnight trains which tend to be pretty full on holidays. The local trains also cost peanuts - about one pound fifty all the way to Kaluga.

So we arrived in Kaluga. A very old city, with almost no Soviet buildings. It was disconcerting not to see tower blocks everywhere. There are even some wooden houses left in the city centre.

We totally failed to find a hotel to stay in. All except two were full; of those two, one only had one room left, and the other refused to let us stay there when they found out we were foreign. Seriously. So we did what any self-respecting young people would do and stayed in a club until the morning. Actually we managed to get a table so we just sat, ate and drank the night away. We also got into trouble for playing cards, which is apparently *absolutely forbidden* in Russian clubs and bars. Didn't know that.

As we tried to leave the club, we got accosted by some drunk Russians who made us drink vodka with them. I don't know why I'm telling you this, as it barely counts as an anecdote any more. My flatmate poured his vodka into a potplant though, as it was either that or vomit on some strangers. Which would have been a better anecodote.

When we finally managed to leave the club, we had the brilliant and not entirely sober idea of finding a train to an entirely different provincial city. So we turned up at the station only to find no trains but a big, warm, clean bus with a 'MOSKVA' sign. It seemed like fate. So we returned home. That was our very brief trip away - 13 hours in Kaluga!