Fall colors in Russia, October 2007

The rail line between the capital and the old imperial capital is the oldest and probably the busiest in the Russian Federation. Every day dozens of trains depart just a few minutes apart from the 19th century Leningradsky Station. The historic rail terminal is located just down the street from the old Leningradskaya Hotel, one of Stalin's "7 Sisters". This "socialist realist" building is now being remodeled and will open as the newest Leningradskaya Hilton Hotel in March 2008.

Even when Moscow's notorious traffic snarls trams and streets, Leningradsky Station is accessible via the Komsomolskaya Metro stop. Komsomolskaya is situated on Moscow's original subway line, the Sokolnicheskaya or Red Line. If you are a foreign tourist trying to make a train during rush hour, allow plenty of time to lug your bags from the jammed subway car up the well-worn steps to the surface, past the images of heroic Young Communists and the Soviet icons of Marx and Lenin.

What happens when your train slips past the Sheremetyevo region, and passes the new MEGA and IKEA stores, and the apartment blocs of the Moscow suburbs near? The real Russia, or at least the real European Russia, starts emerging outside your window, in the small towns and villages past Tver.

Click on the extended post to see some photos taken from the train.