World Draughts-64 Championship - 5th-7th day

2024.09.05.-15. Moscow, WORLD DRAUGHTS-64 CHAMPIONSHIP AMONG MEN AND WOMEN

Day 5-7

 2 days of parties in the morning and afternoon. During the long parties, Anna was almost always the last one to get up from the board. During the 2 days she managed to collect 3 valuable points. Bálint unfortunately fell ill and had to miss both matches on the first day. There were paramedics on site to provide medical assistance during the tournament, so he received quick help (medication, injections and good advice) and was back on his feet the next day. Unfortunately, he has not managed to score any points so far.

Yesterday was a day off for everyone. In the morning we went on a bus excursion to the centre of Moscow. Traffic was terrible, we covered 50 km in nearly 1,5 hours by bus. Finally we arrived at the Red Square. It was gorgeous. Gigantic country, gigantic squares, buildings, statues, parks everywhere. We tried to get our bearings from my childhood studies. We saw Lenin's body in the mausoleum. I was shocked to see that admission was free. Of course, we could only go in 2 parts, because we were not allowed to take backpacks. So I was the baggage keeper first and Anna and Bálint went in. After that I left my things to them and went to the mausoleum in my clothes (no phone, no documents, no money, no bag). I sent the 2 young men across the street to look for presents. When I came out, a strange feeling came over me. What if I can't find them and I'm standing in the middle of Moscow with nothing. For a moment I felt what it must be like to lose everything and be alone on the other side of the WORLD. What do you do, who do you turn to for help? Sure enough, after about 15-20 minutes of walking, I found the 2 vagrants in the souvenir shop where I had sent them and they were waiting patiently for me.

Then we visited the Cathedral of Blessed Vazul, built in the early 16th century. We were greeted by magnificent 600-year-old murals and a beautiful church hymn in the central tower.The acoustics are amazing and the voices of the 2 men transport you to heaven.

Afterwards we went to the famous GUM, probably the largest shopping mall in the world, of course not priced for our wallet. 3 floors, 3 streets of branded stuff.

Here we popped into the historic toilet, let's see what it's like to be given a royal welcome.

Afterwards we had lunch and set off in search of Christ the Saviour Cathedral. On the way, we walked through Gorky Park, saw the Tretyakov Gallery, the National Art Museum, walked along Moscow's most famous, longest and oldest pedestrian street (The Old Arbat). We saw the huge railway station. The biggest challenge was getting from one side to the other on the 5 lane road. After a lot of asking around, we found the underpass that connects the streets of Moscow. Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to try the famous Moscow metro.

We tried to get back to the hotel in the evening, but there was no public transport, so we tried to call a taxi.

Well, it was very interesting. Of course, none of the taxi companies spoke English, only Russian. For the third time we managed to find out what area code the telephones worked with. Finally someone on the other end of the phone spoke Russian. Then we managed to clarify where and from where they were supposed to take 3 people and finally the taxi arrived. We finished another adventurous day.