After our trip to Novodevichy Cemetery and an impromptu stop at a Moscow McDonald's (I was hungry and needed to remember why I hadn't eaten there in nearly a year), my family and I set off for St. Petersburg. We chose to take the high-speed Sapsan train, which allows you to get to St. Petersburg in about four hours. What a great ride! I'm used to plodding, sweaty overnight trains that take eight or ten hours to travel between those two cities, so this was a great change of pace. The train was clean, comfortable, and absolutely flew: The speed display showed we were going more than 200kph (125mph) for much of the trip. We bought lunch and some beer and had a great discussion, and before we knew it, we  were in St. Petersburg. It's too bad that, except for the Northeast Corridor, rail service like this doesn't exist in the US--what a great way to travel. 

Our platform in Moscow

Waiting 

About to board

It's a pretty train

Sapsan means "peregrine falcon" in Russian