Marty the Motorcycling giraffeStory 44 Marty’s exciting European adventure Part 3 Marty in Minsk and Moscow

Marty the motorcycling giraffe, is on one of his most exciting adventures yet, Marty is touring Europe and after a lovely couple of days in Berlin in Germany, Marty is taking a very long train journey to Moscow the capital city of Russia.

To reach Russia and Moscow the train will have to pass right through Poland and Belarus first, so Marty had decided that he will have an over night stop in Minsk  the capital city of Belarus.

Marty brought some books and magazines about the things to do and see in Moscow and Minsk and settled down for the long train ride

It was early evening when Marty arrived at Minsk so he booked himself into a hotel, opposite Victory square, where he had a good view of the monument in the centre of the square from his hotel room.

Marty then headed off to find Gorky Park, a large park with a fairground that he had read about.

At the park, Marty wandered round its lovely gardens and couldn’t help have a little nibble at some of the twigs and leafs from the top of the many trees there. Marty then came across the fairground and saw that it had a really big, “big wheel” ride.

“I must have a go on that big wheel” Marty thought to himself “it’s a bit like the one I went on when I visited London”

Marty joined the queue for a ride on the big wheel and it wasn’t long before he as sat high above the tree tops and getting a wonderful view of the park and beyond into the city of  Minsk.

After he finished riding the big wheel Marty headed for the parks observatory and planetarium.

Marty enjoyed looking up at the stars in the planetarium as it reminded him of the night sky in the Masai Mara, where stars are not hidden by the bright lights of any city. But this did make Marty feel a little home sick, as he did miss being in Africa with all his friends, in particularly his special friend Gillian Giraffe.

“Pull yourself together Marty” he said to himself “you’re here to enjoy yourself and have an adventure”.

It was soon time for Marty to had back to his hotel, to get a good nights sleep, before catching the early morning train to Moscow.

Mary got up bright and early the next day, ate a large breakfast of twigs and leafs and headed to the train station.

At the station Marty got on board the train to Moscow, and found a window sit, so the could look out across the Belarusian and Russian country side as the train makes its way to Moscow.

By the time the train arrived at Moscow, Marty was feeling quite sore from being cramped up in the train’s seats and was very happy to get out onto the platform where he could have a good stretch

 “Ooh that’s better” exclaimed Marty and added “now lets go and see what adventures can be found in Moscow.”

Marty booked himself into a nice hotel and straight away went out to start exploring Moscow.

Marty made his way to “Red Square” in the centre of Moscow, so that he could visit Saint Basil’s cathedral.

Marty stood outside the cathedral for a while before going inside as he was in awe at the wonderful building with its very colourful dome topped cylindrical towers. Inside the cathedral was just as amazing, with its arched corridors with ornate murals leading to large places of worship.

Marty was amused to learn that the cathedral had been build over 400 years ago on the order of the then Russian leader with the rather scary name of Ivan the terrible.

After he had finished visiting the cathedral and Red Square, Marty took a boat trip along the River Moskva, which was a lovely relaxing way of seeing the city.

After he had finished his boat trip, Marty passed some time wandering around the streets of Moscow admiring all the buildings, some of which were very tall and full of glass

Marty was just thinking how busy a window cleaner could be in this city, when he came across a team of window cleaners, who were using hydraulic lifts and platforms to reach the high up windows.

“I hope Peter doesn’t buy one of those lifts, I would be out of work” thought Marty to himself.

The he noticed that one of the lifts seemed to be stuck on the ground with a rather worried window cleaner stood next to it scratching his head and looking rather worried.

“Jambo” said Marty to the window “I am Marty the motorcycling giraffe and I am a window cleaner's assistant, back at home in Nairobi in Africa

“здравствуйте жираф господина добро пожаловать в Москву”  (Hello Mister Giraffe welcome to Moscow) said the window cleaner, who told Marty his  name is Andrei and that his hydraulic lift was broken and that he would not get paid if he didn’t get all the windows on this tall building clean.

Marty then explained how he helps Peter clean the windows on the tall buildings in Nairobi and offered to help Andrei.

Andrei was delighted with Marty’s kind offer and climbed on to his head and very soon they were quickly getting all the windows nice and clean.

When they were finished Andrei was so pleased with Marty for helping him, he offered to buy Marty a ticket to go and see the ballet at the Bolshoi theatre.

“Oh asante sana" said Marty “that sounds wonderful”.

Marty had never been to the ballet before and he didn’t really understand what was happening, but he still enjoyed himself and thought that the dancers were very elegant, graceful and glamorous.

At the end of the show, Marty said kwahari to Andrei and they agreed to keep in touch. Marty then headed off to his hotel to get some sleep as he had to be up early in the morning to catch an aeroplane flight back home.

Marty has had a very exciting adventure in Europe and thought that the places he had visited (Paris, Berlin, Minsk and Moscow) were all wonderful but he was looking forward to getting home to Africa to see what more adventures there could be for

Marty the motorcycling giraffe

Look out for next weeks thrilling encounter of Marty's year of adventures in Story 45 Marty and the hot air Ballon, to be posted on Sat 21st April 2012