Here are the standings again in the beginning of Leg 5:
1. Squirrelflight and Bramblestar (Express Pass plus additional Express Pass to give to another team)
2. Tigerstar and Scourge
3. Leafpool and Hollyleaf
4. Reedwhisker and Mallownose
5. Jayfeather and Willowshine
6. Lionblaze and Crowfeather
7. Millie and Blossomfall
The teams are given their clue and they find out they must take the fast train to St. Petersburg. They must go to the Leningradskiy Train station to catch the train. Squirrelflight and Bramblestar ask for directions at their hotel, for the best way to get to that train station. The concierge tells them what metro line to take and what stop to get off. Tigerstar and Scourge go down a few minutes later and get the same information from the concierge.
As Squirrelflight and Bramblestar are walking to the train, they look at the Express Pass and see it has a note that says they must use it before the last leg of the race and give out the second one at the beginning of the sixth leg of the race. They wonder who they will give it to. Bramblestar says, "I am torn. I want to help either Leafpool and Hollyleaf or Jayfeather and Willowshine, but sorry not Crowfeather. But if we pick one team over the other, someone will be upset. Or we could help another team who is so far behind, it won't really effect anything anyhow, like Millie and Blossomfall".
"I'm not sure myself. I will have to think about that some more", said Squirrelflight.
Leafpool and Hollyleaf ask for a cab to the indicated train station and a cab comes in a few minutes. Squirrelflight and Bramblestar arrive at the train station. They find the ticket booth and ask when is the next departing train to St Petersburg. Sadly they missed the 6:40 AM train by 40 minutes and the next train was not until 1:30 PM. However Squirrelflight saw something posted for 9:40 AM. She asked the ticketing agent about that train and the woman said, "It is sold out".
"Is there some sort of standby", said Squirrelflight.
"Yes, I can do that. You'd be the first on the list", said the lady.
"Thank you so much", said Squirrelflight and Bramblestar.
They got their printout showing they were on standby and went to sit down. Then Tigerstar and Scourge walked in. Scourge says, "Darn there was a 6:40 train. Maybe we can get on this 9:40 one that is also posted". They go to a ticketing agent, this one was a man and ask, "Do you have any tickets for the 9:40 train to St. Petersburg"?
"No, it is sold out. You can be on standby if you like", said the man.
"Okay put us on the list. Anyone else on standby"? said Tigerstar.
"Yes some cats like you", said the man.
"Aha. Squirrelbrains and that brown nosing son of mine got the standby too. Of course", said Tigerstar.
"What?" said the man.
"Oh nothing", said Scourge. "Just put us down for the standby too". At that moment Leafpool and Hollyleaf walked up and said, "I wonder what they mean by standby".
"Don't tell them", said Tigerstar. "Say there is no more room for standby".
The ticketing agent ignored him and Hollyleaf rolled her eyes at Tigerstar. They ended up going on standby too.
About an hour later, Reedwhisker and Mallownose arrived. They missed the fact that there was a 9:40 train to St. Petersburg and the ticketing agent did not offer that information, so they bought tickets for the second train, the one leaving at 1:40 PM. Jayfeather and Willowshine arrived just after they left. Willowshine had just previously mentioned that she saw a 9:40 train but she was not sure if there were any tickets left at this point for it.
Sure enough they found out it was sold out and also asked to be on standby. The ticketing agent said it was not likely because several others were on the list ahead of them. Jayfeather and Willowshine figured it was the other teams who finished before them on the last leg. But they added their names anyhow.
It turned out Bramblestar and Squirrelflight, Tigerstar and Scourge and Hollyleaf and Leafpool were able to get on the train but not Jayfeather and Willowshine. They had to go on the 1:40 train with Reedwhisker and Mallownose. So it wasn't such a big error as it seemed that Reedwhisker and Mallownose did not go on standby for the 9:40 train as they probably would not have gone on it anyhow. Tigerheart and Dawnpelt did not even try for the 9:40 because they thought they could not make it anyhow or it was sold out. And by the time Lionblaze and Crowfeather and Millie and Blossomfall got there, the 9:40 train left already.
So this is the order the teams depart for St. Petersburg:
Train 1 (9:40 AM):
Squirrelflight and Bramblestar
Tigerstar and Scourge
Hollyleaf and Leafpool
Train 2 (1:40 PM)
Reedwhisker and Mallownose
Jayfeather and Willowshine
Tigerheart and Dawnpelt
Lionblaze and Crowfeather
Millie and Blossomfall
So all teams are making their way to St. Petersburg. The clue they received told them the route marker was a place that was a formal garden built for Peter the Great but is now a popular park with many of the original statues.
The first train arrives and the teams scramble to try to find out where is the route marker and the best way to get there. Hollyleaf and Leafpool are the first to see an information booth. The person there does speak English and knows that the place is the Great Palace (Park) and tells them the best way to get there is the electric train from Baltiskiy Station to Noviy Peterhof and catch a bus from there that takes them to the park. They get directions to that train station and proceed to leave.
Squirrelflight and Bramblestar finally find the information booth and ask for help. Now there are two people there. One is the lady who helped Hollyleaf and Leafpool and speaks perfect English and another lady who speaks some English but not as well. So unfortunately they get the lady who does not speak English as well. She is trying to explain to them what to do but it is not clear what she is trying to say. Finally the other lady is done and is talking to the first lady in Russian and both cats are looking at each other frustrated. Finally the lady who speaks English well says they can either do the marshrutka mini buses at the same train station that is more direct to the park but takes a little longer than the train, but neither of them were sure of the exact bus they needed to take at the train station near the park and how often they run, so they finally decided to take the mini bus at the Baltiskiy train station.
Tigerstar and Scourge totally miss the information booth but come across an internet station and hop on one of the computers and find out that they are going to the Great Palace in Peterhof and the best way to get there is the marshrutka mini bus from Baltiskiy station.
Hollyleaf and Leafpool take a train to get to the Baltiskiy station and wait for the train to Noviy Peterhof. About 10 minutes later, the train with Tigerstar, Scourge, Squirrelflight and Bramblestar arrives at Baltiskiy station and they go outside to wait for the train. The train for Hollyleaf and Leafpool arrive before the bus arrives for the other two teams. About 10 minutes later, the bus arrives too, so the first three team are on their way to the Great Palace.
Finally Hollyleaf and Leafpool get to the train station in Peterhof and look for a bus to take. They see a few and are trying to figure out which one is the right one. They ask a few people but they do not speak English. Finally they find someone who speaks a little English and he directs them to the right bus stop. The next bus supposedly is not arriving for another 15 minutes, but Hollyleaf and Leafpool were not sure if they heard him right or that he even really knew.
Squirrelflight and Bramblestar, Tigerstar and Scourge are getting closer to the Great Palace. They are about 5 minutes away as Hollyleaf and Leafpool's bus finally arrives. But Squirrelflight, Bramblestar, Tigerstar and Scourge end up getting there about 8 minutes before Hollyleaf and Leafpool and they grab the clue. Squirrelflight and Bramblestar get the clue first followed shortly by Tigerstar and Scourge. We see the team opening up the clues and reading them. We then see Tansy talking about the Detour.
"This is a Detour. There are two separate challenges, each with its own pros and cons. The first one is Ice and the second one is Floor. In Ice, the teams must go to the Ice Palace (hockey stadium) and dress up as a goalie and block 5 shots from a semi pro hockey player. The second one is Floor. At the SKK Petersburgsky Complex, teams must perform a Rhythmic Gymnastics routine. Ice may be finished quicker if teams have good hand eye coordination".
Squirrelflight and Bramblestar talk about the Detour and decide to do the Ice one. Tigerstar and Scourge quickly come to the same conclusion. Squirrelflight and Bramblestar were in such shock that Tigerstar and Scourge did not argue over the Detour, they almost lost time.
A few minutes later Leafpool and Hollyleaf get the clue and are going back and forth about what to do. Finally they decide on ice.
Stay tuned for next time as the rest of the teams arrive in St. Petersburg and the first group of teams do the Detour challenges.