Moscow – City of Mystery

Well comrades we have made it to Moscow, with a good train trip meeting an Australian and Canadian couple that we have seen in Ulanbaatar and Irkutsk who are doing a similar trip. Nice to chat and get different perspectives on places we have been to so far.

Upon arrival Michael decided the Metro would be fun to take to our hotel (only 4 stops). Well peak hour in the Russian Metro is not to be taken lightly and with much pushing with 5 bags we got there. I did not need to know Russian to understand some of the looks we got.

The hotel is Home Hotel At Kamergersky Pereulok , which is comfortable and in the theatre district and 10 min walk to Red Square and the Kremlin.

This place has changed in the last 30 years with high-end fashion stores, Bentleys and Maserati’s for sale next to Red Square along with McDonalds!

Did the Lonely Planet walk and could not believe the face-lift they have given to the GUM Department Store. When Christine and I visited it was a run down shopping centre with small shops that had very few items for sale and massive queues.  It is very different now as you can see from the pictures.

 

Visited Red Square and they had a practice parade on for the Unity day on the 4^th November. Unfortunately we were unable to view Lenin’s Mausoleum because of the parade practice.  Still, I am sure that he hasn’t aged a day since I last saw him. Visited the Armory Museum inside the Kremlin and viewed the gold and silver crafts which were exquisite in creation and size. Looking forward to St Petersburg. 

Walked around the rest of the Kremlin in areas that were closed off when I was last here, with the churches being opened and the beautiful art and frescos on display. As with most European buildings it is the sense of history knowing that these building have been around 600 plus years and are still here and being maintained. However, I was puzzled by 2 buildings in Red Square which I was sure were not there 30 years ago (or had Christine given me too much cognac at the time). Our night tour guide told us that two of the buildings were built in the 90’s in the same style as the original ones, as Stalin had them torn down as they interfered with the flow of his military parades. The buildings look as if they have been standing for hundreds of years.

Moscow itself has a lot of new development and refurbishment going on with the grand buildings being retained and painted. There are no modern high rises in this area to take away the spectacular views of the city.

On our night tour of Moscow we got to see outside the city with great views from the university precinct, the highest point of the city and the campus has a massive Stalin building which is one of 7 that you can see from this place. We later visited some more of this impressive buildings for sheer size and communist style.

We also visited the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Originally the site was a convent, however when Russia won the war against Napoleon the Tsar ordered the convent’s removal and a church was built on the site. One of the old nuns put a curse on the place saying that anything built there would not last more than 50 years (you know how spiteful nuns can be).  The church was built. It took 44 years to construct, until Stalin destroyed it in preparation for one of his tall buildings. This was delayed due to the war and only the foundations were built. After the war they had no money for building works so the Moscow council turned it into a swimming pool, which held the Guinness Book of Records as the world largest pool for just under 50 years. Then with Glasnost it was handed back to the Russian Orthodox Church who rebuilt the cathedral in the original style we a few modern touches in less than 2 years.  We will see if it lasts longer than 50 years.

Our guide told us the city never sleeps with bars and restaurants everywhere. Tim, not sure if you could get into this place based on the sign on the door.

Decided to get around the city by Metro subway, which is highly efficient and the stations were lovely as shown in some of the guide-books. The trains run every 2 minutes and connections are easy. The platforms are covered with mosaics, paintings and plaster works giving each station its own identity all with good CCCP themes. Michael was sure the coal workers would rather receive a beer than flowers, but that is Russia.

Took a trip to Gorky Park, which has had the amusement park removed and is now a lovely park to wander through. We then visited the outdoor sculpture gallery of old soviet statutes and new modern art works. It was a long weekend for Unity Day, which celebrates the victory over Poland. We also got to see the ugly side of Russians as the Soviet National Front type people were marching and protesting Russian Pride. Not the type of Pride march some of our friends attend. So we had to navigate around the road-blocks to get to places.  There was a huge number of police and army personnel controlling the march, many of them in full riot gear.  Pretty scary to see and I was glad when we left the area.

 

 

 

Out at dinner they had lovely background music including Boney M’s Rasputin, Abba and a number of American hits from the 70’s and 80’s. Most schools now teach English as a second language so we have been able to converse with some people at a basic level.

Well we are off to St Petersburg on the Sampan high-speed train. It is a shame to leave Moscow so soon as there is a lot more to explore and it has proven to be a delightful city that we would want to come back to.