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Published: October 9th 2007
Outside St Basil
Red Square, Moscow.(N) .
New feature! See Paula's Moscow video diary!
Thurs 20th & Fri 21st Sept We arrived exactly to timetable at 08h00 in Moscow on the overnight train from SPB. That morning we popped in to visit the luxurious Yeliseyev's grand grocery store, and also saw the mayor's building, which was one of many to have been physically ROLLED BACK some distance (15 metres in this case) in order to make many small crooked roads into wide and imposing Soviet boulevards. The weather was definitely autumnal, and slightly grey and windy as we headed off to cobbled Red Square, where we caught our first glimpse of the Cornetto-style
St Basil's Cathedral, (full name:The Cathedral of Intercession of the Virgin on the Moat!) which was built by Ivan the Terrible between 1555 and 1561. The legendary cupolas are described as 'onion domes' but I reckon they are more garlic shaped. Anyhow, it is situated right next to the
Kremlin, and is made up of nine chapels on a single foundation.
The
Tomb of Lenin is right next to the Kremlin, so we all filed in to catch a glimpse of the man himself. As Russian revolutionary, communist politician, the main leader of the October Revolution, the first head of the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, the first de facto leader of the Soviet Union, and the primary theorist of Leninism, he wielded a lot of power...on death, however, he was embalmed against his specific wishes by Stalin and is now a freaky tourist attraction (or place of pilgrimage), guarded in solemnity by seven soldiers inside the mausoleum. I reckon the body is only a wax copy.
The following day, the weather was the best we had had all week, around 20 degrees or more. We walked around inside the Kremlin complex (Kremlin means citadel), and this one in Moscow includes four palaces, four cathedrals, and many towers. It also serves as the official residence & working base of the President of Russia. Walking in through the
Trinity Tower, we passed an Arsenal, a palace where Stalin lived, and the glass & concrete
Kremlin Palace, where official Communist
Red Square by day
From the window of St Basil's Cathedral congresses used to take place, but it's now used for theatre and ballet performances! We visited the interiors of the cathedrals that were open, and saw golden Russian iconic painted & carved art from floor to ceiling (a traditional image was of St Nicholas, the protector, carrying a village in one hand and a sword in the other), some pictures with silver frames and halos, tombs of past Tsars and Princes, listened to a choir performance, strolled in the 'Secret Gardens', and went to a temporary exhibition in the
Patriarch's Palace where there was a bejewelled Tsar helmet from 17th century, and a chess set with carved metal pieces that really reflected their role, eg the King was on his throne, etc.!
The outside of the Kremlin was arguably more striking than its many interiors, with golden domes and tall towers dazzling us. A huge 202-tonne bell sat outside one of them (never been rung), and next to that was a huge cannon, made for a Tsar but never been fired.
Just outside the Kremlin, we witnessed the changing of the guard, which was done in unusual goose-stepping formation, and when the new guard reached the one who
Red Square at night
History Museum at the bottom on the left; the grand GUM shopping gallery on the right. was being relieved, he seemed to cock his head and wink! In a military way, of course. Near to this point is the "Zero Kilometre" mark, from where all distances in Russia are measured. There is a strange custom here: people stand on the metal plate marking the spot and then make a wish, thowing money over their shoulder as they do so. There is then a (fairly) good-natured scramble by a handful of pensioners to scoop the chucked cash.
After spending some time in the sun in Red Square, we took a metro to see the huge, new
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The original was built in the years up to 1883 to commemorate victory over Napoleon, however it was knocked down by Stalin in an "orgy of explosive secularism" and replaced by the world's largest swimming pool. The new version is supposed to be a good likeness of the old one.
Incidentally, the Russian metro system is bigger than that of London and New York, with 7 million journeys made each day. It is always very hot inside, and the carriage doors slam shut hard without warning. There is a lot of ornate art (eg
Clock tower, Kremlin
The clock face is big enough for a Moscow underground train to pass through. sculptures and stained glass) at many of the stations.
Also of interest in Moscow was the
Sculpture Park, a place where new sculptures sit alongside various old Russian statues of leaders such as Lenin and Stalin that were ripped from their places in a wave of anti-Soviet feeling after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
That evening, we hiked up to a viewpoint where, against the skyline, we could see Stalin's
Seven Sisters, a collection of buildings that are wedding-cake shaped, and we also spied an olympic stadium and Russia's White House, where Yeltsin faced down the 1991 military coup.
We had dinner in a great Russian place called "My My", pronounced "Moo Moo", with a bit of a cow theme going on. And very cheap Russian champagne. We returned to Red Square to witness it at night, where St Basil's and the famous, ornate "GUM" shopping centre were impressively illuminated (see photo). We finished off the night at a trendy and very smoky Russian bar, recommended by our honcho.
Sat 22nd & Sun 23rd Sept - while others were visiting a gallery, I went to visit
The Arbat, described as Moscow's most famous street. On
Alexandrovsky Garden
Just outside the Kremlin the way, I was fortunate enough to travel on the
Gallery Train, an iniative where one of the subway trains also carries framed art for passengers to see.
I got off at the far end of the Arbat and walked towards The Kremlin. To be honest, it was not worth going out of the way for, however it was interesting to see small shops selling Soviet-type souvenirs such as Russian dolls, fur hats and T-shirts with phrases such "McLenin" plastered across Golden Arches alongside old ladies selling herbs and flowers. You do get the feeling that it is the older generations who have found the transition away from Communism the hardest.
In the afternoon we went to a museum about the history of vodka, in which there were a couple of interesting tit-bits, for example that shot-glasses are often sold in threes because the average worker could only afford one-third of a bottle, and would wait outside the shop holding up two fingers, meaning that he needed two more people to contribute and share a bottle. There was a free shot of course, and then we all tried various flavours, such as raspberry (which was very fruity indeed) and
honey & pepper.
We were due to leave Moscow on Sunday night for our long journey east, so on Sunday morning we bought lots of dried pasta and other provisions to keep us going. The small grocery shop near our hostel was a real throwback to the Soviet era; there were 3 counters all selling different things, and instead of having a basket and paying cashier on the way out, the procedure was to visit each part of the shop at a time, point to the items on the shelves behind that counter and then pay for the selected items, and then move on to the next part - it took a long time...!
Paula & I went to visit the
All Russian Exhibition Centre on sunny Sunday afternoon, previously known as the
USSR Economic Achievements Exhibition. Created in the 1930s, its aim was to demonstrate the success of the Soviet economic system. Set out like a theme park, it contained many grandiose pavilions, most of which featured large and elaborate metal 'Hammer and Sickle' motifs on the top. Originally they must have contained serious information in praise of socialism but the founders would no doubt be spinning
in their graves if they could see what it had become - most of the pavilions were full of stalls selling cheap decorations, jewelry, money exchange, cafes etc., and there was a performing elephant in the main area. However, many families were strolling around and enjoying the space, so it still has an important social function. Outside, about 40 women (young and old) were lined up selling garments on coat hangers, each seeming to have about two or three only.
That evening, we went to the
Moscow State Circus, in which we saw stunning acrobatics, some performed on an ice rink that rose up from the floor and which provided the surface for some spectacular routines. But there were also animals doing things that they naturally wouldn't, such as cats juggling fire and seals passing balls around. Although the human performers were amazing, we weren't so sure about the animal participation, but we knew that they would be better treated than a lot of animals in the country, such as those that we had seen brought out to the streets to perform.
We made the night train in plenty of time, cracked open the vodka and some new
Paula by the equally huge Tsar Bell
At 202 tonnes, it's the world's biggest bell, and has also never been rung! shot glasses before falling asleep on the comfy bunks.
The Trans-Mongolian Railway: Part I
The American satirist William Gaddis once wrote that
Trains do not depart; they set out, and move at a pace to enhance the landscape, and aggrandize the land they traverse. This may be true of many train journeys, but the Trans-Mongolian would have a difficult task in aggrandising Russia, it's the world's largest country by far; measuring around 5,000 miles at its widest point, the country is transcontinental, bordering 14 countries and stretches across 11 time zones (GMT+2 to GMT+12). It boasts the world's largest forest reserves, benefits from access to three oceans and has the world's deepest freshwater lake in Lake Baikal. Finally, caviar from the Caspian Sea is said to be the finest in the world - not that we've tried it on this budget though!
Mon 24th - Thurs 27th Sept - the first part of our great train ride was to take us from Moscow to Irkutsk, which is way out to the east of Russia.
Scenery - out of our big cabin window, most of what we saw consisted of autumnal forest, a mix of all
shades of green, orange and brown, dark & silver tree trunks, lakes & rivers, and - in the more industrial towns - cargo cranes in port. We often had wonderful blue skies, other times it was grey. There were two main types of housing visible; wood cabins and large, Soviet-style concrete apartment blocks. Roads varied from dirt tracks to two-laned flyover motorways. A lot of the journey, as seen from our window, could actually have been across our own Pennines. See the video for one minute's sample!
Stops - the train's timetable listed 34 stops before Irkutsk on the 4-night journey, most of which were just for a couple of minutes, to let people off in the middle of nowhere. Two or three times a day, however, the stop was for 20 minutes, in which cases we were allowed off to stretch our legs and buy supplies such as bread, fruit, salad, beer, fish, straw baskets... Some of the stations were quite grand, one had a gilded spire (Krasnoyarsk), but others were quite basic. Some had names we had heard of previously, such as Novosibirsk and Omsk.
Cabins - although we thought they would be claustrophobic over the
3-day period, our cabin space was really comfy, both to sit in during the day and sleep on during the night. We were provided with bedding and pillows, with storage space under the bottom bunk and overhead to the side (effectively over the train's corridor), and the little table under the window managed to hold our books, clock, speakers, beer, water and vodka - and also open beer bottles with a little opener on its side! We also had 2 good cabinmates in Laura and John, from up north.
There were 12 carriages in total, plus a comfortable buffet car and a freight carriage. I went for a wander to see first and third class accommodation (we were in second). The carriages themselves were all the same size but, in first class, there were only 2 bunks and a plasma telly(!), and in third there were six, slightly smaller bunks. It seemed that only Russians were in third class, although there were a significant number of tourists on board. Every carriage seemed to have its own smell (strawberry; cabbage; pet food...), and the smoking areas - in the gangway between several of the carriages - were thick with pungent tobacco
smoke, as the windows did not open. It felt like taking your life in your hands when moving from carriage to carriage, as the linking metal platforms swayed in sync with the speeding train, air rushing up in between, and the deafening clackety-clack of wheel on rail.
Time - our destination of Irkutsk was 76 hours and 5 time zones ahead of our departure city of Moscow. The big question was whether to leave our watches on Moscow time - which is what the train and its timetable permanently kept to - or to move with nature. We chose the latter, so after a late first night and losing an hour while we slept, it was around noon by the time we woke up!
We kept a travel clock that showed Moscow time so we could follow the timetable and know when the stops were due, while our watches on real time helped us avoid a big leap forward on arrival.
We spent our time talking, reading, playing the Backpacker card game, and idly watching the scenery pass by. Some of our group were looking forward to leaving train life by the end of it, but I would have
been pleased to stay a week. Maybe next time, if there is one, we'll go from west to east and gain time instead!
Food & Drink - we stocked up big time for this journey. Knowing that there was a
samovar - like a large kettle, providing hot water all the time - at the end of each corridor, dried food was the order of the week. Our provisions were as follows:
* 10 packs of noodles (Russian brand, bought in the UK!)
* 4 big pots of dried pasta
* 1 box of crispbread
* Bananas & apples
* Carton of juice
* 1 pot of dried mash
* 5 litres of water
* 1 litre of vodka
* 6 cans of tinned veg
The cheapest thing of all? The 9p Russian noodles brought from the UK!
Because of
Time (see above), we generally woke up at lunch time. Once we had eggs & sausage in the buffet car, but we did get through most of the dried pasta we had bought, although I'm not sure how nutritious their flavour-packets were.
I also bought gnocchi and boiled eggs one evening from one of the
babushkas (grandmothers) that sold
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
Built towards the end of the 19th century, the original was knocked down by Stalin for a Palace of the Soviets and a 100m statue of Lenin, which never materialised, instead the world's largest swimming pool was built. This new cathedral was built according to the old design. their wares on many of our stops.
We got through a lot of vodka as a group on the train (as might be expected), we tried out different Russian brands, and the really fruity variants (which were only half-strength at 20%!a(MISSING)bv). We all piled into the party cabin (i.e. the one belonging to 3 Aussies (Kirsty, Steff, Bronwyn) and Brit Mark (a.k.a. Disco) on a couple of nights, particularly to celebrate a birthday; 17 people was a real squash 😊
The Provodnitsa - translated as "Cabin attendant" and present on all long-distance Russian trains. As well as checking tickets they keep their own carriage tidy (e.g vacuuming twice a day, even inside our cabins), they ensure that the samovar is kept full, sell drinks & snacks and haul the carriage steps up and down at stations - so they are pretty busy. They have their own small 'office' at the end of the carriage. Our attendant was called Anna and she did a great job of looking after us, plus her "3-in-1" coffee sachets (also containing milk powder and sugar) were delicious. They came in tall glasses that were supported in decorated metal carriers with a handle -
Group photo
With the guys from our Vodka Train trip I really wanted to buy one but it was difficult to justify the GBP16 price tag!
We arrived on time in the early morning of Thurs 27th Sept in Irkutsk, the capital of East Siberia, and the temperature was 0 degrees...
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Richie
non-member comment
Food / drink / trains
I must say I'm shocked that the UK bought food was the cheapest! The champagne was clearly a good buy at 3GBP per bottle - was the vodka similarly inexpensive? The images of the train remind me a little of the rail journey we went on in the Czech Republic, but you have a much longer (and hopefully faster) journey! Now, what's this about three oceans... I count only two?! Looking forward to reading about Irkutsk and beyond, Richie.