Christmas Trip to Moscow

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At the moment, the big thing in Britain as well as in Denmark is to go to New York for Christmas or for other shopping events. It must be a bit crowded in New York with all those shoppers so we decided to go to Moscow instead. Moscow was far of disappointing and a very good Christmas destination. We travelled to Moscow about a week before Christmas 2007 and spent three nights there, enough to see some museums, The Red Square, Kremlin and do some shopping ... and to get really hooked on going back soon again ...

It was not without fear we boarded the aircraft in Copenhagen and it was not fear for the immigration process as we have been to Russia a few times before and know the whole thing is very peaceful now. It was fear for the Russian winter!! I had checked the climate charts for Moscow and it was a bit worrying with an average temperature of -8C but with possible spells down to -20C or even lower. But we had nothing to fear as we experienced no lower than -6C and to make the Christmas trip complete there was even a small layer of snow in many places.

We only had time to see the most famous places in Moscow as you will see on the photos here on the site. The Kremlin complex was as fantastic and stunning as I imagined with all its cathedrals and museums. You can still feel the tensity from the times when the old tsars decided to go to war or the communist party held its conferences in the new Palace of Congresses (now called Kremlin's State Palace). The Red Square also have the atmosphere of times gone by and still today the city writes important pages of world history.

Maybe one of the most fascinating things about going to Moscow is that you are able to taste a big variety of food from all parts of Russia and neighbouring countries. We tried e.g. a lovely Georgian restaurant and I can only recommend people to be adventurous when they visit Moscow restaurants.

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Photos

Ploshchad Revolyutsii Metro Station
Moscow have some of the most fantastic metro stations. This one is near Red Square and one of the most famous, opened in 1938.

The Assumption Cathedral
The Assumption Cathedral inside the Kremlin has been one of the most important churches for the Russian Orthodox Christians for centuries.

The Spasskaya Tower
One of the most well-known landmarks of Moscow is The Saviour Tower. The first five-pointed star was put on in 1935 and replaced by an even bigger star in 1937.

Saint Basil's Cathedral
Another famous landmark of Moscow, Saint Basil's Cathedral was built during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, 1555-1561.

Christmas decoration in GUM
The "State Department Store", GUM was built 1890-1893 under the reign the last Russian tsar.

Izmailovsky Market
If you get fed up by seeing only Western brands in the fancy shops in Moscow, you should go to the Izmailovsky Market. Here you can buy everthing truly Russian.

Comments

[danny]

hey, nice blog :) i really want to goto moscow near christmas and i have a few questions if you dont mind? when there how many layers do you think i will need to dress up in? like you said it could reach -20 but when you when it was -6? there apparetly is a chrismas market on red square around this time is that true? and do they have many decorations up? because iknow some of the russians celebrate christmas on january the 6th. nice work here im looking to go around the 10th/11th january next year as im currently a student so i need to save up :D thanks again, danny :)