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Published: September 14th 2009
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When you first arrive in Moscow and see all the blank expressionless faces and endless police its extremely daunting. i had to take an express rail journey to the city from the airport as delays meant i missed the pick up, looking out of the train window as many tourists like myself must have done since its construction i was a tad worried to say the least. first impressions from this were that Russia, Moscow looked more like one of its war torn neighbors rather than the most expensive city in the world! when i finally arrived at the hostel after 2hours lost on the metro (id like to add I'm now a complete expert) there was yet more red tape as my visa needed to be registered so after a day of waiting around i could finally explore Moscow, a 30 min walk down a main road, filed by all of the brands you could ever think of, in the beautiful sunshine its fair to say spirits were lifted upon seeing the Kremlin at last. the park surrounding red square was relaxing and as much as id see that day because they had closed the entire square due to a
military tattoo being in town.
Another 15mins walking down the road is the church of Christ the savior one of the more impressive churches but least authentic as it was rebuilt because Stalin wanted to build a skyscraper there instead. i managed to get a photo in front with my newly acquired Russian hat made from rabbit, the Russians although appearing blank and fairly unhappy are extremely nice, most of the time, when you ask for help and for a split second you see a smile creep out before quickly resuming the tough exterior.
As far as the hostel is concerned there are lots or English people who have been very happy to share stories recommend places to visit and many have done the same trip as me but in reverse which was good to prepare for a long train journey east. It was in fact a dutch guy who i made friends with the quickest so we had about 3 days to hang out before he went to Mongolia, pretty cool guy we had pretty bad luck really we were walking around 8 hours a day, the first general sigh seeing.....went to see Lenin's tomb where he
has been pickled but looks like a wax work and well that was an extremely creepy experience. after which it was a fairly long walk down to a sculpture park where we walked round for an hour without seeing a soviet statue until being pointed in the right direction by a local, we later heard a couple from the hostel went to the same park but never managed to find them. from here rather parched we went to a pub and out of the window saw a policeman pull over the nicest looking cars, in Moscow never drive an Audi, and taking bribes as clear as day 4 in the space of half an hour payed up. Next from here was probably the most impressive thing iv seen in Moscow and we just stumbled upon it, there is a park in the south of the city and it was amazing from the bridge lined with trees made from padlocks which couples had written a message or their names on and then thrown the keys into the river for unbreakable love, then the general atmosphere of the park as many people were relaxing with art work music and of course drinking,
this was the youth of Russia and they all looked happy!
the unlucky stretch came that evening when just looking for a bit to eat we visit a place which seems pretty expensive so we just order milk the cheapest thing on the menu, only to be given milk in a bag!! yaks milk.....not the best thing iv ever drunk. so from here around 2hours of walking halfway across Moscow we end up at that very same place as its the cheapest thing we can find! the next day we decided to go to a Russian black market called izmailovskaya which according to the guide book was the best in Russia, well after an hour metro ride we arrive in izmailovskaya to find nobody had even heard of it, apparently it had been closed down 2years ago by the government!
So the next day and Mal mal's last it was down to the next most famous market hoping to pick up some cheap souvenirs only to find a long row of cafes and department stores! to make up for the disappointment a trip to hard rock cafe was in order which was pretty cheap really.
On the advice
of travelers who had taken the trans Manchurian journey as i am i went out to buy some padlocks which at the store the woman was testing in front of me which i couldn't really understand until she had gone through about 6 different ones which had keys that didn't fit the lock! that's Russian engineering for you, everything which is the slightest bit technical will be tested in front of you to make sure it works!
as far as food is concerned its mainly pasta and bread based foods to keep the costs down but as a treat a crapdog goes down pretty well with some cheap vodka and coke, cocktails in a can on the other hand were a strange and not terribly nice experience.
finally id like to add the little encounter with a group of Iranians, i think they were working for its tourist board as we waited in line they repeatedly assured me of Iran's safety and that it was a ''nice place'' he had been in Russia for a couple years apparently, i guess he doesn't watch the news.
much love
Ash.
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grandma
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I am enjoying reading all this ,very interesting enjoy yourself take care and stay safe grams xx