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July 21st 2010
Published: July 21st 2010
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Russia is not the easiest country to travel around as a backpacker. The visas trains and even accommodation all require some forward planning. I got caught out with the train to Moscow. I tried to book just 2 days in advance and all that was left was really expensive 1st class or seat only on a 2am train. I should probably change the name of this blog to "sleeping in uncomforable positions on the cheapest possible form of public transport". I was mentally prepared for a night sleeping on the floor could not believe it when the seats were fully reclining. Actually got a proper night sleep!

Moscow is in many ways Saint Petersburg's ugly sister. The Soviet era left a far greater impression on the city. Saint Petersburg was the the Czar's capital Moscow was Stalin's and he inflicted his unique sense of style everywhere. There are grey office buildings and towering housing blocks everywhere. The 7 sisters, enormous Stalinist skyscrapers, puncture the city's skyline.

The Kremlin, the city's heart survived relatively unscathed, as did the iconic red square. It's walls now house the chemically preserved body of Lenin. The rose tinted glasses of history been quite kind to Lenin here. He's certainly viewed as the lesser of two evils versus Stalin. Viewing the body to "pay your respects" involves a long queue in what was blistering heat. The mausoleum is one of the strangest places I've ever been :it's totally dark, there are sombre looking guards at every turn the in the middle Lenin's body! Unfortunately you can't spit on or near the corpse.

My favourite thing by far is the fact that the front of the mausoleum perfectly captures the reflection of the GUM department store. Once the state department store it's empty shelves and queues once epithimized everything that was wrong with communism. Now it's a luxury shopping mall with every luxury western brand from Armani to Zegna. If Lenin does ever get a grave he'll no doubt spend eternity rolling in it.

The second day I visited Novodevichy Convent and Kolomenskoye open air museum in the morning. Both really nice but Moscow was experiencing a freak heat wave so I didn't spend much time at either. 37 degrees it was actually hotter than Cairo!

It's impossible to visit Moscow without noticing the enormous weath of a certain section of the population. The Bentleys, Porsches and Hummers are the most immediate sign. The inflated prices are the most annoying sign. There's seems to be a general sense of acceptance that they've done something dodgy to get this money but corruption is just part of the Russian way of life. You can't help but feel communism completely crushed this country then Capitalism came along like a vulture and picked away at the scraps.



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