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Published: September 6th 2010
Apt Statue
This statue seems to be feeling the way we felt: lamenting 'Why is it so?!'Ratings explained:
'Bad times' - self explanatory
'Don't bother' - self explanatory
1* - worth a look
2* - Good Times
3* - Unmissable
+ - emphasis on the rating
In my last travel blog I said travelling to Moscow was a mistake and indeed it was. Moscow you see was suffering it's worse heatwave since records began with temperatures averaging 36C per day, and as high as 38C on bad days. The heatwave was hitting a lot of Russia around Moscow too and had led to over 400 forest fires.
Moscow is very unfamiliar with this kind of heat and generally the accommodation and attractions aren't setup to cater for keeping cool; only for staying warm!
The severe fires led to a lot of smoke and so for 90% of the time we were in Moscow the skies were obscured with smoke; some days light smoke so you could see, but the skies were blotted out like on an overcast day, on other days the smoke was so thick you couldn't see more than 20 metres in front of you in the city and it was a little difficult to breathe. The smell of bushfires was ever present
The smoke in the air
This is a photo of the famous onion domes of St Basils seen from Red Square during a particularly bad day of bushfire smoke the whole time.
With so much smoke in the air the reasons we went to Moscow i.e. to see outdoor sights like the Kremlin, St Basils domes, or any number of other remarkable outdoor sights were basically not worth seeing as the smoke made the sights so drab and boring, or even barely able to see them.
People were walking the streets wearing surgical masks to keep out the smoke, an apparently futile gesture but funny and strange to see. We got some comic relief when we saw a chap wearing a surgical mask on one of the smoky days pull down his mask for a second to drag on his cigarette! Oh the irony; good times.
Although Alicia and I, being hardy Australians with plenty of bushfire experience could persevere through the smell and sometimes choking air caused by smoke what we really didn't like was the lack of respite from the heat. At home we're used to be able to go to bed and switch on a fan or A/C to cool you down and allow you to relax and recover a bit from the heat and to sleep well. In our Moscow hostel that had no
Hell of a Bell
That's Nick in the foreground of the ridiculously large Tsars bell. fans or A/C it was unrelenting heat, usually 27C at night and we barely slept a wink, for six nights!!
We tried to buy a fan and learned that fans could not be bought for love or money (we spent over 5 hours on this shopping mission). We tried endless options of sleeping with icepacks in our beds but they tended to melt and get to room temperature and then you'd wake up hot at 01:30 in the morning and feel like your body was melting down! The only way Nick was able to sleep was with a 1.5 Litre frozen-solid bottle of water clutched in his arms all night and another frozen bottle on his legs.
The heat also affected indoor sights; we tried to go to a few museums to find the staff had either left early, or not showed up at all, so the sights you might want to see weren't always available!
To kick us while we were down our arrival airport transfer was the worst experience of our whole trip with a ridiculously unprofessional and fairly unpleasant maniac driving us 1.5 hellish hours to our hostel. Needless to say after this and the
Inquisitive Kitten
Nothing cheers you up like a friendly kitten awful treatment we had from the owner of the Hostel we would never recommend Godzilla Hostel in Moscow, or the taxi transfer service they provide. Nor would we suggest ANY taxi transfer service in Moscow from the airport, better to get the train than risk getting the god-awful experience we had.
We kept some perspective whilst in the city; the people of Moscow really aren't used to this kind of heat and with the huge temperatures and bad smoke we feared people would be dieing, sure enough the news reported that year-on-year records showed 10,000 more people had died in July 2010 in Moscow to July 2009. They didn't draw out reasons, but I'd suggest the heat and smoke alone was dangerous and deadly for the poor old Russian locals. Having seen elderly people in Sydney being carted off in ambulances during heatwaves we were really upset that the Moscow locals would almost certainly be dangerously affected.
Our Moscow trip was therefore reduced sight-seeing, started badly, and a huge test of stamina and resolve. We looked into getting out of town to find that it was prohibitive to change our flights, we heard on the news every train
Russian Sculptures
We found a lot of nice modern Russian sculpture in the courtyard of a city modern art museum. The statues all have a distinctly Russian look, theme, and style. and plane was booked out, no-one wanted to be around. When the smoke got bad for 3 or so days the government's advice was to stay indoors and not go to work.
Alicia and I reconciled ourselves to not 'do' Moscow like we normally would with other destinations i.e. frantically sight see everything in an organised and swift fashion, but instead to survive and keep sane first, and see a few sights if we could secondly; effectively writing off Moscow (this time around) as a destination. What follows is what we did manage to enjoy.
Our first main sight was the Museum of the Revolution (2*+); an excellent museum. There was lots of good English info and coverage of Russian History from 1861 when Tsar Alexander II abolished Feudalism and freed the serfs through Communism and WWII, and up to Gorbachev and Yeltsin in 1991. Good exhibits too. The main thing I'd say I understood from this museum is that the Russian people had it tough, have always had it tough, and up until recently and possibly even today STILL have it tough. Boy have they had some rough times in the last century and a half! Anyone
Museum Interior
Russian's don't mind making their museum interiors very pretty, the ceilings are often prettier than the exhibits! interested in history or wanting to know more about the Russian people could enjoy this fine museum.
The next day we took a turn around the Kremlin and the Kremlin Armoury (2*). The armoury had plenty of impressive gold & silver treasures; lovely platters, goblets, clocks, and some Faberge eggs. There was a good armour and weapons section and royal clothing too which was all pretty dramatic and remarkable.
Outside in the Kremlin grounds we saw the giant Cannon and also the Bell of the Tsars; the Cannon was too large to ever fire (decorative only) and the bell they cast (largest in the world) was so vast it broke immediately before it could ever be rung (see our photo to see it's height!) despite their impracticality they were impressive!
Within the Kremlin grounds were also the Kremlin churches; there are about four with very pretty golden domes atop and in good light and blue skies they would have been very beautiful. Sadly for us with very smoky, hazy skies they were dull and unremarkable; we went inside each church and remarked upon the different style of interiors in Russian churches (to say German, English, or French churches for
Golden cups
In the State museum gold exhibition we saw some brilliant gold crafted items including these little cups example); they tend to have walls painted with biblical scenes in blues and reds, however none of the interiors really wowed us or rated more than 1*.
We finished our day at the Kremlin by walking through the park to Red Square. There were Brides everywhere in Red Square on the weekend; it was very sad for them as their photos would have been ordinary with the lousy smoky skies. We remarked on one bride and groom in particular who approached and eventually got permission from the strict guards to place the bridal bouquet at the base of the Red Square Eternal Flame for the 'unknown soldier'. We found this a very bizarre act for a bridal couple and assume they have strong family military links.
Our next day in town saw us weak and miserable from heat fatigue and lack of sleep so we spent time catching up on 2 weeks worth of 'Tour de France' highlight tv shows whilst hiding inside Airconditioned internet cafes all day to escape the heat and smoke. We were really feeling exhausted from lack of sleep, heat rashes, and touchy stomachs this day and needed some R&R and respite from the
Pride in Space
This large monument sits above the Cosmonaut museum near the VDNKH outside severe conditions.
The following day, after days of trying we finally managed to get inside the most photographed church in Moscow and saw St Basils interior (1*). The interior was surprisingly plain and unremarkable, our highlight was listening to a small group of 4 men sing beautifully in the tallest domed room; which they did once every 10-15 mins to try to flog their CD; we ignored their sales pitch but enjoyed their songs.
We found a hot dog place out on the street whose name was basically spelt “Crappydog” which amused us endlessly. We ate their hot dogs and found them quite nice; they had yummy crunchy onions like the ones we loved from Iceland and lots of pickles.
We finished our Red Square experience in the Russian State Museum (1*). As well as some very lengthy Russian history that we skimmed, this museum had fine displays, beautiful interiors, and great permanent 'Gold exhibition' (2*) with some really fine pieces of valuable gold art and antiques.
During the afternoons we found that the smoke cleared from the skies just a little and tried to use this time to see any outdoor parks. The first
VDNKH Fountain
This wonderful fountain ringed by these gold statues standing in the upper water basin, was very impressive. We loved it and so did the million teenagers playing around it. one we headed to was the large amusement park and grounds called the 'VDNKH' (free entrance). On the way there we walked past the Cosmonaut and space museum where Russia (which is very proud of their space program) had a nice space tall rocket sculpture; however the museum was closed for the day.
At VDNKH our highlights included the huge soviet style monuments and buildings, bedecked with communist worker statues. We also saw lots of big impressive fountains, the first in particular was huge and fabulous with many gold statues and a billions of teenagers playing in and around it having water fights and flirting.
We strolled and enjoyed the huge VDNKH grounds (3*), there were lots of cold drinks places we indulged in, some sand sculptures, lots of rides we avoided (due to heat) and Alicia cooled her feet in the fountains. VDNKH really gives you a feeling for the intimidating size of soviet era nationalistic monuments in Russia. The arches, and buildings, and fountains were impressive in design but VASTLY huge in size; helps you get an insight into the kind of ways the government built to impress and influence their citizens.
Next stop was another
Sculpture in VDNKH park
Plenty of soviet style sculpture on the huge monuments around the pleasing VDNKH grounds. huge open public space: Park Pobedi (2*); this place was a roller bladers heaven with huge flat paths in all directions. We had a bit of luck on this afternoon in that the smoke had largely lifted from the city and the visibility was quite good for a few hundred metres in every direction the park had huge long paths through the vast grounds. There was also a cool garden on an embankment with an enormous floral analog clock face telling the time, the first outdoor, giant flower clock we've ever seen!
The main focal point of the park was a tremendous paved avenue leading up to the 'Great Patriotic War' museum (what the Russians call WWII). Outside was a touching memorial to the Russian dead of WWII (about 27 million which is horrendous) and we found this style of memorial a lot more moving than the obscure arty types you often see in Berlin.
To segue Alicia and I like big, bold obvious things, in churches we want glitzy, glamorous, lavish and golden interiors and in memorials we want something that is obvious and yanks at your heart strings; on countless occasions we've found German memorials to be
What time is it?!
Nick and Alicia check the time in front of a huge functional garden clock at Park Pobedi. vague and arty-farty and we don't think they speak to us; whereas in Russia all the memorials we saw smacked you in the face with the obviousness of what it was and why it was memorable or sad. Good work Russia!
Back to Park Pobedi also there was a huge, excellent memorial column stretching high into the sky depicting scenes from WWII all around it and at the base a symbolic scene of a horseman slaying a dragon (Russia the horseman, Germany the dragon). Loads of fountains and 20 or more identical drink stalls were scattered around the grounds (how on earth do they all stay in business?!). As we walked about we stopped to watch a street dance class we found dancing to Michael Jackson tunes, Alicia loved it and wished she could join in; it was nice to see a culture we've been raised to think of as quite different all dancing to the King of Pop.
Sadly the bushfire smoke rolled back in over the city with a change of wind and we lost all our visibility back down to 50m.
We toured around a number of the pretty metro stations of Moscow; they are
Impressive Memorial
This memorial depicts a horseman slicing off a dragons neck with a spear below a vastly tall column depicting many WWII scenes. The dragon/ serpent of course represents the defeated Nazis, the horseman the Russians. famous for having been built to be almost palatial and we did find a number that were memorable; one with marble and chandeliers everywhere, and another with loads of nice bronze statues, others with large and pretty mosaics on the wall.
Our next day we found the 'New Tretyakov' gallery grounds (2*) by mistake and wandered around and enjoyed a lot of their sculptures; as we walked the river bank in the area there was a very long 'art walkway' where hundreds of vendors had set up their paintings for display and sale, the vendors were subdued and didn't pester us as there were very few people around and we really enjoyed seeing the huge range of different paintings in this open air art market as we walked along. It'd be a good place to come back to if you wanted to buy some art.
Next along the river bank was the fantastic, huge memorial to Peter the Great (3*) an immense monument showing a giant statue of Peter on a huge ship which sits atop a stack of other ships and towers over the river. We marvelled at the giant elaborate monument as we walked by and found
Sunset in the fire
We play around with the sun setting through the thick smoke... more rewarding sights nearby up the river bank. From a bridge we could see all of the golden domed churches within the Kremlin which looked a lot prettier than the day we visited them as there was less smoke in the air this time. On the bridge we also came across some brilliant public art; effectively metal frames in the shape of trees covered in locks (e.g padlocks), the hanging locks looked like leaves. We read that each lock had been added by someone in the public to represent their love and it was such a quirky and wonderful work of public art we really enjoyed it.
In the afternoon, we headed back to Park Pobedi to visit the 'Great Patriotic war museum' (2*).
The museums features huge battle diaromas; rooms combining immense wall paintings of a battle scene that blend into the foreground with some few items spilling out of the painting into the room e.g. guns, tanks, barbed wire. They were reasonably good.
The most memorable section of the museum was an exhibition on individuals Jewish soldiers who'd fought for the Soviets. They were largely from Ukraine and Belarus and some had horrific tales e.g. their
Our kind of Modern Art
It's true that not all modern art is awful (just 99% of it!) we liked these 'made up' cars outside the new Tretyakov gallery. families (particularly in Minsk) had been massacred by the Nazis whilst they served and fought. It was very revealing and touching content.
We both gained an appreciation of the necessity of the Russian fight and how they would view the war as righteous and how much they would have hated the Germans, it's amazing they can forgive them even today. The figure of 27 million Russians killed in WW2 keeps coming up; it's an awful lot of people to lose.
On our final night, we went down to Red square where thankfully the smoke and haze wasn't noticeable in the dark and we got some decent views and night photos of St Basils and around the square.
So we finally came to the end of or time in Moscow. We almost wept with joy on the final morning of our Moscow stay knowing we could at last escape the unrelenting heat and exhaustion.
It was a shame to have such an empty and half-baked time in Moscow and we can't help but feel we didn't see and do all we could but the environment was so tough to just get through the day and night with
Peter the Great Monument
This photo doesn't do justice to just how large and impressive the Peter the Great monument is.
See the little ferry in the foreground to get an idea how big this is! the 36C or more temperatures, smoke ranging from choking to hazy on the horizon, attractions closing throughout the city on a whim, and us both being poorly through lack of sleep, touchy stomaches and heat rashes.
Would we go back to Moscow or recommend it? Absolutely yes, we were cursed by bad luck to be there during a freak heat wave, we had a bad time, but we kept things in perspective and now the bad times are behind us we are having a wonderful world trip again. We feel concerned and sorry for the welfare of the people in Moscow and around who were affected by the heat and fires; this is NOT a country used to this kind of heat and I fear the casualties would have been pretty bad.
Could we have made our time more bearable by finding a hotel with A/C? Probably yes but at really high financial cost; we are travelling for 6 months and if we have to suffer somehow for 6 days to save a 1,000 Euros then that's what we had to do.....
Next entry will be a quick one covering Berlin then onto France where we spend a
Public art - Lock trees
These metal frames in the shape of trees are covered in locks e.g. padlocks that the citizens have put on there, they're really cool, brilliant public art. Each lock is meant to symbolise love. month! Good times.
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Anne and Phill
non-member comment
Poor Darlings
You poor darlings Moscow was disappointing for you both but never mind that's life I suppose. We are so so enjoying your blogs it is a great source of communication and a great way for you to remember your trip. Great writing Nick. Miss you both xxx