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Published: January 21st 2016
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It was our last full day in Moscow and a planned visit to the Kremlin.
Having familiarised ourselves with the Metro it was just 3 stops from our hotel to Teatralnaya Station the closest station to the Kremlin. We walked through Alexander Garden, past the guarded grave of the unknown soldier to the booking office. Well you would think it would seem simple to buy your ticket from the office, however we were sent quarter of a mile to an entrance only to be sent another half a mile in the other direction to check in our backpack. I think we went back to the original office 3 times! A sense of achievement when after several ticket checks we were in, only to be told immediately we were out of bounds by a guard! Our persistence was rewarded by the treasures in abundance in the Armoury Chamber. A museum containing Faberge eggs (one containing a replica of the Trans-Siberian Train), gold and silver gifts of elaborate tableware from all over the world, jewelled crowns (with nifty fur trim), historical clothing, weaponry and a highlight of several full sized carriages and one sleigh.
Outside within the Kremlin walls were a
number of cathedrals and exhibitions. We saw many icons and religious murals and even Ivan the Terrible’s tomb. There is a story that he had pans built, big enough to fry his enemies alive. All of the cathedrals, apparently often built to celebrate success in battle/war, are adorned with beautiful golden domes shining through the snow in the wintery landscape.
We then set about seeking out some Metro Stations. You might think we were on some trainspotting adventure, but it was to seek out some unique stations that the communist leader Stalin planned to show off Russia’s metro system. The stations we were seeking were on the equivalent of our circle line, rumour has it that plans for the line came about from the ring of Stalin’s coffee cup. These stations are varied and grand. To our surprise, the Metro system is very efficient and if we jumped out at the wrong station rest assured there was train very shortly after. It is one of busiest underground systems in the world and seemed busy most of the day. As usual when travelling you have to learn a different way of navigating the different tube systems, we found you had
to ignore the colours, use the numbers and guess from the Cyrillic names. One interesting thing we learned is that the USSR enlisted the help of London Transport engineers when designing Moscow Metro, and there are some similarity between the systems. However it was felt that the engineers knew too much, and promptly had a show trial, and booted them out of the country.
For our last evening we found a lovely Georgian restaurant, popular with local with great atmosphere, with a piano player, playing a proper piano, playing a selection of mainly western tunes. Luckily we had been given a menu in English. Otherwise we usually pick something randomly. I’m glad we didn’t have to because the couple on the next table had a cheesebread with a raw egg on top.
The following day we set off for Yaroslavsky Station to start the long, long journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway. As we approached the station, the excitement built, it seems daft to get excited by a train journey, but this was one of the key moments of our trip. Our next stop, Irkutsk was to take 4 days to get to, we were probably going to be
sharing with other people, and as we were going at this time of year, there would be very few fellow travellers to talk to.
We were handed sheets, pillowcases and towel by the Provodnitsa (attendant), settled into our cabin, and blessed our luck that we were on our own. We relaxed into the journey passing snow covered towns and open fields, and made up our bunks, when after four hours the train made its first stop - then our seclusion ended…..
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Lesley
non-member comment
Looks cold
The pictures of the buildings look amazing, the railway trip you often see on TV I'm sure Michael Palin did it on one of his adventure programs so I will be looking forward to the next blog and pictures of this very famous railway. Hope u don't have to share a. Bed with a great big hairy Russian woman Kim!? Take care xx