Moscow - day 3

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One of the first conditions of happiness is the link between Man and Blog shall not be broken

- Leo Tolstoy –

Another misquote methinks (Ed)

Despite being told that the weather will improve today, it looks like it is going to be another trip inside a deep freeze! Domestic freezers should not exceed a certain temperature or else the food can possibly receive 'freezer burn'. The outside temperature is minus 20 so to minimise further risk it was time to bring out the ‘balaclava'. I put the headpiece on then Roisin came and straightened it out. I felt like I was 5 years old again and my mum had to make me look as less of a ‘git' as possible before I could rush out and join my mates in the snow!!. That was the last time I wore one of these. I felt uncomfortable venturing out as, similar to my younger days, I was the only one wearing a balaclava!! All the Russian ‘big boys' made do with a hat or even no hat and just their coat collar turned up. However, they never gave me a second glance and it wasn't long before I forgot I was wearing it.

When we arrived a Paveletskaya Metro station, Roisin was already heading for the bus timetable. Not knowing which buses or trams went where she came away defeated and resigned herself to making one more trip down the escalators from hell (rather than TO hell!!). I tried to lighten the burden by telling her while we are down here we may as well alight at the second most ornate metro station according to the DK Eyewitness Book of Moscow's 10 Most Ornate Metro Stations.

"I don't care if it contains all the treasures of el Dorado, has jewel encrusted walls and Lord Lucan himself is the Meeter and Greeter. I DON'T like them!!!!" said Roisin as she precariously moved on to the first step of the escalator keeping her eyed averted at all times preferring to look down at her shoes.

There are 15 million inhabitants living in Moscow although the official figure is 12 million with an extra 3 million commuting each day. For this enormous amount of additional bodies, any community would need a robust public transport infrastructure to cope with the high demand. There are 12 lines that make up the Moscow underground. It is officially the busiest metro system in the world even beating London and Tokyo. Looking at the metro plan, there is a circle line (Brown). The legend goes that when the plans for the metro were being drawn up they (similar to plans for the Four Seasons Hotel) were passed to our old friend Stalin for approval. He inadvertently put his coffee mug down on the plans. This left a coffee ring on the plans and what Stalin wants, Stalin gets. The poor engineers not realising that Stalin was only using the plans as a coaster as he didn't want to mark is shiny office desk, took this as a sign for an additional ‘line'.

Stalin is not his real name. He was born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Stalin is a nickname that he adopted while in Prison. It means ‘man of steel' and he thought it made him sound more Russian. He was originally of Georgian descent who were not considered to be Russians. He was Russia's very own Iron Man!! Similarly, the UK had the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher. How's that for six degrees of separation??! Does that make Thatcher comparative to Stalin??

We took the metro ‘green line' to Teatralnaya. This metro is joined to 2 other metro stations by a series of connecting tunnels. Roisin was not interested in seeing the second most ornate metro station in Moscow. She just wanted to get out.

‘Oh no!' She said confronting yet another mega escalator. ‘I'm going to be doomed to walk the metro for all eternity'.

‘C'mon', I said, ever the optimist. ‘Lets find another way out'. Leading her in the direction of the blue line and Ploschad Revolutsii, Moscow's second most ornate metro station. The first part of this journey was up a few flights of stair so this should be a good thing as the escalator hopefully won't be as long.

Ploschad Revolutsii metro station was a multi-arched concourse where bronze statues of workers and soldiers united. It was certainly more ornate that what we're used to. I may even go as far as to say it was well worthy of the second most ornate metro station in the DK Eyewitness Book of Moscow's 10 Most Ornate Metro Stations, but I could see I wasn't convincing Roisin. She may have been taking a few photos to record the experience but she still had one eye on the impending escalator. Luckily for the World (and me) it wasn't a long or steep one so with a huge intake of breath we jumped on the moving staircase for, I would guess, probably the last time!!

St Basil's cathedral (you know, the iconic building with all the whirly coloured, different sized onion domes.) Ivan the Terrible?? Yes, that's the one. St Basil's is actually 9 churches in one. Inside was a myriad of small chambers, whilst some are empty, others contain artefacts from the 16^th century; leftover masonry from the original building. There was even a chapel where a service was being held. Many people crammed in to such a small confined space. All of the churches and cathedrals we have visited so far did not contain any pews or other seats. This is quite normal in the Orthodox faith where people worship standing up. The altars are also hidden from the public and may only be approached by the priest.

We moved from room to room by small alleyways that would open out into wider areas from where several possible routes were accessible. The upper floor was similar. The original décor remained; highly complex patterns adorned the walls and ceilings. As expected there was no symmetry to the inside and wandering from room to room soon became very disorienting.

Our plan today was to attend an Ice Hockey match from the Continental League between CSKA Moscow and Admiral Vladivostok. The venue was the Ice Palace nearby a metro station called Dinamo. Roisin had been studying the public transport map and as the Metro was out of the question, she was convinced we could get there by other means. We visited the tourist information to enquire about a possible bus, tram or trolleybus.

We explained to the information desk our requirements.

“Take the Metro to Dinamo”, was the response. We explained that we didn't want to take the metro.

“Yes, take the Metro. This is quicker. Ice Palace is a long way out. You take the metro on green line to Dinamo.”

It was no use trying to reason with her. We thanked the Information clerk and left.

“What do you want to do now?' I asked as soon as we were outside.

“We'll just have to take the metro then, won't we”, Roisin snapped

“Or”, I started, ‘we don't have to go”

“But you want to go, don't you?'

“Not really', I answered. “To be honest it's too cold to go traipsing across Moscow, Metro or no Metro. The time travelling is dead time. There is so much more to do and see here in the centre”. . (Sorry, just to clarify, I don't mean time-travelling. I'm not Dr Who or H G Wells!! I mean the time taken to travel!!!)

“Well, if you're not bothered, neither am I”, reasoned Roisin.

That settled we rescheduled our plans and decided to take a slow walk back to the hotel taking in Luzhnov Bridge and the Culture Park on the South bank of the River Moskva.

After a photo stop at the Winter Olympics count down clock we once again headed for Resurrection Gate that marks the entrance to Red Square. Just in front of this gate is brass markings known as ‘Kilometre zero'. This is the mark that all other distances are measured from Moscow.

Luzhkov Bridge is a narrow footbridge that spans the Moscow canal and is a short walk from Red Square. To get there we walked across the River. Not literally, of course although in minus 20°C this was very doable!!. No, we walked across the bridge spanning the river and then along side the canal until we came to a small green park known as Bolotnaya Ploschad. Here we were met by an army of snowmen; one standing guard by each bench. Luzhkov Bridge is adjacent to this park. It was impossible to miss as, I have already mentioned, the Local Authority had erected a number of metal sculptured trees where couples can affix their padlock and throw the key over the side in to the canal thus cementing a true bond forever more. There are half a dozen trees spread out over an equal distance in the centre of the bridge as well as a further dozen trees stretching down parallel to the canal. Each tree is covered with hundreds of padlocks.

We examined each ‘tree' carefully looking for a safe haven and strategic position for our padlock to be fastened for eternity. We finally agreed on a prime spot, 2^nd branch down facing North East on the tree just off centre from the crown of the bridge. Once the padlock was firmly locked, we sealed our bond with a kiss before I dropped the key over the side of the bridge in to the canal below. Momentarily forgetting that the canal was covered by a few inches of ice, I looked over the side to see our key, with several others buried in the fresh snow that thinly layered the ice.

Our slow walk back to the hotel took us through the Culture Gardens and statue park. As the name suggests this park is strewn with statues, monuments and carvings, many taken from the Soviet era and others donated by local artists and sculptors. It was difficult to approach the statues in some instances due to the deep snow. The snow somehow added character to these half forgotten memories that once probably took centre stage in some square or on any conspicuous corner.

We noticed that one monument towered far above the rest. This was not actually in the park but on the opposite side of the Moscow River where is joins the Vodootvodny canal. (Now you know why I've been referring to it as the ‘canal'!!) This is the statue to Peter the Great. It is a 98-metre-high monument and commemorates 300 years of the Russian Navy, which Peter the Great established. It was erected in 1997 and is the eighth tallest statue in the world. Although strictly not a building it was, however voted the 10^th most ugliest building in the world. The monument includes the giant figure of Christopher Columbus with various ships of his fleet stacked abstractly on top of each other. The ironic thing is that Muscovites are not a big fan of Peter the Great. He had created the Navy but realised Russia had no port from where to sail his boats. He wanted to create a major seaport so was responsible for moving the capital of Russia from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 1712 before Lenin renamed St. Petersburg, Leningrad and moved the capital back to Moscow in 1918. Phew, it was all go in those days, wasn't it?!!

On passing through Statue Park we were once again facing the entrance to Gorky Park. It looked so different in the daylight. Colder. You could say it looked different in the cold light of day!!! In winter a large part of Gorky Park transforms in to Europe's largest ice rink; 59,000 square feet. The ice rink is not a conventional ovoid but more of a course that winds itself around the contours of the park. After stopping off for some welcome refreshments, we headed back to the hotel before the sun went down and it started getting really cold!!!

Tomorrow we fly home but as our flight is not until 19:30, we still have plenty of things to see on our ‘to do' list!

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Comments

[Dave]

Like it. My mum used to make me wear a balaclava with a bobble on the top. Shocker