Happy belated birthday Moscow – 870 years young. Hope you had a great day!!

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This morning, I finally made it to the dining room. There was no overzealous wedding guest to stop me this time. The breakfast salon was quite busy with mostly English being spoken interspersed with German overtones. The breakfast was varied with a selection of cold meats and cheeses together with an array of hot foods (bacon, sausage, scrambled egg etc…) It is here we encountered the first of our co-travellers: Les, a construction worker from Wolverhampton, originally from Sheffield and his wife, Mary; both have signed up all the way to Beijing. They had managed to speak to other Brits over the past day but not met anyone else (until now) who are travelling to China.

As requested, we all met in the hotel lobby at 10am where a Go Russia rep allocated everyone to a group. I was in the same group as Roisin which was a good start!!

Our tour guide for the day introduced herself as Natalia and lead us to the mini bus outside. There were twelve likeminded travellers on today’s excursion who we both got to know a little better as the day progressed. Introducing: Edelyn from Singapore. She is a solo traveller who will be accompanying us until Irkutsk. From there she will continue on the Trans-Siberian railway – destination Vladivostok (remember – the traditional route?!) She will have two New Yorkers for company until the end of the line!! Alex and Elena are originally from Timişoara in Romania but emigrated to the USA thirty-four years ago. Another two Americans had just arrived from Beijing this morning, having completed their Trans Siberian experience from East to West. As it was too early to check in to their hotel room, they had been ushered in to the dining room, their luggage stowed and were now joining us for the Moscow excursion, exhausted and a bit smelly (by their own admission!!) Finally, there were three ladies who didn’t mix with the rest of the group. They seemed to speak a sort of Dutch so my guess is they are either from Belgium or even perhaps South Africa! Time will tell and let’s face it, we’re going to have a lot of that on our hands in the coming weeks!!

It took less than ten minutes to drive ‘passed’ Red Square, Moscow’s most famous landmark. I say ‘passed’ because we weren’t expecting to drive around the city for one hour admiring some great landmarks through a bus window! One such landmark was a park known as Victory Gardens. The central avenue of this park is called ‘Years of War’. It has five terraces, each one representing the five years of conflict during WWII. The gardens are also famous for floral designs and renowned for its 1,418 fountains together with an obelisk of Nike whom I’m guessing must be the Goddess of Sportswear!!

It is during this hour we were told about the seven sisters. These are a collection of monolithic buildings built during the reign of Stalin dotted around Moscow but due to their height, can be seen breaking up the skyline from most places in the city. They are almost all castle like in appearance if you could imagine a traditional Disney castle made from Lego by someone who was not very experienced in building round towers… Two of the sisters are hotels, two are apartment blocks, two are Ministries whilst one is a University. It is by the latter where we eventually stopped for a five-minute photo shoot.

A few minutes’ drive further on from the University, we stopped for 25 minutes at a panoramic view point known as the university terrace. From here there was a sweeping vista of part of the city leading down to the Moscow river where a cluster of modern skyscrapers dominated over the historic landmarks of varying churches with their golden onion shaped domes glistening in the late morning sunshine.

This stop included a trip to the toilet. There were street side cubicles that cost 50 roubles nearby. Several Chinese tourists were the only ones in the queue. As one came out of the toilet they would hold the door open for the next person. The door was held open for Roisin who entered the semi-dark enclosed space. Without thinking I closed the door. It clicked shut. Immediately three sharp knocks came from inside the toilet followed by a muffled shout. The Chinese person who, moments before, had stepped out of the cubicle, turned to me, smiled and said something to me in Cantonese. I have no idea what he said but I don’t think it was good (although he seemed to think it was funny!!) I tried to pull open the toilet door but it was shut tight. Visions of Roisin imprisoned in her tiny cell rushed through my mind. I looked around on impulse as if to expect help to arrive. Perhaps this was a common occurrence and they had someone with a magic key nearby. In my panic I fished out a 100 rouble note from my wallet and fed it in to the appropriate pay slot. I heard a click and the adjacent cubicle swung open!! I contemplated seizing the opportunity and going the toilet myself but quickly dismissed the idea! At that moment, and to my great relief, Roisin’s door opened a few inches. It turned out that when I closed the door, Roisin was met by total darkness. In the pitch, she was unable to find the release catch so, thinking on her feet she used the flash light on her cell phone to spot its location!! I stood guard whilst the door remained ajar leaving a little chink of light to enter the cubicle to enable Roisin to finish her ‘transaction!!

On the way back to the bus, Les exclaimed: ‘oh look, they have ‘Boris Bikes’ here too,’ pointing to a row of communal bikes that, for a small fee, can be used by anyone to cycle around the city. Rows of bikes can be found on most street corners. The bike can then be left at a terminal in another part of the city. The idea is to reduce congestion around the city centre as well as contributing to less emissions and thus cleaner air. This scheme was introduced into the UK by Boris Johnson who was then the Major of London. These bikes therefore became affectionately known as ‘Boris Bikes’.

‘I wonder what they are called over here?’ continued Les.

‘Boris Bikes?’ I replied. ‘After all Russia have more of a claim on the name ‘Boris’ than the UK. They’re probably named after Boris Yeltsin!!’

On our way to Red Square, we passed a rather tall upright statue, Prince Vladimir. I didn’t catch

the whole history behind this specimen suffice to say he was responsible for bringing Christianity to Russia. As Prince Vladimir is known as Prince Vladimir of Kiev, the Ukrainians are a little vexed that the Russians have erected a statue of him in the centre of Moscow. Natalia went on to explain that this completes the set. These are now three famous Vladimirs in the City of Moscow; The Prince, Putin and Lenin; one standing, one sitting and one lying down!!

Our bus parked a few minutes’ walk from Red Square. Last time Roisin and I were here, there was a fine dusting of snow on the ground and rooftops and -26 degrees. Today, this was replaced by a cordon of fencing with regular security checks around the perimeter. The majority of the square was hidden under several grandstands surrounded by a terrace of marquees. This weekend in Moscow, there are activities celebrating the 780^th anniversary of the founding of Moscow. This number seemed very specific. I’ve heard of cities celebrating 1000 years or 750 years but 780?? Perhaps they have a celebration every year and next year will be the 781^st year celebration. I wonder what the traditional gift is for 781 years?!! There was a pageant/parade that took place in Red Square yesterday hence the grandstands. This culminated in a firework show over the Kremlin. I’m sorry I missed it. I was busy trying to gate crash a wedding! (apparently!)

Being a weekend and also a weekend full of celebratory activities, there were an unusually large amount of people scuttling around Red square. It felt even more crowded due to the restricted space.

Now the bombshell that felt like a personal slap across the face. Due to the festivities, Lenin’s tomb will be closed for the entire weekend! This is my third visit to the Russian capital and every time I have failed to visit this memorial: the mausoleum is under repair; all museums and memorials are closed on a Monday and now the latest excuse – it’s party time (and I’m not talking Communist Workers’ Party!!)

We were led through Moscow’s premier Department store, GUM (pronounced Goom) This building was originally designed as a railway station but is now home to top designers’ brands and other house hold names. We passed the fountain with the floating water melons and the upper balcony with a bike resting precariously on a hand rail overlooking the atrium. Hopefully, this wasn’t one of Boris’s bikes. I guess they were just quirky exhibits. It is here, in GUM, we stopped for lunch.

A visit to GUM wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the Historic toilets. Now I don’t usually make a habit of frequenting men’s lavatories with my camera at the ready but for 150 roubles per visit, I wanted to get my money’s worth!! I entered a bygone world. The bathroom was ceiling to floor marble with an Art Deco design on the wall above the basins and round the mirrors. Layers of face cloths (or very small towels) were stacked fanned out for your convenience (no pun intended!) I didn’t enter the cubicles lest I be arrested but I understand the toilet roll holder and other accessories were gold plated.

We met back up with the rest of the group and our guide, Natalia, outside St Basils cathedral under the statue of Minin and Pozharsky The statue commemorates Prince Dmitry Pozharsky who expelled a force under the command of King Sigismund III of Poland from Moscow, thus putting an end to the Time of Troubles in 1612. There have only ever been two great dynasties in Russia; firstly, the Rurik dynasty that finished with Ivan the Terrible in 1598. He killed all his family and relatives. It was too late before he realised he didn’t have anyone to pass the Tsardom on to. Then came the Romanov dynasty that started in 1613. So, between 1598 and 1613 were a number of power struggles known as the Time of Troubles.

St Basils’ cathedral with its characteristic onion shaped domes of differing sizes, colour and patterns is actually seven separate churches. Built in the 16^th century by Ivan IV better known as Ivan the Terrible. it is said that the architect was blinded by the Tsar so as not to design anything more beautiful. Each to his own. With the brashness and garish colours the building could easily have entered the new TV reality show: ‘My big fat gypsy cathedral!! We were serenaded in one of the chapels by a quartet who later told us off for making too much noise whilst one of them was trying to pitch the sale of their CDs

There is a bridge that spans the Moscow canal that is known locally as the Lovers Bridge’. There are a number of metal tree sculptures across the bridge where couples affix a padlock to seal their love for each other. The key is then tossed over the side in to the canal to signify a bond that cannot be broken. When we visited Moscow in 2014 we adhered to this tradition and had a padlock inscribed with our names, the journey the padlock had taken (Widnes – Moscow) and the current date. We had our work cut out. We couldn’t find our padlock…we couldn’t even find the bridge!! Eventually after about 20 minutes we found our bearing and then the bridge. We searched every tree but to our dismay our padlock was no longer there. We feel that after a certain length of time, all padlocks are removed to make room for newer ones.

Our January 2014 visit to Moscow can be viewed at this link Chris and Roisin's winter Moscow break

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Photos

Soyuz semey voyennosluzhashchikh Rossii
No?? Me neither??