Moscow kremlin, mustn’t go Metro

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It’s full steam ahead in Moscow. Today we met bright and early, at 9am, for our next excursion. All excursions on this trip are fully included. That doesn’t make you feel so bad if you decide to drop out of any part of it. Natalia, our Moscow guide, did mention that yesterday’s sightseeing would be by car but today’s excursion around the Kremlin and Armoury, followed by a tour of the most elaborate metro stations, would all be by that dreaded word in Roisin’s vocabulary, the MOSCOW METRO!!

As our hotel is about an hour’s walk from the Kremlin and it was unlikely that we would be piling in to a bunch of taxi’s at ‘Go Russia’s’ expense, the next most convenient and by far the cheapest mode of transport is the metro. As we were less than a 10-minute walk from the nearest metro station, Pavelskaya, that’s where we headed.

‘You’ll be fine!’ I reassured Roisin but failing to reassure myself because I knew she wouldn’t!!

This metro station had airport style security at each entrance where bags had to be x-rayed although the security guards didn’t seem too perturbed when the scanner beeped as I walked through!! I turned to the guard but with wand in hand, like a fairy godmother in an amateur pantomime, he just waved me on. We later learned that all metro stations in central Moscow have been installed with these security measures.

Natalia gave some instructions in case we got separated. She also gave finger signs for the number of stops: ‘’…and if I hold up three, like this, it means three stops.’

‘Is that get off at the third stop or three stops and then get off? I asked

An elbow from Roisin immediately came into contact with my rib cage as if to say ‘Stop delaying the inevitable.’

‘No, get off on the third stop’ came the reply somewhat serious and in that great Russian tradition, no flicker of a smile.

The first escalator was long and steep. Roisin stood in front of me with her eyes shut for most of the time until I instructed her that the escalator was nearing the bottom. I tried to lighten the mood by telling her she didn’t miss much as this station was pretty bland and uninspiring. One deep breath later and it was time to tackle a second less steep and shorter escalator.

‘This one is just like being in IKEA’, I joked but Roisin didn’t hear me. She was somewhere in her ‘happy’ place!!

As we changed to another line, like the commander of a Marine Corps on manoeuvres, Natalia showed everyone 4 fingers and pointed to a carriage on the train that had just come to a halt. We all followed in single file to board the train.

To Roisin’s relief, our destination metro only had stairs to navigate and within a few minutes we were all back in our huddle, on the surface whilst Natalia did a head count. A philosopher once said to remain healthy everyone should do something once a day that scares them. Roisin now found herself in credit for the next six months!!

The Kremlin still holds connotations spilled over from the Cold War of the 60s and 70s as a secretive place of power and a military and political bastion of a Soviet Union long since dissolved. Kremlin means fortress which undoubtedly refers to the walls which are approximately twenty metres high and several metres thick. The inside couldn’t be less fortress like, probably due to all the tourists milling around!! There are 20 towers interspersed around the outer perimeter of the Kremlin and five churches inside the grounds. The public do not have access to any of the towers, from the imposing St Nicholas’s tower which can be seen with its much lighter brickwork from almost any photo shot in Red Square, to the much smaller and discrete 1^st nameless tower on the opposite side of the fortress. After Peter, Nicolas and Ivan, naming towers seemed to become more problematic in those days!! As for the churches, I think we visited every one..twice!!!

The flagship of the churches is the Assumption cathedral. This was the main cathedral of the Tsardom of Russia. All Tsars have been laid to rest in this cathedral up to Peter the Great who is interred in St. Petersburg. Since Peter and up to the last Tsar, Nicolas II, they continued to be buried in Russia’s second city. In 1918, after the Russian revolution, religion was banned in Russia and liturgies were no longer held in this cathedral. It is only as late as 1990 that religious services were reintroduced. (after the collapse of the Soviet Union).

There are four major buildings in the Kremlin (that aren’t churches!): The Arsenal; The Senate, where Putin devotes most of his time when he’s in town; the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Armoury where we spent a fair bit of time being led around.

The Armoury wasn’t, as I’d expected, a museum dedicated to warfare. It portrays the life and times of past dynasties of this proud country. For the next hour or so we were shown costumes worn by various Tsar and Tsarinas together with their crowns, sceptres and jewels. Photos, as in most museums and churches in Russia are strictly forbidden so you’ll just have to imagine the exhibits!!

One hall was exclusively dedicated to the exhibiting of carriages used by the Tsars. The carriages came in all shapes and sizes but all were highly crafted with intricate carvings and gold leaf, each seemed to get more regal than the last. One of the carriages had two carved eagles perched on each of the front spurs. The carriage was a gift to one of the queens from a recently jilted lover whose name translated to ‘the Eagle’ (I’m certain his name wasn’t Edward, though!!) This was sent to the queen as a peace offering. However, the Queen would not entertain the lover but thanked him for such a thoughtful and expensive present (although she never actually used it!) In return she sent him a golden tea service with only two cups and two saucers as if to send a clear message: ‘Go and find someone else to drink tea with!!’ It’s refreshing to know subtlety has been around for centuries but whether the recipients in those times were savvie enough to take the hint one will never know!!

The Kremlin, similar to Buckingham Palace or the Vatican have their own guard detail. Also similar to Buck House and the Vatican, those on guard duty are trained to stand perfectly still. No matter what the distraction they should remain rigid and pan-faced at all times. I was about to put this to the test but Roisin pulled me back. She obviously knows me too well: ‘No!’ she said. Just ‘No!’

In the grounds of the Kremlin there is the largest cast bell in Russia. Weighing in at staggering forty tonnes, it never fulfilled the intention it was made for. Due to the poor quality of the casting, the bell developed a crack and a piece broke away from the bell rendering it nothing more than scrap metal. Known simply as the Tsar bell it lies twenty metres or so along from the largest canon in Russia known, not surprisingly as the Tsar canon. Again, made from cast iron a similar fate occurred and the canon was never fired. You would have thought they’d have learned their lesson from the Bell fiasco!!

We left the Kremlin and walked back through Alexander gardens, past the Romanov obelisk and stopped by the tomb of the unknown soldier. We had reached lunch/coffee break. Roisin confirmed with Natalia that immediately after this our tour would continue down some of the most ornate and elaborate metro stations in Russia. Having seen many of these when I originally visited Moscow in 1985 and briefly visited one of these Metros last time Roisin and I stayed here, we also know that these Metros are some of the deepest. In Roisin’s own words: ‘You can’t even see the bottom!!’

It was time we took our leave of the main group so after our ‘goodbyes’ and ‘good luck’, we strolled back towards our hotel stopping off at a small café for coffee and a Danish.

Meeting in the hotel lobby at 14:45, two mini buses provided the transport. One for the passengers and one to carry the luggage. Now our journey really began!!

We were led to train 060 by our Go Russia rep and told to line up outside our carriage. We were somewhat early so had the pleasure of waiting ½ hour on the platform before he doors of the carriage were opened, ½ before departure.

The Provodnitsa, a smartly uniformed employee of the rail company, usually female, who is the matriarch of the carriage, checked our tickets against our passport and then to the manifest (which she had on her smartphone!) and we were shown to our compartment. The Provodnitsa is the carriage attendant during the trip and is responsible for the cleanliness of the public areas and bathrooms.

Each carriage contained nine compartments with a narrow corridor running down one side of the carriage. We were shown to our rather ‘snug’ compartment (although I like to use the word ‘cosy’!!) by the Provodnitsa. The compartment had two facing bench seats that converted to beds and a drop down table under a window that didn’t open. On the table sat two bowls each containing a bar of chocolate, a large green apple, two small buns, a few tea bags and coffee sachets and a serviette! There were also two bottles of water to go with the three litres we had bought en route to the station! Not all of our group had invested in first class and on checking out their compartments, it was exactly the same size but with four people sharing. However, the standard class compartments had leather upholstered benches where are our seats were green velvet. The difference being that the 1^st class seats were more upright and not quite as wide making it very difficult to slouch. Maybe rich people learn not to slouch in Russia! This reminded me very much of a caravan where every inch of space is utilised. Behind the headrests, we found more storage space and a rail with clean towels draped over. A samovar, which is a posh name for a water urn stood at the end of each carriage. A bathroom (toilet and microscopic sink) was to be found; one at each end of the carriage.

An hour outside Moscow and after my incessant chant of ‘Are we there yet?’ was starting to wear thin with Roisin, the carriage attendant appeared with an order pad and proceeded to explain in Russian, the menu. She had written a few key words down such as ‘fish’, ‘meat’ and ‘cheese’. It turns out that as first-class passengers, we were entitled to a free meal.

It is just over 1000 miles (1668km) from Moscow to our next stop, Yekaterinburg. Everyone now settled down for the night, it was time to turn in. Russian trains are not the same standard as a Virgin West Coat pendalino and was difficult to block out every shunt and jolt together with the noise of the engine making for a restless sleep.

The next day was a day of relaxation as the itinerary stated we did not arrive at our destination until 20:04. Pinned to each carriage bulkhead was a train schedule listing the times of arrival and departure at each station as well as the length of time at each stop. An arrow down the left side of the schedule indicated the time zones. The time of arrival in to Yekaterinburg according to this notice was 18:04. Confusing? It was only to get worse!! All train times throughout Russia run on Moscow time despite there being 11 time zones from West to East of this vast country.

The next day, minutes after we opened our compartment door showing the world we had ‘survived’, the Provodnitsa entered with a tray of breakfast items and asked if we wanted tea or coffee. Taking a bag of mini croissants and giving her our drinks order we said a hearty ‘Spasibo’ and tucked in to our breakfast. It was around early afternoon when we realised no lunch was provided that we were presented with a bill for breakfast. The total cost was only a couple of quid so we happily paid without any fuss. As yesterday’s dinner was ‘gratis’, It was definitely a case of buy one get one free!

The day passed surprisingly quickly. Chatting to other members of our group before on by one all retiring for an afternoon siesta. Incidentally, we found out that Les and Mary’s daughter is called Roisin but more spookily their son is called Christopher!!

As the train rolled in to Yekaterinburg the train station clock showed 18:04. We were met on the platform by a rep holding a ‘Go Russia’ sign and followed him with baggage to a fleet of waiting cars. On arrival at the Novotel the clock said 20:32 so either the journey from the railway station to the hotel took longer than I thought or Yekaterinburg is Moscow time + 2 hours. All is becoming a little clearer now… All trains run on Moscow time, therefore all train stations show Moscow time.

This has been our first experience of the Trans-Siberian train. We still have another three legs before arrival in Beijing and another six time zones. Can’t wait!!

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