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Published: September 29th 2010
Evening of 12th September 2010
Soon after our arrival at the harbour we boarded a bus at 10pm and were taken into Moscow. We did have a bit of a snooze during the day to prepare for this, some opting out as it was too late. We're glad we went, the sights and atmosphere were unbelievable. Victory Square was the first stop, this being a long, paved stretch with a memorial shaped like a sword towering about 150m into the sky at the far end. There were quite a few families and groups of young people walking around.
The fairy-like New Maiden Convent with its reflection in the lake took our breath away, and even though it was drizzling we braved getting out of the bus and viewing it closer.
Red Square with the imposing walls of the Kremlin was next, with the extraordinary St Basils Cathedral at the base of the square. With the lighting it stood out and looked as unreal as it has in pictures we had seen in the past. Spiral Hill, the highest vantage overlooking Moscow was packed with vehicles and crowds of people. It is common for wedding parties to commence there
and we saw many stretch limos pass by. These limos, such as the Hummer we saw, are much longer than normally seen in Australia, several we saw being almost as long as our bus. A group near the lookout over Moscow had music playing loudly, people were dancing and generally having a good time. The atmosphere was light-hearted and happy, this certainly adding to the experience.
As it was after 1.30am when we finally got to bed and with breakfast at 7am, it was a quiet start to our tour this morning. We retraced our evening trip to the New-Maiden Convent, this looking no-where near as spectacular in daylight. Red Square, with the walls of the Kremlin on one side and the GUM shopping building on the other was next and it was here we left the group with Ed & Cathy to do our own thing. Red Square is a very large expanse of concrete and cobblestone stretching up and over a slight rise. At one end is an archway which had gates that could be closed, at the other end towards the river was the colourful St Basil's Cathedral. This building is one of Russia's most recognised
Graffiti started to appear as we neared Moscow.
It seems there are the same problems all over the world!buildings with its spectacular domes and was built in 1561. Inside apparently, are many icons and frescoes, but we didn't enter as we had so much more to see.
In the centre is a huge, pink marble mausoleum, this being the resting place of the founder of the Communist Party, Lenin. His embalmed body is on display. We didn't discover the tomb until our next visit here which was tomorrow and couldn't enter it as it is closed on Mondays and Fridays.
The GUM shopping centre was described by the guide as being 50% more expensive than any other shop in Russia. This was borne out when we went through it, with many of the classy brand names being represented and obviously aimed at the local wealthy and tourists. We did buy a few things such as their pastries, Ed & Cathy intending to return to buy caviar to take home.
From here we booked tickets to enter the Kremlin Armoury, these only being sold from 50 minutes before a group may enter. Security is tight with metal detectors at the entrance and many guards in sight. There was a reason for all this security, the 19th
Century purpose-built museum holding a large collection of gold, silver and jeweled royal regalia as well as a collection of the famed Faberge eggs. The wealth of the royal families was immense and looking at some of it made you aware of the gulf between them and the normal person, setting the scene for later socialist uprisings.
We then braved the Metro to go to Arbat St, an old pedestrian street where curios etc are for sale. We found this very much slanted towards the tourist, nearly every outlet selling either food or souvenirs. Judy & Cath were in their element so after a period of watching the world go by, Ed & Rags adjourned to a cafe and sampled a few of the vodkas. We have noticed that there is a difference between vodkas, some being much smoother than others, and they intend to further their research in this area!
We caught up with the group here and joined them for the bus trip back to the boat.
Monday 13th September 2010
After a more leisurely breakfast at 8am we departed for the Kremlin. This sits on the top of a hill,
fortified by red walls all around it, and was the centre from which the rest of Moscow radiated out from like a catherine wheel. Even today it is the political HQ of the world's largest nation with most of it out of bounds to the tourist. There was a mixture of a few modern buildings amongst old ones which ranged from the ancient, through imperial classicism to today. These were all very impressive, with the cathedrals being built by the wealthy for their own use and as a sort of status symbol.
The government buildings were some way from us, separated by a large stone-slabbed expanse. This had police at various points and a had lines of sinister-looking black vehicles, some with a blue light on the top, parked at one end. Groups of drivers stood around, waiting no doubt, to take important people to their destinations. Our guide did make a comment about the Kremlin, that it was the highest part of Russia, many people who came there could see Siberia in the distance! We joked a little about the KBG but could understand the fear that must have been here in the not so distant past.
Many stations in the Metro system are renowned for the ornate designs and the paintings which feature on their walls and ceilings, so we once again braved the Metro with its lack of signage (to us) to see some of them. The Moscow Metro which spans almost the entire capital, is one of the world's most heavily used metro systems. In total it has 278.8km of route, 12 lines and 172 stations; on a normal day it carries 8.2 million passengers.
We stopped and admired a few of the stations, hopping off the train, checking the artwork, then getting on the train to the next one. Trains run every 90 secs or so in the daytime so that was no problem. The problem was we got ourselves a little lost, ending up on a line which was on the surface rather than underground. This did give us a chance to walk along a suburban street without seeing a tourist, luckily finding a young chap who spoke quite good English to get directions. We had traveled in the opposite to what we thought, but returned to where we wanted to eventually. Cath was stressing out a little, Ed was amused
and went along with it, Judy & Rags unfazed as they are used to getting lost somewhere on their trips.
On our return to Red Square we again met up with our group and eventually returned to the ship after a long day. Our final dinner was good, the food on this trip could be described as adequate rather than fancy, and is better than what we expected. Some passengers were more critical, but we feel you get what you pay for, and this trip was far cheaper than some of the other ships.
The rest of the evening was spent with Ed & Cathy, where we discussed the last week or so, discussed when and where we might meet up again, and Ed helped Rags lighten his load by the disposing of a significant level of whisky. They seem to goad each other on like a couple of kids.
Tuesday 14th September 2010
It was a somewhat sombre breakfast, all of us leaving the ship this morning, knowing that many would not meet again. Amazing how people form relationships over a relatively short period of time, friendships being made, others being shunned. We had
Ed and Cathy in the very touristy Old Arbats Street.
A 1 kilometre pedestrian mall in the historic centre of Moscow. a lot of laughs though and saw an amazing range of sights. We fully intend catching up with Ed & Cathy, be it in Denver, Perth, or as discussed Damascus. Time will only tell.
Farewells made we left the ship a little sad but looking forward to the rest of our trip. The Maxima Slavia Hotel was some way from the ship and took about an hour to get to. We aren't sure, but think it is closer to the airport than we were before. A bit hard when you don't know the country and leave it to an agent. We were able to check in immediately. We were pleasantly surprised by the room, spacious and clean not far from a shopping mall. It came equipped with an Internet cable and Judy made the most of this spending several hours downloading, marking and uploading student assessments. We really weren't inspired to ride the metro again and after checking out what sites we had missed decided we weren't that interested in seeing them.
The mall had a food hall and here we had our first 'blini' for lunch. This consists of a rolled up pancake-like bread with a filling
of a chicken mixture (we think). Very tasty so we had another couple. A small casserole with chicken & vegies and a pastry topping was also savoured.
We walked through the first supermarket we have seen here, looking at all the different types of food on sale. For dinner tonight we'll return and get a selection for a 'picnic' back at our room. We also found a shop selling travel cases, and as ours is broken, we purchased one a little larger than the one have at present. We may have a problem with its size when we get to the yacht in Greece, but we'll solve that when we get to it.
Wednesday 15th September 2010
After a good breakfast we went for a short visit to the shopping mall to get some food for on the plane, it being a cut-price one where nothing is provided.
Our taxi took over an hour to get to the airport, the traffic here is horrendous nearly al the time. They have an 'interesting' way of driving, similar to Asia where a 2 lane road takes 4 lanes of traffic, it merging where necessary. There is very little
aggravation, we only heard one horn in anger and our driver was also sworn at by a motorcyclist. As is often the case the driver didn't have any change but we had no intention of tipping him the equivalent of A$20, especially as he hadn't even helped Judy with her heavy bag.
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jeff
non-member comment
good to see yas having a good time