moscow - day 2 & 3

After an exhausting first day in Moscow, we were happy to look at the itinerary and see that we only had one thing booked today and then the rest of the day was ours! Our morning began at the famous Kremlin where the government of Russia still resides. I can't remember all the history that was given to us that day.. but I do recall that it used to be the center of the village and that the entire area was crowded with old wooden homes that were set fire during one of Russia's many wars!I thought that we'd get to go into some buildings or something, but instead we just go to walk around in the inside of the Kremlin walls and see the insides of the church there. But I guess with Putin hard at work within one of the buildings, figuring out what to do about the war with Georgia there was no chance we'd get to go inside!! But I must say there was a total lack of security presence inside the Kremlin. We weren't frisked as we went in, although we did go through metal detectors and I had my camera looked into. Besides that, the area was just filled with tourists like us!

We spent a good amount of time hearing the history of the Kremlin by our hilarious tour guide. She kept saying funny things that some might take as being anti-Russian. She made a comment about how Russia loves war, but is never prepared for them. She said that since Russia had signed a peace agreement with the Nazi's that they just left their borders unarmed..and then were shocked when Nazi troops were close to closing in on Moscow. She was totally different than our guide yesterday who seemed very pro-Russia. Interesting.

But again, we got very little information on what we wanted to hear most about - the Soviet Era. I guess perhaps they just don't know alot about it themselves to be honest.

After our short, but long tour of the Kremlin, the rest of the day was ours. Granny and I headed off to the canteen for our favorite lunch. I of course got the same food as the day before, but Granny tried all new things. She's adventurous like that! After lunch a few people were heading back to the hotel area, so Granny thought it might be best if she went with them since I had a long day planned for myself. I was going to see a friend who used to live in Mumbai to pick up our train tickets and then stay in the city center for night time so I could see all the buildings lit up. And the sun doesn't set until well after 9pm.

Granny headed back with a whole group of people and I ventured over to Hazel's place. I had hoped that by visiting someone who lived there I would get a better feel for Moscow and perhaps see something besides the Red Square. No such luck! Hazel lives on the road directly opposite the Red Square, so I didn't see much more of the city than that!. But it was great to see her place and her twin babies. And btw, her nanny was from Georgia, so that was a bit interesting. We mostly caught up on mutal friends and then she told me about life in Moscow. She's only been there about 8 months, but she hates it and is ready to leave again. She re-iterated what we had already felt - the people aren't so friendly, there is no service industry whatsoever and the prices are insane. For her it is also difficult as there are no lifts to be found anywhere so she can't take the metro since it's underground and can barely cross most of the streets since the street crossing is also below ground. And to top it off, when she is out walking the babies, there are often cars parked on the sidewalks so she can't walk there either.

This little visit made me realize that I probably wouldn't be so happy living in Moscow either. Although I can get up and down the stairs - it's just the not so friendly staff at places that would drive me insane. I'd probably be shot within a week for yelling at people!!

After our visit and my almost run over by a porche, bmw and mercedes all three trying to turn at the intersection at once I met up with some of the rest of our tour group for some dinner and drinks. We hung out at a cafe near red square for a while - watching a totally drunk man try to make his way to the door. It was our own little soap opera for a bit. After that, we decided to venture back towards where I was earlier in the day to find a place for dinner. Of course it was all a bit overpriced, but where we ended up had excellent food...Italian! After an hour wait for our change, we finally left close to 11 at night. Now it was time for me to get my night shots of the buildings. Oops.. I forgot my good lens and my tripod. Oh well.. still managed to get some decent photos.

And then the long journey back home on the metro. Since we can't read the signs, nor do we understand or even hear the announcements for the trains, we are forced to count stops. This is a lesson in concentration. If you have ever used subways much, you know that you can easily get carried away in conversation and forget how many stops you've passed. To combat this, all of us would hold our hands up with the number of the stop so that we didn't forget. And it worked.. we made it right back to the hotel without a hitch.

Wednesday - today is also a free day. I am in need of a swimsuit (swimmer, swim costume, etc) for the sauna experience coming up tomorrow. I don't know how I missed this when packing. So Barbara and I have decided that we will see the flea market by our hotel in the am and then head into town.

Oh man.. it is blustery cold and rainy today though! It is seriously cold. We managed to potter around the market buying all sorts of crap. I think i got a million things that I don't need, but missed out on the one thing that I would have loved. The russian book of old posters. Two other guys in the group got it and showed me later, but it was too late to go back :( I think it must not have been up when we were there, because all i saw were nesting dolls and christmas ornaments!

After spending all of our money, Barbara and I head to town to eat at our canteen for the last time. It was still yummy even on day 3! Did a bit of swim suit shopping, but gave up and decided I could just wear a tank top with undies. Heading back to our hotel was misery though. It was seriously freezing cold. And for some reason my shoes leak water inside. I don't know how this happened, but apparently there is a little hole at the bottom or at the seam. Oh so sad.

But we made it back in time to dry our socks under the hand dryer and retrieve our bags from the luggage room. And then it was time to head off for our night train to Pscov. it would be most people's first experience on a train such as this. Dasha, our tour guide, said it was exotic. but after hearing her descriptions, I realized it is just like the Indian trains I ride here. Uh oh.. the group is not going to be happy about this! haha.

More tomorrow after our journey.. all 50 people on one carriage with only 2 toilets as some of the ladies were obsessed with saying.

moscow - day 1

On our first day of the tour, we absolutely pooped ourselves out! We started off a bit earlier than our original itinerary had stated, but it was because we were going to sneak in a quick look at Lenin's dead body! We waited in a long line, which apparently was quite short since it was a Sunday and was still early. We gave all of our belongings to Dasha our tour leader whom we had just barely met the previous night. Cameras, purses, basically everything of value we had to hand over since almost nothing was allowed inside Lenin's Mausoleum. We walked down some stairs to a cold dark room where we were admonished for talking and for putting hands in pockets! ok... Then we circled around his dead body. Not sure if it was really him or not. Apparently every so often they have to do 'maintenance' on his body which takes several months. During those times, a wax body is put in his place. I'm sure they have probably created a perfect copy in wax, so we wouldn't know the difference. I'd say you'd have to go once a month for a few years to see if you ever noticed any differences. But it was a bit eerie seeing his dead body there!

After that little intro to Russia, we walked a bit further on the Red Square to the colorful and beautiful St Basils Cathedral. I knew from my first look that I would end up taking hundreds of photos of this building. It's absolutely beautiful and feels like candyland or something from a fairy tale. Someone told me that this was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland. Not sure though. We met our first local tour guide here and she gave us a ton of history on the area, the Red Square, St Basils, etc. But of course I don't remember much at all. I do know that the cathedral was built by Ivan the terrible and that it has 9 domes, which is apparently 9 different 'churches'?? or worship halls perhaps. Anyhow, I couldn't pay much attention to the guide since I was captivated by St Basils! We walked around Red Square for a while learning (or hearing in my case) the history of it all. Then we pottered over to a bridge by the water to see the Kremlin from another angle. After this our tour took us through the old GUM Government Department store which is now a high end mall. It was beautiful. Then on to one of the main streets just outside of the Red Square where we saw the KGB offices from afar. Its too bad I never went back there to see it close up. I really wanted to learn more about that - but as most things associated with the Soviet Era, it was just glossed over.

Even though thus far we had not done a lot of walking, it was the standing around that was already starting to kill my feet. Granny seemed to be managing fine, but i was already getting tired and hungry. It was after 1 when we finally were told we could go eat some lunch. We were pointed back towards the GUM where there was a Soviet era type canteen where we could get lunch for a decent price. I think the whole group headed there. And thank goodness we did. It was excellent. I got way too much food the first day - it was like a Luby's Cafeteria where you just go down the aisle picking up what you want. I love these type of places because I can actually find things to eat! I got apple strudel, apple/carrot salad, plain crepe, apple crepe, mashed potatoes and some brown bread. I was stuffed, but happy!

We had a little bit of free time before meeting up with the group again, so Granny and I just wandered around the mall a bit, checking things out. Then we met up with most of the group again at 6 for our tour of the subways. Of course that was a little bit delayed because Dasha recommended that we walk 30 minutes to this arty district called Arbat. Of course we took a long long long route and it ended up taking 1 1/2 hrs! Needless to say we were all pooped. Granny was still being a trooper, but I think she had just about had it. If we had been there a bit longer and she knew the way home she would have gone for sure. After that long walk, we finally did a quick tour of the subways.
The subways are insane there.. they are decorated like art museums. Not all of them, but the main ones for sure. Of course we were told we couldn't take photos since it is attached to the military. Urgh.. really this city needs to be a little more tourist focused I think. They could make good money doing subway tours!

We got home late and were thoroughly exhausted. granny just went up straight to bed. I did a little internet (see previous post) and then ate a snack before heading to bed.

I have to say that initially I wasn't that impressed with Moscow. I mean I loved the Red Square and all, but overall, I just didn't feel any real connection to the city at this point. Even looking back now, I am not sure if I would really ever want to go back to Moscow - I certainly don't think I want to live there like I had previously thought.... although that canteen is pretty yummy so maybe I could ;) But I think that as exhausted as Granny was she actually was quite impressed with Moscow. She had pictured it as very communist looking - dark, grey old buildings, but it was really colorful and beautiful instead. Off to sleep to prepare for another day tomorrow!