Moscow

Saturday, 31^st of December 2011, New Year’s Eve

We have a big day today and after all the sleep on the train I wake early and go out to the lounge area on our floor to type up some diary stuff and organise the last day’s pictures. Most of the day will be walking around the Kremlin and Armoury, Red Square and St Basil’s Cathedral.

Looking forward to breakfast and a little time to organise ourselves before the day starts which will end in Red Square after the New Year festivities late tonight. The train trip and the steady diet of dumplings, instant noodle and Russian beer has been good for weight loss. I’ve lost about 4 kilos so far. Must write a book about the new diet sensation!

We headed off at 9.30am to go to The Armoury within the Kremlin where treasures of the Czars and the Russian people are kept. Passing by the tomb of the Unknown Soldier we found ourselves in a long que to get in because Putin was in the Kremlin and security screening was being carried out. Ultimately we found our way in and set off for a tour.

St. Basils Cathedral built by Ivan the Terrible to celebrate the Russian victory over the Tartars from Mongolia

To say that the collection is overwhelming is an understatement when you stand looking at clothing worn by Catherine the Great or any number of rulers of Russia. Crowns, ornaments, thrones and carriages are all there and beautifully presented.Unforrtunately no photography was allowed inside the armoury.

Deb in front of the Kremlin

I found the carriages one of the most interesting from the point of view of their size and intricate carving. Gifts from foreign ambassadors as well as Napoleon Bonaparte were all there including the famous Faberge Eggs.

The amount of gold, silver and precious stones is amazing. We could not look at all of the exhibits but just to see Ivan the Terrible’s throne and robes is quite incredible.

After this we visited the square where the many churches and chapels of the Kremlin were situated. The main cathedral where the Czars were coronated was impressive in its icons and frescoes.

The main cathederal in the Kremlin wher the Czars were crowned

The 200 tonne bronze bell that never rang and the huge cannon that never fired spoke of the Czars’ attempts to impress friend and foe alike. Overall the wealth and opulence of the rulers must obviously have led to the common people saying ‘enough’s enough’.

The two hundred tonne bell with its 11 tonne broken piece. It never rang.

 A lunch at a nearby restaurant was followed by a walk around Red Square which is so named because the word for red in Russian is the same as the word for beautiful in ‘Old Russian’. That is, it is really Beautiful Square. Today it was thronging with people who were obviously getting ready for New Year’s Eve and a huge number of them were young men from Kazakhstan, who are in Moscow as cheap labour around the city.To see the main Kremlin castle, the walls of red brick, Lenin’s Tomb as well as the famous St. Basil’s Cathedral is unique. On one side of the square is the GUM Department store which is really a multi-level shopping mall, packed with people.Lenin’s Tomb also had Stalin in it but he was’ kicked out’ in the 60’s to be buried behind it with other Soviet leaders.

In the evening we proceeded in all our finery to a restaurant in the vicinity if the Moldavian Consulate. The evening was marked by ample alcohol including copious vodka, a very sweet carbonated Muscat and a red wine that defied description. The entertainment was provided by a group of three women in national dress who sang with beautiful strong voices to the accompaniment of a man on button accordion who looked like he came out of Russian central casting.

A phone photo(blurry) of the singers

We danced and ate and drank till about 9.30pm when it was time to make our way to Red Square for the fireworks.

We were surprised to find it relatively easy to get into the square despite the security and about 1000 police. The square was much less crowded than that afternoon and we found a place to wait for the fireworks. We found that a lot of the young Russians who heard us speaking English approached us to talk and we found it easy to pass the time till about 11.30pm when needed to find the portaloos. This involved having to leave the square and proved unfortunate as some guys were collecting money to use them (we had no currency on us) and ultimately we ended not being able to get back into the square.

The GUM Department store at night

As it turned out, the fireworks which we could hear but not see, turned out to be very short and not very spectacular so we were not too disappointed. By all accounts the Russians don’t make much of a show of the fireworks, with no count-down or entertainment/music to go with them.

A few travellers at the NYE in Red Square

 Think we did OK to see the square at night and to have some good times talking with the locals.

Sunday, 1^st January

 2012

We awoke to snow falling consistently in Moscow and this was a good sign for our visit to Sergiev-Posad a town to the Northeast of Moscow about 50km away. It is the site of a monastery established by St. Sergius of Radonezh who in his 20’s went to live in the forest and established a small chapel which through his good works became  a major monastery in the Russian Orthodox Church.

The monastery of St. Sergius

The monastery has a wall built by Ivan the Terrible and houses a small cathedral which sits on the site of the original built by the Saint and his body is buried in the church.

 

The snow lends a particular atmosphere to the place and the whole drive out of Moscow was very picturesque with a covering of snow. The city of Moscow has almost all of its residents living in high-rise accommodation which is centered around a hub of major services as well as parklands and a good rail infrastructure.

The snow outside or hotel looking towards Red Square

• Inside the monastery there are a number of churches whose walls are covered with frescoes and icons. Most internal walls are carved wood with gold leaf embellishment.

St. Sergius is supposed to have befriended a bear as depicted in this fresco Debbie and Elena our tour leader outside tunnel at the entrance of the monastery showing more frescos

 

Many of the icons on the main wall of the church

The monastery is a very busy place with up to 300 monks and many faithful who visit each day.

One of the monks at the monastery

 After lunch we had yet another surprise (of a cultural nature) which builds on the reputation and position of this city as a centre also of toy making.

It turns out we were to visit and take part in a workshop painting Matrioshka dolls. These dolls began their rise to popularity in this area after the turn of last century and remains one of the main sites of production.

Our tour guide Lyuba(r) and the Tatiana(l) who is one of the artisans that paint the dolls.

 

A feature of the tour has been the detail and effort the tour company (Travel Directors) has put into the tour and this workshop was a good example of their work. Everyone had a doll to paint and this was a really enjoyable experience.

My effort after an hour or so.

 

After our cultural experience we went back to the hotel before dinner at a nearby restaurant. The notable part of the meal was the almost unseemly haste with which the waiters went about getting us fed and out of the place. As I have said before, some establishments have yet to come to grips with reasonable customer service.

 

Monday 2nd Jan 2012 We decided to opt out of the day’s program to have a bit of time to do things we wanted to do but could not expect the group to have to do as well. After a slow start we started to walk up towards the Red Square. On the way we passed the restaurant where we ate the night before and had a chance to see it in daylight. Thinking we might go and have a look inside St.Basil’s we started towards the square but remembering it was not open till 11am we headed for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to see the changing of the guard first.

The Eternal FlameThe two guards for the next hour march with their commander to the monument

The new guard march past 12 plinths each marked with the names of cities that are Heros of the Republic for their sacrifice during WWII.  Many people gather each hour to see this solemn tribute to the fallen each hour .On the way back to the square we stopped to watch the scaters on the ice rink set up for the holidays in front of GUM.

 

  After this we went to St.Basil’s and bought tickets to see inside. There is a museum integrated with the church which takes the visito on a winding and intricate route through the maze of chambers and passageways that make up the building.

At each stage are many historic relics, icons and archaeological finds associated with the history of St.Basil’s dateing almost to the founding of the original fortress(The Kremlin) on the hill overlooking the Moscow River.Audio-visual displays and detailed descriptions of the lives of Saints and fools for Christ are plentiful throughout.

 After an hour or so we went over to GUM to have a look around, hopefully withfewer people than the first day we visited. Fortunately this was how we found it and although uninterested in buying from the mostly up-market brand shops we had a coffe and something to eat near the top level.

Lunch in GUM The view from the top of GUM

As we were leaving GUM we stopped to buy some fruit in an unusual up-market supermarket on the bottom floor which was more of a supre deli-liquor store than anything else but it makes an interesting alternative to Woolies.

 On our return to the square we bought two Russian Style hats for Tom and me before passing over to the Bolshoi Ballet building to take some photos,passing by the statue of Carl Marx in the process.

Debbie and Karl

Returning to the hotel we retired to the bar for a few glasses of champagne with a few friends before dinner and packing to board the train to St.Petersburg tomorrow.

Tuesday 3rd Jan 2012

We began the day with a walk aroung the vecinity of the hotel by ourselves while waiting for the bus. This involved going over to the underground shopping centre and then back towards the entrance of Red Square via the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

View accross the top of the underground shopping centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

there was also a very inpressive set of horses in a fountain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although 9am there is still obviously no sunlight yet.

We return to the hotel to meet with the group and take a walk to the nearest Metro station were we would take a ride out to a station or two to look at the remarkable system built on Stalin’s orders.

There aree chandeliers even in the tunnel where the train comes in!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stations are all fitted out with polished granite or marble with bronze statues or frescos depicting the idealism of the old USSR.

Deb found some chooks amongst the bronzes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the many frescos on the roof of the system

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are also murals at the end of the station platform levels depicting events such as the end of WWII and the 1812 victory over napoleon.

The end of WWII as depicted in mural form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The whole Metro seems to run very smoothly and efficiently moving huge numbers of people every day and in a very imspiring environment.

After this we get on the bus to head our to the site of a palace built on the high bank of the Moscow River where a magnificent (no longer existing) wooden palace was a favourite summer retreat for the Czars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The site called Kolomenskoye is very popular as a place to visit by families as it has huge grounds with trees and open areas for picnics or in winter, skiing.

Looking back towards Moscow from the summer palace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a 1/40th scale model of the original palace on display in the main gate house.

The gate house

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the scale model showing an impressive wooden building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before leaving the gatehouse area we were treated to a reanctment of a traditional Russian wedding involving the tour party as participants. I managed to get a gig as father of the bride.

The bloke in the very large hat at the back played his part very well

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But wait, there’s more. The Moscow city fathers have actually built a replica of the old palace on another part of the grounds and our bus driver Edward (old Russian name?) took us to see it.

The recreated palace is now a museum, very popular with Muscovites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was now time to go to Leningrad Station (all stations are called after another place nowhere near Moscow!) and we boarded the Very Fast Train for St. Petersburg(SPB).

The high speed train(from website)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This proved to be a great experience sitting in aircraft type seats in a comfortable train travelling at up to 220km/h. It took about 4hours to get to SPB and so we pulled into the station at about 8.30pm.

 

SPB Station

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our carriage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The impressive station building is only the beginning of a city that is full of amazing buildings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Off to the Angleterre Hotel through chaotic traffic and a very comfortable bed in preparation for tomorrow.