Chronicling my travel adventures since 2007
We made it to St. Petersburg in style. The Red Arrow was fantastic. It was very luxurious and we felt like royalty. This is me, BLou, posting so the entry will be short and to the point.
We have done a self-guided (Dale guided) walking tour today which took in various palaces and cathedrals.
We are hungry and going to eat. More later.
Well it is our final day in Moscow and it is rapidly drawing to a close. It is 9:45pm and in about an hour we will head to the train station to catch our midnight train to St. Petersburg. That train is the famous “Red Arrow” and we have a private sleeper car booked. I suspect that it will be either completely romantic and charming or hideously uncomfortable.
While I can’t speak for Betty Lou (she isn’t with me at the moment), I am not sad to be leaving Moscow, in that we have done the things we set out to do. A person could spend a month here are not see everything, I suspect, but we have made a good effort. The only thing about Moscow that I will be sorry to leave behind is the sense of familiarity we have developed in the past week. By now, the metro is a breeze and finding our way around is not too difficult. Going to St. Petersburg means starting anew, but we are ready for the challenge.
Today was a bit of a struggle. Both Betty Lou and I were feeling tired and worn out. I had planned a grand day of visiting the beautiful Novodevichy Convent and cemetery – pick a famous Russian, they’re all buried there (including Yeltsin). We arrived on this, the most warm and sunny of days, and the place was closed. It is supposed to be open on Mondays, but, much like Lenin’s tomb, it was closed. I was warned that Russian sights were like that; closed without warning. I was very disappointed. The alternative places we could have visited in (its) stead were all closed on Mondays. So we went to Gorky Park.
Gorky Park might be a swell place to visit on a weekend, as it has paddle boast and amusement rides, but on a Monday it was a ghost town. The rides were open, but no one was on them, It was out of a horror movie (I thought). Not “Children of the Corn”; more like “Funhouse”.
After that we meandered back to GUM for coffee and ice cream (where I fell asleep sitting up at the table) and took one last lingering look at Red Square and St. Basil’s. In Red Square rehearsal was taking place for the Victory Day Celebrations on May 9th. There was marching and Russian voices filling the square.
We then went over to Theatre Square for a loooong dinner (2.5 hours-a record for us). It left us feeling sated and relaxed.
Now we wait to go to the train.
I would like, before departing from Moscow to make a few observations which I may have previously overlooked:
There is no litter anywhere; nor are there any garbage cans
Pointy shoes are very popular for both men and women, as is black leather.
Kopecks (100 of which make up 1 Rouble) are still in circulation, but nothing is ever priced such that you would need to use them. They are kept around for nostalgia’s sake. In case you are curious, you get about 25 Roubles for $1 and an espresso costs about 90 Roubles
Ivan the Terrible was the ruler who ordered the building of St. Basil’s Cathedral. The architect was Postnik Yakovlev. After the building was complete, Ivan the Terrible was so impressed by its beauty that he had the architect blinded so he could never create anything to rival it. They didn’t call him “Terrible” for nothing.
Ok, that’s all from Moscow. We will post again from St. Petersburg when we can.
Happy Trails,
Dale Raven & Betty Lou North
Another day in Moscow.
Today I had this brilliant plan to take the metro to Izmailovsky Park where there was supposed to be a quaint market selling handcrafted items. We arrived and found the market, which was a sprawling flea market of sorts which I can best liken to a cross between the Hialeah Ghetto market (in Miami), the Richmond Night Market and Canal Street in New York….for those of you who still can’t get a visual: it was tents and enclosures filling maybe a football field selling clothing and housewares, toys, food and any other item you could imagine. It was extremely crowded and from what we could tell we were the only non-Russians there. It was not at all what I was expecting, but it was interesting to see where many Russians seem to do their shopping.
After fleeing that scene we went back “downtown” to the Kremlin, where we got an espresso and ice cream (when in Moscow…) and sat outside at a cafe on a promenade in the sun. The weather today was FANTASTIC. Snow? What snow? While sitting outside I was so warm I removed my jacket and scarf. Heaven.
After that we went to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts which was especially crowded due to a recently opened Modigliani exhibit. I was a bit disappointed with the museum, as the impressionist works I had been keen to see were in closed wings. There were a few rooms, however, of lovely Flemish and Dutch paintings from the 17th Century.
We then walked back to Ulitsa Arbat for dinner at the same cafe we ate at last night. I had the most exquisite chocolate dessert. Now we are back at the hostel. Yesterday it was filled with Germans, today it is literally crawling with children; the kind that stand too close and stare at you….in fact, they are doing it now….creepy.
Tomorrow is our final day in Moscow. We catch the midnight train to St. Petersburg tomorrow night.
Good night.
d & b
I am giving this post that particular title, as I wish to point out the many kind people who have helped us out on this trip – pointing us in the right direction, letting us change seats with them at the ballet (BL had a panic attack when we sat down in our seats in the 1st row of the 3rd tier), dragging us back on the train when we almost got off at the wrong stop in the middle of nowhere, et cetera.
Today we slept in about 2 hours because someone forgot to set the alarm (dale). We raced to the train station and managed to make our train to the country, although to do so we had to skip showering and breakfast.
The country was great today. The train ride was an adventure. I’m pleased to say that I successfully used my little Russian to purchase 2 round trip tickets to Sergiev Posad and found the right train. We almost got off one stop too soon, but some nice Russian girl saved us from our folly.
The Russian countryside is extremely pastoral, but much of it looks very poor – dilapidated shacks and barns and whatnot.
The train was very old and very crowded (some passengers had to stand for the nearly two hour ride). People would walk through the cars selling various goods, including steak knives, loofahs, wallets, and Tasers.
Our trip to the country was for the purpose of taking us to the St. Sergius monastery. It is basically the Vatican of the Russian Orthodox church. It was full of Monks and pilgrims and worshippers. Surprisingly few tourists. We had a Russian guide, Sofia, show us around. In one of the churches they have a ceremony which goes from 5am-9pm 24/7/365, in which people line up to kiss and pray at the tomb containing the relics of St. Sergius. Pilgrims come of their own volition and sing through the affair. It was so beautiful and quite moving. I still think Catholicism is crazy, but they do have some lovely rituals. Although Betty Lou and I each raised an eyebrow when our guide told us that all of the wealth on display in the church (bejeweled icons and the like) is not to show off their literal ‘wealth’, but to symbolize the wealth that awaits us in heaven. Uh huh.
We took the train back to Moscow and wandered down Ulitsa Arabat, a wide, pedestrian street with vendors, shops, and restaurants. We found a lovely little cafe and had dinner and coffee and did a crossword.
I must mention the weather again. While there were moments today where it was sunny, they were fleeting. Most of the day was bitterly cold with snow blowing at a steep angle. I had to break down and buy a scarf.
Until the morrow,
BLou and Dale
Another day in Moscow and it was a thoroughly Russian day.
We spent several hours at the Kremlin exploring the numerous churches, many of which are about 500 years old and filled with tombs and iconoclasts and all the usual Catholic bells and whistles. (They certainly did favor some violent imagery, those Catholics.) Everything was so beautiful.
We visited the Armory Museum (also at the Kremlin), which houses all of the riches of the Romanovs. The carriages were particularly impressive, as were the coronation gowns.
After that we were quite fatigued, so we wandered over to Theatre Square, where we had a leisurely dinner before going to the opera at the Bolshoi. On our way in we stopped by the cocktail area of the theatre and Betty Lou spontaneously splurged on some caviar – the perfect pre-show treat at the Bolshoi.
A side note: One odd thing we have noticed is that Moscovites seem to have a penchant for ice cream. There are ice cream vendors on every corner and every 50 feet or so in the mall. They eat ice cream at breakfast and stroll leisurely down the ulitsa (street) licking cones even in the most frigid of weather. Weird. What else can I say?
We’re tired. That’s all, folks. Thanks for checking in on us.
Good Day.
We awoke this morning after a surprisingly restful and cozy sleep in our somewhat shabby room. Much to our surprise it was snowing. That’s right, snowing. Fortunately the snow did not last long and it was atmospheric; it IS Russia after all, and it wouldn’t feel right without a little snow.
We ventured onto the Metro (the subway) today to transport ourselves to Red Square. It was quite an adventure, but one, I am pleased to say was without incident. Of course, none of the ticket sellers spoke English, so we had to rely on our rough and rudimentary Russian. Amazingly, we were able to purchase our tickets and made it to our destination. I must note, first of all that the signs in the Metro are entirely in Cyrillic. I must also comment on the stations themselves, which are quite ornate and extremely clean; some of the stations had chandeliers, other had stained glass and sculptures.
We arrived in Red Square and were greeted by St. Basil’s Cathedral, which is magnificent, so much so that it does not seem real. We wandered around the area and visited numerous churches, a former residence of the Romanovs, and the site of the (former) KGB, which, strangely is right across the street from the world’s largest toy store.
Also, at Red Square, we witnessed a curious sight: hundreds of Russian soldiers lined up like, well, soldiers participating in what appeared to be a military ceremony. We couldn’t communicate with anyone to find out what it was, but there was solemn singing and men in uniform.
At some point the sun came out and it was actually beautifully warm…for about 20 minutes.
My great moment of triumph came when I stumbled upon a shop selling candy, coffee, tea, wine, and…..cigars! Despite the fact that the sales people didn’t speak English, I successfully made my purchase. Victory!!
Tomorrow we head to the Kremlin, where, sadly, Lenin is unavailable for viewing. [insert our pouting faces here] That’s right, the old guy had better things to do apparently. Truthfully, I don’t know why his tomb isn’t open, but it is closed until the 15th. Tomorrow night we head to the Bolshoi to see the ballet.
That’s all. Happy trails,
dale & lou
It is a very sunny morning here in Moscow.
Betty Lou and I have just awoken.
A random tale which I forgot to mention in the last post:
I had been congratulating myself for wearing my sensible Doc Martens on this trip (or rather, I had been thanking Betty Lou for urging me to wear them rather than the more stylish shoes I had originally selected), it seems however that even the most cautious and sturdy of footwear was not enough to save me from my own innate clumsiness. Yesterday as we were entering the rather posh and famous GUM department store I tripped and fell on my face, losing both my balance, my grip of my guidebook, and my pride. The security guard, standing on the other side of a window, looked at me, placed his hand over his heart and shook his head. I laughed.
Dawn, I knew you would appreciate that story.
Later, d
Please forgive me for this being so brief, but it is quite late and others are waiting to use this computer.
We flew via Stockholm to Moscow and arrived this evening. It is cold. About 6 degrees. I have to admit this is a bit intimidating. Most people don’t speak English and all of the signs are in Cyrillic. I am, however, pleased and proud to report that this evening BL and I managed to find a restaurant, order food and pay for it in Roubles. She had borscht. I had vodka.
Our hostel in Moscow (The Godzilla Hostel) is…well, it’s no Hotel Brouwer, but it is clean and has all of the amenities we could need.
We will post when we can. Tomorrow we are off to Red Square and to view Lenin’s body.
That’s all for now.
Da svidanya.