Highlights of our Moscow visit

From St. Petersburg, the Moorhouse/Cittadino/Naaman group took the high speed train to Moscow.  It was a bit of a harrowing departure as Helen, Benny, and Alex got stuck in a cab in traffic and very nearly missed the train.  Fortunately they had the good sense to jump out of the cab, in the pouring rain, and run to the station, jumping on the train just before it departed.

The train was much like any of the high speed European trains that we’ve taken over the past 2 years.  The St. Petersburg-Moscow train line is the most frequented by tourists, so everything was announced in both Russian and English.

After arriving in Moscow and getting checked in at our hotels, we met to find some dinner.  Helen’s parents are originally from Moscow, and her Dad has a particular Russian chain that he always eats at when they visit.  So we set off to find the nearest location of Yolki-Palki.  It was a bit farther walk than we realized, but we eventually made it there and had a simple yet yummy Russian dinner.  We then did a bit of grocery shopping for snacks, which made Helen and I laugh because we used to grocery shop together in Norfolk years ago.  We never could have imagined back then that, one day, we’d be grocery shopping in Moscow together, too!

Wednesday was set aside to visit the Kremlin.  Prior to our visit, I really only knew of the Kremlin as referring to the office of the Russian President, similar to how the office of the President of the United States is often referred to as “The White House”.   So, in my head, I was expecting perhaps one or maybe just a few buildings, similar to the White House in Washington, DC.

What we toured was bigger and more elaborate than anything any of us anticipated.  The Kremlin is an ancient fortress within the city of Moscow.  The office of the Russian President is there, as are 4 cathedrals, 5 palaces, and numerous other buildings.  It is, simply put, HUGE.  These pictures do not put into perspective how huge it is......and how even huger it feels when the temperature is somewhere in the mid 90's with little cloud cover.

We started our tour with a visit to the Armoury, where we saw treasures of the Kremlin, including gifts that were given to Russia over the centuries by other countries.  The highlight of this part of the tour was definitely the collection of ancient carriages.  We also saw beautiful gold and silver pieces, porcelain, elaborate dresses, weapons, and suits of armor (for people and horses).  Unfortunately we weren't able to take any pictures, though.

We did, however, get a picture of the yellow building where the office of Vladimir Putin is located.

After the Armoury we toured several of the cathedrals off Cathedral Square.  These are all Russian Orthodox churches, since this is the traditional religion of Russia.  They were beautifully and elaborately decorated.

At that point we were hot, hungry, and tired, so we decided it was time to exit the Kremlin to find some lunch.  We exited the Kremlin right onto Red Square, with great views of St. Basil’s Cathedral.  It felt a bit surreal to be standing in front of such an iconic Russian landmark.

We ended up in a restaurant just off Red Square, and as we began our meal Helen heard a police car announcing that Red Square was closing.  No sooner was that announced than we started to see squads of Russian policemen briskly walking onto the square and starting to line 3 of its 4 sides (excluding ours).  We weren’t quite sure what was going on, but it definitely looked interesting and worth watching!

Over the next couple of hours, we watched as hundreds more uniformed Russians arrived, the audio system played the Russian anthem over and over, and all these uniformed Russians marched back and forth.  The waiter explained to us in broken English that it was a ceremony for students, and at one point we could see individuals walking up to the front to salute someone, shake hands, and receive a certificate.  Watching the troops march on Red Square while listening to the sweeping national anthem playing was definitely a Russian experience we will never forget.

We ended our afternoon with a walk through one of Moscow’s most famous and nicest shopping centers which is just off Red Square.  

There we took one of my favorite pictures of us so far….

On Thursday we returned to Red Square to tour Lenin’s Tomb.  While it was clear that Lenin’s Tomb is a site of great significance for the Russian people, it felt a bit strange to view Lenin’s body, which has been preserved since his death in 1924.  It was a very somber place with numerous military members to remind you to take off your hat, be silent, etc., and the walk through the tomb lasted less than 5 minutes.  Afterwards, we exited through memorials to other important leaders.

From there we went on to tour St. Basil’s Cathedral.  While we didn’t get to go up into any of the onion domes, we did see spectacular Russian Orthodox altars and elaborate decorations.  And one of the best parts was listening to an acoustic group singing, their voices reverberating throughout the different chambers of the cathedral.

We moved on to walk around the Kremlin and across several of Moscow’s bridges.  We enjoyed great views of the Kremlin and other Moscow cathedrals (this city has a LOT of cathedrals).

Then we moved on to Novodevichy cemetery, where many famous Russians are buried.  Helen was excited to find the graves of many of the Russian literary greats whose works she has read.  I am not as well-read in Russian literature as she is, so I was content just to wander through the elaborate tombstones.

We did see Boris Yeltsin's grave, as well.

The boys were getting antsy at this point, so I took all 3 of them across the street to a nearby playground, where they could play and expend some energy.

Thursday evening, Helen, Alex, and I went to the Bolshoi Ballet.  The ballet performed was called The Bright Stream, and it was a comic ballet, written in the ‘30s.  It was centered around very Russian themes and the storyline was a bit difficult to follow, but the dancing was fantastic.  The theater was a secondary one (not the main historic Bolshoi theater) but was still beautifully decorated.

While we were at the ballet, Bob took all 3 boys to Hamley’s, an international toy store.  The store they visited is billed as Europe’s largest toy store, and the boys were in heaven.

Afterwards, we all met up to visit Red Square, while it was dark, to see the lights and beauty of St. Basil's Cathedral one more time.  The boys got to run around in Red Square....what a playground!

Friday, Helen, Alex, and Benny, headed on a day trip outside Moscow.  I woke up feeling really sick and spent most of the day alternating between sleeping, trying to sit up, and feeling like all I could was lay down.  I’m not quite sure what hit me, but it was brutal…even walking around our hotel room took substantial effort.  

In the morning, the boys hung out in the hotel room with me while Bob toured the Bolshoi Theater.  It was a really small tour (only 20 people were allowed and no advance reservations were possible), but fortunately he got there early enough to get a spot.  He was able to see the main theater, about 20 minutes of a full dress rehearsal for an upcoming production, dancers taking publicity shots, and lots more.  It sounded like a memorable opportunity!

Afterwards, Bob came back and took the boys to Gorky Park so they could get outside (and away from sick me) for a while.  Gorky Park is right in the center of Moscow, and since it was about 33C (92F), the boys especially liked wading in one of the large fountains.

They also played on this playground, which featured a large sinking ship (maybe due to the large octopus beside it)?

My original plan for Friday had been to visit a number of Moscow’s metro stations, since they are renowned for being some of the most beautiful (and also some of the deepest) in the world.  I started feeling a bit better in the late afternoon, so we tried to do a shortened tour in the evening.  At the first stop I started feeling a lot worse and felt like I might pass out, so we quickly went back to the hotel.  While we didn’t see as many stations as I would have liked, the ones we did see during our entire stay in Moscow were certainly noteworthy. 

This picture is a bit blurry, but you can get a sense of how long the escalators to/from the metro platforms were.

Once we got back to the hotel, I went immediately back to bed and Bob took the boys to Helen's hotel, which had a panoramic bar on its top floor.  It was a bit hazy, but the views of Moscow were apparently pretty good.

  

And with that, our time in Moscow was at an end.  Moscow definitely felt different than St. Petersburg.  It is much bigger (almost 12 million residents, as compared to St. Petersburg’s population of about 5 million), for one thing.  It also felt less European and a bit more…..Russian, I guess?  Since I don’t have much else to compare it to at the moment, perhaps I’ll have more of a sense after we see more of this country.  I’m glad we stopped here, though!