We arrived in Moscow on 26th of March 2007. We were too tired and had an extremely boring evening of some sleep and dinner of McDonald's (yes you could shoot me but after 4 days on the train surviving on bread and Marmite, McDonald's is heaven!).

First impression of Moscow? CIVILISATION! Far cry after being in Khuzir for 4 days and on the train for the equal number of days!

I'm impressed with Moscow, first impression was made in Kitai-Gorod, ultra trendy place with lots of cafes and too many slim and tall and overly dressed up Russian women! So many days being in the wilderness, I think Thong Mei and I are not shy in admitting that we practically sat in Coffee House (Kope Xys - in cryllic) almost everyday!

So, on the second day in Moscow, we decided to visit the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. The queue was as long as you could imagine. We stayed in line for 3 hours before finally getting in and we told ourselves that we have to be in the museum for the equal amount of hours we waited in queue. It didn't happen, I didn't find the Museum worth that 3 hour wait but I guess that's what having experienced the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the Vatican Museums in Rome do to you.

After the Museum, we walked around Moscow, taking some sights of the Church of Christ the Saviour:-

Church of Christ the Saviour

Church of Christ the Saviour 2

Church of Christ the Saviour 3

Bell Tower

And so, happily we went off to take the Metro back to our hostel during rush hour. The effect of it wasn't good on me at all. Well, you can't expect anything good out of taking the Metro during rush hour in Moscow when 9 million Muscovites take the Metro DAILY! The result was me being literally pushed around in and out of the train by hoards of crude 6 footer Russians...the women were the worst! Notwithstanding the trauma that I had to go through, the Metro in Russia is perhaps one of the most efficient ones in the world. During rush hour, it only takes 90 seconds for the train to arrive until the next one comes in. I guess failure is not an option. Not to mention that the Metro stations are tourists draws in themselves as they are ornately decorated with bronze statues, chandeliers, mosaics, etc. They say photographs are not allowed but as soon as I saw another non-chalant tourist happily snapping away, these are what I got, although done surreptitiously:-

Travelling down to the tunnels in the Metro could be one hell of a dizzying experience. Some stations are located at least easily 150 metres to the core of the earth and couple this with ultra fast and straight escalators, it feels as though there is a magnetic field pulling you down. SCARY!!

It's been so long since I came back from the trip that I don't remember what we did. I think on the 3rd day in Moscow, we went to the Red Square and getting impressed with the St. Basil's Cathedral. We walked to the Red Square from the Armoury Tower at the Kremlin and as we approached the Red Square, there it was - the St. Basil's Cathedral...arguably THE ICON of Moscow if not Russia. It springs out to you like a fold-up fairy tale cut-out as a result of the colourful domes and spires. Mind you, the patterns on the dome are actually 3D! I couldn't help myself to getting trigger happy with the camera:-

Approaching St. Basil's from the Red Square

St. Basil's Cathedral

St. Basil's Cathedral 2

Colourful 3D Domes

St. Basil's Cathedral from different vantage point

St. Basil's Cathedral

The irony of the entire set-up at the Red Square was that Lenin's Mausoleum was right smack opposite the GUM, or as they use to call it in Soviet Times, the State Department Store. So much for advancing the principles of socialism. The father of Communist Soviet, whom the widow was against having Lenin embalmed and laid in state is now laying in state opposite a departmental store!

Mind you, having said all that about Lenin, he was difficult to see...I didn't manage to catch him on a good day as visiting times are limited and not just that, arbitrary.

The next day, we hadn't done much but went to the Izmaylova Market (apparently best during the weekends) to get ourselves on a quest to bring some matrioshka dolls home. You can't be in Russia and not buy one back. It took me 3 hours to buy 7 dolls and after walking 3 times around all the stalls before I could decide which one to choose from. What can I say, you wouldn't understand how difficult it was to choose the matrioshka doll which is now sitting atop my tele!

03/27/07 by puiyee
Tags: trans-siberia, trans-mongolia, moscow