I think I just cashed in on all the karma I gained from helping George out in St. Petersburg. Leaving St. Petersburg on Friday the 13th didn`t turn out to be an easy task. All started well when I headed out to take the metro to then take a bus to get to the airport. Metro was easy, and I was able to find the bus area (once I followed others with suitcases – always a good trick). Once on the bus, my book said it was about 30 minutes so I timed it, and we finally arrived at the International terminal, but I needed the domestic terminal. I double checked with two locals by asking if this was the terminal for Moscow. Both said no, next terminal. Ends up that this bus wasn`t going to the domestic terminal (normally it does). So as I got a little panicked, a local next to me that spoke English said that I should get off at the next stop, and he could help me get another bus or a taxi. Whew…he walked me over to the bus stop and after discussing options, I decided to take a cab as I was close and it would only be $8 more. So I thought all was well when I got to the airport, but I was wrong.
Next issue was trying to figure out what line to get into to check in for my flight. Ends up they don`t open the lines until 45 minutes before the flight (and this is for checked baggage) so I had time to kill. When I got to the line, the lady took my bag, sent it on it`s way down the carousel and then told me it was too heavy for this domestic flight (as I learned domestic flights only allow 13 kilos or 26 pounds). Most flights allow for 50 pounds so my bag should be fine for most flights. So I had to go over and pay excess baggage and the lady pointed me where to do this. I hate the fact that I couldn`t pull anything out of the bag as I had an extra bag that I could have used as carried it on. Oh well, the issues with not speaking the local language. So when I tried to pay the excess, the lady said no and wouldn`t take my money, so back to the ticket counter I went (they still had my passport so I had to sort this out), now a ticket guy came back with me to the excess baggage window and the two of them argued a lot. At that moment, the same man from the bus arrived and asked if I needed help. I didn`t know he was even going to the airport (ends up he had to go home first to get his bags and his flight was later). Finally, the three of them argued, to help me pay at that window (as the first lady wanted me to go to another terminal to pay and then come back and I would have missed my flight). Geez…the problems here. Want to know how much I had to pay…1,755 rubles or about $75. Good thing I decided to fly on Friday as that ticket was much cheaper than Saturday, so it was kinda a wash, but annoying all the same and I was lucky to have the man from the bus there to help me. He was a saint looking after me.
When I arrived in Moscow…the fun continued. It took a long time to sort out where I was in the airport. Then you can only leave the airport at certain doors as the other doors are only for incoming passengers only (since every incoming person needs to go through security first), so getting out and even finding the train to the city center was tough. Finally….I got out of the airport doors and made it to the train by the skin on my teeth (as it only runs hourly). Once in town, I got to navigate the metro. Sounded easy enough as I was told to take the brown line 3 stops and transfer to the grey line for 1 stop. Too bad I don`t read the Russian alphabet and couldn`t figure out what side of the platform to take. I guess my instincts were good as I made it to the final stop…almost. When I was at the correct stop, there was two ways to exit (and they were long, long hallways), so I choose the wrong one…so close, but so far away. I couldn`t find where I was on a map and finally asked a nice looking couple, and he spoke a little English. After looking at my directions and my map, they thought they knew where I was staying, and offered to walk me. So 15 minutes later and many stairs…I made it to the hostel and was thrilled but utterly exhausted.
All I can say is if it wasn`t for these really nice Russians, I don`t know if I would have made my plane or even found where I was staying.
At this point, I hadn`t eaten all day, was so tired and finally settled for Pizza Hut as it was nearby and afterwards I planned a good long sleep before entering Moscow sightseeing the next morning.
First stop, the Kremlin. When I got off the metro, I didn`t know where I was again, but started walking. I hoped I would find or see something big and after 5 minutes. Finally, I saw a red brick structure and knew that must be The Kremlin.
The Kremlin is still physically a citadel, surrounded by red brick walls and very tightly guarded gates. There used to be a moat years ago, but that is gone.
As with everything in Russia, I had to wait almost an hour in buy an entrance ticket, then once I had the ticket, I had to get in another line that was about 45 minutes to go through security and finally walk into the Kremlin. This was a time I wish I had a friend as one of us could have waited in the tickets line and one in the security line. It feels like everywhere you go, there is a long line and you get used to waiting, so I got smart and had my ipod and a book to pass the time in line. On top of that, you have to go to window #10 to buy the entrance ticket, then window #7 to get the ticket to the armory (too bad the tickets were sold out when I was there at noon), then another window if you want an audio tour. Too many windows and lines…I settled for entrance and cathedrals and figured I could come back another day for the armory if I really wanted.
The main draw for the Kremlin is walking around inside, seeing 5 cathedrals, Czar Cannon and Czar Bell. The cannon and bell were more interesting to me – take a look at the size in the photos.
The cannon has a 40 ton barrel and never was fired. It was designed in 1586.
The bell is the largest in the world at 200 tons, 20 feet tall and 22 feet in diameter. It was built in the 1730s, but was abandoned and cracked before it could be rung. Guess those big things are neat to look at, but not functional.
After visiting the Kremlin, I strolled through the beautiful gardens on the west side (including purple lettuce growing with all the flowers). I learned that Russians take their gardens really seriously. It`s a pride and joy. After I asked a few locals what they recommend me seeing, each one mentioned a different park to stroll in. Guess the summers are so short here, they really use the gardens when they can. A tour guide said winter starts in October and goes till April. That`s too long for me.
It was still early on Saturday, so I wandered around the other side of the Kremlin and found Red Square and St. Basils Cathedral.
St. Basils is very famous and something you may have seen on TV as most Russian newscasts have that in the background. This was built to honor the victory over Mongol Tatars in 1555. It is said that Ivan the Terrible had the architect`s eyes poked out to keep him from making anything to rival Moscow`s “stone flower”. How`s that for a job well done?
Inside I got yelled at by a Russian as she wanted to get past me and thought she had the right of way. Crazy as it was super narrow passage ways, there are no arrows saying which way to go, and I was following a crowd, but there was a gap in front of me, so she yelled at me in Russian first, saw my puzzled look and then yelled at me in English. Not nice or needed.
At this point, I`m exhausted from lines, walking around and being yelled out, so I decided to enter the GUM shopping gallery as I knew it would make me feel a little better. This is the premier shopping gallery and all high end stores. It was fun to look, but there was nothing I could afford (or need at this point in my life). But it made me feel a little more normal cruising a shopping mall and not really being a tourist. That was enough for the day and I decided to head back to my hostel and relax for the rest of the night and have a mellow night for once. The hostel I`m staying at doesn`t have a common room and it`s not that social as there are a few groups from the states that are doing volunteer work with a church so they entertain themselves most of the time. They are all born again Christians, so I have to be careful what I say around them as I don`t want to offend (and they ended up being super fun and I played the card game “Uno” with them last night – so all is good).
Sunday, I thought I would go back out to see more of Red Square and go on a self-guided walking tour that I found in Frommers. I love the walking tours in Frommers as they tell you exactly where to walk, what staircase to take and make it so easy. Amanda and I did a couple in Budapest and had no problems. This time, I made it through half of it before I got so lost and couldn`t find where it was referring to on the map, so I just started walking and walking and thought I may explore a new neighborhood. Only find I had was a great grocery store with fresh fruit, but that was a find for me. I finally decided to cruise back over to Red Square as I wanted to have people to talk to and figured there would be enough pubs there with tourists and I could strike up a conversation. Nope…I was wrong. NO pubs that I could find, but I finally settled on a outdoor cafe to have a drink and read a little and the timing was great as it started to pour so hard and rain so fast, I was glad to be watching it from under my umbrella. Funny thing with this cafe…when I saw the menu, I looked at the sides and saw STEAMED broccoli. I was so excited as there really aren`t much veggies and I was feeling like I was needing some. So I ordered a beer and broccoli and my waitress was confused, but finally brought it to me (55 minutes later…yes it took that long to make broccoli – and it wasn`t busy as it was 3:00). When it arrived, I couldn`t believe how horrible it looked. It was brown in spots, in a plate of water and looked so unappetizing. On top of that, when I cut into it, it was so soft and mushy they must have boiled it for the last 55 minutes to get it to be mush. I tried to eat some of it, but it was really horrible and I left 2/3 of it – yes it was that bad!
At this point, I had been in Moscow for 2 full days and was really ready to leave. I don`t think I have ever been to a city – let alone a big city, and wanted to leave. But Moscow has taken that prize. It`s just so hard to get around, most people have been pushy and mean and it`s so hard to get help from anyone. Even people that speak English, don`t want to so I have stopped trying to ask for help and just try to figure it out on my own until I get frustrated and give up. But I know I have 2 more days here (as I already had my train ticket to the Ukraine for Tuesday night), so I needed to find something good to keep me happy.
Monday`s plan was simple (as all museums are closed). Sleep in a little, go try to find the Benihana, go try to find a Banyi and do laundry. Sounds easy right? Benihana ended up being my highlight. I was told I could walk there from the hostel in about 15 minutes, so I felt good with my map in hand and actually found it without much trouble – as it was near a metro stop, and I saw a big sign with Benihana`s symbol.
So in for lunch I went – expecting a busy place at lunchtime. When I walked in, it was stone quiet and not a soul was in there. I thought it was closed. When the workers saw me, they quickly turned the music on and it felt like a disco and hot pink strobe lights went on as well. Not the typical Benihana, but still fun. So table for one and Max was my chef. I think this was the first time I haven`t had either a Japanese or Mexican chef at Benihana. Max was cute and really tried to show off his knife skills for me, but dropped one and it landed near me. That`s why I always watch when they toss knives around – just in case. The food was very similar, but fancy salad with star fruit on it. I was very happy and ready to walk to find this banyi (bath house).
As I started walking in the right direction, I stumbled onto a very high end shopping area. It was at this point that I realized how levels of wealth really differ in Russia. You either have a lot or have nothing. All the cars where BMW, Mercedes and other high end.
You see people that have so much money and can afford the nicest of all. Even saw a couple…yes a couple pink limos in town..
Then you see the little grandma begging on every street corner and underpass. I really haven`t seen so many beggars and especially the elderly. It`s really sad.
So after finding the right area for this banyi, I finally gave up after walking for an hour around every street that looked like it may be the right one (as it was a small street off one of the big ones). So no banyi for me and I headed back towards the hostel. I thought I would be like one of the locals and grab a seat on a park beach and people watch and read. What I saw too much of was young kids (like 10-12 years old), drinking beers, smoking. It`s really normal to leave school and come to a park to do that. Plus lots of locals were all drinking beer after beer in the park. I guess I didn`t fit in with my diet coke but I had a nice hour sitting there.
Now it`s Tuesday June 17th and the last items on my agenda for Moscow required me to get up early to get in line. So I was off to get a ticket to the armory in the Kremlin and I`m glad I did. The tickets go on sale at 9:30 and are normally sold out by 10 so glad I made it in time. This museum was a highlight. This museum houses all the royal treasures, crowns, coronation dresses, guns, swords, armor and the famous Faberge` Eggs. I was able to see the 10 eggs on display and learned they used only local stones for them, and local treasures were placed inside – like one had a replica of the trans Siberian train. Pretty cool but no photos allowed inside.
Did I mention that I joined a tour group? When I started walking around, I saw a ton of tour groups and finally heard one in English, so I started to slowly walk over. This tour group ended up being 32 people that all were originally from India and now live in the US. So I was the only white girl and was towering over all of them as the next tallest person was about 5`6. They didn`t seem to mind and a couple started talking to me as they realized I didn`t belong to their group and was someone new to talk to. So that was fun and I learned way more about all the royal treasures – like Catherine the Great`s crown had over 100 carat`s of diamonds. That`s a lot of bling!
Walking around the red walls, stumbled onto their version of the Tomb of the Unknown soldier before I got in line at Lenin`s Mausoleum.
I was debating seeing this at all as it was closed two days I was there, and was only open from 10-1 and I knew there would be long lines again. After getting a great article from Colin last night (www.neatorama.com/2007/08/06/worlds-most-famous-corpse) , I decided to go and it was interesting to see him. Without stopping, you walk around three sides of the glass case in which Lenin lies, stubbly and ashen-faced, wearing a jacket and a polka-dot tie. Lenin was embalmed for a couple days after he died (January 24, 1924) and when Soviet leaders met to discuss the matter, they came up with another idea – turn the funeral into a “propaganda event” that could help legitimize the Communist regime. They decided to embalm him so he could lie in state for a while and they built a Mausoleum to display him forever (even though he wanted to be buried along side of his sister and mother). Every Friday and Monday they close the Mausoleum so the officials can undress him, look for any aging, discoloration, dust and clean him up again and then redress him. The viewing of the body was really quite an experience as I was gestured to take my hand out of my pocket when I walked in, gestured where to walk, and then when I was walking around the body too slowly, one guard snapped at me as a gesture to get moving. It was about 30 seconds that we were actually able to view the body, but interesting experience. Glad I went – so thanks for encouraging me to go Colin. That stop was for you.
It`s such a small world as I started talking to a couple in line to see Lenin and soon realized they lived less than half a mile from where I grew up in Orinda and their daughter was my “big sister” for the swim team I swam for. Couldn`t believe I ran into the Schreoder’s so that was fun to catch up on Orinda, their daughter, travel stories and I explored a little more of Moscow with them.
The Metro:
I almost forgot about the metro. This was a very efficient system. The train comes in less than 2 minutes (as there is a count down clock from when the last train left. Every line intersects many which is good and bad as there are really long walks to connect with many stairs and LONG escalators.
I timed how long it took to get from the bottom to the top, 2 minutes 14 seconds. That`s a long time when you just stand there but I guess better than walking up that many stairs. This was a very cheap and easy way to get around the city as everything is only 2-4 stops (yet they are really long stops), but easy none the less. It`s funny as the doors to the metro open up before the train stops and people start to push on or off before the train is still. The metro is surprising clean, and has lots of artistic details and stain glass which surprised me.
Few random notes about Moscow:
1. Most people are really pushy – they have to be in the front of the line to get on or off the subway or in or out of a door to the point that I have been shoved and I can hold my ground, but it`s not worth holding my ground or even saying anything here. It`s just the culture
2. Most of the time when I see people talking on cell phones, they look so angry and talk so angry. Not a happy culture
3. There aren`t much for pleasantries. Just do your business and move on.
4. The locals still believe if a woman sits on a cold ground, she will freeze her ovaries and not be able to bear children. This was confirmed by the church group as many people told them this. I started to laugh as when I was in Siberia in the USSR 15 years ago, our translator yelled at us not to sit on the ground for the same reason. Funny how some myths don`t change.
5. The population in Russia is shrinking as people aren`t having enough babies for all the deaths. The government has campaigns to encourage babies (down to there is one day a year that everyone gets off work and they are supposed to go home and get pregnant – too bad it`s not that easy and you can`t get pregnant on any given day. With this day, if you have a baby 9 months later, the family gets a new refrigerator as a prize. How crazy is that? Plus, as an incentive for more babies, if a family has 3 children or more, they gets incentives and one of them is free metro rides until the age of 16. Is that a reason to have a child?
I ended my day trying to find another church that I was told was great, and after many attempts, I just couldn`t find it and was tired and circling. Oh well, ABC (another bloody church!). I had enough for Moscow and needed a little down time to reflect on the city, the experience and start to plan for the Ukraine as I`m really excited to move on (in case you can`t tell from this entry).
Last thing tonight, I joined the church group as they had some local Russian girls that wanted to come practice English with us, so we were off to a coffee house to chat. It was a lot of fun as they didn`t think they spoke great English (i thought they did and it was way better than any of our Russian). I had to laugh as I got a mocha for $7. It had SO much whip cream on top, that as it melted and I was spooning it off, it started to overflow like a volcano. Very funny as I needed to slup it to stop it.
I don`t want to sound like a Debbie downer, but Moscow wasn`t what I expected and if I was here for a day or two on my way elsewhere, that may have been enough. So off to Kiev tonight!