Traffic, Dinner and a Hotel Switch
We spent our first night in Moscow at Buddy Bear Hostel on the southwest part of the Garden Ring. The Garden ring is the second of several ring roads around the centre of Moscow. This road was our first introduction to the insanity of Moscow traffic. The Smolensky Blvd is not a highway and has many traffic lights and bumper to bumper traffic with double and triple parked cars along the sidewalks. And 14 lanes. That’s right 14. Our hostel room window fronted onto this road and I counted 14 separate lanes of wall to wall traffic at 11:30pm. With no median between the centre lanes. Insanity. Total insanity.
After settling into our dorm room at Buddy Bear we walked to the famed Old Arbat Street to find some dinner. We ended up eating at a crazy Georgian restaurant which was completely decorated like a farm/country village inside. The level of detail in the decorating rivalled Disneyland with the addition of ear piercing music booming out of the bar area near our table.
Despite the over the top decorations in this place it was not geared for English tourists and a combination of three different very earnest waiters had to work together to understand our order. Russia was already proving to be very different from any other place we had ever visited.
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The Disney-style decor
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Our night at Buddy Bear (can't get enough of the hilarity of that name) passed fairly well except for the overheated room and symphony of snoring that usually accompanies dorm room hosteling. In the morning we packed up and left Buddy Bear to check in to our big treat of the holiday, two nights at the Hilton Leningradskaya. My mum had managed to get us a sweet deal including breakfast and the amazing location of the hotel directly across the street from three major train stations made it the perfect place from which to depart for our night train to St Petersburg on the 30th.
After leaving our bags in the palatial lobby of the Hilton we ventured back into the enormous metro system to make our way to the heart of Moscow.
The Kremlin and Red Square.
The site of the Kremlin has been inhabited since 200 BC (!!) and became the centre of power in Russia in the 14th century. It is a completely separate walled complex of government buildings and sacred churches and the armoury museum which houses the most gobsmacking collection of precious and amazing objects I have ever seen.
Although the Kremlin is the one of the biggest tourist attractions in Russia we were immediately struck by how few tourists we saw. The site is also not particularly accommodating to tourists. We bought our tickets in one place from a very dour ticket agent, then showed them to the guard at the main entrance who immediately grunted disapprovingly at us and indicated we would have to walk to another entry tower farther down the wall.
We walked along to that tower, then handed our tickets to the guards there only to have them decide that Graham’s small backpack was not small enough. Another entrant who spoke English informed us that Graham needed to walk all the way back through the park to an unmarked bag check room located under one of the entry ramps. The three of us waited with the guards while Graham ran back to check his bag. Of course ten women with handbags twice the size of Graham’s backpack were let in no problem during this time. But no one argues with a Russian guard wearing the full get up of belted trench coat, boots and fur hat! We finally entered the Kremlin shortly before noon and immediately walked up to the main square which is fronted by five shimmering gold domed orthodox cathedrals and had in its centre an enormous Christmas tree. Perfection.
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| Our hotel was in one of the famous 'Seven Sisters' towers built by Stalin. |
After leaving our bags in the palatial lobby of the Hilton we ventured back into the enormous metro system to make our way to the heart of Moscow.
The Kremlin and Red Square.
The site of the Kremlin has been inhabited since 200 BC (!!) and became the centre of power in Russia in the 14th century. It is a completely separate walled complex of government buildings and sacred churches and the armoury museum which houses the most gobsmacking collection of precious and amazing objects I have ever seen.
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| In the park surrounding the Kremlin, before buying our entrance tickets. |
Although the Kremlin is the one of the biggest tourist attractions in Russia we were immediately struck by how few tourists we saw. The site is also not particularly accommodating to tourists. We bought our tickets in one place from a very dour ticket agent, then showed them to the guard at the main entrance who immediately grunted disapprovingly at us and indicated we would have to walk to another entry tower farther down the wall.
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| The main entrance to the Kremlin, but not for us! |
We walked along to that tower, then handed our tickets to the guards there only to have them decide that Graham’s small backpack was not small enough. Another entrant who spoke English informed us that Graham needed to walk all the way back through the park to an unmarked bag check room located under one of the entry ramps. The three of us waited with the guards while Graham ran back to check his bag. Of course ten women with handbags twice the size of Graham’s backpack were let in no problem during this time. But no one argues with a Russian guard wearing the full get up of belted trench coat, boots and fur hat! We finally entered the Kremlin shortly before noon and immediately walked up to the main square which is fronted by five shimmering gold domed orthodox cathedrals and had in its centre an enormous Christmas tree. Perfection.
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| Ivan the Great Bell Tower and the Kremlin Christmas Tree. (Crowds of parents were there to pick up their children from the annual New Year Children's concert).  Cathedral of the Annunciation |
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| Church of the Assumption |
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| Another view of the Church of the Assumption |
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| Church of the Nativity (with the multiple little domes) & Church of the Deposition of the Robe (in front of the church of the Nativity) |
After briefly checking out the square we doubled back to the armoury building for our timed entrance to the museum. Once inside we had 90 minutes to visit a series of purpose built rooms in which were displayed a selection of the treasures amassed by the tsars over approximately 700 years. I will spare you from any detailed descriptions of all the incredible things that we saw in these rooms both because I hope that you all get to visit them yourselves one day so I don’t want to ruin the surprises, and because many of the objects we saw simply defy description.
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| Kremlin Armoury Museum |
Ok, I can't stop myself from just mentioning a few of my favourites! There were 17th century bibles each covered in gold and encrusted with precious stones laid out in intricate patterns, fantastic silver serving ware sets whose artistry and creativity made it hard to believe that anyone could possibly eat out of them, the coronation dresses of the tsarinas, pearl laden vestments of the patriarchs and incredibly beautiful Rococo carriages. Not to mention the largest collection of Faberge eggs in the world. AMAZING!
The luxury with which the Russian tsars surrounded themselves and the priceless gifts that were presented to them by Royalty throughout Europe are astounding. As we moved through the exhibition rooms we often found ourselves laughing out loud with each other at the shocking items we were seeing. It was too much to take in! I was eager to look at the objects and marvel at the craftsmanship while simultaneously repulsed by the unimaginable extravagance of it all. And we didn’t even see everything! We completely missed out on an entirely separate timed entry area called the "Diamond Fund". Maybe for another time :)
After our visit to the armoury we bundled up again and continued our tour of the rest of Kremlin where we visited 12 separate Orthodox churches and cathedrals built at various times for the baptisms, coronations and marriages of the tsars. Each church was like walking into a jewel box of floor to ceiling gold and brightly painted images. Every surface was covered in frescoes, precious metals and carvings of saints and biblical stories. The orthodox churches feel very intimate because (compared to catholic and protestant churches) orthodox churches are divided in half by a floor to ceiling iconostasis behind which only the priest is allowed to go. There are also no seats in the main spaces.
Outside of the churches we admired the views from the Kremlin over the Moskva river and out towards the varied Moscow skyline.
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| I forgot to mention that this day was our fourth anniversary! I couldn't ask for a better travel buddy. |
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| A view down to the areas of the Kremlin not open to the public. |
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| On the left, the State Palace of the Congresses built by Khrushchev in 1961. We loved it. |
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| One of the eleven towers along the Kremlin wall. |
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On our way out of the Kremlin to see Red Square we saw a group of soldiers marching. Notice anyone out of place? Looks like someone forgot his uniform! |
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The experience of seeing the Red Square with St Basil's Cathedral perched ahead, the Kremlin and Lenin's tomb on the right and the massive GUM shopping centre stretched along the left side was one of the most exciting travelling moments I have ever had. The feeling of standing on one of the most iconic squares in the world, the heart of one of the most ancient and mysterious countries in the world was one that I will never forget.
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| Lenin's Tomb with the Kremlin in the background. The towers were topped with stars during the communist era. |
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| So excited!! |
Not having eaten since our hurried breakfast prior to entering the Kremlin we were hungry and cold and decide to head inside the GUM (pronounced "goom") shopping centre to find some food.
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| Inside GUM.
The present day incarnation of GUM is much like many upmarket western malls. Brand names dominate with only a few unrecognisable names. However, this was not the case in the communist era when GUM was the state department store and unique for its ability to keep a continual stock of goods when the rest of Russia's shops were bare.
After a tiring day we headed back to our hotel to check-in and spend a few hours enjoying the views from our 15th floor hotel room, revelling in the luxury of having a bathroom the size of our kitchen and a gigantic king sized bed! Later that evening we went out for a delicious Russian meal. Happy anniversary indeed!
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