I forgot to mention in the other post that before we left St. Petersburg we took a cruise on the rivers and canals (remember, it's the Venice of the north). It was cold but pretty, although at that point I was really exhausted and might not have appreciated it as much as I should have. I'll have to go back and do it again in the summer.
Friday
We got to Moscow on Friday morning and just like in St. Petersburg, we went straight to a city tour. It was a Friday morning in Moscow though, so it was mostly just sitting in traffic. our tour guide went so far as to fill us in on the cars that people in Russia drove so that we would know what we were spending the majority of our time looking at. Moscow has a population of 10 million, and with tourists and people there on business, the population is probably closer to 15 million on any given day. I believe New York has about 8 million people, so Moscow is huge. Our first stop on the tour was the Red Square, which is right in the heart of the city. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as it turned out later) there was a big festival in Red Square that weekend so we couldn't actually get into the square. So we detoured through a giant and totally outrageously priced shopping center to get to the other side of the square. Seriously, this mall had Porsches sitting in the middle of it.
On the other side of the square was a big garden with a war memorial, but we also could not get into that, because there was a military ceremony going on. There was a huge military presence in Moscow, and particularly around the red square. I don't know if it was because of the festival going on that weekend, or because the Kremlin is right there or what, but the military was everywhere.
Then we waited in line (or in a clump, because Russia really does not do lining up very well for some reason) for the Kremlin for a while. It may have been the 2 functioning metal detectors, out of the 6 available ones. This was about the time when I once again wished I had brought my coat, because as it turned out the tour of the Kremlin was all outside.
Entrance to the Kremlin. Our tour guide tried to tell us that the wall surrounding it was over 2200 km long, but I think she meant 2200 m, because this was in the middle of Moscow, and the city isn't that big
Entrance to the building where the President does his thing. If I learned nothing else the entire trip, I sure as hell learned that the double-headed golden eagle is the official symbol of the Russian state; I heard it about 40 times from various guides.
Russia has it's own liberty bell, except that they had to outdo us and actually take a chunk out of it. This is the Tsar bell, and it was made for a niece of Peter the Great. It's also the biggest bell in the world, and was never actually rung- it broke while it was being made. Probably because it was so gigantic and heavy.
Cathedral Square in the Kremlin. It was interesting to see several old cathedrals just down the street from the current State buildings.
After the tour of the Kremlin we waited in the cold for a bit longer- to the point where I was ready to hitchhike to our hotel and just go to sleep- then finally got back on the bus and continued our tour. We drove through more of the city and saw where the 1980 Olympics were held. We also went to the campus of Moscow State University, which is at the highest point in the city, so there was a cool overlook where you could see the entire city.
The giant stadium in the foreground was used for the 1980 Olympics. An interesting thing about Moscow for me was that even though it's such a huge city, it's layed out totally different from most modern cities I've seen. There are only a handful of "skyscrapers," and none of them would begin to compare to buildings in Chicago or New York.
This was supposed to be a statue of Columbus, but somebody decided that Russia should get it instead, so the head was changed and now it's Peter the Great
Eventually we got around to checking into our hotel, which was also built for the 1980 Olympics and was really nice. We got a whole hour to relax (or should I say frantically shower and change and eat) before we headed off to the Moscow State Circus.
Now, I've never been to a circus before and the motivating factor for me to go was that it's apparently world famous, and we took the subway there, which is also world famous for its artwork and architecture. The subway was nice enough although we didn't hit any stops that were really beautiful; I guess some of the other stations are breathtaking though. Mostly it was just incredibly crowded at 6pm on a Friday. So we got to the circus and I was prepared to be highly offended at the misuse of animals. It was pretty good though, and the only thing that was really disturbing were the dancing bears. So sad. But there were also lots of really great human acts, including a fantastic group of African dancers and a girl who did that thing where you wind yourself up in fabric and then pretend to fall out of it but catch yourself by your feet when you're 50 feet in the air. Then we braved the subway back and left from our hotel to take a night bus tour of the city. This is kind of where my night broke down, because people were highly drunk and obnoxious as I tried to enjoy the city and we didn't get back til 2:30am, and I am just too old for that. But it was nice to see Moscow at night.
Saturday
We checked out of the hotel, sat on the bus for an hour while the hotel and our leaders searched for 2 missing passports (my worst nightmare) and then headed back to the red square. We were actually allowed in this time, and it was a gorgeous sunny day, so it was worth the wait.
Obviously I was ready for this picture to be taken... Luckily St. Basils' is prettier than me on any day, so check that out instead of my awkardness
The war memorial was also open, so we saw the Eternal Flame. It was really beautiful.
Then, as most of our group went to check out a bunker known as the Cold War Museum, Erin and I went on a hunt to find signs of America in Moscow. We were pretty successful. Burger King? Yup.
Dunkin Donuts? Yup, and way classier than any Dunkin Donuts I've ever seen.
And of course, Starbucks. My incredibly expensive latte was so worth the price after 2 months away. Are you seeing how excited I am, Finland? Why don't we push up the arrival of Starbucks from next spring to NOW!
After our pilgrimage to Starbucks we found some Russian souvenirs and then tried to avoid being trapped by portable fences and military people as they set up for the festival on the square. I think I went through 5 or 6 metal detectors that night. But it was all worth it when we finally saw what this festival was.
The lights show was about 20 minutes long, and each piece of music highlighted one of the buildings on the square. It was really cool. Finally we made our way back to the buses one last time, and headed to find our night train back to Finland.
Then I collapsed.
Great trip, but extremely long and busy. I would love to go back someday, and I would really love to go when it's not quite so cold. Or at least when there's snow; this was just an awkward, ugly, in-between seasons time and even though everything was beautiful it probably wasn't the ideal time of year. So that was Russia, and eventually I'll get the motivation to update on things in Finland. Eventually.
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