MOSCOW VISIT PART 2

HOP ON HOP OFF

In Moscow on day two of our trip, we took the "Hop on Hop off" bus. The ticket was valid for two days and also included the boat cruise.The hop on hop off bus has two routes, number one and number two. One takes us to the outer circle and two takes us to the inner circle of the city 

I had always pictured Russia as a very cold land with people always in great coats and fur hats, totally clad to ward off the bitter cold weather with only their eyes visible, as the warm mufflers would have their face also partially covered. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find that they do have a summer. The sun was bright and shining in full glory, the sky was as blue as one would expect a sky blue colour to be. A couple of white clouds were there, just to let us know for sure that clouds are meant to enhance the beauty of the clear blue sky. As it is Moscow is at 55 degrees north and I always think that the north is any day colder than the south, being closer to the North Pole. We all had our dainty umbrellas up against the scorching bright sun as the rays came directly at us without any atmospheric pollution.  

The bus journey was lovely, the amount of English that one heard on the bus was reassuring. Channel two had the guide speaking in English and describing the different sights as we passed them. It is always a good idea to go to the top of the bus and try and grab the front seats. The view is good and one gets good pictures of everything. The bus took us around the lovely Summer Garden, the Red Square, the Moscow University. We took our first halt at Sparrow Hill which from 1935 to 1999 was known as Lenin Hill. This hill is the highest place in Moscow and one gets a good view of the 1980 Olympic Stadium, as well as the Moscow River. The Moscow University was founded in 1755, and was near the Red Square originally.

OLYMPIC STADIUM

NEW SKYSCRAPERS

RIVER MOSCOW

 The new building of the University was built in 1953, when Joseph Stalin  had ordered seven huge tiered neoclassical towers to be built around the city.  It was built using Gulag labour. It is interesting to note that Stalin had said that Moscow lacked skyscrapers and therefore  these skyscrapers must be built so that when people from the west came, they would see the development around the city. These skyscrapers were  termed as "Seven Sisters", however now the term  is neither used nor understood by the local population as Muscovites call them Vysotki or Stalinskie Vysotki which  means Stalin's high-rises or Stalinist skyscrapers. They were built between 1947 and 1953. 

MOSCOW UNIVERSITY

At the Sparrow Hill  there were a number of people dressed up as old time aristocrats waiting to pose  for a picture for a small fee. We were least interested in such pictures and so did not even find out the price.

KREMLIN TO LEFT

After Sparrow Hill we took our next stop at The Red Square. We went along the Moscow River to our right and the walls of the Kremlin to our left.  

BOLSHOI THEATRE

On the drive to Red Square we saw the Bolshoi Theatre and then we visited the great GUM store. GUM is the abbreviation of Glavnyi ('main')Universalnyi Magazin,  which means Main Universal Store. Catherine II the Great had commissioned Giacomo Quarenghi, a Neoclassical architect from Italy, to design a huge trade center along the east side of Red Square. The existing structure was built to replace the previous trading rows that had been there since long. 

The store is a virtual garden with a fountain in the centre. Near the fountain there was a long line of people waiting for ice cream, therefore we also stood in the line and bought an ice cream for 50 Roubles each. Just near by was another ice cream vendor selling his ware at 100 roubles per ice cream cone and there was not a single person at his shop. It has suddenly occurred to me that this could be a good ploy to attract customers. If you have a kiosk selling ice cream at some price, and have some one else close by selling a similar product at double the price, customers will rush to you, and at the end of the day you both can share the proceeds.

BENCH

There are plenty of benches to sit on inside as well as outside the GUM, All these benches had been painted very colourfully, perhaps by children, may be for a cause.  Lenin's tomb is also on Red Square and one can go inside and pay one's respect.

THE FOYER

We then moved on to see the Evropeisky Mall which is near the Kievskaya Metro Station. The mall had a lovely entrance and more than the shopping we had a great time taking photographs of the lovely foyer. None of us had eyes or wish to buy anything from the shops.

ON THE CRUISE

 After that we went on our river cruise and saw the city on both sides of the river. 

MONUMENT OF PETER THE GREAT

The monument of Peter the great, looks more like a pirate ship. It was a beautiful day and the sun after shining brightly   for half the day, hid behind clouds, therefore, the boat ride became quite enjoyable. 

MAINTENANCE WORK AT THE FOUNTAIN AT ALEXANDER GARDEN

ALEXANDER GARDEN

Moscow has a lot of beautiful gardens and there is a lot of greenery all around. Alexander park near the Red Square has the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier  with an eternal flame  burning. It was  created in 1967, and contains the body of a soldier who fell during the Great Patriotic War at  kilometer 41 marker of Leningradskoe Shosse, the nearest point the forces of Nazi Germany penetrated towards Moscow. On the day that we visited Alexander park, there was a commemorative parade for the Unknown Soldier, and so we could see the ceremony. 

A CEREMONIAL FUNCTION

TOMB OF UNKNOWN SOLDIER

Post Number One, where the honor sentinels stand on guard, used to be located in front of Lenin's Mausoleum, but was moved to the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier in the 1990s. 
The middle section of the upper garden at Alexander Park contains a false ruined grotto. The garden's cast iron gate and grille were designed to commemorate the Russian victories over Napoleon, and  rocks at the grotto are rubble from buildings destroyed during the French occupation of Moscow. In front of the grotto is an obelisk erected on July 10 1914, a year after the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty was celebrated. The monument was made of granite from Finland and listed all of the Romanov Tsars and had the coats of arms of the Russian provinces. Four years later, in 1918 the dynasty was gone, and the Bolsheviks  as per Lenin's directive on monumental propaganda, removed the Imperial Eagle, and re-carved the monument with a list of 19 socialist and communist philosophers and political leaders, personally approved by Lenin. 

DOUBLE HEADED EAGLE OF ROMONOVS.

As I have said earlier, history is written by the victors and rulers, there is therefore now a discussion to remove Lenin's obelisk and reinstall an obelisk duplicating the original.

BEAUTIFUL PAINTINGS.

I once again talk of St. Basil's Cathedral, the most beautiful and colourful onion domed Cathedral, as I find it very interesting when adjectives such as Ivan the terrible, are added to the names of mighty rulers. 

PAINTING ON WALLS

The nine churches which form the Cathedral have beautiful alters and colourful paintings on its walls. Each Church is different. When we visited there was a choir and scripture reading going on in one of the churches. Each church is connected to the next in a labyrinth. The Cathedral does not seem to have absolute symmetry, in fact it gives the feeling of beautiful domes rising freely and blending with each other harmoniously. There does not appear to be strictness in its composition. Although I am told that the structure is symmetrical when viewed from the side of the Kremlin, I prefer to think of the Cathedral as a free and flowing Church not constructed to strict perfection, may be because Russia was such a strait jacketed regimen where laughing too was controlled at one time. Even today people do not give the cheerful smile and say hello to a perfect stranger, as one finds in USA. It is said that during the era of Stalin there was a proposal to demolish the St. Basil's Cathedral as it was obstructing the clear space of the Red square. Wiser sense prevailed and the Cathedral remained. 

 NEW KAZAN CATHEDRAL

There is another Church on the side of The GUM Store. That is called the Kazan Cathedral which was originally built in  1625, destroyed in 1936 under Stalin's regime and rebuilt in 1993 by Moscow city branch of the All Russian Society for Historic Preservation and Cultural Organisation. Obviously it was the end of state sponsored atheism.  

MONUMENT TO CONQUERORS OF SPACE

The Space Museum is another must see place. As one approaches the Museum, one can see a steel monument,called Monument to the Conquerors of Space  which shows the trajectory of a rocket launching. 

BASE OF THE MONUMENT

It is rather difficult to locate the entrance to the museum. Not knowing Russian we ended up like total illiterates asking every guard on duty the direction to the ticket counter. We eventually did find it and saw the museum which is quite educative and interesting, as one could see the place where a cosmonaut worked, ate and slept, as well as the toilet that he used, 

WORK STATION & UPRIGHT SLEEPING CHAMBER.

TOILET

The history of space conquest was vividly described. If all the pictures and items were marked in English, it would have been better.
Next day we went to see the Armoury Museum at Moscow. This is located near the Alexander Garden in Red Square. Here again there was the eternal hunt to locate the Museum, then there was the formidable queue to buy the tickets in the blistering sun without any shade in sight. The men were brave and stood in the line, we decided to stay in the shade and wait. 

BEAUTIFUL KIOSKS

We therefore missed the opportunity to see all the treasures of the museum, as we thought the Armoury museum may house only articles connected with war. Some of us decided to see the lovely kiosks selling Russian Souvenirs instead. There was "Matrioshka" the famous wooden doll, the Babushka which is a triangular scarf, the lovely blue ware, and the red cut glass.  For buying souvenirs these kiosks are good and bargaining is quite acceptable.

NIKULIN CIRCUS

THE INDIAN FINALE

We went to see the most famous Nikulin Circus.What is interesting is that tickets were not available over the net, and one had to go to the venue in advance to buy the tickets, which we could get outside the ticket counter only at a premium price! The circus was amazing and should not be missed at all. The grand finale were acts performed on Indian Bollywood music. Elephants and humans performed to perfection and none of us could stop clapping and singing with our favourite songs which we were hearing in a foreign circus on foreign soil.  

 

ACROSS MOSCOW STATION BY NIGHT

Moscow by night is a delight to watch. Every building is lit up and one feels as though they are power surplus.

THE RED ARROW TRAIN

MOSCOW STATION

After spending four days in Moscow we left  for St. Petersburg by the night train. The station is beautiful from the outside and functional from the inside. There is no concept of coolie, so one has to carry one's bags till the train. On the side of the stairs there are rails on which one can pull one's luggage up. Thankfully most signages were bilingual therefore one could locate one's platform without much problem. In the station there is ample seating so one can sit and wait for the arrival of the train. We were greeted outside our compartment by a smartly dressed hostess, who checked our passports and helped us in as there was a gap between the train and the platform and it was rather tricky to carry one's bag and one's own self into the compartment. The train was beautifully furnished with red and white heavy curtains. There was a box under each seat where one could stow away a suitcase. The duvet cover, pillow cover and sheet were clean and fresh. The toilets were very clean and well equipped. As our train was to leave at midnight and arrive at St. Petersburg in the morning, they had laid out the breakfast in packets. For extra tea and coffee they charged us.

Arrival at St. Petersburg was on the dot and our taxi driver was standing right in front of our compartment. The first impression of the city was that it is an old city. It was evident that more tourists arrived in St. Petersburg from the fact that there was a lot of English on boards.

To be continued.

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