Moscow II

Where we start with a sideways pic of Joanna:


Sorry if that's a bit disappointing, we have more up-to-date shots with a bit more tummy, but you'll have to wait. She has however been told 3 times this week how neat she is for 6 months, so is very proud of that.

When we left you, we were covering our Moscow Tuesday. We went and saw the Armoury in the Kremlin, after the ticket lady told us we didn't have time to see everything and that was the ticket she was going to sell us! It's splendid, although very much a no-photographs sort of place, sorry. Faberge eggs, all the tsar's gold & silver gifts from the last few centuries, and their carriages, thrones and clothes. It's all there. And they seemed to get a lot of presents. None from NZ though, and just a few from Blighty.

Wednesday we couldn't go to the Kazakh Embassy so it was mega-tourist day. After a sleep in, obviously. But when we got to the Kremlin this was the sight that awaited us:


There was a "Young Russia" rally going on, with some serious security. This was the back-up, in case there was trouble:


So we didn't make trouble, and like everyone else quietly walked the long way around to Red Square. We said hello to Lenin (very quietly, no noise in the mausoleum please - or pictures), who was looking somewhat waxy.

Red Square was a bit emptier, the rally appeared to have frightened off some people. Young people had been bussed in fom the provinces and given flags, t-shirts etc ... although some seemed to be taking the opportunity to investigate Moscow's shopping. It's all a bit scary when the Yoof Of The Day support those in power - particularly when they do so so ardently.

We sneaked back past the rally to go see the rest of the Kremlin. It has palaces, including Puti-babes current residence, Stalin's favourite hold-up etc, but you're not allowed into them. Not even the ugly empty one where Communist Party conferences were held. You are allowed into the 5 cathedrals. Yes 5, which seems a little excessive for the Tsar and his family. We guess if they had a falling out on a Sunday morning they could all go somewhere different. The Patriarch (head church dude) has his residence open too, but his stuff has no English. And we weren't allowed to take our camera in, so we'll jump straight to St Basil's:

and it's interior:


Which is quite amazing and not very church-like inside. More like a rabbit warren. Had some nice singing inside though. And some impressive altars and other artwork.

That wasn't quite enough sight-seeing for one day, we also got to ... a shopping mall! Yes, Joanna conquered her fears and made it inside GUM, which it turns out has the only free loos in Moscow. It's too posh to charge. It is, in fact, very very posh. You've had the outside, here's the interior:


So Thursday we were back on the Kazakh visa trail. But we weren't quite quick enough off the mark. Although we made it out of the hotel at 9.30, and to the embassy before 10.30... they still hadn't processed us by the magic shut-off time of 12 o'clock. Come back tomorrow. D'oh. We were quite keen to leave over-crowded Moscow by this point...

So Friday we were very on the ball. 9am opening? We say: get there at 8.30. 2nd in the queue, we were done and dusted by 10. Well, "all submitted, come back Monday" dusted at any rate. So off we went to book tickets to Astana (Kazakhstan), and escape this town... Which took us quite a while, particularly with the world's most confusing train station that liked to send us from desk to desk. We eventually took a bus to Vladimir.

Moscow Part I

(Sept 30 - Oct 5)
We ended up in Moscow all quite a bit longer than planned.

We took an overnight train from Novgorod, with us both on top bunks (4 beds to a cabin in 2nd class). Joanna managed admirably, Ben struggled a little with the serious heat whilst we were trying to sleep... But a great way to travel - your night's accommodation sorted, and you wake up in a new place. At 5.30. Our hostel wasn't to be open until 9.30, so we sat about the train station eating our pastries we'd bought the previous night in preparation. Then we set off on the Moscow metro. Quite busy on a Sunday, but not too bad with our packs - it was only later that week we got the feeling that all >9 million daily users were trying to get into our carriage. Cyrillic reading all going well, we worked out our changing lines and made our way quite north of the city to the "Hotel Street" our hostel was on. Indeed the hostel was located on the 3rd floor of a hotel. We took our time working out where the entrance was, so by the time we got to the hostel office (which was just in a room on the 3rd floor) we were perfectly on time... Shame the hostel people weren't. So we waited... Until nearly 11, having had a good kip on the hotel couches... Apparently our booking hadn't been made, but they had space. Accommodation prices in Moscow take the breath away somewhat - there is no cheap or mid-priced sector really. But you do what you have to. Although we eventually discovered it was cheaper for a double at the hotel than the hostel...

After getting ourselves settled we went into town to have a look at the big sights, wandering around the Kremlin and then onto Red Square. St Basil's Cathedral isn't actually called St Basil's, that's just one of the chapels inside:


Also on Red Square is GUM, the famous mall that had nothing in it in later Communist days - these days it is all designer stores: very Posh.


Here's a view of the whole square:


That was enough for Sunday, Monday we headed to the Kazakh embassy to try to get the ball starting rolling on that front, but no go. In Moscow it turned out we needed an hotel reservation confirmation, which we wouldn't've needed in Blighty. So off we went to try and organise that... which didn't turn out to be so easy. The internet didn't come up with much, and whilst we filled in a couple of forms requesting reservations they still haven't got back to us! We did find a great wee local eatery chain though - Moo-Moo, so at least we had some success on our Monday... After it became clear things weren't happening on Tuesday, Joanna came up with the bright idea of going to a travel agents. Which worked brilliantly. Expensive hotels only available, but reservation was achieved... although unfortunately we got to the Kazakh Embassy at 12.30, and the visa applications shut at 12... and there's no Wednesday service...

So we had a wander down from the embassy again - we got to know the central area reasonably well... There's almost as much stuff being renovated as in St Pete's. Here's the Bolshoi Ballet Theatre:


The next image would've been one of Joanna sideways, as these shots are regularly requested, but this internet cafe doesn't do USB. So just the 5 images I uploaded at an Astana cafe, sorry. We'll have to continue the tale of hot, sunny, overcrowded, over-bustling Moscow someplace else.

Quick slice of life thoughts from the Russian capital though:
- No-one knows where they're going and we look Russian. Everybody seemed to ask us for directions. Although occassionally when we looked quite lost enough people would ask if they could help us with directions... which they generally couldn't.
- Sheets aren't allowed to be big enough for beds in Russia (and we've discovered in Kazakhstan too). Admittedly you don't use the sheet under the pillow, but seriously, cloth can't cost that much...
- They must worry about the great gob shortage in the west of the last few decades. We don't know where the men get all their phlegm from, but it seems to need constant expulsion from their mouths. Even whilst smoking. It may be phenomenal, but it's not a phenomenon that needs witnessing...

We're in Almaty (18 October), which is beautiful and leafy and gorgeously sunny. Turns out we didn't need to pack the thermals. Saturday we have a trip up a canyon before flying early on Sunday. We'll try and get Moscow finished tomorrow...