Moscow: A World Class City

After the 5,761 mile, six-day train ride, our train was scheduled to arrive into Moscow station at 2:13 p.m. It arrived...at 2:13 p.m.! Amazing!!! It was Saturday, the sixth of May and after a little confusion at the train station because our pre-arranged transfer did NOT SHOW, we were miraculously able to communicate enough to hire another ride (taxi...and also at a cheaper price!) and made our way to the Petroff Palace Hotel. Luxury at its finest after spending 6 days sleeping on a train!   A welcome change. The concierge rushed up to us as we were checking in, saying that our arranged taxi was waiting for us by coach # 7 at the train. We called B.S. as the train was pulling out as we were wandering around the platform looking for the dude. Conclusion: Somebody screwed-up. Anyway, this joint has a lot of history:

Andrea climbed up the tower stairs to get this photo.  She later learned that it is off limits to palace guests and she could of gotten into a little bit of trouble if caught by security!  It wouldn't have been the first time.... 

We spent the day Sunday touring Moscow.  Tuesday, May 9th is their Victory Day. It is the celebration of defeating Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War (they do not call it WWII). The Soviet Union lost 25 million citizens in the war.  We discovered that Red Square, the Kremlin, etc. were all closed due to practice for Victory day.  It is a national holiday. We decided to go to these areas anyway in hopes that they would be open.   As we walked out of our hotel, we were greeted by an airshow, also practice for Victory Day.  Talk about a show of force!!! It was incredible!!  Click here for the video we made as the full force of the Russian Air Force flew about 900 feet over our heads. Victory Day Flyover

Moscow has a wonderful metro system, very clean, safe and efficient except the signage is a little difficult and none of it is English. Have you ever tried to decipher Russian??  We found out if you pulled out a map, someone will come up and help you.  They are preparing for the World Cup in 2018 and we were told the people are being coached  to help out tourists.  Maybe they could just install some English signs? This is the entrance going down into the train station. 

We made it to our final station without any issues but the exits were closed, practice for Victory Day was right above us. So after talking to security, which is everywhere, we got back on the train and went one station up.  It was a pretty area and Sunday church was just being let out and the bells were tolling. There were two people ringing the bells, an adult and a child.  Click here to listen to the bells, just beautiful.  Church Bells

We quickly learned that we could walk back to the area that we were earlier denied entrance to in about a 15 minute walk.  So off we set. Police and military are everywhere. 

Statue of Karl Marx

Huge marquee for Victory Day Celebration

First stop after we made it to the Kremlin area was the Hotel Metropol. It is the largest hotel built before the Russian Revolution of 1917.  It was built in 1899-1907 and Russia's most famous hotel.  Andrea's sister Jill told her that her bookclub just read a book that took place here and wanted some pictures for her bookclub ladies.  It was magnificent. 

Lobby

Since the entrance to Red Square and the Kremlin were blocked with barricades we had to make our way to Saint Basil's Cathedral through alleyways. We were given directions from a police officer who wore a big badge saying "Tourist Police"  We figured he had to speak English and he did, very well.  Andrea asked him if the area was safe, and he laughed. "Of course you are safe, THIS IS MOSCOW!" 

Along the way we ran across this double carousel. 

Outside of Red Square 

It was an interesting walk and we did catch a peak of red square.  It is set up for the Victory parade on Tuesday.  Here are the parade viewing stands. The military parade viewing is by invitation only (we weren't) but the parade does travel down of the very long streets in Moscow for the public to view.   

Better picture of Red Square from the viewpoint of Saint Basil's. 

Russia's female soldiers practicing for the Victory Day parade. We did see them march, but did not take this picture. 

You can't visit Moscow without seeing Saint Basil's.  The interior was closed to the public but we could see it from the outside. 

We heard that the Kremlin was going to open at 2pm so we made our way "around the corner" to the main entrance.  Around the corner was about a mile away,  but we did see some some beautiful sites along the way. 

Looking back towards the Kremlin from the pedestrian bridge by the  Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

By the time we made it to the Kremlin ticket office, the crowds were huge and the lines looked to be about an hour long,  So we opted out of the Kremlin tour and made our way to the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.  Some of the art works and artifacts:

There were several works of Picasso here

This is an actually mummy and beside it, their mummified their cat! 

This had to be one special cat!!

Italian Art

We spent about 2 hours in the museum and made our way back to the Kremlin just in time for closing.  We tried to score tickets for the next day but no advance sales.  We made our way down to the tomb of the unknown soldier and watched the changing of the guard. Click here for the video! 

Changing of the Guard

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

He opened the gate allowing for people to put flowers on the  tomb. 

Children placing flowers

Old original wall of the Kremlin

The gardens surrounding the Kremlin were in bloom.  To read about its famous garden and fountains, click here. Fountains_in_Moscow

We wrapped up the day in front of the State Historical Museum which we plan on touring tomorrow. 

After navigating the metro home, we FaceTimed Bill's parents and then went out to eat. And just for looks, Andrea's dinner salad from an Italian restaurant near our hotel.  Scrumptious! 

Trans Siberian Railway Journey Overview... Pictures included!

The last six days have been incredible and one truly has to experience it to believe it but we hope we have done an adequate job of describing just what it is like to travel the entire length of the Trans-Siberian Railway. We have watched many scenes whiz past us including forests full of birch trees, vast expansions of wastelands, large cities, small villages, grounds packed with snow, swollen rivers, countless shells of abandoned buildings and many beautiful cathedrals intermingled along the way. We have smelled smoked fish, fresh breads, brewing coffee, beefy cups of noodles, and some not so pleasant odors including the use of heavy cologne and the non-use of deodorant.  We have also smelled smoke, even though it is not allowed on the train, they find a way to sneak a cigarette in the corridors between the connecting cars, that and the occasional smell of the cigarette of the illegal kind.  We have met only one other American couple from Baltimore and an English couple. We do see a lot of the same people at our stops staying in the other carriages.  There is one young Asian man who probably thinks we are following him or maybe he is following us, but he was on the plane from Seoul to Vladivostok and has been on the same schedule as us every since.  We share a wave every time we see him and he bows a friendly hello. He has big thick glasses and we have nicknamed him Goggles.  There is another older man that we also share a head nod with and is also of Asian decent.  We have nicknamed him Japan-Man. We will miss these guys because they have become familiar friendly faces over the past 6 days. We'll also miss our provodnitsa.  Her name is Tonya and she is quite different than our provodnitsa on the first train.  She is funny, but full of discipline and rather large.  When she tells you to get back on the train, you get back on! We tried to buy her a Coca-Cola at a stop but she refused.  She did talk us into buying a bowl of perogies from one of the vendors and we think she scored a free sandwich out it because she slipped behind the booth and came out holding one in a plastic bag. Overall, she has been very pleasant!

As we draw this post to an end, its extremely hard to describe the last 5,741 miles of terrain we covered with just a few pictures; but we have tried to pick out some of our favorites. Enjoy them...we sure have! Remember, if you click on one photo, it will enlarge and you can scroll through all of them. 

 Neighborhoods and countrysides along the way

All the railroad crossings had these huge gates that  popped out of the ground to avoid trespassers

Traffic Jam...Russia style!

All the centuries were very colorful and surrounded by gates.  A lot of them  were located in the middle of woodsy areas

Stops along the way 

Zoom in and you can see the icicles hanging off the train. 

At this Station in Novosibirsk, Siberia the most boys went off to the WWII Russian front than any other station in Russia. 

A father (soldier) waving goodbye 

A memorial to the fallen soldiers

All males are required to serve one year of military service.  Here was a group of young boys leaving for their required duty. 

The locals selling making a living

Crawfish and eggs???

She was telling us we owed her 100 Rubles for three  rolls, about $2 

These were crunchy on the outside and creamy chocolate on the inside!

The Cathedrals 

Life on the train...

This is how we found out there was a shower...

A map of the route

Our dinner "salad" in the restaurant car

Our crude refrigerator...snow in a bag

Drinks in the restaurant car

The hot water dispenser 

The provodnitsas, Tonya is on the far left

Killing time! 

A day in the life of...

Either out of our boredom or maybe because our blog readers would be curious…we thought it might be of interest to give some stats and describe a typical day on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Here goes…

The route from Moscow to Vladivostok is 5,741 miles according to the published schedule posted outside our compartment #5 in coach #7. There are fifty-nine stops along the way ranging in duration from one minute to thirty minutes. In total, the trip is 146 hours and thirty-three minutes or about six days. Accounting for stop times of 367 minutes, the train averages a speed of about thirty-nine miles per hour.

The Trans-Siberian is not a specific train but rather, a route from end to end. And, while the western end is Moscow, the eastern end could actually end (or start) at one of three places, namely Vladivostok (the traditional route), or Beijing, China, or Sovetskaya Gavan, Russia. We chose Vladivostok as the beginning point because (1) China would have meant purchasing another visa, and (2) the other place in Russia was much more difficult to travel to.

Our train, #001 is an express train and is the fastest one available from Vladivostok to Moscow. It leaves every other day (even-numbered days) from Vladivostok. Likewise, train #002 does the same from Moscow so that somewhere about now as we are writing this, those two trains are passing by each other in opposite directions on their six-day journey. There are literally hundreds of slower trains that ply the route and are used by the locals to get wherever they are going but obviously the trip would be much longer and unlikely to have first class sleepers or any sleepers and\or restaurant cars for that matter.

There are twelve coaches being pulled by one engine. There’s one restaurant\bar car and eleven people-coaches. First-class compartments sleep two people, second-class compartments sleep four people and third class coaches are somewhat of an open affair that appears to sleep fifty to sixty in hammocks. We walked through it and it appeared to be mostly young backpackers, some of which smelled rather gamey. The restaurant car is nice but grossly overpriced. Our ticket includes one dinner and as usual, Bill thought it was pretty good…Andrea thought it was gross.

We’ve travelled on quite a few overnight trains around the world over the years and we’d give this one a C+. It’s comfortable and clean and the ride is quite smooth. But, there’s no lavatory, toilet or shower in our compartment and the TV is Russian channels only. The interior is basically two sofas facing each other with a nice, big picture window. Table in the middle. The sofas fold down at night to make a nice, comfy bed with two down pillows. The upholstery is turquoise velour…1980’s vintage. There are four reading lights but only one plug for all our devices. The Provodnitsa is in charge of the HVAC for the coach but Andrea is trying to take over that responsibility. There are two WC’s at the end of our coach and the Provodnitsa keeps them very clean. Also, there’s a shower in the next coach that can be rented for about $3. There also is a giant boiling hot-water dispenser on each coach that comes in handy for coffee, soups, noodles, etc.

We’ve slept very well each night…beds are firm but comfortable. Although we brought plenty of food and drink, we have really enjoyed the stops along the way where we can purchase the local food from the vendors.

Our days have started with a few cups of coffee at sunrise…around 6:30, breakfast of breads, oatmeal, cheese and fruit. Then, lots of reading, watching movies on the I-pads and just staring out the window at the fascinating and ever-changing scenery. The larger cities have the high rise soviet-style living quarters everywhere but in the rural areas it is extreme poverty…by our standards…with all the houses made of plywood or logs, dirt roads and outhouses. But, the stores and markets we have been into are overflowing with goods, foods and products and people everywhere are spending so it certainly appears that the Russian economy is thriving. The people are stand-off-ish but if you engage them with a smile and an attempt to talk their language they are genuinely friendly. We’ve not experienced any anti-American stuff but certainly we stand out in appearance and dress. Unfortunately, we’ve chosen to say we are from Australia when asked by someone in casual conversation…better safe than sorry.

Yesterday, we made a thirty-minute stop at Novosibirsk, a beautiful station with several marble statues of mother and child waving goodbye and father and child embracing. Also, there was a giant bronze plaque in Russian that of course we could not read except for the dates 1941-1945. There were several fresh roses laid at the foot of the plaque. So, upon research, we found that this station, during World War II, sent more boys off to the Russian front than any other train station in Russia. Likewise, the most boys from this area did not come back. We thought it was a very fitting tribute for a rather obscure fact along the way.

In about two hours we will stop at the station in Yekaterinburg. This town has a special meaning for Bill, if you can believe that! Here’s the story:

In 1917 after the Bolsheviks deposed the last Tsar of Russia, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and their five children were exiled to this town. On a night in July 1918 the Romanov family were all taken to the basement of a house and murdered by gunfire, covered with acid and burned. Some years later, rumors began circulating that one of the daughters, Anastasia had actually survived the gunshots and a sympathetic guard saved her, hid her and nursed her back to health. Over the years every so often someone with bullet wound scars would surface claiming to be Anastasia and of course laying claim to the dynasty and all it’s fortunes. Several ladies did in fact have intimate knowledge of things that would seem to have been known only by a royal. DNA testing was either not advanced enough to substantiate the claim or there was not a Romanov baseline from which to compare. Either way, to our knowledge Anastasia was never confirmed to have survived but it certainly made an interesting story.

Now, the relevance here is that this story was the subject of Bill’s high school senior English term paper. His teacher was the beloved Captain Paul Tate, feared for dispensing C’s, D’s and F’s with regularity for sub-standard, half-assed work but thanked by so many in years to come for preparing high school seniors so well for freshman English 101 when we got to college. Bill spent a ton of time researching, preparing note cards, typing and doing all the things you did back then for a term paper. The result: A-. Not an A+. Too many misspelled words, I guess. But…I DID get an A+ in freshman English 101 and I HAVE thanked Captain Tate many times over the years for his wisdom as a teacher in the classroom. Anyway, that story was fascinating then and it has remained so all the years later. But, never in Bill’s wildest dreams did he think he’d ride through the city where all that history occurred.    

So, that’s a glimpse of things on the Trans-Siberian Railway. It truly is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.