MOSCOW, RUSSIA
-APRIL 2011-

Red Square (Krásnaya plóshchad)

The first visit into town inevitably is to the Red Square. Quite a bit of work was going on in preparation of festivities for Moscow's Victory Day Parade on May 09th, to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945. The parade marked the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War. Unfortunately we were long gone by then, something for another visit perhaps.

St.Basils Cathedral and on the right the stark Lenin mausoleum, a.k.a. Lenin's Tomb.

Most striking building at the Red Square is the St. Basils Cathedral, with those colourful and remarkable domes.
The Saint Basil's Cathedral was the first building which gave the square its present-day characteristic silhouette.

You can have your picture taken, in front of the State Historical Museum, sandwiched between these warrior-type persons.

MORE PHOTOS OF MINE TAKE AT MOSCOW'S RED SQUARE

The imposing Kremlin walls

The Red Square information on Wikipedia

Alexander Park, along the Kremlin walls. It was too early in the year to have the water in.

GUM

During this particular day of my visit the weather was sunny (lucky me, it had been dismally raining for weeks..) and while there was a need to wear a winter coat it was one of the better days of the entire visit. But inside here the temperature was like in a glasshouse where they grow tropical flowers! We found this to be the custom elsewhere too: the heat full up!

Not expensive at all, and an excellent choice of food available, is the Restaurant 57.
There is always a queue here, I was told, but it moves quickly. Heartily recommended.
Thanks to Svetlana, our guide for 2 days, for pointing this out.

We strolled into a book store near Lubyanka square and were impressed by the size and the expanse of books and noticed many people browsing and reading, much like a Barnes & Noble bookstore in the US. But even more daunting was the fact that we couldn't read any of it and no one spoke a word of English. They did have a very nice restaurant in the basement, so we could rest our weary feet.

One sees many of these icons in churches and one is obviously offered for sale here: trade or someone facing hard times?

We were looking for the Gulag Museum and couldn't find it. Not much use asking people as no one seems to speak English, people mumbling something that could be 'njet' or 'no', quickly followed by a redirecting of unsmiling eyes and perhaps a brusque movement of an arm: not much help. But you get to see other things like this theatre we walked into.

There seems to be a lot of dust in the streets, perhaps because of the cold, unrelenting winters.
This truck sprayed the streets, while driving at a considerable speed.

This was quite astounding: cleaning the white stripes of this street crossing. And it seems to work as one can distinguish by the difference between the ones that have been done and the ones yet to be cleaned. But it involved a laboriously moving to and from of the vehicle (while traffic passed left and right), instead of someone using a high pressure flexible hose to do the same. Also there were at least three more people involved, equally 'important' to the job at hand.

And another surprise we came across unexpectedly was this exhibition of statues, very nice indeed!
But we found no information whatsoever to tell us anything about it. Pity.

These young women obviously had a good time too.
Quite often younger people speak some English, but I drew a blank here too. Would have liked to know if all the statues were made by one artist or had more people involved.

Back to the streets, over and under...

A cinema. I liked the extravagant staircase at the corner of the building.

We walked hundreds of steps like these: either to get to the metro or getting ourselves 'across' the road or large square.

In these passageways we often found shops. It is comfortable here, a break from the unrelenting wind that seemed ever present during our visit. Perhaps a cool place during hot summers too.

Art in the street.
Considering the style it could have been painted by a Dutch master; or inspired as such. But again no information provided.

A visit to the Lubyanka Square

Actually taken somewhere else, but it seems fitting to include it here:

Large photos of Moscow's streets were on display, but no information in English was provided
so the year this photo was taken is anyone's guess.

There was no information in English, so we had to form our own impression.

A charming guard on duty; while dressed for a cold winter day, inside it was tropical. Did not seem to bother her at all.

Extravagant luxury is quite loudly on display. Fast driving SUV's are a menace here, the rich take right of way in Moscow.

There is a huge parking problem, the amount of cars is growing much faster then there are parking spaces available.
So impromptu parkings are created on spots like these or on corners of wide streets. Quite often we, humble pedestrians, had to resort to walking on the streets, dodging traffic, while cars had taken possession of all the entire pavement.

'PYGU' was written on the cup when asked for my name: Rudi.

A restaurant that came highly recommended and indeed provided for an excellent dinner.
If I correctly translate the sign "ресторана Генацвале", this is Restaurant Genazvale where they serve Georgian food. It came recommended and this was found to be good advice! You'll find it at the Ulitsa Ostozhenka.

About a ten minute walk away from our hotel was the Kolbasoff Restaurant; a good place for an affordable meal and they also serve some nice beers (I particulalry liked a dark one, similar to a stout, but cannot recall the name if indeed I was ever told what it was; knowledge of English was rudementary but that was never a problem).
Most restaurants have a staffed cloakroom, made me uncertain about tipping (should I have done? email)

Most locations we visited for a cup of coffee and a sit-down break looked like expensive nightclubs and quite often we were in doubt whether we actually could get a coffee or tea and were supposed to order champagne instead.. But we were never disappointed and ice cream or cake was also readily available; but indeed these places were never a cheap option. For budget alternatives there are these kiosks, but not a viable option for those who want to take the weight of their feet (such as I).

Remarkable differences in building styles: colossal apartment blocks, delicate churches and glass & chrome modernities.

Very nice these original Soviet relics!

The Moscow Metro, or subway, is a very efficient mode of transport; every 2 or 3 minutes a train will pass. The metro is very clean and often fabulously decorated with tiles, chandeliers or statues. Over 6 million people will use the metro every day! It is an inspirational place to be, also because one needs to be alert on where to go, with the confusing Cyrillic script and hordes of people passing left and right. I am sure we overpaid our tickets at times, because the cashiers hardly spoke English and must have misunderstood my 'dva', meant for tickets for 2 persons, for a return ticket.. Or I misunderstood their questions. Anyway, travel is cheap so I wasn't much bothered by sometimes overpaying. Next time I must try to get a card for multiple use over several days.

A confusing task, to get tickets for those of us who don't speak Russian. Perhaps that was why we never noticed other Western tourists travelling on their own during these few days?

It pays to have some understanding of the Cyrillic script (e.g. the 'P' should be read as an 'R' and the 'C' as an 'S'.
What I found helpful is to learn a few words such as restaurant and Lenin and use those letters in translations.
If you look on the sign on the photo above you'll be able to see which station is Sokolniki.

Over six million people use the metro every day!

There was an unrelenting, cold wind blowing, which also was a torment to the people of Moscow, it seemed.

We crossed the bridge, from the Christ the Saviour Cathedral over the Moskva river onto an island created by Vodootvodnyy (drainage) Canal which has many warehouses these days (being) converted for other use such as restaurants, art academy and galleries, entertainment clubs and such like. Remarkable area to walk through.

In an underpass we found more paintings for sale, with a great variety of subjects: landscapes and portraits of famous people among them.

Someone should free these horses before harm overcomes them by suffocation!

The befitting entrance in Soviet values.

Much cleaning going on...

Soon hordes of people will again take possession of these streets and carnival noises will shatter the peace & quiet.

During the winter the footpaths flood over and freeze, which allows ice-skating around the park.

'Gorky Park', the book by Martin Cruz Smith (1981) and film (starring William Hurt & Lee Marvin)

Crossing the Moskva River once more..
Tthis covered bridge provided a gentle calm, an oasis as it were, from the unrelenting wind.

24-hour supermarkets seem quite common

This remarkable building would not be misplaced in Barcelona

MOSCOW MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY

In an exhibition dedicated to portraits of Mick Jagger, taken by world renowned photographers,
I was pleased to see also photos by Anton Corbijn, a favourite photographer of mine.

View from the Holiday Inn Sokolniki at sunset
We take a rest,
or move to PAGE TWO - MORE OF MOSCOW & OUTSIDE THE CITY