Walking around Moscow Day 1

 

Reflections

After passing through Immigration and Customs, I enter the terminal, stop to take a couple pictures, and begin to reflect on this a bit.  Here I am in Moscow, which was once the Soviet Union and off-limits to most Americans.  Years ago, I was a 24-year-old crewmember in the Air Force navigating a C-141 across the North Pacific.   We were flying from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska to Yokota Airbase, Japan, less than 100 miles off the Russian Coast and I could see them jamming my radar making our flight as difficult as possible.   You would be shot down if you got too much closer to the coast.  Never thought I would ever see Russia peacefully in my lifetime.   I cannot believe that I am actually here and can travel freely throughout this country.

Air Express Train to Belorussky train station

Time to find the Air Express Train now.  These trains are new and located at the 3 main Moscow airports which are well all outside of the city proper.   They serve to move passengers from the Airport to a large suburban train station within the city.  There are some signs in English that take you to the general area, which is in the terminal next door to where I departed the airplane.  Just to be sure I get help at the Information desk, and they show me where I can buy a ticket.  I find a sign to the departure area for Белорусский вокзал, BeloRussky train station, and the train is waiting; it departs every half hour.  The train is about 90% full, surprising considering the airport was not that busy.  It will be a 30-minute ride, and I will get to see the area outside of Moscow, as the airport is about 35 miles from the Kremlin.  The train departs quietly and smoothly, and we pass through areas that are mostly industrial, but also have lots of housing, mostly Soviet era but a surprising number of new apartment complexes.

Belorussky railway station 

The Air Express now comes to a stop at BeloRussky Vokszal.  It is a huge, pastel green colored complex that I had read was featured in the movie Bourne Supremacy.  (Later found this was not true, it was actually Kievsky station in that movie).

This is, however, the main station for all trains to and from Europe.  So far so good, but now I need to find the Metro station which is located here.  I’m a little nervous about the Moscow Metro because I did not find a lot of information online before I left, other than there is no English anywhere in the Metro system, and very little Russian.   But how hard can it be to find a ticket machine and get a subway ticket?  I had used the subway system in several European, Asian and North American cities, and they had been much alike (although most, if not all had English in addition to the local language).    I walked around the huge area for some time and eventually found a Metro entrance.  Inside, it was very small and packed with people and had no automatic machines for purchasing a ticket.  I did see a single Kacca(ticket window) but it had a long line.  No English and very little Russian.  No indication of where the entrance to the metro area was, or which Metro lines could be accessed at this entrance.  Rather than dealing with this now, I decided to get some exercise and walk to the Hostel, about 30 minutes from the train station.

Walking to the Hostel

BeloRussky is on a large roundabout and with several streets radiating in all directions.  One of these is Tverskaya Ulitsa(street) and that’s the one I need.  So I ask a person at the street corner ……“Pajahlsta, gdyeh Tverskaya Ulitsa” (Excuse me, where is Tverskaya Ulitsa).  The response is “Niz nayo”(I don’t know).   Maybe so, maybe they don’t live here who knows.  It’s all construction and I can’t see any street signs, so I just use the sun angle and try to go south.   That works, and 20 minutes later I’m at Pushkin Square realizing that I was actually on Tverskaya.  Good thing I didn’t try a taxi, traffic is all jammed up.   I have a map and it helps somewhat, the problem is the map has the names in English and not in Russian, but this is the only one I could find back in MSP.  For example, a street sign shows “Садовая” but my map shows Sadovaya.  Садовая does translate to Sadovaya but it would be more helpful if I had a real Russian map at this point.  Better yet, a smartphone with access to Google Maps would have been ideal.  

I turn east on Strastnoy Bulvar, but I stop to take some pictures of the Pushkin monument; I know he’s a famous Russian poet, but I’m not familiar with any of his writings.  There is a large Orthodox church with onion domes near the square, and a grassy park now.        

   

Thirty minutes later I arrive at Godzillas.  Immediately I see my son who had just arrived 10 minutes earlier from Guadalajara, Mexico.    Jeff flew into Domedevo AP which is on the opposite side of Moscow from Sheremetyevo.  He just landed about 90 minutes ago and took the Air Express from DVO to Paveletskiy railway station.  Then he bought a Metro ticket and took lines 2 and 9 to Tsvetnoy Bulvar right next to Godzillas, no problem.

I like Godzillas.  It is basically a 3-story apartment building, owned by an American, probably had a Soviet look to it years ago, but was painted, clean, and looked inviting.  The people at the front desk speak English and check-in is smooth.  We are told we are rooming with a young couple from Buenos Aires.  Working at the desk is another American, maybe in his late 50’s.  Said he was here several years setting up factories for some American Company, loved it here and stayed.  We pay $28 each for our shared room.   In Moscow, it seems like you have a choice between $300 rooms and $30 rooms, with not much in between.  We check out our room, no one is there, it looks comfortable enough, and I take the upper bunk.  The bathroom is down the hall and it will be shared with maybe 20 others.  No problem, it’s close to the room, and clean.

Walking to Red Square

It’s about 1700 local; that’s 0800 back home so let’s go see Moscow!  Jeff and I take a back path between some buildings to Tsvetnoy Bulvar, just down a small hill.  It’s still rush hour on Friday night and people are everywhere.   Cars start getting my attention and I see lots of VW’s, a couple of Skodas(Czech Republic), some Korean cars, a Chevy, Nissans, and now a Bentley driven by a young Blonde-haired woman.  We see no Ladas, the home built Soviet ‘peoples’ car from the Cold War.    I have not been to Russia before but had been to East Berlin in 1989, and it was all Ladas.  Before leaving home, I also watched a 1990 movie called Russia House, which gives a nice snapshot of Moscow scenery before the big change….. all Ladas.

Jeff says he needs Coffee and there are lots of coffee shops, no Starbucks but lots of Russian ones. Coffee here is between 3 and $7 USD depending on what you get, you pay full price for refills.  Not many restaurants or Cafes.   Everything is written in Cyrillic, no English anywhere, but you adapt, Pectopah is restaurant, кофе is coffee, you learn.  It’s April 29 but it is 70 degrees in Moscow, not bad.    The city is clean, but there is a lot of construction and refurbishment, they must have money here.   We walk past the Bolshoi Theatre, beautiful architecture, so that deserves a few pictures.

 

The Kremlin and Red Square

There is a statue of Marx across the street in Revolution square, more shots.  We continue past the Museum of Russia history, we’ll do that one tomorrow, Parliament and now we’re at the Kremlin.   This city is impressive!   It’s clean, orderly, and looks much like any other European city.  It does not have the Soviet, East Berlin look that I was expecting.    We continue walking past the Kremlin through Alexander Gardens.    It’s busy with young Russians, relaxing after work, and visiting with friends.  The women here often walk arm in arm as they do in other parts of Europe and Asia.  Same when a young woman is walking with her mother.  The Russian women are very well dressed, not a lot of jeans, mostly dresses, overcoats and high, high heels, like 5-6 inch high heels so there a many tall women walking around.   We hang a left on ul Kremlyovskaya, and walk along the Moscow River, then another left at Vasilevsky Spusk, now walking towards St Basils Cathedral and Red Square.    Wonder if this is the Victory Day parade route, sure saw this area a lot in black and white film clips over the years.

The cathedral is impressive, built in 1552 by Ivan the Terrible to celebrate his victory over the the Tatars in Kazan.  It is on Red Square, across from the Kremlin, and survived the 70 years of the Soviet Union.  Stalin considered destroying the cathedral to open up Red Square for political displays but changed his mind.  Within the Kremlin, and from our walk I can see several other churches and cathedrals.  I don’t think I have seen a city with so many, quite a surprise and unexpected.

On the west side of Red Square, bleachers are being assembled for the May 9 World War II Victory Parade.  On the East side is the huge Gum department store.  Seems out of place, like having the Mall of America across from the White House.  On the East side of Red Square with the twin spires stands the State Historical Museum. 

Coffee, Beer and Street Food

We’ve been walking for a couple of hours and I’m hungry, but where are the cafes?  Have seen no sidewalk cafes at all, thought there would be lots of these like in Europe.   But there are coffee houses and we find one in near Red Square in the Kitay Gorod district.  It is called Кофе Хауз which translates to Coffee House in English.   We find a seat, Menyoo pajahlsta(Menu please) we ask; the menu we are given has no English, but it has pictures.  Jeff gets coffee and I go for the Sibirska Korona, as they also serve beer.  The place is packed and bustling with people talking.  A large stack of dishes falls off the counter and crashes to the floor.  Everyone ignores it as though it happens every evening at this same time.    Jeff takes pictures of the menu, he wants to study it on the train, as we will be doing this for the next 3 weeks.  Later Jeff decides to hit the bathroom as he’s had a few coffees now and has just been thru ‘back to back mornings’, due to the time zone change.   He mentions there is only 1 bathroom, and it is unmarked, more on this later.

Time to do some more walking, it’s 2100 and still lots of daylight.   There goes another Bentley, again driven by

 an attractive young woman.  We walk to Lubynskaya Square and continue past the former KGB Building, more pictures, and wondering about all the ‘history’ that has taken place in that building.  It is still a government building but now houses the Border Guard Service.  There are Hammer and Sickle emblems on the front.

We turn now north now and walk down ul Neglinnaya  and work our way back to the hostel.  We finally see one or 2 restaurants but they look too expensive.   We do see lots of street stands which get Jeff real excited as it reminds him of ‘home’ in Mexico.   Most are selling food to go but we find a small one near the hostel where you buy cafeteria style and then sit down.  We have Kratowska toast and beer.  The female workers laugh as they know we are not Russian and we amuse them while ordering, with our sign language and poor Russian.  When I am done ordering she confirms my order in perfect English!

We get back to the hostel around midnight and meet our Argentine roommates.    They are married and in their mid-twenties.  He works for JP Morgan in Buenos Aires and she is a teacher.  Both speak perfect English, but they find that Jeff speaks Spanish and the conversation becomes some of each.  They are traveling through Moscow and St Petersburg and have a lot of questions about our itinerary through Siberia.   Around 0100 we go to sleep and our first day in Russia ends.

Next:  Walking around Moscow Day 2