And so another travel experience – this time with the parents. We took the overnight train to Moscow, travelling in third class on the way, and it was surprisingly comfortable, although why they decided to leave the lights on all night I will never know! The drunks running down the corridor and shouting at 4am were also not appreciated, but we did manage to snatch a few hours’ sleep before arriving in Moscow at 8am!
Miraculously, I managed to get the four of us into the centre of Moscow despite having no prior knowledge of the Metro there (a map might have been helpful, as it’s a lot bigger than the Metro in St. Petersburg, but the guidebook had not deemed it necessary to include one), and having to contend with the lack of signage in English. Reading Cyrillic characters is a lot harder under pressure, especially when your non-Russian-speaking relative (you know who you are!) insists on asking stupid questions like whether we want northbound or southbound – this is irrelevant on the Russian metro until you get to the platform! Once in sight of Red Square, we discovered that, much like St. Petersburg, nothing is open in Moscow before 10am – this is my kind of country!! So we passed some time in McDonalds (and to think this country used to be the enemy of capitalism!) and then went into the Kazan Cathedral. It was very different from its St. Petersburg equivalent, much smaller and more brightly-coloured, although not nearly as bright as Dorling Kindersley would like you to think!!
At 10 on the dot, we were in the queue (which had been forming for around an hour) for Lenin’s tomb, a red stone structure bearing a strange resemblance to the Olympic medal winners’ podium – and in fact the Russian leaders do stand on it on special occasions! The guards are very officious, insisting on all kinds of formalities, such as leaving cameras in the cloakroom, removing hats, and walking quickly past Lenin’s body. This apparent unwillingness to let you get too good of a look, along with Lenin’s waxy appearance (which the authorities insist is due to the chemicals used to embalm him) has led to rumours that the body is actually a waxwork. But, real or fake, Dead Lenin (as we respectfully nicknamed him) is an eerie sight to behold.
The rest of the day was spent sampling the delights of Moscow’s churches and department stores – the churches because we felt the need for some culture, as if we weren’t getting enough of it in St. Petersburg, and the department stores because it was so damned cold!! We also paid an extortionate sum (well, extortionate for Russia, where I’ve become accustomed to whacking out the student card and getting in безплатно) to get into the Kremlin twice. First we went into the Armoury, where I was wowed by the carriages, crowns, thrones (including a double throne for the two child kings who ruled at the same time, with a space behind for a tutor), and ambassadorial gifts, but Dad was disappointed by the lack of Faberge eggs and Andrew was downright bored! The second entrance ticket was for the Cathedral Square, and I’m sorry to say that my weekend in Novgorod has spoiled me! The cathedrals and churches were beautiful, with their onion domes and mosaic interiors, but I have to admit that they were just as beautiful in Novgorod, perhaps more so because the beauty was so unexpected.
However, Red Square as a whole is beautiful, with the red brick city walls surrounding the Kremlin set against the bright colours of St. Basil’s onion domes and the glittering Harrods-esque beauty of ГУМ. However, whoever thought that the city walls would be improved by adding glowing red stars (yes, they do light up at night) to the tops of the towers was very, very wrong. Tacky is the only word!
As for the department stores, we spent inordinate amounts of time in ГУМ (pronounced ‘goom’ if you’re Russian, and ‘gum’ if you’re my mother reading out of the guidebook), which is beautiful, inside and out. Much like Gostiny Dvor in St. Petersburg, it’s more like an exclusive shopping mall than a single store, encapsulating a confusing network of escalators, steps and balconies under a glass ceiling which lights up at night to resemble a sky full of stars. We also visited ЦУМ ('tsoom'), which was set up by Scottish entrepreneurs in 1857, so it’s a real department store with departments rather than separate shops. There we marvelled at the fur hats (most with the tails still attached – why???) and nearly fainted at the prices. But those of you who’ve been pestering me since I arrived to buy an ‘authentic’ Russian hat, the waiting is over!! It’s white rabbit fur (at least we think it’s real fur, it certainly stinks enough when it gets wet) and is of the traditional design, without the Soviet-style badges – for tourists and members of the military only – and at only 945 roubles (£20) I thought it quite bargainous!!
In the evening, we went on a mini tour of the metro, although the crowds of commuters kept us from straying too far. We did however make it to Mayakovskaya, which boasts beautiful mosaic panels in the ceiling by Deneika, depicting 'A Day in the Land of the Soviets', and Ploschad' Revolutsii, Stalin's favoutite station, full of bronze statues of the creators of the new socialist order, whose noses students rub for luck - I think we need one in Durham!! And then it was time to use the metro for a more practical purpose, to head back to Leningrad Station. The Russians are nice and helpful in naming their stations, for instance where do you think most trains from Finland Station in St. Petersburg might be headed? If you guessed Moscow, you'd be wrong - it's Finland, folks!! There's also a Moscow Station, a Baltic Station, and a Lagoda station, with trains serving the north and east of Russia (in the direction of Lake Lagoda). And so, Leningrad Station has trains to Leningrad (ie. St Petersburg). Simples!!
Second class, we discovered, is definitely more comfortable than third class, not least because we could choose whether we wanted the light to be on or off!! The journey could have been improved by not having to share our compartment with a noisy French tour party but, tired out by our long day, we didn't exactly struggle to sleep!!
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