Sunday, 23 May 2010
Larger Than Life
Today, we set off for the Kremlin. We walked around the grounds passing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Arsenal (yes!) and the Alexander Garden on our way to Kutafiya Tower where we queued to get our tickets to the Architectural Ensemble of the Cathedral Square and the Armoury Chamber. Foreign tourists pay substantially more than the locals, as the case is almost everywhere. We spent hours in the grounds and the Armoury Chamber (our visiting time was at 1-2.30 pm).
After that, we walked out and went to the Red Square. We’d missed the visiting hours for the Lenin Mausoleum (I’m not a fan of him) so we joined the masses at the Red Square. There were some outdoor activities there: rock climbing, skateboarding, wrestling (or was it boxing?), futsal... at least those were some that I saw. We walked on to St Basil’s Cathedral and continued where we let off yesterday. After that, sensing rain was imminent, we decided to check out GUM (pronounced as ‘Goom’ and short for Glavnyi Universalnyi Magazin, yeah, what a mouthful). It’s a seriously lovely building both on the outside and inside.
We left GUM and went to the nearby stalls. It started to rain after a while – and this turned out to be good for us as some stall-keepers decided to offer discounts. I spotted some Fàbregas matryoshka dolls ;) – no, Lin, not Fàbregas Fabergé dolls or Fàbregas Fabergé eggs (opps! That has double meaning somehow), it’s Fabergé eggs. OK, OK, I better stop.
We developed some serious leg muscles today... everything in Moscow was Larger Than Life (and building blocks have never seemed larger) and they sure don’t do things half-way there! It’s like everything has to be bigger and grander than anything else.
Monday, 24 May 2010
From Russia With Love
Now, if you’re in Russia for more than three working days excluding weekends and public holidays, you should register your visa (don’t ask. To me, it sounds something like a money-making scheme) – this is in addition to obtaining a Russian visa which isn’t cheap by the way for which you may need visa support (yes, it does sound complicated. And expensive). Fifi had, however, checked with the Real Russia people in the UK and they assured her that we would not need to register our visa as we would not be in any one city for more than three working days; however, we were still worried (especially after my immigration encounter) and decided to check out with the post office (we know that we could register through a post office).
So after breakfast, we went to Kurskaya Railway Station to print out our train tickets to Saint Petersburg that night (we had earlier bought the tickets online but must change the vouchers for tickets. Thank God for the Internet; a few years ago, you would not have been able to purchase Russian train tickets online). However, this proved easier said than done. We discovered that not many Muscovites were at all helpful and the odd one or two who were didn’t know how to use the self-help kiosk. So we struggled until the lady from the Information Counter (who had earlier brusquely gestured to us to use the kiosk) stepped out of her booth, presumably on her way to the ladies, helped us. That accomplished finally, we took the metro to Teatralnaya and walked to the post office at Tverskaya ulitsa. Now, Tverskaya Street is Moscow’s main shopping street. We found the post office (hidden within some building) and found out from a couple who had their Russian friend help them with the registration that they had been there for 45 minutes and counting already – and this friend was a Russian who could understand and read Russian and Cyrillic alphabets (so imagine how long it would take us non-Russian Cyrillic-illiterate trio). And apparently, we need to get the registration form online somewhere. We debated whether or not to proceed: Real Russia had advised Fifi there was no need; Alex had convinced us there was no need; but the Russian friend of the couple we met wasn’t sure. In the end, we decided not to do it. Instead, we bought some postcards and sent them home. I signed mine ‘From Russia With Love.’
We walked up Tverskaya Street and passed beautiful buildings and statues. We also stopped at Yeliseyevsky Gastronom, a food-hall located in a beautiful building (with chandeliers to boot!). After ooh-ing and aah-ing at the décor and other buildings, we finally arrived at Mayakovskaya metro station. Now some of Moscow metro stations are tourist attractions in their own right and if you are in Moscow and you have some spare time, do, do, do visit them if you can. There are stations ornamented with heroic sculptures, paintings, stained glass, carvings, mosaics and glittering chandeliers. With trains running every two minutes and considerably cheap fares (less than a Euro for any ride valid until you exit the system), travelling by metro is very reliable here – and get this, they never have any strikes. It’s just unthinkable. Millions of Muscovites rely on the metro to get around. Anyway, I digress.
We took the metro to the All Russia Exhibition Centre or more commonly known by its old name, VDNKh (short for Vystavka Dostizheniy Narodnovo Khozyaystva, yeah, I know, I know, what a mouthful), to spend the afternoon. After walking around the vast grounds of the Centre, we took a monorail from Sergeya Eyzenshteyna station to Timiryazevskaya where we then changed to metro, and after a few photo shoots at a few metro stations, we finally returned to the apartment. Fifi cooked dinner and we had an early dinner.
Alex then came before 9 pm and after chatting with him, we thanked him and left. We took the train to Komsomolskaya metro station and walked to Leningradsky vokzal, from where we would board the 11 pm 026А - Smena A.Betankurtrain overnight train to Saint Petersburg. We boarded the train at 10.30 pm and settled in our berth. A Russian lady joined in our quad-sharing berth and she showed us how to turn the seats into beds, how to pull out the ladder to climb up to the upper bunk, how to lock the berth door...we then settled in our beds and before long, the train pulled away from the station. On to our next destination!
To be continued
Larger Than Life
Today, we set off for the Kremlin. We walked around the grounds passing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Arsenal (yes!) and the Alexander Garden on our way to Kutafiya Tower where we queued to get our tickets to the Architectural Ensemble of the Cathedral Square and the Armoury Chamber. Foreign tourists pay substantially more than the locals, as the case is almost everywhere. We spent hours in the grounds and the Armoury Chamber (our visiting time was at 1-2.30 pm).
After that, we walked out and went to the Red Square. We’d missed the visiting hours for the Lenin Mausoleum (I’m not a fan of him) so we joined the masses at the Red Square. There were some outdoor activities there: rock climbing, skateboarding, wrestling (or was it boxing?), futsal... at least those were some that I saw. We walked on to St Basil’s Cathedral and continued where we let off yesterday. After that, sensing rain was imminent, we decided to check out GUM (pronounced as ‘Goom’ and short for Glavnyi Universalnyi Magazin, yeah, what a mouthful). It’s a seriously lovely building both on the outside and inside.
We left GUM and went to the nearby stalls. It started to rain after a while – and this turned out to be good for us as some stall-keepers decided to offer discounts. I spotted some Fàbregas matryoshka dolls ;) – no, Lin, not Fàbregas Fabergé dolls or Fàbregas Fabergé eggs (opps! That has double meaning somehow), it’s Fabergé eggs. OK, OK, I better stop.
We developed some serious leg muscles today... everything in Moscow was Larger Than Life (and building blocks have never seemed larger) and they sure don’t do things half-way there! It’s like everything has to be bigger and grander than anything else.
Monday, 24 May 2010
From Russia With Love
Now, if you’re in Russia for more than three working days excluding weekends and public holidays, you should register your visa (don’t ask. To me, it sounds something like a money-making scheme) – this is in addition to obtaining a Russian visa which isn’t cheap by the way for which you may need visa support (yes, it does sound complicated. And expensive). Fifi had, however, checked with the Real Russia people in the UK and they assured her that we would not need to register our visa as we would not be in any one city for more than three working days; however, we were still worried (especially after my immigration encounter) and decided to check out with the post office (we know that we could register through a post office).
So after breakfast, we went to Kurskaya Railway Station to print out our train tickets to Saint Petersburg that night (we had earlier bought the tickets online but must change the vouchers for tickets. Thank God for the Internet; a few years ago, you would not have been able to purchase Russian train tickets online). However, this proved easier said than done. We discovered that not many Muscovites were at all helpful and the odd one or two who were didn’t know how to use the self-help kiosk. So we struggled until the lady from the Information Counter (who had earlier brusquely gestured to us to use the kiosk) stepped out of her booth, presumably on her way to the ladies, helped us. That accomplished finally, we took the metro to Teatralnaya and walked to the post office at Tverskaya ulitsa. Now, Tverskaya Street is Moscow’s main shopping street. We found the post office (hidden within some building) and found out from a couple who had their Russian friend help them with the registration that they had been there for 45 minutes and counting already – and this friend was a Russian who could understand and read Russian and Cyrillic alphabets (so imagine how long it would take us non-Russian Cyrillic-illiterate trio). And apparently, we need to get the registration form online somewhere. We debated whether or not to proceed: Real Russia had advised Fifi there was no need; Alex had convinced us there was no need; but the Russian friend of the couple we met wasn’t sure. In the end, we decided not to do it. Instead, we bought some postcards and sent them home. I signed mine ‘From Russia With Love.’
We walked up Tverskaya Street and passed beautiful buildings and statues. We also stopped at Yeliseyevsky Gastronom, a food-hall located in a beautiful building (with chandeliers to boot!). After ooh-ing and aah-ing at the décor and other buildings, we finally arrived at Mayakovskaya metro station. Now some of Moscow metro stations are tourist attractions in their own right and if you are in Moscow and you have some spare time, do, do, do visit them if you can. There are stations ornamented with heroic sculptures, paintings, stained glass, carvings, mosaics and glittering chandeliers. With trains running every two minutes and considerably cheap fares (less than a Euro for any ride valid until you exit the system), travelling by metro is very reliable here – and get this, they never have any strikes. It’s just unthinkable. Millions of Muscovites rely on the metro to get around. Anyway, I digress.
We took the metro to the All Russia Exhibition Centre or more commonly known by its old name, VDNKh (short for Vystavka Dostizheniy Narodnovo Khozyaystva, yeah, I know, I know, what a mouthful), to spend the afternoon. After walking around the vast grounds of the Centre, we took a monorail from Sergeya Eyzenshteyna station to Timiryazevskaya where we then changed to metro, and after a few photo shoots at a few metro stations, we finally returned to the apartment. Fifi cooked dinner and we had an early dinner.
Alex then came before 9 pm and after chatting with him, we thanked him and left. We took the train to Komsomolskaya metro station and walked to Leningradsky vokzal, from where we would board the 11 pm 026А - Smena A.Betankurtrain overnight train to Saint Petersburg. We boarded the train at 10.30 pm and settled in our berth. A Russian lady joined in our quad-sharing berth and she showed us how to turn the seats into beds, how to pull out the ladder to climb up to the upper bunk, how to lock the berth door...we then settled in our beds and before long, the train pulled away from the station. On to our next destination!
To be continued
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