Travel Diaries: Moscow

Getting to Moscow was a true journey.

I was in Berlin for a week and took a flight with my friend Cata to Moscow.

Cata and I had both passports EU and Chilean and that raised tons of doubts with the people from customs. They where the meanest and we where truly nervous. In the plane a baby cried all the way to Moscow and once we got to customs, an agent yelled at me in Russian and took my passport to the back to check stuff -weird- I was about to faint when she came back with the scariest face and said: something in Russian... and OK at the end. It was about 3 a.m. by now.

This is Cata

GOSHHH, picked our bags and waited for our friend Juan Pablo who was traveling from Italy to meet us.

The ticket office for the train to Moscow was closed and we had to wait in line for them to open under a cascade of freezing A/C. At 6am we could buy the ticket and get on the train and while Cata and Juan Pablo catch up I slept my way and my mood.

MOCKBA

The metro was impressive. Deep, huge, luxurious and complicated. Everything written in cyrillic and no signal system like in other countries I've visited, so it was really difficult to understand. You could only compare the letters with the instructions we had.

Ok.....

We got to our hostel and slept till 11. When we woke up we found out that Matías, our last friend had joined us and we where ready to explore this new city.

We stayed in Moscow for four days and visited the Red Square everyday and we appreciated it in all its versions: day, night, sunny, rainy, free and caged due to the May 1st (Labour Day) and 9th (Victory Day) celebrations. It's a truly impressive scenario.

St. Basil's Cathedral

Of course the Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed or commonly known by St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin earned all the medals. Everything golden, shinny, intricate and opulent. That was the Russian Tzar's M.O.

The Kremlin

Red Square and Kremlin clock tower at your left

We walked a million miles -said my Pace Keeper- and our feet could feel it.

What I like the most about travel is to walk and let things happen. We Chileans know how to be safe in public places. so wondering around in new cities can be dangerous but if you go paying attention to what surrounds you, you'll be fine.

Wondering around is how we got to Gorki Park along the Moskva River. We could see everything from young people dancing like The Roaring 20's, kids in scooters with integrated sound systems, many colorful standing doors, restaurants and we stopped for a beer at the Pushkinskiy Most bridge where we listened and watched almost 70 people dancing salsa like pros. Cuba is even more close to Russia than we thought.

Gorki Park fun

Crazy 20's dances at Gorki Park

Sculptures at Gorki Park 

The most difficult part -for me- was choosing what to eat. First of all, nothing is written in english so you have to decide what to order based in pictures. Even at McDonald's is hard to order. You have to try My-My and their soups that come in cow pots -cute-. For my morning coffee I found a little Le Pain Quotidien where I had my cappuccino and almond croissant. One day I found a Krispy Kreme and a Niederegger Lübeck Marzipan bar at the cutest candy and tea store -where it wasn't allowed to take pictures- this was instant happiness. In this trip I realized out the importance that I give to food and how limiting is to be out of my comfort zone in this matter. I can't think of me visiting China -for ex-. 

This is a KK donut and the candy store on the right.

Leaving food behind and getting more cultural. We had bought tickets for La Traviata at the Bolshoi theatre with months in advance and the day came. We dressed as well as we could and went to the opera. I can't describe how much luxury I saw.

Waiting for our coats

Bolshoi Theatre

Another amazing side of Moscow is it's subway trains and stations. Many trains are wooden(!!!) and the stations can be true subterranean palaces. The topic is always socialism, the happy country life and happy people carrying guns. Pretty impressive for us. You could hear radio or someone speaking in Russian while climbing up the stairs. I felt like I was listening to politic propaganda without knowing. Expect difficulties on understanding the map and the signals inside the metro, it's very different from the occidental signal systems.

the deepest section 74 metres (243 ft) underground

Marble everywhere

Decoration is all bout mosaics and happy country life

We often got lost

We also visited the Izmailovsky market right outside the city for souvenir shopping and typical Pelmeni lunch. 

Souvenirs

This is Pelmeni

And later that day we took a night train to Saint Petersburg in the middle of a furious rain...

Train to Saint Petersburg

Moscow for me was a true revelation. The city is all about contrasts. They have this amazing and luxurious buildings and shopping malls but people seem to be living a different reality where the country has opened slowly to the world and tourism. They don't care about installing signs in english or even speaking this language, they know that people will visit Russia either way so fuck tourism.

People seem rude at first but you can see after a few words -or signs- that they are friendly. Young Russians have started to learn english but the majority of the population doesn't speak much.

Pictures can't say too much. I tried to show you what as saw in four days but I know this city has so much more to offer. Sadly time is limited when you're traveling so far away from your homeland.

I encourage you to share this post or comment below.

XX

Carolina.