This is one of a series of posts which are edited versions of my emails sent during our trip.
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Our overnight flight from Singapore to Moscow yesterday was uneventful but comfortable on a relatively new 777-300 series. The plane was quite surprisingly full as we thought we would be the only ones foolish enough to go to Russia in cool October; then we discovered that there were many Americans as well as the plane goes on to Houston. The 10-hour flight allowed us to rest well. At the Russian immigration all of us received a very thorough stare by the officer even though we had “invitations” to enter the country, a “must” condition for a visa. Eventually we were judged acceptable; Kay had to smile to match her photo. The transfer to the Moscow Marriott hotel in downtown Tverskaya St was as arranged and flawless, but the drive (in a Mercedes van) took nearly 2 hours in bad peak hour traffic. We were to learn that traffic jams are very much part of life for the average Muscovite. The hotel was good but expensive, especially for the first two nights we were on our own and did not enjoy the group discount rates. With all the alarming warnings, we did not want to venture on our own to a cheaper place.
Tried to use the internet facilities at Marriott but the Russian lady told me it was going to cost me 286 rubles (or A$12) for 15 min; she added kindly, “it’s very expensive, do you really want to use it?” Needless to say, we passed on that.
We gave ourselves the first nearly 3 days on our own. On the first day we walked down Tverskaya St, equivalent to Sydney’s George St, down to the Red Square and had our first look at the iconic Square, St Basil’s and Lenin’s mausoleum. Lenin’s mausoleum was closed by the time we got there but we could get into St basil and had a look inside. St Basil’s was smaller than I expected and since it is made up of several churches (more like chapels) each church was really tiny. We learnt about the iconostasis, apparently the Russian Orthodox churches have the same set up everywhere.
After the visit to St basil we went to the Gym (pronounced Gum) shopping centre, a giant version of Queen Victoria building, full of expensive shops. We then walked back, it was then we realised how far we had walked and we were exhausted. We went back to the hotel to have a rest before going out to an Italian place for dinner. No sign of real Russian food !
The second morning we mastered the Moscow Metro, a real feat. Apart from the fact that we could hardly read the Cyrillic script and there were 9 million of Muscovites travelling each day, we managed to find our way to the Pushkin Fine Arts museum. It was one of the best museum to visit, a fine collection of impressionist artists of the 19th and 20th century including Cezanne, Van Gogh, Pissarro, Picasso. I never knew they had such a good collection.
Getting around is not easy without a good grasp of Cyrillic script. We struggled to remember that P=R, H=N, N=I, C= S etc and there are a few Russian characters not used in Latin alphabet. Apart from remembering that PECTOPAH is RESTORAN, we had to pause and decipher each time. Luckily the trains come every 1 min or so, we were not rushed to catch the train. Because we could not understand the announcements and there were no signs to read from within the trains, we had to count the stations to get off.
After the many warnings about Russia we had before we left for the trip, we were more pleasantly surprised from the first few days; nearly all Muscovites we encountered were very friendly. The younger sets are very fashionable, make us feel drab in our tourist clothes. The trains are efficient but very, very noisy. Next time, I will bring ear plugs.
In a small way we got on to a bad start. On the first day I dropped my Nokia N95 and smashed the screen. Though it still works, I could not read the screen. Luckily I had a second 3G phone to switch the SIM card to so I could still make and receive calls. I also found that the charger to my laptop was missing - could have been left behind in Sydney or perhaps in Singapore during the stopover . Without that we had to rely on Internet cafes. We first have to find out the Russian scripts are for the internet, and then locate them!
Till the next time, as Kay said, here is all of us
From Russia with Love
Kin Mun
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Our overnight flight from Singapore to Moscow yesterday was uneventful but comfortable on a relatively new 777-300 series. The plane was quite surprisingly full as we thought we would be the only ones foolish enough to go to Russia in cool October; then we discovered that there were many Americans as well as the plane goes on to Houston. The 10-hour flight allowed us to rest well. At the Russian immigration all of us received a very thorough stare by the officer even though we had “invitations” to enter the country, a “must” condition for a visa. Eventually we were judged acceptable; Kay had to smile to match her photo. The transfer to the Moscow Marriott hotel in downtown Tverskaya St was as arranged and flawless, but the drive (in a Mercedes van) took nearly 2 hours in bad peak hour traffic. We were to learn that traffic jams are very much part of life for the average Muscovite. The hotel was good but expensive, especially for the first two nights we were on our own and did not enjoy the group discount rates. With all the alarming warnings, we did not want to venture on our own to a cheaper place.Tried to use the internet facilities at Marriott but the Russian lady told me it was going to cost me 286 rubles (or A$12) for 15 min; she added kindly, “it’s very expensive, do you really want to use it?” Needless to say, we passed on that.
We gave ourselves the first nearly 3 days on our own. On the first day we walked down Tverskaya St, equivalent to Sydney’s George St, down to the Red Square and had our first look at the iconic Square, St Basil’s and Lenin’s mausoleum. Lenin’s mausoleum was closed by the time we got there but we could get into St basil and had a look inside. St Basil’s was smaller than I expected and since it is made up of several churches (more like chapels) each church was really tiny. We learnt about the iconostasis, apparently the Russian Orthodox churches have the same set up everywhere.
After the visit to St basil we went to the Gym (pronounced Gum) shopping centre, a giant version of Queen Victoria building, full of expensive shops. We then walked back, it was then we realised how far we had walked and we were exhausted. We went back to the hotel to have a rest before going out to an Italian place for dinner. No sign of real Russian food !
The second morning we mastered the Moscow Metro, a real feat. Apart from the fact that we could hardly read the Cyrillic script and there were 9 million of Muscovites travelling each day, we managed to find our way to the Pushkin Fine Arts museum. It was one of the best museum to visit, a fine collection of impressionist artists of the 19th and 20th century including Cezanne, Van Gogh, Pissarro, Picasso. I never knew they had such a good collection.
Getting around is not easy without a good grasp of Cyrillic script. We struggled to remember that P=R, H=N, N=I, C= S etc and there are a few Russian characters not used in Latin alphabet. Apart from remembering that PECTOPAH is RESTORAN, we had to pause and decipher each time. Luckily the trains come every 1 min or so, we were not rushed to catch the train. Because we could not understand the announcements and there were no signs to read from within the trains, we had to count the stations to get off.
After the many warnings about Russia we had before we left for the trip, we were more pleasantly surprised from the first few days; nearly all Muscovites we encountered were very friendly. The younger sets are very fashionable, make us feel drab in our tourist clothes. The trains are efficient but very, very noisy. Next time, I will bring ear plugs.
In a small way we got on to a bad start. On the first day I dropped my Nokia N95 and smashed the screen. Though it still works, I could not read the screen. Luckily I had a second 3G phone to switch the SIM card to so I could still make and receive calls. I also found that the charger to my laptop was missing - could have been left behind in Sydney or perhaps in Singapore during the stopover . Without that we had to rely on Internet cafes. We first have to find out the Russian scripts are for the internet, and then locate them!
Till the next time, as Kay said, here is all of us
From Russia with Love
Kin Mun
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