Monday, 10 May 2010
Moscow, Russia
Despite the hot, stuffy, noisy, bouncy, small, cramped cabin and lumpy bed I must have dropped off at some point as there’s a knock on my door at 0730hrs with LC (our guide) asking if I’d like a cup of tea.
No.
I’d like some sleep.
Like lunch and dinner yesterday, breakfast could be stale bread, dodgy cheese, sweaty salami and warm olives.
Or.
A free plastic wrapped croissant with chocolate filling provided by Rosa Klebb the provodnitsa. Yum. Not.
Provodnitsa provides perfect plastic cup of steaming hot black tea from the samovar. With a small plastic carton that I naturally assume is milk so pour it in. To discover it’s not. It’s lemon juice. In dire need of a brew I drink it. Twinings English Breakfast Tea, milk and one sugar it is not.
Being a large cube shape, Rosa Klebb the provodnitsa is too wide for the corridor and nearly drags the curtains off their rails as she stomps down the corridor. Creating a vacuum in her wake. Thanks for the memory LC!
Arrive Moscow Belarusky station pretty much on time. After last night’s zero star accommodation it’s pleasing to check in to the Marriott Aurora Hotel (https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mowdt-moscow-marriott-royal-aurora-hotel/) at the back of the Bolshoi Theatre. Ah yes. The Lesser Spotted Taurean back in his natural habitat. Having not washed for over 36hrs and slept in my clothes on the train a much needed shower is required.
So.
Back in the USSR.
First came to Moscow in 2004 and loved it. One of my favourite cities. Feels very safe. Despite what you may think.
My favourite place in Moscow though is VDNKh. The Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy. Built in the 1930s under Stalin, it’s a large parkland with architecturally stunning pavilions along a wide boulevard. Good, solid and muscular architecture. Love this style of architecture.
My memory from 2004 was the smell of the street food stalls lining the central boulevard. Made you want to try everything. Walking along again now I smell the street barbeques and the memory kicks in. Wonderful smell. Exactly as I remember it. Lots of various meats and salmon being grilled.
Actually a public holiday to celebrate VE Day. Party atmosphere. Plenty of people promenading and picnicking.
The elevated 5km long Moscow monorail goes around the perimeter of VDNKh and out into the suburbs. Has to be travelled. More to add to the different modes of transport taken. No other reason to go out to Soviet suburbs seeing slum apartment blocks. Grim. Communist era.
Like Pyongyang in North Korea, Moscow’s underground stations are cavernous ornate affairs. Unlike Pyongyang, the entrance gates to the underground don’t slice you in half. Ouch.
Surface at Red Square. The remnants of the VE Day parade are being cleared away. As a kid in the 1970s and 80s, always remember seeing the big military parades through Red Square on the TV. A massive expanse of cobbles bordered on one side by the Kremlin with the GUM department store opposite, with its three long glazed arcades joined together. St Basil’s cathedral stands at the far end near the river.
The dozen of us that have travelled by train from the UK to Moscow meet up with those that have flown in tonight.
For the welcome dinner.
You know how it is. All the small talk. And introductions. Getting to know each other.
There’s always a dreary grey one. Little Miss Sociable. Light and cheery she is not.
Having dinner. Dreary announces that she donated her husband’s brain to the local university for research.
Jolly good.
Glad you told me that as I’m eating. Thanks for sharing.
