Between my blackberry running out of juice (ha ha that's funny, get it?) and our crazy pace of tourism, I was not able to keep up in real time…so here’s a recap of the remaining days of our Russian holiday.Our last day in St. Petersburg we toured the Winter Palace, the Hermitage, and St. Isaacs Cathedral. The Winter Palace was (as you can probably determine) the winter residence of the Tsars/Tsarinas in the city center. Painted a rich green with white and gold accents, you can’t miss it. Inside and outside, it’s equally as opulent as the Summer Palaces we toured on Sunday. Attached to the Winter Palace is the Hermitage, which is one of the top art galleries in the world. It houses some great treasures, arranged in spectacular rooms of the former palace, where the lavish inlaid wooden floors and sculpted moldings are as mesmerizing as the art itself. We saw lots of fancy furniture and décor: Florentine mosaics, fresco-like paintings, the elaborate gold peacock clock built during Catherine the Great’s reign, enormous golden chandeliers, and ornate sculpture. Every type of art is featured in the Hermitage – Italian, Early European, Dutch, Americas. We started in an amazing room of Rembrandts that boasted about 20 paintings (the ones Stalin didn’t sell), including “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” “The Sacrifice of Abraham,” “Flora” (my favorite of the Rembrandts) and “Danae.” There are also two famous DaVincis (one is the Madonna Child) and a sweet Michaelangelo sculpture (“Crouching Boy”). The French Impressionist wing is quite healthy too – with a room full of Gauguins, a nice pick of Van Goghs, a few Monets, some very colourful and familiar Matisses (including “The Red Room” and the giant “Dance”), a selection of Picassos, some Renoirs (including the famous “Boy with a Whip” – which everyone thinks is a girl since little boys in France used to be disguised as girls up to a certain age so they wouldn’t be kidnapped) and a few (always lovely) Rodin sculptures. Pure heaven. There is also a floor devoted to Greek and Roman sculpture that I had to jog through due to time, but it was at least a scenic run.
An interesting factoid: During the war, the Russians painted the roof of the Winter Palace as well as the domes of St. Isaac’s cathedral to camouflage them from the air so the Germans couldn’t see/bomb them. Thank goodness it worked, I can’t imagine if they had been destroyed.
We had lunch at the Hermitage and said goodbye to our guide Olga. We also said goodbye to Kim, who headed back to London that evening.
After a few more hours in the galleries and browsing the gift shops, we walked over to the gold-domed St. Isaac’s cathedral. We toured the inside (gorgeous and lavish, like all the others…Russian Orthodox churches are definitely all about the “bling” factor.) We walked the many steps up the dome to the observation deck, where we got good 360 panoramas of the city…it was a pretty, sunny afternoon. Before departing the church, we bought some shot glasses (yes, we bought shot glasses in a church) from which we could enjoy some of the Russian Imperia vodka Margot had purchased for the train ride to Moscow.
After St. Isaacs, we walked across the street to the fancy Hotel Astoria (again) for some drinks and snacks (Hitler had planned to throw a lavish party to celebrate the siege of Leningrad at the Astoria...he sent out invitations for the event before a victory was claimed, but of course, that never happened, thank God. What a bastard.)
After the Astoria (or the Waldorf as I kept calling it), we went to a yummy and cozy little restaurant alongside one of the canals called “The Idiot” (after Dostoevsky’s book, not the ex-pats that like to eat there) where we had a really good dinner. The atmosphere and service were great, it was like being in someone’s living room. (There were complimentary shots of vodka as we found in so many Russian restaurants. As if we weren’t drinking/paying for enough on our own.)
After dinner, we went back to the hotel to retrieve our luggage and meet our driver Valerie who took us to the train station.
The train was kind of neat. Old red train with the Russian double-headed eagle on the cars. The attendants stood at attention outside each train door to collect tickets. They wore sharp red suits, hats and white gloves. Our cabin was tiny, two sets of bunk beds with a small table, stocked with snacks and water for the ride. We read our books, had some vodka and snacks, gabbed, pretended to smoke our pretzel sticks like cigarettes (that's so fun), and managed to make it to sleep. Perhaps not the most restful sleep I’ve ever had, but I did manage to get some.
Welcome to Moscow: “The REAL Russia”
We arrived in Moscow around 7:15am. I was tired and a little cranky. Our guide met us at the train…his name was Arsen. He asked us if we enjoyed St. Petersburg. We told him yes and he said, “Well, you must like copies then -- St. Petersburg is copy of Europe -- welcome to the REAL Russia!” When we got in the van he asked, “What’s Moscow’s biggest problem?” We guessed traffic, pollution. He answered: “No -- Moscow’s biggest problem is that it’s surrounded by Russia on all sides!” We had a giggle. This guy was a character. He also happens to be a cultural anthropologist, and as we found out over the next few days, he did know his stuff.
The first induction into Moscow is the traffic. It’s bad. The train station parking lot was crammed full, and for some reason we were going the wrong way, so we had to back out of it in reverse for quite some time (Arsen was clearly annoyed with our driver, Alexander, telling us in a grumpy voice that Alexander was “special.”) There were policemen everywhere trying (or maybe not trying) to organize the chaos (“Generals everywhere!” Arsen said).
We arrived at our hotel, the Hotel Cosmos: An eyesore monstrosity of tourism hell, complete with neon lights and a full casino in the lobby. Definitely not the cozy and quaint Petro Palace we had in St. Petersburg. But, after checking in around 9am and making the decision to stay there and make the best of it, we had a couple shots of vodka, a few laughs, and got on with our day (the hotel did have a great power shower, so that was the best part after the train ride).
After sampling some fast food for lunch (baked potato with fixings) from a street vendor, we met Arsen and Alexander and went on a 3-hour city tour. It was a very rainy afternoon. We drove out to the Sparrow Hills, which provide a sweeping view of the city where you can see the 1982 Olympic Stadium (we saw a few Olympic complexes on the tour), all of the Stalin Skyscrapers, and cathedrals. The viewpoint was across the street from one of the skyscrapers housing Moscow State University, so we got to see one of Stalin’s masterpieces up close and personal. After the Sparrow Hills, we went to the pretty Novodevichy Convent (founded in 1524 by Tsar Vasily III) -- situated alongside a serene pond, surrounded by a lovely park. From the convent, we went to its resident cemetery -- the New Maiden Cemetery -- where the “Who’s Who” of Russia is buried, including Chekhov, Stalin’s wife, Gorbachev’s wife, cosmonauts Belyayev and Beregovoi, Molotov, violin virtuoso Oistrakh and a slew of famous Russian writers and poets. I must say, it was a really beautiful place…the sculptures at the graves were magnificent and elegant. After the cemetery, we drove to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, admiring its stark white façade and massive golden domes. We also took in the river view behind the cathedral, which included a view of an old chocolate factory and enormous statue of Peter the Great. We ended the tour in Red Square where we got our first view of the Kremlin, Lenin’s tomb and the gorgeous St. Basil’s Cathedral (another colorfully-domed cathedral like the Spilt Blood in St. Petersburg).
After the tour, we went into GUM, a department store on Red Square we had drinks and snacks and rested our feet. I must say, it is rather odd to be in a post-communist country, in a massive, modern shopping mall, right next to the Kremlin -- boasting stores like Louis Vuitton, Monsoon, Estee Lauder, Mandarin Duck, and a Sbarro pizza. And that’s just one of many malls in Moscow…capitalism is alive and well.
After the mall, we walked up Tverskaya, a main shopping street through the city. We stopped in Yeliseyevsky’s, a glorious gourmet food store, similar to the Food Hall at Harrods. Housed in a beautiful old 18th classical century mansion with gigantic gorgeous chandeliers, the store is packed with chocolates, bread and pastries, caviar, vodkas (and other spirits), fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, souvenirs….it’s an epicurean wonderland. I bought some chocolate to go into Christmas presents. And some treats for myself of course, Russian chocolate is pretty good.
We had dinner at a trendy restaurant with a DJ called Pyramid where we had Asian food. It was pretty good, and the crowd was hip. I was glad the menu had pictures though; otherwise we would have had no idea what we were ordering. I’ve never ordered so much before just by pointing. But again, that’s what happens when you can’t make heads or tales of the alphabet to even try pronouncing anything.
After dinner, we strolled back to Red Square to see it at night. It’s very pretty with everything illuminated, especially St. Basil’s. Another very cool part is the four towers at the edges of the Kremlin. They are topped with stars made of ruby that glow red against the night sky. Very iconic. We snapped a few pictures, then took the Metro back to the hotel, which was about a 20-minutes train ride from the city center.
Thursday we met Arsen at 10am and took a tour of the Metro (subway). You might think this odd, but the Moscow Metro is an artistic marvel. Stalin built underground palaces to represent the promise and paradise of communism…ok, whatever, but these stations are unbelievable. We toured 11 in total…spent all morning underground in a maze of Florentine mosaics, frescos, stained glass, sculptures, chandeliers, paintings, elaborate tile work...it was like an extension of the Hermitage. No two were alike and each had an interesting story behind the inspiration and theme for the design. It was a top honour at the time for artists to be selected to design these stops. We finished our tour at the Arbat, a popular shopping street (mostly for tourists). We came above ground, saw the former home of Pushkin (bright blue!) and a memorial dedicated to he and his wife, and then said goodbye to Arsen for the day. We took a rest in a really cute and cozy coffee house where I had a cappuccino. It was a good break from the wind and bit of rain we had that morning.
From the Arbat, we walked to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which we had seen from the outside on the city tour. We went inside and walked around. It is as gorgeous inside as you would expect from the gold-domed interior. Completely covered in gold and icons in the typical Orthodox fashion. After walking around in these churches, you get a little crazy by all the ornateness and gold and splendour…they put some of the great Italian catholic cathedrals to shame. But then you remember this is supposed to be a place of God…and that turns your stomach a bit given the money and sacrifice that was no doubt given to build such structures at the expense (I’m sure) of so many people and other priorities. Margot made the comment that “if Jesus saw these places he’d roll over in his grave.” I reminded her that Jesus was no longer in a grave, but we had a pretty good laugh over it. Oh well, I still consider these cathedrals great works/places of art, even if I don’t believe that type of lavishness has any role or purpose relevant to faith and worshipping God.
After the cathedral we went to the Hotel Metropole in the city center for a fancy (late) lunch. And boy was it fancy. We started with a (complimentary) shot of vodka followed by a bottle of champagne and a lovely silver dish of black Beluga caviar with blinis. Serious yum factor. For our main plates, Margot and I ordered the “Appetizer Russian Soul” – a traditional Russian plate of smoked herring, mackerel, a blini stuffed with vegetables, cabbage, pickles and red caviar. It was an amazing plate of food. For dessert we had an apple tart with ice cream and I had some coffee. The check was as impressive as the food, but certainly not as enjoyable.
After lunch, it was pouring rain outside, so we spent some time stalling inside the hotel lobby perusing the gift shop. I bought some old cool communist propaganda postcards for my colleague Rory who likes stuff like that (not communists, but old postcards). Once the rain calmed a bit we made our way back to the hotel…we were all a little tired and wanted to have an early evening in at the hotel to rest. We got back to the hotel, had a rest, and then wandered down to the casino to cash in our free drink coupon we received upon check in. The casino was a dodgy and dismal little place, so we enjoyed our vodka quickly at the bar, then made an exit (the bartender -- not friendly). That night we had a light dinner at a Japanese restaurant in the hotel. I had a pot of green tea, which was really caffeinated and stupid of me…I spent most the night wide awake in my bed.
Friday we met Arsen for a tour of the Kremlin. We started in Cathedral Square and went inside the Italian-designed, golden-domed Assumption Cathedral. Next, we went into the Archangel’s Cathedral where the tombs of the first Romanov Tsars are. Of course, there are more gold icons and elaborate paintings everywhere in these too. There are actually five cathedrals stuffed in this square, but we only had time for those two. Which is probably ok, if we tried to see them all we’d get “church head.”
After the churches, we walked through more of the inner Kremlin where we saw the world’s largest cannon (it was never used, but it’s pretty), the world’s largest bell (it’s chipped), and Putin’s offices (they are yellow).
Next we headed to the Armory where we spent a couple hours looking at the elaborate treasure that Russia has accumulated over the centuries. There are cases upon cases of gold, silver, china and antiquities…many given as gifts from other countries. There are Faberge eggs that belonged to the Tsars. And of course, armor and weaponry. There’s a full room of exquisite coronation robes and gowns…worn by everyone from Catherine the Great to Peter the Great to Alexander and Elizabeth I. There’s an amazing room of carriages….I think perhaps the best collection in the world. I think my Grandfather would have loved that. We actually went through all the rooms twice…once with Arsen and once on our own…there was so much to take in, we saw lots of new things the second time around.
After the armory, we went into the Diamond Fund, which would be the Russian equivalent to the Crown Jewels or the Gem Room at the Museum of Natural History in DC. Only this room is CRAZY CRAZY OUTRAGEOUS BLING. Diamonds everywhere. Completely encrusted crowns, vibrant tiaras, loose stones galore (diamonds the size of quarters and bigger), a black diamond, rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets….it was insane. They only let so many people in at once, then they lock the doors behind you and don’t let you out until a specified period of time goes by (I’d say about 20 minutes). Then they let the next group in. It was dazzling.
After diamond shock, we left the Kremlin and walked along the outer wall where we saw the tomb of the unknown soldier. Then we went to Red Square where we had lunch at GUM (the department store) at a little food bar with traditional Russian food.
Next, we walked about 20 minutes to the Tretyakovskaya Gallery, which houses Russia’s largest collection of Russian fine art. We tuned into our audio tours and sailed through. I discovered the great portraits of Levitsky, fell in love with Perov’s “Reapers Return from the Field in Ryazan,” saw the famous and beautiful “Unknown Lady” by Kramskov (they say she may be from Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot” or Anna Karenina), enjoyed a room of Repins (“Autumn Bouquet” and “The Ploughman” were my favs), analyzed a few Vrubels and Levitans, and marveled over Grabar’s “Chrysanthemums” which was my very favorite.
Then we went downstairs to the gallery of (religious) icons. It was gorgeous. And huge -- an underground labrynth of spectacular and ornate panels. We barely had any time left, as the gallery was about to close, but it was enough time to marvel as we passed through…especially over the most famous trio of icons by Andrei Rublyov (3 panels, one with the Archangel Michael, Christ, and Paul the Apostle). Some of the panels are worn…especially the one with Christ….only his face is left. They are beautiful, dated 1425-1427. There was another series of six panels called “The Deesis Tier” from Constantinople around 1387-1395. These panels sported Peter, the Archangel Michael, the Virgin, Christ, the Archangel Gabriel and Paul the Apostle).
We left the museum around 7:30 and headed to dinner back in the city center at the quaint and elegant Café Pushkin, one of Moscow’s nicest restaurants. Old, wooden, cozy and filled with books inside, the place has a great ambiance. There are 4 floors with four different menus. Each floor gets more expensive the higher you go up. We sat on the second floor (and it was expensive enough). We had a great dinner…the food and service were grand. My favorite part however, was riding down the old lift inside the restaurant. I took a stroll up the stairs to the top floor to see what the other floors were like, then I rode the old elevator down. It’s pretty – encased in elaborate black iron work…and it’s open so you can see outside as you pass through the floors. I thought I may have slightly embarrassed Molly and Margot as I waved wildly and giggled while passing their floor, but then Molly went up and did it, so they couldn’t have been that embarrassed (although Molly didn’t wave.)
Saturday was “City Day” in Moscow -- celebrating the city’s anniversary -- so almost everything was closed. We had gotten up early and gone to the city center where we watched a small memorial-style parade where city officials and a military batallion laid flowers on the tomb of the unknown soldier. We watched that for about an hour, and then wandered around the city for the rest of the afternoon going down some sreets we hadn’t visited and looking more closely at the architecture. The main streets were lined with vendors as they were having a street fair later that day. There were also stages set up for various concerts that were scheduled to happen that night all over the city. We were rather sorry we didn’t know about it earlier so we could have stayed that night and celebrated with the city, would have been fun. Looked like it was a pretty big deal.
We stopped at an English-style pub called the “Big Pig Pub” where we had lunch and then went back to the hotel to gather our things and meet our car to the airport. We got to the airport, did some duty-free shopping, and got on the plane home.
And that was our Russian holiday. Not relaxing, not cheap, but very worthwhile, interesting and memorable. Another box checked. ☺
