Contrasts of Scandinavia and Russia
Day Ten – 1 June 2010
Weather: Cloudy, 22
My wake-up call was like 20 minutes early, so I had almost an hour to kill before I wanted to go down to breakfast. Good chance to repack the bag since we’ll have such little time over the next two days. In fact, the next two days will turn out to be the busiest two touring days I will have in the 15 tours to date that I’ve done.
Breakfast is the best we’ve had so far on this tour. Eggs to order, all kinds of breads, juices, fruits etc.
And you get to sit in armchairs or couches if you want.
Faaancy!!
We were off for the Zagorsk optional at 8 am. Malcolm had our seats all figured out so that he got everyone else on board before he let us on board.
I got his seat up front (though some of that tour tried to tell me I wasn’t allowed in that seat).
Heh!
In St. Petersburg, we were immersed in Russian culture with the “Stand in line” optional to Catherine’s Palace. Today we got immersed in another facet of Russian culture with the “Sit in traffic” optional.
Granted, the traffic out of the city wasn’t too bad. It was what you would expect. Our local guide, Tatyana, gave us the usual talk as we headed out of the city to get a taste of the rural Russian countryside. Of course, I expected to do something that we hadn’t done on the train.
i.e. Watch the countryside roll by.
As we drove out, Tatyana, pointed out the hippodrome and place where horses are kept and noted that most Russians prefer cats and dogs.
Like most Scandinavians, they keep them very well hidden.
We passed an area where a lot of men were gathered on the side of the road looking for work. She told us that they were illegals looking for work. She said they could register and work, but it meant they would have to pay taxes. We also passed the US Embassy, including the one that the US let the Russians build using their own workers, equipment and construction material in the 70s.
Well, duh.
If you let your defacto enemy build your embassy, what do you thing they’re going to do? The same thing the US would do if the Russians let the Americans build their embassy.
Plant bugs inside the walls.
The US abandoned that embassy and now it’s used for other purposes like language training.
After getting through the morning rush hour, we pulled off the road to look at a decorated house partly hidden behind trees and bushes.
Yup. This was it for our look at rural life.
After a total of more than an hour and a half on the road, we came to the Holy Trinity Monastery. It was founded by a hermit in the 14th Century and grew from there. It was closed after the revolution but opened again in 1946.
We walked into the monastery and got a look into one church but couldn’t take pictures in the other two.
I skipped out on the third to go to the WC. They simply weren’t that interesting. After a little shopping on a short street, we returned to Moscow.
Have you ever been in a traffic jam where you could see your destination but took a half hour to reach it?
Yup. The “Sit in Traffic” optional.
Actually, we sat in the traffic for an hour before that. Tatyana said heavy traffic is not unusual, but it was unusual for early in the afternoon. Turned out it was a protest that got traffic redirected and plugged up here.
We left the monastery at 12:30 and got into the hotel at 3 pm. More than an hour was sitting in traffic. Of the 4 million cars on the road in Moscow, we saw 3.89 million of them.
A couple people were a little testy over the delay, but seriously, what can they do?
Optional Opinion: Skip it. Seriously, unless you know this monastery and really want to see it, there are far far better religious sites and far more interesting churches etc along this tour and certainly in other tours. Given the lack of free time, you’re better off sleeping in and taking walk to Red Square. Over the seven hours we were gone, more than four hours were spent in traffic.
Trafalgar should really consider dropping this as an optional. We see as much of the “rural” life from the bus or train, and since all their tours go somewhere else besides Moscow, you’re going to see the countryside one way or another. Even speeding by on the train, we got a good look at the towns and villages along the way. I even got a decent photo.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to fill out an evaluation for the Moscow portion of the tour and would have highlighted that suggestion. I can honestly say that of all the optionals I’ve taken on the five tours, this one was, by far, the worst. (And having done ten more tours since, I still stand by my assessment).
Psst, Trafalgar.
We were given a half hour to freshen up and then reboarded the bus for the included city tour. Malcolm assured us that we would still see everything but that we might not get as much photo time at some sights. Given the overcast sky, that wasn’t a big concern.
We left the hotel and drove by the Russian White House and over the bridge. Tatyana told us about the adoption (or re-adoption) of the double-headed eagle’s crest for Russia in 1991. At first they removed the crowns because Russia was no longer a monarchy, but when they did that, the two eagles looked like rabid chickens.
So the crowns went back on.
Across the bridge is the Ukraine hotel. Better known to us as the hotel we’re NOT staying in. The Radisson apparently owns it now. Their name is all over it. The building is one of seven built by Stalin in the 30s and they have that Empire State Building look to them. They are impressive.
Especially from the balcony of the hotel I am staying in.
The seven buildings have a number of nicknames including the Seven Sisters and Stalin’s Teeth.
Don’t ask.
We drove through Sparrow Hills (once known as Lenin’s Hills for a time) and stopped to take some photos of the view. The sun started to come out, making the photo ops so much more attractive. Regardless of how short they were.
We continued on past Moscow University (another sister there) and drove over the longest bridge in Moscow which has two levels. Across the Moscow River was Gorky Park and after a couple of kilometers we came to this monstrosity of a sculpture. It’s black, very very tall and is supposed to be of Peter the Great standing on a ship, but word has it the original intention was for the huge statue to be of Columbus.
So, the locals call it Peter Columbus.
Then on our left we came across a cathedral built entirely from donations. The original had been destroyed by Stalin and a swimming pool put in its place. Rumour is that many of the donations came from the Russian mafia and that the reconstruction cost over a billion dollars.
After the cathedral, we got our first glimpse of the Kremlin walls. The word Kremlin simply means “fortress” and the current Kremlin is the third one to stand on the same location. The first was built in the 15th century and constructed of oak.
One guess as to what happened to that Kremlin.
The current brick version of the Kremlin had been painted white, but not finished at the time of the revolution and the paint washed off to leave behind the “Red” brick.
Interesting coincidence.
The clouds closed in again as we turned the corner and were met by St. Basil’s Cathedral on the edge of Red Square.
Oh, and by the way, it was named Red Square well before the revolution.
These coincidences, eh?
The bus parked and we made every attempt to not turn this city tour into the “How to get hit by a crazy Moscow driver who bought his license and never learned how to drive” Optional.
Turns out there are a lot of underground crosswalks. Very convenient.
If not life-saving.
We walked up to St. Basils, snapping pics all along the way and then stood on the edge of Red Square.
Did you know it’s actually a rectangle?
Who knew?
As we stood next to Lenin’s tomb, Tatyana gave us her talk on the Square.
Yeah, she’s a hoot. But I didn’t hear anything she said on Lenin’s tomb. My attention was on the two neatly dressed guys in their early 20s who were standing next to us and making out as if they were listening to Tatyana.
Then their eyes dropped to the large purse closest to them. One caught my eye and he swatted his friend. They walked behind me and as I turned to watch, one leaned over to check out the purse of another woman. Both were zipped and both women a little freaked that they hadn’t even noticed them.
Hard to miss pick pockets after you’ve been to the Charles Bridge in Prague.
Again, ladies and gents, they were looking for easy targets obviously. Simple precautions taken by everyone in our group meant no one was victimized. Malcolm kept reminding people of pick pockets and that constant reminder helped keep the threat in mind even if no one else noticed them.
We were given some free time in Red Square so we went into the shopping mall that lines the side of the Square across from Lenin’s tomb. Very very expensive mall. We ate dinner and went in search of souvenirs which I thought would have been all over the place.
I desperately wanted a t-shirt that said “Red Square is a Rectangle.”
No go. After walking around, we found a few vendors outside the square just as it started to pour. I did some t-shirt power shopping and we walked back to the bus.
Only Malcolm had told us to meet at St. Basil’s.
Oops.
They found us on the bus and we drove to do the Voices of Moscow optional at a nearby theatre. The theatre was small but had some interesting paintings with a lot of history and faces from history. It was interesting picking out all the faces.
Then the room darkened and the small choir came in singing religious songs. When the light came on, I realized it was four men and four women. For some reason, I was expecting a boy’s choir. Not sure why.
They sang a selection of religious songs then a few folk Russian songs. The performance took a little more than an hour.
Optional Opinion: After the Russian folklore show in St. Petersburg, this one was a let down. Unless you’re overly religious and like the music, I’d say skip it. Even then, there was nothing special and if I remember correctly, it cost me about $50.
That money would have been better spent on my extra luggage.
We got back to the hotel after 10 pm. I packed for the trip home since I knew we had another full day coming up. At 11, I looked outside and it was actually dark.
What a difference 800 kilometres can make.
Go to Day Eleven
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