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| St. Basil's Cathedral |
The Kremlin in Red Square
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I had a good night's sleep last night. It has been good to
be able to spread out my things for a change as it has not been so easy on the
train. I overslept a little this morning so after having a wash and a shave, I
quickly made myself some breakfast. There wasn't really much choice so I fried
a couple of eggs together with some of the potatoes from last night. I was then
ready for my adventure into the city. Will I be able to work out the Metro
system?
Fortunately, for my trip to the city centre, I didn't have
to change lines. All I had to do was make sure I got on a train going the right
way and then count the number of stocks. To be sure, I memorised the first
three letters of the stop I wanted. Then to find the signing which pointed to
the Street exit I again memorised the first three letters. And I was there! Well,
not quite. After exiting from the Metro I still had to work out which direction
was the city centre as my guide yesterday had suggested I walk the last 10 to
15 minutes. After walking around a little I soon found the giant Macdonald's
which was my landmark. There are now three of these restaurants in Moscow.
The first one was built a few years ago and I believe it is the biggest
Macdonald in the world. When it first opened the queues apparently went around
the block.
There is certainly nothing spectacular about the new and
modern Moscow. The buildings all
look much the same and uninteresting. Perhaps it is because I am used to the
advertising boardings, the flashing illuminations, and shop window displays
which are the norm for a Western city. Here there are very few of these. The
shops look uninviting from the outside and even more so once you go in. Everything
is displayed behind the counter and you had to point to what you want. The
price is then written down on a piece of paper and you have to join another
queue to pay for what you want. You then take the receipt back to the counter
and ask for your goods.
Along a number of the streets are a series of shop booths, similar
to the ones you can see on a beachfront. These sell a variety of goods. From
confectionery to clothes. Then standing around near entrances to the Metro were
private citizens selling what they could. Sometimes they used a small table. But
usually they just held whatever they were selling. A bottle of drink, a
pullover, some candles, toilet rolls etc. Outside one Metro there was a very
long line of people holding baby animals. Mainly kittens and puppies. All for
sale.
To say all of Moscow
is gloomy is not true because the very old buildings are very colourful and
beautiful. Particularly the ones in and around the Kremlin. This was the area
where I spent most of my day. I first walked across Red Square
where the famous May Day marches take place. I did imagine it to be bigger, it
is only 400 metres by 150 metres. The Kremlin Wall dominates one side of it
with Lenin's tomb in prominent position. Facing it on the other side is the
Gosudarstvenny Univeralny Magazin - the massive department store which houses
over 1000 shops. At the far end is St Basil's Cathedral, extremely attractive
with its colourful domes.
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McDonalds Restaurant
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Lenin's Tomb |
I was in the square when the nearby clock chimed the hour. At
this time and every hour the guard on Lenin's Tomb is changed. The goose-stepping soldiers were certainly a
sight which attracted the tourists. The tomb is actually open every Monday for
inspection. My useful guidebook told me that cameras are not allowed inside the
tomb. So after depositing my camera and
bag in a convenient left luggage room I joined the short and fast moving queue
to see the tomb. My guidebook suggested
I might have to wait half an hour but it only took a few minutes to get inside. Obviously Lenin is not so popular these days.
The granite tomb is cubed in shape with squared off edges. Very
peculiar looking. The steps led down
into a dark room. The centrepiece is a lighted glass case which contains the
embalmed body of Lenin. For someone who died 69 years ago he doesn't look too
bad. Though perhaps a little pale. Actually he looks rather like a wax dummy
with a false moustache and beard and dressed in a suit with a blue polka dot
tie. But I shouldn't really say that aloud.
The line of people carried on moving around the three sides of
the cabinet without pausing and then out to the Kremlin wall where other Soviet
leaders and dignitaries are buried. These include Brezhnev, Andropov and
Chernenko and as well as Stalin. Back at the left luggage I picked up my camera
bag and headed for the Kremlin gates.
Here I had to pay to get inside the Kremlin walls as well as
the cathedral. A nice notice in English
displayed how much it would cost as well as apologising for the inflationary
prices charged to foreigners. Apparently this is because we don't pay taxes. So
I had to part with 900 roubles which may sound a lot but is really less than
one American dollar.
A number of people came up to me to offer their services as
a guide but as I had the photocopied pages of a book on Moscow
as well as a map of the Kremlin I decided to go it alone. This proved to be
sufficient.
 A Kremlin is in fact a fortified stronghold in a town. This Kremlin has become synonymous with the
seet of the Russian government. The areas inside which are open to the public
include the picturesque cathedral. The
golden domes are very distinctive.
Inside there are some beautiful icons in glass cabinets. Lying at the foot of the belltower is a
cracked bell, weighing in at 202 tonnes and is said to be the biggest in the
world.
By this time I was becoming a bit hungry so I went off in
search of a Macdonald's. I found one
nearby, a bit crowded but not excessively so. A McDonalds employee greeted me
at the door. Inside there were several security guards. The menu, apart from
the word “mac”, was in Russian. But with the help of pictures, which had
captions below, I could work out the prices. However, I soon discovered the
staff were able to take my order and give me the cost in English. For the record, a cheeseburger is 800 roubles,
which I think is quite reasonable.
For the remainder of the afternoon I walked up and down a
shopping street which Sergey had marked on my map. I wanted to buy a few supplies for the train
journey. Sergey had told me that the
restaurant on the Trans-Siberian is pretty grotty and that I would only want to
visit it for one meal a day. He
suggested I visited a supermarket in Moscow
to buy some canned food.
It took me a little while to find the right shop, as from
the outside they looked all alike. There
wasn't really much choice for a long trip. I saw some packets which could have
been soup but I was not sure. I finally
decided on some canned meat. I couldn't quite work out the queuing system. Most
people seemed to be just looking. I soon
caught the shop assistants attention and then began the game of trying to point
to the product I wanted behind the counter. After a few near misses she finally
put her hand on the tin of meat. I held
up two fingers and then she scribbled a prize onto a piece of paper for me to
take to the cashier. I have decided to
buy the rest of my food tomorrow morning, at the market near the apartment. It will be much easier.
One last thing I wanted to undertake today was to try and
post some postcards and a letter. Everything I have done today has been hard
work, and posting a letter was no exception. I had looked all day for some
postcards to buy so I was glad the post office near McDonalds sold some. I
asked for stamps for England. I am not sure if she understood me. However
she gave me some stamps so hopefully they will eventually reach England. For the letter I bought an airmail envelope
which I also pointed to behind the counter.
But as she didn’t weigh the letter, I don't know how she could work out
how many stamps to put on it. So again I
hope the letter reaches home.
I manage to find the way back to the apartment okay. The guy who is being paid to let me stay
there was still out at work. So I helped
myself to a large cup of week black tea and some food and then went for a
wander around the area.
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