Again, I have taken too long to publish the next installment of my blog. I apologise, my readers. Where were we? I believe I left off at the time when we jumped on the overnight train from St Petersburg to Moscow. And thus, I pick up at that point: The overnight train.
Tuesday, October 13th: What an adventure! Catching an overnight train with compartments and a restaurant and bar is something I’ve wanted to do ever since I read Harry Potter! Something so old-fashioned, so cosy, so…European. And to do it in Russia! I don’t know anyone who has made such a voyage, but I’m very pleased I have had the good fortune to do so.
We had four people per compartment, with beds and a small table in the middle, and a lockable door (thank God). My compartment buddies went to sleep fairly early once the train got moving (by the time our train left Moscow it was around one in the morning), but I stayed up with some friends to enjoy a lazy couple of beers in the bar and chat about our tour thus far. By around 3 or 4 in the morning, we decided it was time to retire to the compartments and get some rest.
Drinks on the Train.
Wednesday, October 14th: Five hours later I was up and ready for our breakfast, served by a particularly severe looking woman (even for Russians!) with a fixed, stone-cold glare. It was an interesting meal to wake up to -fried chicken, salted biscuits and fluorescent jam. Strange. Watching the Russian woods go past, the deep orange-leafed trees and heavy mist just lifting with the sun was quite breathtaking and something I won’t forget.
Watching the Woods pass by.
Once we had grabbed our stuff and gotten dressed it was time to disembark. Not five minutes into the city however (just as we left the station), an unexpected and startling event took place; Valentine went to pick up her suitcase but was told by a strange man that he would pick it up for her. She declined however, and during the time she took to pick it up herself, he quickly snatched her camera from her pocket. Valentine was unaware, but was immediately alerted by another person on our tour. Quickly, Rudy pursued the assailant and thankfully caught up to him, during which time a policeman noticed and chased the guy down as well. We were all on the bus and unaware of what was happening, but poor Valentine was standing outside worrying about losing not only her camera, but all the photos of her trip that had been saved to the memory card as well. The tour bus departed from the train station, but Valentine and Rudy, along with one of our two fluent Russian-speaking guides, had to leave with the policeman to go to the station, make a statement and deal with the legal issues, and of course, hopefully get her camera back.
The rest of the tour group went straight to Moscow’s Kremlin, the political centre of Russia, as it was reinstated during the October Revolution. We had a local guide take us through the the history and significance of the location. For those who haven’t studied Russian history, the Kremlin is Moscow’s fortress. The site is known to have been inhabited since before Christ, but the Moscow Kremlin was founded in early 14th century by a Moscow Prince. The town quickly rose to become the centre of a principality within the Mongol empire. By the end of the 14th century, the Metropolitan seat of the Russian Orthodox Church had been moved from Kiev to Moscow, stating Moscow’s significance. Over the next few centuries, until Peter the Great made St. Petersburg the capital of Russia, the Moscow Kremlin served as the central stage for the magnificent and, at times, horrific history of the Russian Czars. After the shift of power to St Petersburg, Moscow and the Kremlin declined. However, the Bolshevik’s choice of Moscow as their capital in March 1918 returned it to its former significance, and during Soviet rule, the Kremlin experienced its second life as a great centre of power. Although the soviet state certainly left its mark on the Kremlin, the fortress very much retains the aura of medieval Czarist Russia.
Inside the Kremlin.
Inside the Kremlin -The Biggest Canon in the World.
Inside the Kremlin -Cathedral Square.
Inside the Kremlin.
From the Kremlin, we walked to see Moscow’s Red Square for the first time, which was very exciting. One side is lined by a giant mall-like complex, but which is in a beautiful old building. Directly opposite are the graves of Russian political leaders (the stones all carved in the shapes of their heads), as well as the tomb in which Lenin’s body is kept. Towards the far end from the massive red brick Resurrection Gates (the main entrance) is a beautiful Russian-style church, designed in similar architecture to that of the Church of Spilled Blood in St Petersburg. We walked across the square, where we met the bus which took us back to our hotel. Already, to us, this city was huge and dominating, compared to St Petersburg. Our bus trip to the hotel seemed to take an extremely long time, though we saw some beautiful views from the window. From an elevated highway we could look down to gaze upon orange-leafed trees densely shooting up from hills, which met wide rivers in the valleys.
The Red Square.
Our hotel, however, was a surprise. After staying in the lovely St Petersburg hotel, with grand buffet breakfasts, a skybar, and very comfortable rooms, our Moscow hotel looked like a third world slum. Except worse than that, it was confronting because all over the walls were huge portraits of decadent priest, draped with gold and silver and jewels and satin, the lobby housed a golden shrine the size of a tent with the portrait of Jesus inside, and on the walls were painted images of the promise land, Israel. This was a little frightening, as we had not expected to be staying in a religiously partisan hotel. Nevertheless, it’s all part of the experience, we tried to remind ourselves, before grabbing our bags and heading up to the room.
The Hotel Shrine.
Meanwhile, Rudy, Valentine and Rudy were all still at the police station, and we weren’t sure exactly what was going on, which was worrying for our other guide, Mie. We took our bags to the rooms (i volunteered to go with Rudy and Valentine or they wouldn’t have anyone, and thus checked into ours alone), but as soon as we reached the corridor, were met with the stink of cigarettes. This place was classy. We entered the rooms, with crappy wooden beds, and, as the tar was filling my lungs, I looked up into the far corner to see the portrait of a very stern Jesus looking down on me. I soon discovered that Jesus hung on the wall of every room. Quickly, I tried to remove the icon, as I was not enthused by the idea of having this image hanging on my wall, only to discover that it was NAILED to the wall. Not hanging. Nailed. I settled for hanging my complimentary prayer cloth (we received these instead of towels…Spasiba…) over the frame so that we just saw a white drape hanging on the wall. The rooms were not so nice, but I was grateful at least that our toilet worked, unlike poor Lauren, whose was completely broken.
Four of us left the hotel, because we were extremely hungry but the search for food turned out to be a much bigger struggle than we originally anticipated. We began our walk up the giant highway that our hotel rested on, on either side of which were gigantic, hideous, ultra modern monster buildings that towered over us and made us feel like ants: On the opposite side was Moscow State University, with white spires that rose high into the sky. On our side, bizarre apartment complexes made out of what looked like solid gold grew at least as high, but were even wider than they were tall. When walking past one particularly horrendous structure resembling some sort of alien spaceship, we noticed that it was even more heavily guarded than the Red Square (in Russia, security levels are to the point of ridiculousness), with men in camouflage uniform, brandishing heavy machine guns, and a line of police cars escorting one black one with tinted windows. We wondered which particularly important person was arriving at this awful hotel, and later discovered that the person who drove right past us (within 2 metres) was Hilary Clinton.
We continued our massive ascent up this huge hill and finally found a bizarre mega mall, with stairs to the entrance that seemed to extend for kilometres. We finally got inside and were hit by the heating (a tropical paradise), stripped our clothes off and walked around trying to find a Mcdonalds before we all fainted. We rode the escalators a few time, but in vain, before, finally we saw it: MACCAS. Something to remind us of home. Something to temporarily allow our minds to transcend our inhospitable surroundings. We sat there, after guzzling our meals, for a long time, before we could muster the courage to journey all the way back to the hotel.
Maccasssss
Once we got there, we lay down, exhausted and let a few hours pass. Our first day in Moscow: Not easy. Lauren and I ended up eating the bizarre alcoholic chocolate rolls I bought at the Mall-thing for dinner, before wanting to find an internet cafe and communicate with some people back in Copenhagen or Australia/Canada. The lady at the desk told us there was an internet cafe at the metro, which was located next to the Mall thing, so we walked all the way back up there, laughing hysterically and feeling drunk off the day’s confusion, but of course could not find one. We decided to look in that disgusting mall again, but after the information lady yelled at me in Russian (it’s custom!), we went to withdraw some cash upstairs. The machine ate my card (I was quite seriously reaching the end of my tether), and then a lady behind a desk, although unable to communicate with me verbally, understood my hand gestures enough to grab a pair of scissors, completely dissemble the machine, and poke my card out.
We went back to the hotel, having embarked on a completely fruitless mission, where we found Mie half asleep on the couch in the lobby, completely worried about Valentine, Rudy and Anna, who had not returned from the Police station after twelve hours. We sat with her to wait up, and while later they finally arrived! And told us the whole freaking ridiculous traumatic story of their day dealing with the horrendous Russian authorities: After going to the police station, they were made to fill out a statement, wait for bureaucracy to take its course, be questioned by the policeman, wait again, etc etc. It went on for hours, and although Anna told them to hurry up because they simply wanted to get the stupid camera and leave, they refused to cooperate. An aggressive lawyer who smelled of alcohol came and questioned Valentine, laughing at her discomfort in the situation, and the three were made to wait yet again. Basically, as is custom in Russia, they were waiting for a sufficient bribe before returning the camera and letting them go. Yes, the Russian police are thoroughly corrupt.
Finally, after literally twelve hours of waiting in the police station, Valentine decided that she had to communicate with another authority in order to get them out of there. She rang her father in Paris, who rang the ministry of foreign of affairs in Paris, who rang the French embassy in Moscow, who rang Valentine. Thank God. They told her that they understood the trauma of what she was going through and that they would send someone to rectify the situation immediately. As soon as Valentine hung up the phone, Anna instructed the police that the French embassy were on their way, and with that, the Police quickly grabbed the camera and gave it to them, telling them they were totally free to go, clearly frightened by the prospect of justice being served.
Feeling completely wrecked, and after a few tears, we walked as a group out to have a freaking strong drink and some food. Unfortunately, everything was shut except an overpriced supermarket, so we bought some stuff, went back to our hotel room, and the six of us just ate together and chilled the hell out after the day’s events.
Our first day in Moscow. Already, the most alienating city I have ever been to in my life.
Thursday, October 15th: The following day was a great deal more relaxed. After eating breakfast under paintings of Jerusalem, we had free time in Moscow. A bunch of us returned to Red Square, where we looked inside Lenin’s tomb. The place is so heavily guarded (intimidation tactics are standard in Russia), but once you get through the metal detectors and stupid paths to get there, you walk down the path lined by the heads of Russian leaders (the graves described earlier), before descending into the crypt. Every few steps you are confronted by another guard who makes sure you are walking in the right direction. Once down in the crypt, you have fifteen seconds to walk past Lenin’s body, preserved in a glass Aquarium-like enclosure. You are not allowed to take photos. His body was completely white. He was short. His features seemed to have dissolve to the point that they were blurred subtleties on his face. We exited, feeling rather afraid and in need of sunlight, and headed for the mall on the other side of the square. For a country that was so recently Communist, progress (a controversial word, i know) towards capitalism was fast: the mall is stocked full of incredibly expensive designer brands that made me feel dizzy. One could feed a small country with the money spent on handbags in that complex. We bought salads in a pricey but delicious and giant delicatessen (reminiscent of the food court in Harrods, London) and ate them outside which was lovely.
A Bunch of us in The Red Square.
In the Mall.
Soon after, we left for the Resurrection Gates to meet the local Russian students, with whom we were to cook and eat dinner that evening. Lauren, Marieke, Lu, Nancy, Sylvia and I left with a guy who took us to the supermarket to meet his friend and his friend’s girlfriend. They were lovely people and it was very interesting for us to gain a perspective from the inside on growing up and living in Russia. They had their criticisms, but nevertheless seemed to very much enjoy their lives in Moscow, and, apparently unlike a lot of Russia, were wise to the propaganda and other tricks of their government. We went back to their apartment, where we cooked dinner together -a combination of pancakes, salmon + herring, greek-style salad, bread, and stewed apple. Was very tasty! We listened to Russian music, drank South American wine, and enjoyed conversation about politics and life in Russia, as compared to our own in our original home countries and our adopted home country, Denmark. We sat there for hours after the meal had finished, and didn’t get back to the hotel (after a strange adventure on the Moscow metro) until past midnight. It was a very pleasant day and evening. A dramatic contrast from that we had experienced the day before.
Dinner in the Russian Students' Apartment.
Friday, October 16th: On Friday, we were meant to receive a political briefing from the federal political opposition in Red Square. However, they failed in the very recent election, and were depressed and had to work on a new political plan, and thus had to cancel their session with us. This was disappointing, nevertheless, Mie and Anna thought of something else for the group to do for the day. Anna took some people to see some cathedrals in a town nearby, but I went with Mie and some other students to see a famous old graveyard in the city, where some old dead Russian celebrities are buried, such as Boris Yeltsin. This was really nice. The whole graveyard was a mess of golden yellow leaves falling, and the stones were quite grand and beautiful and interesting. There were stone ballerinas, men lounging with cigars, and others writing on manuscript. We toured the cemetary before taking a long, peaceful walk along the river which took us back towards the centre of the city. We compared the old-style architecture of the cathedral in the graveyard and some of the other buildings we had seen in Russia, with the bizarre, modern and distasteful structures that towered over the river. We saw some interesting buildings, like one of Stalin’s Sisters (these massive towers located in different parts of the Russian empire), another of which was a gift to, and still stands in, Poland, as a friendly reminder of who is in charge.
In the Graveyard.
In the Graveyard.
A Walk Along the River.
We then continued down Mie’s favourite street that she frequented when she was studying in Moscow, before finding her favourite place to eat in the city: an underground restaurant that served great food at fairly cheap prices. I enjoyed a salmon steak with pink grapefruit for lunch and delicious pancakes with strawberries for desert. If i knew the name, this restaurant is definitely one I’d recommend, for anyone who happens to be going to Moscow. Our lunch extended into the early evening, as we sat and chatted and laughed for a long time after we’d finished eating.
Salmon with Pink Grapefruit.
Afterwards, a few of us went to the underground mall -the biggest underground mall in the world (yes, a strange accomplishment to Moscow’s name, but an accomplishment nonetheless). We couldn’t afford anything, of course, so after walking around we departed for dinner (Japanese), before we were to meet again with the Russian students to take us out for drinks! We all left as a massive group (guides + Copenhagen students + Russian students) to find a bar and share a drink together, but it was unlikely for us to all get in somewhere on Friday night, and thus, our Russian students and original group (with whom we dined the previous night) left in search of a different bar. We walked for several hours, led by our Russian student (we had no idea where we were going or why we were taking so freaking long) before finally frustratedly declaring that we would just have a drink at the next place that served alcohol.
As we walked in, however, Sylvia, Lauren and I were confronted with a bad sign: In the centre of the restaurant was a large, artificial tree, next to which sat a wagon decked out with buffet, and, to our intense horror, a stuffed chicken. Such omens have generally been bad (see St Petersburg blog entry) but we decided that it was impossible that we were in another restaurant under the same umbrella as that terrifying one where we had dinner in St Petersburg. We sat down for a drink and looked at the menu and nearly screamed: It was the same place!!! We couldn’t believe it! After everything, even that two hour walk in search of a decent bar we had embarked upon. Words could not describe the irony. We nearly cried, so laughed instead. I laughed for a good long time, until tears ran down my face. We decided to just drink to the ridiculousness of the situation, and ordered litres of beer.
Drinks with the Russian Students.
After we were done at that strange, terrifying restaurant place, we went to an underground reggae club nearby, which was a lot more comfortable and fun. We got a booth and shared a few drinks until around one in the morning, at which time our Russian friends (and Sylvia and Lu) departed to catch the last metro. Lauren, Marieke and I wanted to stay out, however, and eventually convinced one of the Russian students to stay with us. After a few more drinks, we were ripping the D-Floor to reggae music, when he suddenly told he’d “be right back”. We nodded and kept dancing. And kept dancing….and dancing. Until we realised that he had been gone for forty minutes. “Is he coming back?” one of us asked. “Um…maybe he ditched us”. We kept dancing, more time passed. “Okay, he definitely ditched us”. And that was the last we saw of our Russian friend. We decided we were waiting for nothing and left to catch a car (not taxi, you don’t catch them in Russia. You HITCHHIKE) back to the hotel.
Saturday, October 16th: Today was just strange and a little pointless. We drove three hours into the woods to see a small Cathedral town, called Sergiev Posad. From the 15th Century, Sergeiv Postad started to grow around one of Russia’s most important monasteries, the Trinity Lavra, founded by St. Sergius of Radonezh. Sergiev Posad is now one of Russia’s main religious centres. However, the day for us was just not that exciting. For one thing, it took much longer than expected to get there, and when we did we were starving (it was lunchtime), and spent the first hour in McDonalds. We then went to see the cathedrals, but by that time it felt like we had seen so many cathedrals, and it was so incredibly cold, that I couldn’t really be bothered paying attention to it all. Also, our guide had such an annoying voice haha.
In Sergeiv Postad.
That evening, however, was lovely. After we got back to Moscow, we went out for coffee, before meeting the rest of the group for our final farewell dinner, as it was to be our last night in Russia. It was so nice, up high in a lovely restaurant. We toasted to the trip and to each other, and enjoyed four delicious courses. Dinner, again, stretched on until midnight, and it was sad to think that this was our last one in this crazy, incredible, fascinating country. Afterwards, four of us went back to the hotel and ate chocolate until four in the morning, just chatting; laughing; reflecting.
The Farewell Dinner.
The Farewell Dinner.
The Farewell Dinner.
Sunday, October 18th: This morning we jumped on the bus, and headed straight for the airport. After eating some cheap airport food (which was not fantastic) we checked in our luggage, looked in Duty Free and boarded the plane. Our trip had finally drawn to an end. Oh Russia, what a bizarre place you are. Overall, we had such a wonderful time. We met some great new people from all parts of the world, we saw a country that some of us may never have the opportunity to see again, and we learnt about one of the most interesting populaces, and colourful history, of the world. To anyone thinking of going, do it. There’s nothing else like it. There really isn’t. Just be prepared for what comes: Be prepared to be yelled at frequently in a language you do not understand and for reasons you do not understand. Be prepared to live in compromised security. Be prepared to have your eyes opened and your mind blown. Be prepared, for Russia.
Københavns Universitet: Russia Tour, Fall 09
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