We got off the train at Moscow Belorusskaya station to some
glorious sunshine and some temperatures which belied the snow we had seen on
our way in and then braced ourselves for our first initiation – navigating the
metro system in Cyrillic. Obviously we
were leaving Moscow from a different station and it seemed prudent to leave our
unwieldy luggage at our departing station.
This proved to be a bit more difficult than in other countries . . .
Getting a ticket was no problem (thank you English
translation!) and the metro map was also translated into the Roman alphabet so
we could identify our destination. From
there it got a little trickier because once you enter the metro all the signs
are in Cyrillic which proved far more of a challenge. Add to that the fact that the numbers on the
metro train do not match the number of the line and that lead to two very
hopeful women getting on a metro train trying to remember if the Cyrillic name
memorised was on the sign with a long list of what were potentially
stations . . . however our seasoned public transport skills
obviously stood us in good stead because we successfully navigated the metro to
our destination – score!!
Now we were veterans of the metro system we quickly dropped
off our luggage and hopped back on the metro to Red Square which is obviously
the first destination for old students of Russian history. Unfortunately Lenin’s tomb is closed on a
Monday which meant great disappointment for Fern who was unable to add him to
her list of embalmed Communist dictators she’s seen.
Given that it was fast approaching Elevenses time, and we
hadn’t had time for breakfast or more importantly any caffeine, we went in
search of a coffee shop in the guide book because it was the first coffee chain
in Moscow. More importantly it was
supposed to have wifi access and we obviously wanted to upload the previous
blog posts. So wandered along one of the
main roads, and wandered, and wandered. Not only was the scale on the map
immense, but it turned out the whole block had been demonlished so no coffee
shop, and no coffee. Spirits were dangerously
low.
Returning to the guidebook and saw that Café Pushkin (one of
the places to be seen, as the line of chauffeur driven cars outside attested) was not too far away
and not too far away turned out to be just around the corner. Walking inside to the wooden Russia décor
decorated with lots of beautiful ceramic pots, e also got our first taste of
Russian mannerisms as the Russian hostess instantly barked at “Coats. Downstairs”.
Having descended a dimly lit stone stairwell a heavily bearded man wished us Dobra Otra
and (probably) asked for our coats in Russian.
Once we returned to the main restaurant we were seated at a
table in the conservatory area, having walked past the back of the restaurant
which was exceptionally sumptuous with an excess of red velvet and dim
lighting.We were the only people in this area apart from a small Russia family
who kept being brought a huge array of sumptuous looking food, which was boding
well for our brunch. And when it came .
. . well, as you can see it was
definitely well worth the wait!
Although towards the end
of the meal we did notice that the father from the Russian family moved to another
table to talk with another man and some serious looking notepads and were
wondering if this was our close brush with the Russian mafia.
Feeling suitably refreshed we then thought that we better
launch ourselves into being proper tourist and went to the Armoury museum in
the Kremlin via a walk past the Lubyanka and the Bolshoi. Now we know that a few of you may be
surprised by our choice here but all should become clear when we explain that
the Armoury is the home of Russian bling collected by the Church and State rather
than purely being a collection of different types of armour J It was a truly
stupendous amount of gold, silver and precious jewels on display combined with
some incredible craftsmanship, however we have to confess to being entranced by
the Trans-Siberian Faberge egg. As we
left Alice was distinctly murmuring about needing some more bling in her home
to complement the Faberge egg collection she was about to start amassing!
After this the hunt for a café with wifi continued so that
we could post our blog updates . . . the guide book insisted that there were
two internet cafes right next to the Kremlin in the underground shopping centre
. . . however we searched high and low to no avail starting to think bad
thoughts about the guide book! However
we decided to follow one of the walks that they recommended on the way to the
banya. This lead us to see some
interesting sites such as the oldest English house in Moscow which used to be
the English embassy (see photo below) and the old Stock Exchange, but more
importantly ended up walking us past a coffee house which had free wifi at the
cost of the most expensive coffee that either of us had ever come across!
This did however leave us revived enough to continue our
cultural experiment as we ventured into a Russian banya . . . now we knew how
the British spa’d and how the German’s spa’d we were thought that we were ready
to see how the Russian did it. However
this level of confidence was slightly shaken as we were handed our birch twigs
as we headed towards the steam room . . . We eased ourselves into the
experience with a quick steam followed by a plunge in an icy cold bath before
we got up the courage to break out the birch branch, but when in Rome and all
that, and we were swiftly following suite and beating each other with birch in
the steam room. It wasn’t as painful as
it sounds and was bizarrely refreshing.
However we were congratulating ourselves on our competence too early . .
.
We had been wondering at these strange towelling hats
everyone else had been sporting. One
such be-hatted lady came up to us, and
seeing that we were English, began to explain that the next steam would be very
hot and that we should also be wearing these strange hat contraptions. At this point one of the other Russian ladies
came over and interrupted to simply say “You’re English? Get out!” We hoped that this was more a case
of concern that we couldn’t bear the heat rather than an expression of
xenophobia! Overall, it was definitely a
new experience and we left with the definite feeling that now we had the hang
of how to banya it was definitely something that we wanted to do again.
Luckily we’d left ourselves plenty of time for dinner
because yet again the guidebook let us down with the two restaurant choices
that we’d made no longer in existence, however in fairness it did recommend a
Russian buffet chain which we seen earlier so we had just enough time to fill
our tummies with some Russian fare before a quick return to Red Square for a
final look before heading to the station to get the train for the first leg of
the Trans Siberian.
Sunday and Monday
Distance covered: 3097
km
Time zones crossed: 3
Borders crossed: 6
Books read: 2
Games of Wurdle played: At least 20 (top score of 5x5
Religious figure headcount: 7 (including a Russian Orthodox priest)
Time zones crossed: 3
Borders crossed: 6
Books read: 2
Games of Wurdle played: At least 20 (top score of 5x5
Religious figure headcount: 7 (including a Russian Orthodox priest)
NB All figures are cumulative
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