Russia

In 2004 I went to Russia with Andrew, a friend and future roommate in Prague.  We started out by flying into Moscow and battling through the customs at the airport.  No organized lines just a mass of people trying to push their way to the front of the line.  After getting through that and collecting our luggage, which had been waiting so long it wasn't even on the conveyer belt any longer, we headed out to find our ride to the apartment.  We spotted the driver with our names and he led us to his car, a beaten up broken down Lada.  Now he didn't speak English and his car looked like it would fall apart if we hit a squirrel so we were not getting a good impression of Moscow.  This got worse as we pulled up the front of the apartment I rented and saw a burned out car (the next day it was on it's side).  An English speaking girl who worked for the owner of the Apartment met us at the front and commented that they car wasn't there the day before, great news.  As she led us in the door to the lobby you could smell urine and next to the elevator there was a bunch of garbage and a used (very used) mattress.  We took the elevator up to the apartment with much trepidation, but the apartment itself turned out to be OK. 

After getting some directions we decided to head out and sightsee.  As we went talking we passed the entrance to the metro and saw another wonderful sight, a male bum punching out a female bun, or maybe I should say homeless person.  The fight wasn't really that bad they were both drunk and couldn't really hit the broad side of a barn.  More concerning to us was that there were two police men standing 10 feet away ignoring the whole thing.  We kept going and didn't look back.  We walked a really long time and finally got to Red Square where we took some pictures and walked around for a bit.  Then we decided to head back to the apartment.  After getting a little lost and walking about an hour we finally found the place and relaxed for a while.  In the evening we went hunting for a place to eat and ended up at a Mexican restaurant near Red Square.  The Chimichunga wasn't bad, and the three Russians at the table next to us were quite entertaining.  One of them was drinking Tequila like water and was already quite drunk, his friends were trying to get him to stop but he kept trying to order another bottle.  It was good entertainment.  After dinner we made the mistake of trying to get a taxi back to the apartment.  The driver didn't speak English, didn't understand our map and got completely lost.  We finally had him pull over at a place that looked familiar and we found our own way home.  That was the first and last official taxi we tried.  From then on we would step off the curb and hold our hand out.  A private car would stop within a couple minutes and we would get in, show them the map and off we went.  While scary the first time it worked and we used it. 

We were there during the Euro Cup Soccer matches so we often would go to a bar to watch the games.  Some of the expat bars were quite wild and all of them full of beautiful women, but none of them smiling.  In fact no one in Moscow seemed to smile.  All the men wore dark clothes and walked around with a stone face, very intimidating.  After a lot of sightseeing and some roller coasters in Gorky Park we left the apartment for the train station where we were going to catch the train to Saint Petersburg.  As we pulled into the train station two women started fighting, grabbing each others hair and throwing punches.  I found it oddly appropriate that we should leave to the same scene we arrived to. 

The train ride to St. Petersburg was very nice.  beautiful scenery but after Moscow Andrew and I were a little worried about what we would find.  We needn't be, though the person meeting us was a bit late he took us straight to the apartment and it was much better outside.  Inside it was beautiful, big and comfortable.  We did a lot of walking around St. Petersburg and say the Hermitage and the canals.  This brings up a lesson learned, Andrew is great navigating Metro lines, land tours, etc. but not water related tours.  We wanted to tour the canals so he said he would take care of it.  He bought some tickets and we got on the boat.  As we left everyone else settled down for a ferry ride and didn't seem interested in the scenery, which was odd for a tour boat.  The we started heading out to open sea.  Where were we going???  Turned out we were going to an island that had the Peterhof, a summer palace for the Czar of Russia.  So we took advantage of the visit to walk around and take some pictures before returning to the city.  The next day we tried again and Andrew got us on a tour boat, unfortunately we could not sit outside on the one day it didn't rain, we were cooped up in a glass enclosed boat and the guide didn't speak English, just Russian.  So while the sights were nice we didn't understand a thing she said.  Finally the tour was supposed to last an hour which was perfect as we had a train to catch.  It actually lasted close to two hours and we had to run back to the apartment to meet our ride.  I was able to make one side stop to quickly buy some Vodka.

The train out of Saint Petersburg was nice and there was only one small incident.  At the city before the border crossing Russian Customs officers got on the train.  The walked through the cabins checking passports.  When they got to Andrew and I they took our passports then the woman looked at us and asked if we had anything to declare.  I said no, not really.  She looked at me and asked "do you have any alcohol?"  I said there was a bottle in my bag which was on the rack above me.  She looked at the bag, then at me, then back at the bag, shrugged and handed us our passports.  She proceeded to the guy in front of us where she asked the same thing.  He said he didn't have anything to declare.  She looked at him, then the bag and said "open bag".  She then proceeded to go through everything in the suitcase taking it out and inspecting it.  When she left the cabin Andrew looked at me in shock and I smiled.  In my back were about 11 bottles of Vodka :-) 

Our welcome to the apartment we rented in Moscow, a burned out car at the front door and stale urine smell in the lobby.

Me in Red Square in front of St. Basil's.  Probably the most identifiable icon of Russia.  On the left is the GUM department store, a beautiful collection of shops and restaurants that use to house the Communist bureaucracy.

This is the inside of the GUM department store.

Saint Basil's from the back side.

At the other end of Red Square is this building, the Historical Museum. 

Stalinist Gothic Skyscraper of Moscow State University

This is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier located just outside the wall of the Kremlin.

We were lucky enough to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Very precise movement and very interesting.

This is the entrance to Amusement area of Gorky park where they had roller coasters, a Ferris wheel, animals and a lake you could rent boats on.

This is a map of the amusement park.

Andrew enjoying one of the roller coasters in Gorky Park.

Look familiar?  This was one of the Russian prototypes of a space shuttle to compete with ours.  It is now a restaurant in Gorky Park.  They probably replaced motion sickness with food poisoning. 

I believe this is the former home of the KGB.  It is certainly an imposing structure that screams bureaucracy

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The Bolshoy Theater with its famous "Apollo in the Chariot of the Sun" Status on top.

Statue of Peter the Great located in the Moscow river.

For more pictures of Russia click on the link for St. Petersburg