09.03.2018
“Moskau, Moskau! Wirf die Gläser an die Wand! Russland ist ein schönes Land! Hohohohoho – HEY! … Moskau, Fremd und geheimnisvoll, Türme aus rotem Gold, Kalt wie das Eis. Moskau! Doch wer dich wirklich kennt, der weiß, ein Feuer brennt in dir so heiß!” Almost every German knows that song! I love it!
The train arrived in Moscow Kurskaya Station right on time at 22:10. Jeez, so many people! Nevertheless, my transfer driver found me quickly – it must be the funny yellow jacket… Arriving in the capital city there was even a security check leaving the station.
The drive to the hotel took only about 20 min going through the city center. Kremlin, Red Square and the St. Basil’s Cathedral were lit up beautifully. I was so excited to be back in Moscow. Moscow is the capital and most populous city of the Russia, with 12.2 mio residents within the city limits and is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis in the world.
My hotel Arbat House Melodia was very centrally located, check in was quick and my room at the 5th floor has a nice view. I could even glimpse the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
After the long train ride from Novosibirsk and the day in Nizhni Novgorod I of course was very happy to see there was a bathtub in my room and I took a bath before bedtime.
10.03.2018
I was awake early out of excitement of being in Moscow. At 09:00 I had an appointment in the lobby. My friend Dima – who unfortunately had to attend ITB in Berlin that week and was therefore not in Moscow – had sent somebody to bring my tickets for the Bolshoi Theatre. Dima had found me very good reasonably priced seats for 2 performances and a colleague of him brought them and collected the money. When in Moscow I had to see the Bolshoi again.
Breakfast in the hotel was very good, I had a window seat and it was snowing outside – great …. Then I went off walking towards the Red Square. The hotel is located very close to everything. It was not far to walk.
I walked along the Kremlin wall past the the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with the Eternal Flame, which is a memorial, dedicated to the Soviet soldiers killed during World War II.
The Red Square had not changed, but did look different in winter. The name Red Square originates apparently neither from the pigment of the surrounding bricks nor from the link between the colour red and communism. Rather, the name came about because the Russian word красная (krasnaya), which means both “red” and “beautiful,” was applied to a small area between St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Spassky Tower of the Kremlin, and the herald’s platform called Lobnoe Mesto, but Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich officially extended the name to the entire square.
They already started to clean up the packed snow from the square. The sun came out a little bit, yet it was still snowing some. I took so many photos! I love St. Basil’s Cathedrale with it’s onion domes and bright colours. It was built in the 16th century on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. Today it is a museum. The building is shaped as a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky, they said.
The Spasskaya Tower translated as ‘Saviour Tower’, is the main tower on the eastern wall of the Moscow Kremlin which overlooks the Red Square.
However, I had to go into thy GUM to warm up. -8°C and I was freezing! Even though I had almost all the clothes on as usual, but the cold did seem to be different from Siberia. It was a more humid cold here and therefore I was much colder than before. GUM was the main department store in many cities of the former Soviet Union during the Soviet era. The most famous GUM was here in Moscow facing the Red Square. At the end of the Soviet era, GUM was privatized and in 2005 was sold to Bosco di Ciliegi, a Russian luxury boutique operator. The GUM was already decorated in spring colours. I always felt kind of out of place in the GUM, though, because it had all the very fancy and expensive shops in it and masses of tourists taking photos. Oh wait, I am a tourist, too!
Even with this weather, around the Red Square everything was set for tourists. And there were still a lot of tour groups around, not as many as in summer, but still many. Touts in traditional dresses and uniforms were everywhere trying to sell theatre tickets or just giving photo opportunities (of course for a price). So you could see tsars, Lenin and Stalin all together in one spot.
I went walking towards the Bolshoi Theatre. My first ticket was for this evening and I wanted to refresh my memory of the way to get there so not to get lost in the dark. On the Theatre Square was a demonstration going on. The election was going to take place on March 18 and it was a campaign rally of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and there was a sea of red flags.
A good portion of the square was fenced off and a lot of police was around. I wondered, if they had chosen the square deliberately because of the Karl Marx Monument which says “Proletarians of all countries, unite”. Most probably, they did.
I went to the metro station Ploshchad Revolyutsii, which is one of the most famous metro stations in Moscow. It has red and yellow marble arches resting on low pylons faced with black Armenian marble. Each arch has a pair of bronze sculptures showing the people of the Soviet Union, including soldiers, farmers, athletes, writers, aviators, industrial workers, and schoolchildren. There are a total of 76 sculptures in the station – I did not count them, though.
One of the sculptures shows a soldier with his dog. Of course I had to touch the dog’s nose – as millions of others had done before – for good luck. The lucky dog’s nose was all shine already! I watched people for a while and almost nobody walked by the dog without a touch.
One metro journey was RUB 55. I could not get the ticket machine to give me a ticket, but at the counter it was no problem. I got off at station Partisanskaya because I wanted to visit the Izmaylovsky Market. It is a little bit away from the city center. First I walked in the wrong direction from the metro station. But therefore I found the I Love Moscow sign.
Then I just followed other people and saw the Izmaylovky Kremlin, the buildings that look like old Russian architecture, with onion domes and lots of wood already from afar. It is a huge areal with replicas of famous houses and churches and a kitschy tsar’s palace as well as a big souvenir-antiques-flea-market.
Ancient relics or traditional Russian souvenirs – Izmailovsky market had it all – Matryoshkas, Soviet paraphernalia, antique samovars, badges, winter shawls, fur hats, postcards, books, old electronics, watches, paintings, bear skins, rugs from central Asia – you name it, it can be found there.
I easily spent the better part of the afternoon just wandering around among the stalls looking and admiring and buying. It was again a bit of a blast from the past seeing a lot of old things from the DDR and Soviet Union. Some of those pins I probably have still at home packed away in boxes.
I wanted to buy a couple matryoshkas, but there were soooooo many that I could not decide which one to take.
Adjacent to the market was the Kremlin of Izmailovo – “Kremlin” is the Russian word for “fortress” so there are many Kremlins in Russia.
This Kremlin also has some stores, restaurants and museums, including the Museum of the History of Vodka. If there is a Vodka Museum, I had to see it! Actually, finding the Izmailovsky market was just a side effect of going to the Vodka Museum.
The museum is not very big, but the exhibits gave the detailed and fun history of vodka in Russia and told about the role it plays in Russian society. The museum’s collection of different Vodka brands was very impressive. The Ticket was RUB 200 and included the tasting of 3 vodka liqueur concoctions in the end. I would have preferred to taste plain vodka, but well. I was already in heaven with all the different Vodka bottles for special occasions and in different shapes. There was even one in form of a hand grenade and a kalashnikoff.
And they had a stuffed bear as well. Somehow I associated Vodka always with cold Russian winters and bears, so it seemed fitting.
On the market I eventually decided on a couple of small matryoshkas to take home and bargained hard for a very real fake watch. That guy wanted RUB 7000, but I really wanted that watch. And we negotiated in a funny mix of English, Russian, German and sign language. I was probably his only customer today. It was cold and snowing and not many people were around on the market, even though it was a Saturday. Eventually, after walking away a few times and laughing a lot with the guy, I got the watch for RUB 4500 and we were both happy.
Back on the warm metro I went all the way through to station Smolenskaya because on the pedestrian Arbat Street is the Hard Rock Café Moscow and of course, I had to go there, too. They had 2 floors under renovation, but the bottom floor and bar were open. I took a Sangrita Berry Cocktail and a Ceasar Salad, which was very good. And because it was so nice and warm in there, I had another cocktail and then bought the obligatory Hard Rock pin.
I walked along Arbat Street to the hotel for a short break back. The Arbat is an approx. 1 km long pedestrian street in the historical centre of Moscow. It had existed since at least the 15th century, which makes it one of the oldest surviving streets of the Russian capital. Because of the many historic buildings, and due to the numerous artists who have lived and worked in the street, the Arbat had also become an important tourist attraction. Even in winter all the souvenir shops were open and paintings were sold on the street.
My first ticket for the Bolshoi Theatre was this evening at 19:00. Around 17:15 I left the hotel to walk to the theatre. I had left my bag behind, because bagpacks were not allowed in the theatre. For an aperitif I went to Hotel Metrople, which was near the theatre, and I had a Black Russian in the lobby bar.
Black Russian is one of my favourite cocktails, mainly because it has Vodka and coffee liqueur in it. This combination first appeared in 1949 and is ascribed to Gustave Tops, a Belgian barman, who created it at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels . Having one in the Hotel Metropole in Moscow seemed only fitting. What I love about the bars in Moscow is you always get a great selection of snacks with a cocktail. That counted as dinner tonight.
Right in time I reached the entrance to the Historic Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. The usual security check was quick, but I had to go through twice because there was still stuff in the many pockets of my funny yellow jacket. I had to go up to the 2nd balcony 3 floors up. The cloakroom was on the same level. My seat was in the second row in the center of the balcony and I had a spectacular view. I love the historical stage with its plush red velvet and gold deco.
The Bolshoi Theatre was originally designed and built in the beginning of the 19th century. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world. It is by far the world’s biggest ballet company, with more than 200 dancers. The main building of the theatre, rebuilt and renovated several times during its history, is a landmark of Moscow and Russia – its iconic neoclassical façade is depicted on the Russian 100-ruble banknote. In 2011, the Bolshoi re-opened after an extensive renovation. The renovation included restoring acoustics to the original quality, as well as restoring the original Imperial decor of the Bolshoi.
I was watching Giselle, a romantic ballet in two acts. Librettists Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier took their inspiration for the plot from a prose passage about the Wilis in De l’Allemagne, by Heinrich Heine, and from a poem called “Fantômes” in Les Orientales by Victor Hugo. The opera and ballet composer Adolphe Adam composed the music.
The ballet is about a peasant girl named Giselle, who dies of a broken heart after discovering her lover is betrothed to another. The Wilis, a group of mystic and supernatural women who dance men to death, summon Giselle from her grave. They target her lover for death, but Giselle’s great love frees him from their grasp.
During intermission I found the bar and treated myself to a glass of Russian Champagne. I felt a little bit out of place, because even though I had put on my cleanest trousers, pullover and jacket, I was way underdressed. For a visit to the Bolshoi Theatre everybody usually dressed up and I stood a little bit out of the crowed, unfortunately. But there had not been space in my suitcase for the little black dress… For a journey to the Siberian winter it seemed more feasible to pack thermal underwear….But well, I had paid my ticket like everybody else, there was no official dress code and I had not been turned away at the entrance either. The performance was beautiful and I really enjoyed it. At about 21:45 it was over.
I walked back to my hotel via the Red Square. All the buildings there were beautifully lit up at night. A sight to behold! I was once again rendered speechless.
Just before midnight I returned to the hotel. Shower, reflecting, sleep…..
11.03.2018
After breakfast this morning I found the bus stop for public bus #15 and for RUB 55 I went all the way to Novodevichi Monastery. It was situated a little bit outside the city center.
The monastery was under renovation, but I had been there before anyway and was only coming this way, because I wanted to visit the Novodevichi Cemetery, the most famous cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent and was inaugurated in 1898.
Under Soviet rule, burial in the Novodevichy Cemetery was second in prestige only to burial in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. Among the Soviet leaders, only Nikita Khrushchev was buried at the Novodevichy rather than at the Red Square. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin Wall is no longer used for burials and the Novodevichy Cemetery is used for only the most symbolically significant burials. For example, in 2007 the first President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin was buried here. Today, the cemetery holds the tombs of Russian authors, musicians, playwrights, and poets, as well as famous actors, political leaders, and scientists.
I had visited the cemetery already a couple times in summer, but now in winter it was quite interesting as well. Whilst in the city centre most of the snow had been cleared away already, the cemetery was well snowed in! There was so much snow here.
They had cleared the main pathways and people had made small tracks in between the rows of graves, but the snow piled high everywhere. Nevertheless, I found a lot of the most famous graves anyway. Yeltsin’s monumental tombstone was still totally snowed over and Nikulin’s dog was hardly visible under all the snow.
There was a new section which I had not seen before as well. Not that I knew any of the people buried there, but the tombstones were all special and beautiful. Russians have this thing for monumental tombstones with statues, photos or busts.
Walking around the park like ambience was like walking in a winter wonderland.
From there I took public bus M3 to the Chathedrale of Christ the Saviour, which is with an overall height of 103 m the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world. The current church was built between 1995 and 2000.
The church is really huge. I did not go inside, but walked around it. From the Partiarshy pedestrian Bridge there was a great view of the cathedral but also over the still icy Moskva River towards the Kremlin in the distance.
I walked from there back toward the Kremlin and passed some interesting murals on the way. I did not visit the Kremlin this time around since I had been there several times before.
Looking for lunch I ended up at the Hotel Metropole Lobby Bar again and treated myself to a very tasty Carpaccio and a White Russian cocktail. Very yummy!
My next “appointment” with the Bolshoi Theatre was coming up that afternoon at 14:00. I had a ticket for the Sunday matinee at the New Stage which is located in a building beside the historical house. The security guy was the same as last night and he did a double take on me recognizing my yellow jacket and grinned widely. I had to drop off not only my jacket but also my bagpack at the cloak room. This time I had a great seat in the center of parterre for “The Idiot”, a Russian opera in 4 acts by Mieczysław Weinberg. The opera was created in 1986/87 and the libretto by Alexander Medwedew is based on Fjodor Dostojewskis novel “The Idiot”. The title is an ironic reference to the central character of the novel, PrinceLev Nikolaevich Myshkin, a young man whose goodness, open-hearted simplicity and guilelessness lead many of the more worldly characters he encounters to mistakenly assume that he lacks intelligence and insight.
Lucky there were English subtitles running along on monitors next to the stage. Of course, I had totally forgotten to read up on the story before….. But that is typical me…. Anyway, I only went to see the Bolshoi Theatre New Stage again. Nevertheless, the performance was outstanding, it was as beautiful as expected and lasted until approx. 17:30. Unfortunately, probably the last time in Bolshoi Theatre for me in a very long time….
During intermission of course I had a Russian Champagne again. Here at the New Stage for a Sunday matinee I did not feel as out of place as last night at the Historical Stage. People were still dressed up, but not as much as for an evening performance. The New Stage is smaller and the decor is more silvery grey and green. But it is still beautiful. The bar menu, prices and all staff are the same as in the Historical Stage. I guess, it is just a smaller venue. I was not sure if I had been here before. While working the cruises on the Volga River we often had the chance to accompany guests who booked the Bolshoi Theatre and got tickets for a reduced price. Hey, getting the chance to see a Bolshoi performance for holding hands and making sure everybody got back on the correct transfer and to the ship alright, was not too bad. And a couple times there was no performance at the Historical Stage, so we took guests to the New Stage. While it is not as outstanding as the Historical Stage you were still at the Bolshoi and got the Bolshoi treatment. I remember, the year I worked the Volga River cruises I attended more cultural events than ever before, because every week we would have 5 or 6 overnights either in Moscow or St.Petersburg and if there was a Bolshoi performance on one of the nights there was no time for the guests to go because they were flying in or out or there was another excursion like Moscow by Night or such, we would buy tickets and go alone just because. Nothing beats the Bolshoi!
On the way out I could not pass the Bolshoi Theatre Souvenir Boutique … I had to have a Bolshoi tea cup. One other thing I do apart from having cocktails in fancy places – I buy tea or coffee cups in famous places. A Bolshoi tea cup was a must and it would still fit in the suitcase. After all I was almost at the end of my grand adventure ….sadly ….
Being still in awe I walked back towards the hotel.
12.03.2018
This morning the weather was miserable – wet, snowy rain and cold. After breakfast I decided to go on a Metro Tour. I had researched and remembered which of the Moscow metro stations were the most beautiful and special, then I marked them on the metro map and off I went on a strategically ingenious tour. On one ticket for RUB 55 I went for 2.5 hrs all around the city’s metro system, getting on and off and changing lines on various stations.
The Moscow Metro opened in 1935 with one 11 km line and 13 stations. It was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2018, the Moscow Metro has 214 stations and its route length is 364.9 km, making it the 6th longest and one of the most heavily used systems in the world, moving more than 9 Mio people per day and there is free WIFI on all trains. The system is mostly underground, with the deepest section 84 m underground at the Park Pobedy station, one of the world’s deepest.
Much of the design and artworks within the stations show the Soviet Union’s greatest achievements and historical milestones as well as paying homage to Russia’s diverse artistic, literary and architectural legacy. Every station has a unique design indicative of the era and political leader of the time. Stories of Russia’s history that made you want to keep exploring these “subterranean palaces”. Lined with marble and decorated with chandeliers, intricate mosaic artworks, heroic statues and gilded trimmings, the Moscow Metro stations are not merely decorated – they are works of art.
Mayakovskaya station was used as a bomb shelter during WW II, a hospital and even a supreme command headquarters. This was later shown in the mosaics in the centre of each dome.
At some point I took a wrong train and had to swap again to return. So accidentally I found Minskaya, one of the modern stations with a pretty cool design.
By far the fanciest of all the stations is Komsomolskaya, which feels more like a grand ballroom than a metro station. Opened in 1952 this baroque masterpiece honours the memory of great military leaders of the Soviet Union in the gilded mosaics on the ceilings and walls.
The Novoslobodskaya Station was designed around 32 stain glass panels, each surrounded by brass frames. The concept was to create the impression of an underground crypt.
Belorusskaya metro station was opened in 1938 as part of the second stage of the Moscow Metro. Here 12 octagonal mosaics show scenes from Belarusian daily life.
The mosaics decorating the 18 pylons of Kievskaya metro station have the 300 years of history between Russia and the Ukraine as theme. The station was opened in 1953.
One of the newer stations I visited was Dostoyevskaya metro station which was opened in 2010. The station’s decor elements show scenes of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” along with many other scenes (including illustrations of “The Idiot”).
After some 2.5 hrs I was pretty much kaputt from walking so much. While I had used only one metro ticket, changing the metro lines and walking the connections between the stations was exhausting. I believed I walked almost as many kilometers as I rode on the metro. I visited about 14 metro stations and I eventually got off at Oktyabrskaya. Near that station was a Lenin Statue. I had to have a last traditional photo of it!
The weather was still not much better and I took a public bus a few stops to visit the Peter the Great Statue. It is a 98-metre-high monument to Peter the Great, located at the western tip of Bolotny Island between the Moskva River and the Vodootvodny Canal. It commemorates 300 years of the Russian Navy, which Peter the Great established. It was inaugurated in 1997 and is the eighth-tallest statue in the world. It was pretty impressive with Peter the Great standing in the bow of his ship. Unfortunately, the platform around it was closed due to ice on the walkways.
Later I took the public bus again to Pushkin Square close to which the famous Café Pushkin is located. More than 50 years ago, the legendary French chansonnier Gilbert Bécaud performed in Moscow. When he returned to Paris he wrote the song “Natalie” and dedicated it to his Russian guide. The song goes: “We are walking around Moscow, visiting Red Square, and you are telling me learned things about Lenin and the Revolution, but I’m thinking, ‘I wish we were at Café Pushkin, looking at the snow outside the windows. We’d drink hot chocolate, and talk about something completely different…’”. The song became incredibly popular in France, and it is no wonder that French visitors to Moscow tried to find “Café Pushkin”. They couldn’t find it as it existed only as a poetic fantasy in Bécaud’s song. But it was the song that inspired Andrei Dellos, an artist and restaurateur with Franco-Russian roots, to create “Café Pushkin.” In 1999, “Café Pushkin” opened in a Baroque mansion on Tverskoy Boulevard. At the grand opening, Gilbert Bécaud performed his world-famous song “Natalie”.
It seemed like a good place to have lunch. From outside I almost did not recognize it as a restaurant. In the small lobby a security guy grimly pointed me to the stairs – Cloakroom! – OK! I am going! The cloakroom guy was friendlier. It was a fancy historical building with a lot of dark wood, brass lamps and green plush. The washroom was right around the corner there as well and I was stunned. White porcelain sinks, toilet bowls and old fashioned toilet flush and everything had beautiful blue decor.
Back up in the restaurant – for lunch the “Pharmacy Hall” was open and I was seated on a nice table with a good view of the interior. The decor was here also with a lot of dark wood and red plush.
I decided on the business lunch offer with 3 courses and a glass of wine for RUB 1240. I chose millet pancakes with roe of the Karelian trout as starter and it was delicious. Since I was thirsty I ordered also a glass of fresh black current juice.
I had the Shchi Sauerkraut soup with veal as second course. It is a cabbage soup made with sauerkraut. That was also very good. After 2 courses I was almost full but the main course was outstanding again. I had chosen Beef-Stroganoff Style Black Dumplings. It looked so cool on the plate. And it tasted superb! The dumplings were filled with beef stroganoff and the sauce with it was so good! I ate everything and was happy they gave me an espresso after. The wine was good too and I had another glass of fresh Mors as well.
Walking back towards the hotel I visited one of the outlets of the Red October Chocolate Factory “Krasny Oktyabr”. Alyonka is one of the most famous chocolate bars from the Krasny Oktyabr factory and is produces since 1965. Today, they are still just as popular as when they just arrived on the market. The wrapper shows a blue-eyed girl wearing a traditional Russian head scarf, who is presumably “Alyonka”, an endearing form of the name Alyona. But they also produce a grand variety of fancy confectionary. I bought a lot of chocolate to take home and give a way.
I took a short break in the hotel and then went on a new mission. I took a public bus a few stops across the Moskva River to the famous Hotel Ukraina Raddison Blue. The Hotel Ukraina was part of Stalin’s Seven Sisters, a group of seven skyscrapers in Moscow designed in the Stalinist style and built from 1947 to 1953 in an elaborate combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles. Hotel Ukraina is with 198 m and 34 stories the second tallest of the “seven sisters”. It was the tallest hotel in the world from the time of its construction until 1976. The hotel opened in 1957. It closed in 2007 for a complete renovation and restoration, but maintained its original name and reopened in 2010.
On the 31st floor of the hotel is the Mercedes Bar and there I wanted to have a fancy cocktail. It opens only at 18:00 and therefore it was an evening mission. In the ground floor foyer I was sent by elevator to the 29th floor where a cloakroom was located. From there another elevator took me to the 31st floor.
The bar has great panoramic views of Moscow. I got a window seat on a high barstool with fantastic views over “Moscow City”. That is a commercial district in central Moscow and is currently still under development.
The first cocktail I tried was ZLS – at Mercedes Bar all cocktails are named after something that has to do with cars or such. Whatever ZLS is, I do not know, but the cocktail was very good. To stand on one leg is uncomfortable, so I took a second cocktail called 1886 which was also very good. All good things are 3 – the third cocktail I tried was Maria of Lake Mercedes. That one was special. It had cheese foam and strawberry pulp on top. I had never had cheese foam before, but the cocktail tasted somewhat like strawberry cheese cake. Oh well, at least it had alcohol inside, but it was more like a dessert.
While I was drinking it had gotten dark and it started snowing again and the view was interesting now, but I could not see the skyscrapers anymore. So after some 2.5 hrs up there I left and took a public bus back to the hotel.
My last night in Moscow!
