Russia and TransMongolian Train — Moscow

After a satisfying night of sleep, the “Red Arrow” brought me to the capital city, the city of Putin and of the onion roofed churches. My bunkmate kindly provided me with taxi and his contact in case I needed any help. One of the biggest surprises so far is how kind people are. All willing to help me in any way they can if I am in any trouble. Living in the States, all we hear about is Putin, but not his people. With such media influence, we tend to think that Russians are of evil spirits or of ill intent towards the American people. Based on my experience so far, such an idea is far from the truth. When they hear that I came from the U.S., they were all surprised at how far I have come. Then all the friendly questions ensued often asking whether I have come for the World Cup and if I can take pictures with them.

Just look at my guide Tatiana, very kind and patient individual. The young guide kindly answered all of my questions. Compared to Maria who was my guide in St.Petersburg, Tatiana represented the new and young generation of Russians born under the influence of Yeltsin’s pursuit of democratic Russia.

Tatianna brought me to the Tverskaya Street, one of the main avenues in Moscow to give an introduction of the city’s transformation under communist rule. This street was too narrow for a central street in a capital city so Communist party expanded it. To preserve the original buildings, they were physically lifted and moved back using a rolling-sliding system. Now, these shorter European style buildings are usually hidden behind the taller modern buildings. Some of them can still be seen today if you can find the right archway.

One of such European styled buildings that were moved using makeshift rails hiding behind the archway

Some of the taller buildings still have interesting histories. The most famous ones perhaps are the 7 Sisters. Legend has it that Stalin saw the Empire State Building and said Russia should have it too. He commanded to build 8 of these tall buildings in which 7 was successfully constructed. All 7 resembles the likeness of the Empire State building. To get a better view of them, we went to the top floor of the children’s toy mall.

The toy store was also filled with World Cup vibes!

Not only can you see the 7 Sisters, but also other important buildings such as the KGB building, the Kremlin churches, and the Christ the Saviour Church (largest orthodox church in Russia). From the aerial view, I can definitely see evidence of increased population in Moscow due to the World Cup. The tournament brought at least 1 million people to Moscow making it 19 million in population. Some of the streets were already crowded at 9:30 in the morning. On one such street was Nikolskaya Street. Decorated with a record amount of lights, this street was the unofficial World Cup Fanfest due to it’s convenient location to the Kremlin.

View from the top of the toy store.

Former KGB building. Still giving many the chills..

Kremlin is often used to describe the fortification in Moscow used as the presidential palace. However, such fortification is actually common in Russia and are all called the Kremlin. In fact, most of the big historic cities have their own Kremlins. Moscow’s Kremlin contains church for burial and coronation of the Ruriks and a few of the Romanovs before Peter the Great. A very important historical figure who is also buried here is Ivan the Terrible, last emperor of the Ruriks. In addition to conquering Russia and centralizing all the power, he also commissioned to build the most iconic church of all Russia, St.Basil’s Cathedral. The most famous onion church of all onion churches was built to glorify Ivan the Terrible’s victories. Perhaps it’s because of World Cup, lines are an hour and a half to 2 hours long. Tatiana said lines are slightly better when it’s not the world cup. I would highly recommend anyone who comes here to be prepared to stand in line for a while.

The onion domes of St. Basil’s

Nowadays a new military symbol on the Red Square is also worth visiting, the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Each hour, there will be a changing of the guard. You can catch them wearing the traditional big Russia military hats. The selection of these soldiers is very strict. Tatianna said a lot of the Russian girls swoon over these guardsmen because they are usually good looking and over 2 meters tall.

Exchange of the Guardsmen

Fun fact: red in Russian actually means beautiful. The Red Square actually means the beautiful square. The red bricks of the Kremlin wall were added on later for fortification purposes.

Everything around the Red Square was well… red

There are quite a few museums inside the Kremlin, but the most famous two are the Diamond Fund and the Armory. The armory usually has long lines because of the crowns and the Faberge Eggs. During my visit, I found the particularly jubilant of the eggs are actually displayed in St.Petersburg. I personally found both museums equally interesting. The crown of Catherine the Great is in the Diamond Fund so don’t miss out! (The armory takes reservation during none World Cup season so you definitely should do that instead of standing in summer’s long lines.)

The first churches and the Tsar’s Canon

The Armory and the Diamond fund are actually in the same building

I finished the day with a walk to Christ the Saviour Cathedral along the Moskova River. Many chose to use their scooters. Russian cities are usually quite big and flat, I highly recommend using rental bikes or scooters if you can get your credit card registered for payment(which was a constant pain.)

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Scooters for hire!

Tonight there is also an elimination round match between Argentina and France. The Red Square and the Nikolskaya Street are the places to be. So without further due, here are the world cup fans at Moscow.

Day 2 at Moscow

Next day at Moscow I packed in the State Tretyakov Gallery Museum, the Arbat, and Novodevichy Covenant before watching the crucial match between Russia and Spain.

The State Tretyakov Gallery housed some of Russia’s best art pieces. It’s especially worth visiting if you are a fan of Mikhail Vrubel. The piece The “Princess of Dream” was certainly one of the most stunning pieces by Russia artists.

Inside the galley. You can rent an audio guide to help you better understand the art pieces

As for the Arbat, it was a high-end residence for some of the old time Russian aristocrats and merchants. Now, it is a famous street for art and souvenir shopping. Here you can also find some of the most talented street musicians.

The famous Arbat

One of the graffiti wall

Talented musicians playing on the Arbat

After a brief stop at the Arbat, I quickly rushed to the metro station to get to the Covenant. After some struggles with the temporary changing metro stops, I started to understand what Tatianna meant by saying that sometimes Moscow traffic can be terrible due to constant events. The metro station I needed to get off was closed due to the football match. The streets were blocked and the buses stopped. I resorted to walking 45 minutes to the covenant from the second closest metro station. The covenant, however, was under repairs.

It is worth noting that metro stations in Russia were generally lavishly decorated. There are actually tours you can take to see all the stations. Here are some pictures of them.

(Note: In Russian, summer is the best season to go but a lot of historical churches will be under repairs. This is because they can’t do it during the bitter winter. Don’t be too upset if you see a lot of scaffolding.)

Trying to get to the Moscow Fanfest was even harder. Apparently due to the game been play in Moscow and Russia is playing, the Fanfest closed 2 hours before the match started. After scrambling for an hour, I finally made it into the Fanfest in the 65^th minute of the match. It was the day that Russian celebrated, against all odds, they beat the Spanish during a penalty shootout. Glasses were raised all throughout the country and celebration went all through the night.

Here are some pictures at the Fanfest on the Sparrow Hill. Other than a fanfest spot, it also offers great views of one of the 7 Sisters tower and to the Moscow city center.

The excited Russian fans after the match marched along the Moskva River from the Fanfest. Celebrations continued onto the streets and into the metros.