After a really pleasant night, we arrived to Moscow early in the morning. Anastasia checked for me with the people in the information office in Moscow train station and, indeed, the border between Belarus and Russian (country #32) is open so I didn’t need a stamp. Now I could stop freaking out.
We walked together to the metro station, she kindly helped me buy my ticket and once we got to the metro we said goodbye, at least for now.
The Russian metro itself, is a must see, it’s just beautiful. Usually underground stations always look the same but in Moscow, WOW, the ceilings, the columns, the stairs, I just wanted to take a picture of everything. I definitely recommend doing a few trips just to go see different stations. There is a tour company that even offers a tour around it.
Once again, traveling in metro was fine so I managed to get to the hostel at 7 am and my check in wasn’t until 2pm. I decided to leave my backpack there and walk around Kitai Gorod.
Kitai Gorod is the area where the Kremlin and the Red Square are, even though in Russian it means China Town, there was nothing Chinese about it. My hostel was just 15/20 minutes walking distance away, amazing location to be honest. Even though it was so central it was on a really quiet street, so it was just what I needed.
I walked straight, just how the receptionist told me and I got there. OMG! It’s so beautiful I couldn’t believe it, I was actually there. I was in the Red Square, the place that I’ve seen in pictures so many times. The Kremlin, Lenin Mausoleum, the St. Basil’s Cathedral, the GUM (an expensive shopping centre), everything was there in front of me. It was not even 9 in the morning so the square was kind of empty, just perfect later it gets super crowded. I found a place to sit and contemplate everything, it was just breath taking. I only dreamt of these places before, and now I was finally there.
I then walked down Alexander’s Gardens sat on the benches, there are benches EVERYWHERE. I love that. So whenever I feel like it I could just take a break, sit down and take a minute to appreciate where I was. I still couldn’t believe it, it was going to take me some time.
I kept walking around and I ended up across the street from the Bolshoi Theatre, the Opera and Ballet House. I was sitting, AGAIN, on the Revolution Square where you can find a statue of Karl Marx. I stayed there for a few minutes and saw this Chinese tour take a picture making ballerina poses, 15 people, men and women doing this, it was just so funny.
Between the gates to the Red Square and the Alexander’s Gardens there were all these stands selling different things, ice creams, drinks, food, there were fruit sculptures everywhere, and jam jars as well. You had a chilling area with really cool chair, but of course all the kids got there first so I couldn’t sit on any. I had no idea what was going on but I then found out that there was a Summer Festival going on. It looked really nice and a lot of fun. People were coming with their families, children were running and by midday the place was crowded.
I walked for around 6 hours that morning and called it a day. I needed to prepare for the days coming (an 80 hour train ride), do my laundry (I had nothing clean to wear) and a bunch of other things. I needed to look and feel like a person again.
For my 2nd day in Moscow I decided to do a free walking tour around the main tourist attractions. A lot of people don’t like doing tours and believe me I understand but I like doing these kind of tours, I like understanding what I’m looking at, I like knowing why this “thing” that I’ve seen so many times in picture is important. And considering that I don’t have much money, this kind of tours give me the opportunity to do it because I usually can’t afford the paid ones.
I used Moscow Free Tour, it was the only company that I could find but they also had good reviews and anyways, it was free so I didn’t have anything to lose. The group was really big so they had to split us and, lucky for me, I had Irina as my tour guide. This little Muscovite that talks about the city with a lot of passion, a lot of jokes (Russian humour is very interesting) and a lot of fun facts.
Most of the things that we visited I had already seen the day before, but at least now it made more sense. A little class history is always good to understand a country and their culture. We saw a lot of churches, Russian churches are always so beautiful, the shapes, the onion shaped domes, the colours, just wonderful. We also saw the Romanov house before they became royalty, they used to be just a noble family before that.
We walked past the Alexander’s Gardens, it is such a lovely place, with flowers, and fountains with sculptures and a fake bridge that everybody goes to to take pictures on. I would go there every day if I could.
The tour ended at the entrance of the Kremlin but after almost 3 hours I took a break and went to have lunch. On the way back I stopped at one of the Summer Festival stands and tried Kvass (original rye bread drink), its a typical drink here in Russia and one of my friends told me that I had to try it. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either it has a weird taste, its bitter but sweet at the same time. Its really hard to describe but if you can, try it and let me know what you think ;).
After, I went to the Kremlin, I couldn’t not go there! I wasn’t expecting what I saw inside, the State Kremlin Palace, the Senate, The Grand Kremlin Palace, the Cathedral Square (where you can find a lot of churches with a lot of history and magnificent paintings inside) and the Secret Gardens, which is a beautiful park where you can go for a stroll or, guess what, take a seat on one of the benches and enjoy the day. You can imagine that security levels in this place are really high, they kept telling people off for walking in the wrong place. Everything is extremely clean and they were restoring some of the buildings. Even though it was a bit expensive I don’t regret it, I really enjoyed it, and it was money well spent.
I always wanted to go to Moscow but, to be honest, it was much more than what I expected. Even though I didn’t speak the language, or even understand it, I could find my way around. It was fairly easy to travel from one place to the other. The city in general is just amazing, the buildings, the colours, and such a big, busy place. I was surprised to see sooooo many American Diners, everywhere you go you’ll find one, not that it’s a bad thing (or a good thing either), it’s just that I wasn’t expecting it.
When I told people I was coming here the most frequent question that they ask is “why?” to which I answer “why not?”
People have a misconception about Russians being too serious, too rude and with no sense of humour. With grey, concrete cities, where it’s always cold and nothing ever happens.
I haven’t travelled much in Russia but I do believe that it has a lot to offer, come on its the biggest country in the world and their countryside, the nature is just unbelievable.
Russians are extremely friendly and helpful, they are warm people ready to help. The thing is that they just keep to themselves, once they get to know you and they like you they open up.
One thing that is true is that they don’t smile, they don’t smile to be polite, like we do. They smile to their friends, they smile if they like you, they smile if they know you. Somebody told me “A Russian’s smile is never fake, their smile is always sincere”, it’s always genuine. And I agree with that 100%. Once you interact a few times things are completely different.
I always wanted to come here and I don’t regret it not even one bit. Russia is on the top of my list now.