Leaving home at 01.30 hour son 21st I went by bus to Heathrow Airport and arrived early enough that there were no problems going through immigration but I was asked to show the Russia visa in my passport before being given a boarding pass. I found this a little odd especially as I was asked again when I transferred flights at Frankfurt. Anyway, arrival at Moscow was on time, I was through immigration and customs in 15 minutes and the taxi driver I had previously booked online (Gettransfer.com) was waiting for me. The drive into Moscow took a little more than an hour through snow and icy roads, not that it slowed down the driving as everyone drove at normal clear road speeds as far as I could figure out. There were snowplows by the dozen clearing the roads with front-end loaders then loading the snow into trucks to be taken away somewhere. The Marco Polo Hotel was expecting me, the only comment to be made was that it was too hot during the night.
The following morning I was told that it would take about 15 minutes to walk to the Red Square and although I walked slowly it still took nearly 2 hours to get there. Again the roads were being cleared and also the pavements and roofs. Smaller snowplows with brushes and salt spreaders were used on the pavements and on them and the roads manual labor was then used to clear up the bits that the machines missed. There were men on some of the roofs pushing off the snow, the reason being that the building owners did not want a build-up of snow on the roof as it could get too heavy and damage the roof.
Red Square had stalls, children’s fairground rides and an ice rink with lots of lights everywhere. There were quite a few people around and noticeably a number of security in plain clothes. There was no restriction on taking photos.
On my way back to the hotel in the dark I became lost and when I asked a security guard outside a club to show me where I was on a map (he did speak English) he decided the easiest thing to do was to phone for a taxi and when it came he told me that he had paid for it.
Later there was a meeting at the hotel with the group I was to travel with to St Petersburg. I had no idea before I arrived of how many would be in the group so was pleasantly surprised to find there were only four of us, an Australian woman working in Taiwan, an Australian woman from Melbourne, a Scot from London then the Russian woman guide named Ksenia. Ksenia was to stay with us the whole time from Moscow to St Petersburg. After a short meeting we all went out to dinner at a local Russian restaurant that the guide had chosen. Apparently the temperature during the day maxed at only –6C.
The tour officially started the following morning with an introduction to the Moscow Metro and a visit to the Kremlin, Mausoleum and Armory. For this we had a local guide who showed us around for 4 hours. Not much of the Kremlin could be seen as it was a secure area. The mausoleum had the body on Lenin on display (real or not is not known) and everyone had to walk slowly round, not stopping and not talking with a large number of guards watching everything. The name ‘Armory is a misnomer as it implies that only war/fighting items would be kept there. There are some but there is much more with exhibits of jewelry, gold and silver items given to the Czar by visiting diplomats, the Russian patriarch's vestry and icons, with some Faberge eggs and elaborately carved horse drawn carriages.
After lunch at an Ukrainian cafe we had a quick tour of some of the metro stations to see the elaborate paintings, stained glass windows, bronzes and carvings. The windows had been taken by the Russians from churches in a conquered territory and to show their disdain for the people had been installed in the metro.
Then it was back to see Red Square at night and to have a snack at the 57 Canteen in the GUM store, the name coming from the old works canteen, with the food being served as it would in the past and being quite cheap. We walked 15.2 kilometers this day.
On 24 December we left Moscow just after midday to travel to Suzal by train and bus arriving at our homestay at 4.30 in the afternoon. The women had one room to themselves with folding beds and I slept on a settee in another room. The lady of the house regularly took in travelers to show them Russian home life and said it also gave her extra money and company. She did not speak English but Ksenia was on hand all the time to translate. The house was very warm with huge radiators in every room. She had prepared an evening meal of salad, vegetable soup, chicken soup and cakes. Plum and horseradish vodka was offered and I believe there were at least three empty bottles in the morning. I did help with the vodka but also did go to bed a bit earlier than two of the others.
The following morning I was told that it would take about 15 minutes to walk to the Red Square and although I walked slowly it still took nearly 2 hours to get there. Again the roads were being cleared and also the pavements and roofs. Smaller snowplows with brushes and salt spreaders were used on the pavements and on them and the roads manual labor was then used to clear up the bits that the machines missed. There were men on some of the roofs pushing off the snow, the reason being that the building owners did not want a build-up of snow on the roof as it could get too heavy and damage the roof.
Red Square had stalls, children’s fairground rides and an ice rink with lots of lights everywhere. There were quite a few people around and noticeably a number of security in plain clothes. There was no restriction on taking photos.
On my way back to the hotel in the dark I became lost and when I asked a security guard outside a club to show me where I was on a map (he did speak English) he decided the easiest thing to do was to phone for a taxi and when it came he told me that he had paid for it.
Later there was a meeting at the hotel with the group I was to travel with to St Petersburg. I had no idea before I arrived of how many would be in the group so was pleasantly surprised to find there were only four of us, an Australian woman working in Taiwan, an Australian woman from Melbourne, a Scot from London then the Russian woman guide named Ksenia. Ksenia was to stay with us the whole time from Moscow to St Petersburg. After a short meeting we all went out to dinner at a local Russian restaurant that the guide had chosen. Apparently the temperature during the day maxed at only –6C.
The tour officially started the following morning with an introduction to the Moscow Metro and a visit to the Kremlin, Mausoleum and Armory. For this we had a local guide who showed us around for 4 hours. Not much of the Kremlin could be seen as it was a secure area. The mausoleum had the body on Lenin on display (real or not is not known) and everyone had to walk slowly round, not stopping and not talking with a large number of guards watching everything. The name ‘Armory is a misnomer as it implies that only war/fighting items would be kept there. There are some but there is much more with exhibits of jewelry, gold and silver items given to the Czar by visiting diplomats, the Russian patriarch's vestry and icons, with some Faberge eggs and elaborately carved horse drawn carriages.
After lunch at an Ukrainian cafe we had a quick tour of some of the metro stations to see the elaborate paintings, stained glass windows, bronzes and carvings. The windows had been taken by the Russians from churches in a conquered territory and to show their disdain for the people had been installed in the metro.
Then it was back to see Red Square at night and to have a snack at the 57 Canteen in the GUM store, the name coming from the old works canteen, with the food being served as it would in the past and being quite cheap. We walked 15.2 kilometers this day.
On 24 December we left Moscow just after midday to travel to Suzal by train and bus arriving at our homestay at 4.30 in the afternoon. The women had one room to themselves with folding beds and I slept on a settee in another room. The lady of the house regularly took in travelers to show them Russian home life and said it also gave her extra money and company. She did not speak English but Ksenia was on hand all the time to translate. The house was very warm with huge radiators in every room. She had prepared an evening meal of salad, vegetable soup, chicken soup and cakes. Plum and horseradish vodka was offered and I believe there were at least three empty bottles in the morning. I did help with the vodka but also did go to bed a bit earlier than two of the others.
