Neil Campbell, currently travelling in Europe, is a guest blogger.
Two weeks into my trip and now I’m in St. Petersburg, completely surrounded by marble and gold gilding. The kind of Russian opulence even Hollywood couldn’t exaggerate.
My one night in Moscow was interesting to say the least. First imagine arriving in Russia by plane. That’s easy enough! My guide book provided me with detailed information how to get from the airport to downtown Moscow. Now imagine my surprise when my flight arrives at a different airport. To make matters even more interesting, my guide book has absolutely no literature on how to get from this airport to downtown!!
So what to do? I buy a ticket for an express train. This requires a bit of faith in urban planning that an airport near Moscow would have an express train that runs into Moscow. Besides anyone I asked gave me an answer that made no sense. Unless you speak Russian or can find someone kind who speaks English, understanding directions can be difficult at times. All I knew was that I should arrive in central Moscow with a few hours of sunlight left. Enough time to navigate Stalin’s world famous metro system and arrive at my hostel.
St. Basil's Cathedral - Moscow
Unfortunately my hostel was not located on my map of the city. All that was on my map in relation to my place of lodging was an arrow on the edge of the map indicating that the hostel was only 50m beyond. You would think I would be able to find it no problem. I did find it. It only took me 2 hours. The entire time I was so close, just 50m away! Needless to say I tested my “travellers” patience.
So when I got to my hostel I met an Irishman and a German. We decided to go for a drink, which in hindsight was a bad idea, considering the misery that would become the next day. But hey, one night in Moscow, what does one do?
For those who are curious, Moscow is still holding on to the nostalgia of its former glory in some small ways it seems. The metro is filled with mosaics of Lenin and proletariat propaganda amidst the marble stairs, chandeliers and stained glass windows. Above the station that got me out of Moscow was a huge iron sign that still had the traditional soviet CCCP with a hammer and sickle above it.
In the distance the large concrete buildings held spires to the sky upon which shining soviet stars marked the territory of mother Russia. Moscow is huge! Imagine New York, and I mean all of New York, not just Manhattan, and squish it into one massive sprawling concrete city and then double it, and that’s what Moscow feels like.
As for attempting to read signs in Cyrillic that amounts to not much more then symbol matching and you can’t help but think that what ever someone is selling you is undoubtedly not what you asked for and is twice the price. And let me tell you the Russian ruble may be cheap but Moscow is not.
Spas-na-Krovi Cathedral, St Petersburg
The 8 hour train ride got me into St. Petersburg, half of which was spent watching back to back Richard Gere movies. Now St. Petersburg is a beautiful city, the mecca of all high Russian culture. Even though ice is still flowing down the Neva River, one could not image a more beautiful city. No wonder it inspired Alexander Pushkin and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Beautiful wide canals ring around wide boulevards and open spaces with ornate buildings neatly lined up.
Russia is great! Tomorrow I’m off on a night train to Vilnius, Lithuania and we’ll see what comes of that! Stay tuned.
Recent Comments
No comments.