Moscow Trip: This town’s got an edge + first sights
8 Sep
You know that there’s something up when you are told, “The company is calling the cab driver every hour just to check if we are okay.” Moscow definitely had a dark edge though I think what I saw mostly was a positive energy that oozed with newly-found wealth and economic dynamism.
The kangaroo also stressed that I shouldn’t wear my engagement ring in case I got mugged and that I should send him an SMS every two hours when I was sight-seeing alone while he was in the office.
On the way from the airport to our service apartment, I just gazed at the cars that zoomed past and signs in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet. I was definitely in unfamiliar territory. In Japan, the signs and names of stations are also in English alphabets, or romaji.
Our digs for two weeks:
It wasn’t anything special but I thought it would be interesting for you to see what a typical Moscow apartment looks like. What you can’t see are the double doors and windows that keep the cold out…and the smell of cat piss in the corridor and the super drying central heating system that runs throughout the country (my skin was constantly dry!). Nice on the inside but rough on the outside. Moscow was kinda rough-looking but it is a developing country — one that is progressing at breakneck speed, too.
But there is a huge sense of history and culture…
The impressive Kremlin which houses Lenin and Stalin’s corpses — yes, they are still preserved for the public to view.
Red Square was a sprawling boulevard of tourists and majestic buildings.
Of course I had to take a picture in front of the iconic St Basil’s Cathedral.
Here’s Peter the Great, the Swedish ruler who ran Russia for many years, and my guidebook said it was strange to erect a statue of him because he preferred St. Petersburg over Moscow during his time.
The Cathedral of Christ The Saviour is quite an opulent icon in Moscow with a checkered history: it was built to commemorate the victory of defeating Napolean, but during Stalin’s rule, it was torn down to be replaced by a mega communist building called the Palace of the Soviets, which never came to fruition and then it became the world’s largest swimming pool. However, this cathedral was rebuilt in 1997 to celebrate Moscow’s 850th birthday. I actually used this cathedral as a navigating point because many other tourist spots were near here.
Just me in front of another colourful church. I was fascinated that the churches in Russia had domes instead of sharp roof peaks and learned that the Russians practice Eastern Orthodox, a type of Christianity that is particular to Russia.
All this sight-seeing left us hungry so we headed to Botanika, a veggie-friendly restaurant in Tverskoy (Bolshaya Gruzinskaya ul 61), for a relaxing birthday lunch.
At that point, I hadn’t tasted much food in Moscow, so on hindsight, this was one of the best places I had been to.
A bilberry shake — I found bilberries to be on almost every drink menu. Delish!
The kangaroo’s mango, ginger, mint shake which was so good I tried to steal it from him.
Shrimp and veggie rice paper rolls — very tasty according to the kangaroo.
Deep-fried veggie spring rolls that were pure, savoury indulgence.
I ordered some cucumber maki rolls because my “main” dish was actually a side order.
Stir-fried potato with mushrooms which were oh-so-yum. To be honest, I don’t fancy potato much because it usually tastes bland but I enjoyed this dish immensely.
The kangaroo had kebabs with a side of grilled zucchini of which I stole a bite (it was juicy and scrummy).
We were pretty full but the kangaroo insisted a birthday wasn’t a birthday without some dessert.
So I ordered these strawberry waffles drizzled in a mixed berry sauce. I liked that my waffles were so tasty without having any cream or ice-cream on it.
The kangaroo chose his all-time fave — a cheesecake and this one came with bilberry jam. It was a dense cheesecake that wasn’t too cheesy because the tart bilberry jam cut through it.
After such a big lunch, we made our way home but I had a brain wave to stop by Gorky Park, an amusement right by our apartment.
ROLLERCOASTER! It was a pretty scary one that flipped you 360 degrees three times plus a few plunges that would knock your socks off. It was freaking awesome!
There were quite a few toss-you-around type of rides which looked nauseating but we managed to find a gentle-looking one…
It was a carousel with lots of swing-like seats and the whole thing swung around and around. I felt like I was flying!
We both felt a little dizzy after this ride.
We admired this regal looking tiger but felt saddened it was being used for taking photos and was probably doped up to remain still and quiet. The guy in charge of the whole thing was smoking directly in front of the tiger too so it felt like a sleazy operation.
Lastly, we hopped onto some paddle boats to take in the lake. The sun only sets at 930pm in summer and I truly felt a difference in my mood — I felt so energetic till 10 or 11pm at night and the sun rose at 4am. Amazing what long daylight hours can do for you…
To be continued…
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Oh WOW!!! The churches, buildings are so beautiful!!! Western architecture is just jaw dropping amazing *foams* I need to visit Moscow!! Even the food look delish, I’m glad that you had a fun time there =D
Hi Blair, I know right? I’m quite a history buff so had fun reading up on the buildings. We even downloaded two documentaries on the history of Moscow to understand the city better. Everything was in Russian so that was helpful.
I mean, everything on the streets and museums were in Russian so doing some research in English was very helpful.
Love this post. Great pics! I really want to visit Moscow. And the bilberries gave me childhood nostalgia. My father would always take me on hikes and we would eat bilberries as we found them along the way.
wow, i was quite taken aback by the first sentence!
@Mariannes: I LOVE bilberries…! Before Moscow, I only ever saw them in supplements for eye health.
@ally: I know right?
poor little tiger. I too feel sad when I see animals held captive in questionable circumstances. You can almost see the sadness in their eyes too. sigh…..Great pictures of Moscow by the way. Thanks for posting them ‘cos I don’t think I’ll be visiting there any time soon. haha.
Happy to hear you like my Moscow post. It’s def a place people don’t really put as their top priority to visit, I’ve to say and I understand why. It’s interesting but extremely expensive to get there and stay there.
wow, i find this blog when view random blogs at someone friendlist bout japan or smth. and was be surprised read about russia…
well, i’m from russia but not moscow, other little city far from there and much more suxx then moscow, anyway)
ok, want explain why almost sings in russian only, just almost of them be there from ussr time or so + almost ppl who be in russia they are russians and they don’t speak english really + country don’t really care about tourists who come, they don’t really need it, so that’s why …
maybe something will change but not really fast, huh
i guess after tokyo moscow should look so rude and impolite and a bit wildy (= =)
but you know, moscow it not russia, almost russians mean that moscow it different country cuz there people live in 50-100 times better at all then ppl at other russians cities…
oh, maybe st.petersburg a bit close to moscow through
so moscow it tooo far from real russia an russian life, there (in M) all much-muuuuch better, funny huh
Thanks for your comment about what real Russia is like and what Moscow is like. Always great coming from an insider’s perspective