Moscow – worth a try

Cocaine. Vodka. Snow. Three prejudices. None of them will have anything to do with my five-day-trip to Russia. Sorry. ;)

Moscow. A city, I have never been to. A country I have only seen on a map yet. A culture that differs enough from mine to make me unable to understand or even read its language.

Sasha. The only person I know in this city. Out of 11.5 million. Well, let’s get out there and try some “Hey, I am Chris!”. ;)

My new business card. Doesn't work in Russia, though. :(

She picks me up at the airport. Is still standing, even though it took me roughly an hour to get through the passport control. Russians are pretty strict with their tourists. I had already experienced that while applying for my visa – four times I had to run to the general consulate in Hamburg.

Well, here we are. Together again, after having met and said good-bye the first and so far last time in Cuzco, Peru. That was over five months ago and approximately 12,483.633 km away. Even google maps is unable to calculate directions from there to here. I guess I’m a genius.

Albert survived without Google Maps as well.
It's like ... we've got so much in common!

A little snack later we jumped into the airport express train and went right to Kievskaya station, where we switched to the metro and rode to her dad’s apartment.

Riding a metro in Moscow is worth an experience as well. The stations are deep down in the ground, the deepest 84 meters underneath the Earth’s surface! And these stations are usually pretty crowded; according to Wikipedia Moscow has the third most heavily used rapid transit system after Tokyo and Seoul.

After shopping some groceries, Sasha prepares something that sounds like “Katlietkas”, but is probably spelled completely different. Should you be able to find a recipe on the internet for that, post it in the comment section and I’ll cook it for you. Maybe.

приятного аппетита

After dinner we stroll along the Moscow River towards the Red Square, a magic place that will become my home away from home here in Moscow. 10 minutes’ walk from there is Napoleon hostel – a simple, cheap hostel that’ll do just fine.

Sasha is tired; she flew in from Perm this morning. I’m tired, too, so we call it a day. She heads back to her dad’s apartment; I try to find further friends besides a pack of kind apple juice. What a shame that so many travelers here don’t speak any language except for Russian… maybe I should stick to my apple juice. *g*

The next day was full of sightseeing and some good discussion about cultural peculiarities in Russia, before Sasha left to date another friend. We met again in the evening to go out with two of her friends, but as we sat there in the bar, two ladies playing on their iPhones and one guy playing in his iPad, I felt somehow out of place. Strange new world.

That's how I felt that night.

On Friday, Sasha was busy organizing her dad’s 50. Birthday, so I went on a stroll through the city by myself. Some fantastic architects must have lived here once, I must say.

One of them was Wasili, according to Sasha and an anonymous tour guide I listened to on the Red Square, the original architect of the St. Basil’s cathedral. After having constructed this marvelous monument on behalf of Ivan IV, who was quite amazed by his work, he was asked if he would be able to draft something even more beautiful. In fear of Ivan “the Terrible” he answered “Yes”, even though he had no idea what kind of order would await him now.

But, instead of receiving any further tasks, he was quickly blinded – to prevent him from switching sides and building anything more beautiful for someone else. A weird Russian way of appreciation…

St. Basil's cathedral. An architectural masterpiece.

Leonid’s birthday that night was an event I did not expect: Around 100 guests were invited to a really noble restaurant, everyone (except for me) was totally suited up, and those waiters knew how to serve good food and wine…

Leonid had invited a lot of his business partners, bosses, employees etc., I did not know anyone except for the super busy party organizer, Sasha. She made me meet her brother, and as he didn’t know too many people either, we teamed up and opened the youth fraction. Quite interesting to see rich Russians spending a night in a place where normal backpackers would usually never even think of going… :)

Afterwards, Sasha’s family, two close friends and I ended up at her dad’s apartment and had what they call a kitchen party. Sitting around, chilling out, consuming leftover food, Russian fishburgers and Cognac. That was the more casual part of the evening. ;)

Mum, Dad, brother and videographer.

Finally, us youngsters wanted to head out to explore Moscow’s nightlife, but as our one friend already fell asleep in the cab and Sasha confessed that she’d prefer to do the same, we cancelled the party. What a shame. :(

The godfather's wisdom

The next day I slept in, spent the afternoon walking around town again to finally see the Epiphany Cathedral from up close, which recently became a real media star due to some ladies called Pussy Riot. No idea who that could be. Have you ever heard of them? ;)

The Epiphany Cathedral at Yelokhovo

The sun sank, and I sank to bed again. Not the most productive day ever, I confess. ;)

But hey, Sunday was still to come. I woke up early to avoid another Saturday and went down to Gorkhi Park, humming The Scorpions’ “Winds of Change”.

Around lunchtime I met Sasha for an intense discussion. She unfortunately did not enjoy it as much as I did, so we finally parted – for good. No matter, what, dear Sasha: It was worth a try, ey? :)

I went down to the Red Square to just stand there for an hour or so, lost in thoughts, marveling at those picturesque building surrounding it. I like the Red Square. It feels calm, peaceful there. The perfect place to silently say good-bye to Russia.

Bye, bye, beautiful St. Basil's.

The next morning, I packed up my stuff, went to eventually visit the Kremlin (2,5 € entrance fee for students is fair. But the complex itself… well… maybe I’m too spoiled already?) and then fought my way through the Moscow metro system to Kievskaya, where the airport express was waiting for me.

Reminded me a bit of Hogwarts express...

82 minutes, that is how long it takes to get through Vnukovo airport. And then you get the message that your flight is two hours delayed. I took out my smartphone and started playing… ;)

Moscow was worth a try for several reason. Not only have I finally seen Moscow, the Red Place and set foot onto Russian ground, but I also learned quite something. Amongst that:

• Some Russian letters and words
• In Russia, smiling seems to be something evil. Sadly, few people smile in everyday life. I saw an advertisement for a cinema performance: Snow White. The only person smiling on the poster was the queen…
• If you order a hot chocolate in a café, they serve you pudding. And they have a special topping for chocolate cakes: Salt. *yieks*

Tonight is my last night at Lake Constance. Tomorrow, the next journey begins: After a short holiday in Northern England I'll head over to Khao Sok National Park in Thailand to become a world-famous tour guide in an elephant camp. Correct - on this page you can follow my adventure, and I'd be happy to have you commenting from time to time, so I know that there is someone out there showing interest in what I want to share. :)

Thanks for that.

Cheers, Chris