I arrived in Moscow at 7am. After struggling through the throng of people at the station and through the little market in copyright infringed items outside of the station, I made my way to the Metro. Like a good backpacker, I scrimped and skipped a nice easy cab, choosing (after a night train) to introduce myself to the wonders of Moscow's metro system. I have to say, NICE! Lenin decided that since the workers would be spending a lot of time in transit, the metro stations should be beautiful and the trains should never be more than 2 minutes apart. Wow. I changed trains once and saw 4-5 stations on my way to my stop. Each was gorgeous. Wood ceilings, stained glass, chandeliers, marble pillars, carvings. Unbelievable. Not to mention, my entire time in Moscow, I never waited more than 2.5 minutes for a train. I know this because at every platform, there's a digital clock that tells the time on one side, and on the other side has a stopwatch that starts ticking off the seconds after a train departs until the next one comes. I am so jealous.
I arrived at Godzilla's (my hostel) by 8am and was able to take a shower and dump my pack, but was told that I couldn't check in until after 2pm. Instead of sitting in the (quite nice) lounge and numbing my brain with their excellent digital television, I decided to beat the rush to St Basil's and the Kremlin. Neither of these attractions opens before 10am (Russians do like to sleep in), so I had high hopes. Moscow's historic district is laid out like a wheel. The Kremlin & Red Square are the center and there are major streets that shoot out like spikes (on one side as bridges over the river). This is bound at one point by the Garden ring - a park that circles the Kremlin from either bank of the river, about 10 blocks out. There is a second ring in another 5-6 blocks. I was staying just outside of the Garden ring, so a quick walk took me to the center.
There, I found, St Basil's!!! Amazing! Truly a fabulous thing to happen upon from the opposite end of Red Square. Two factoids: one, St Basil's actually only refers to the northeastern chapel of Pokrovsky Cathedral; two, Krasnaya Ploshchad (Red Square) originally meant Beautiful Square. It was only in the 20th century that krasny took on the dual meaning of beautiful and red.
Back to the narrative. I duly admired the cathedral, going so far as to climb over a Russian army placed barrier to get an unobstructed photo, with no other people in the shot. Though, Moscow doesn't seem to have nearly as many tourists as St Petersburg, and Russia really doesn't have very many tourists at all. Gee, I wonder why (pain in the butt to get a visa, need to register your visa in every city, etc. etc.). Digression aside, I now believe that there are two jobs created for soldiers and ex-soldiers. Current members of the army have the extremely important job of setting up barriers for no apparent reason and then moving those barriers for no apparent reason - barriers around nothing, blocking noone - very odd. Ex-soldiers get to renovate buildings. Almost every historic (or rebuilt once-historic) building is currently being renovated. Luckily, they'll drape the "restored" or for all I know, newly created "historic" area in tarps printed/painted with a design of how it'll look when completed, so that the tourists don't really miss anything. Funny.
After photographing St Basil's, I decided to hit Lenin's tomb next. First, I queued for and bought my ticket for the Kremlin, then dropped off my camera at the left luggage area, then queued for my momentary descent into grotesquely morbid curiosity. After a 30 minute wait, I was ushered into the granite tomb holding the earthly remains of Vladimir Ilych Lenin, despite his request to be buried next to his mother in St Petersburg. The guards there do not have any vestige of a sense of humour. One Russian toddler asked his papa a question while entering the tomb and was emphatically "shhhhhh"ed. You'd think they'd be a bit more approving of a father bringing his small son to worship at the shrine! The line moves past the glass enclosed corpse fairly quickly. The room is also very dark, so it was hard to get a good look. While lingering trying to see if Lenin's fingertips were a little brownish (yes), I let a gap open between me and the person preceding me. I was hurried along by a man with a machine gun. Though, really, would they allow soldiers to have live ammunition so close to the revered mummy? Not unless that is bullet-proof glass. Then, while trying to get one last look at Lenin's head, I fell down a couple of stairs. Whoops! Those were hard to see in the dark. I wonder how many people break a leg in Lenin's tomb every year?
After my return to the world, I went through the mini-graveyard outside the tomb and had a chance to stand over Joseph Stalin. I think that standing at Stalin's grave, staring at a bust of his mustachioed face, was creepier than looking at Lenin's actual body. Strange.
Then, it was off to the Kremlin! The Kremlin is actually quite a small enclosed area with a few government buildings and a few churches, a huge bell that has never rung, and a giant cannon that has never fired. All in all, a bit of a dud. I decided not to pay the separate entrance fee to see the Armoury, thinking that I'd catch enough gold, jewels, and icons in the rest of Russia. This might have been a mistake, given that I went without seeing one single Faberge egg in all of Russia. I'll have to wait for an exhibit to visit San Francisco.
Mostly, I just wandered around the grounds. I tried to approach the Senate, the current Presidential offices, but was waved off by armed guards. The oddest part of wandering through a still-in-use-by-the-government tourist spot was the near-constant flow of official black sedans with tinted windows and one blue flashing light on top. It was fun to watch people get in and out of the cars. Of course, I didn't recognize any of them. I did go in and see a temporary exhibit of Cartier's jewelry c. 1920-1970. A good display of conspicuous consumption. My favorite was a "necklace" of two alligators crusted in diamonds. Cool.
I entered a few of the chapels and the Patriarch's Palace. I also experienced my first smile and look of approval from a Russian woman. I was extremely confused until I realized that my bandana (worn to keep the sun off the top of my head) was mistakenly thought to be a gesture of respect toward the Orthodox Church. Nice.
My favorite quote of the day came when I asked a fellow tourist what chapel she was leaving. She paused and answered, "The Church of the Demolition of the Robe". Hah! At some point (400 ADish +/-) a Byzantine Emperor came back to Constantinople with the robe/veil of the Virgin, and declared a feast day to celebrate. This day is the "Deposition of the Robe". Definitely a funny, lost-in-translation moment.
After I'd had my fill of icons and wood carvings, I headed over to the Russian Historical Museum. There, I really got an eyeful of treasure in their temporary exhibit. Royal artifacts. Nice. The rest of the museum is a history of Russia from Prehistoric times to the end of the 19th century. Oddly, it stops short of going into modern history, and by modern, I mean the last 100 years. A fellow traveler was specifically hoping to find loads of Soviet museums and history in Moscow, only to come up short. Current Russia is really deemphasizing its Communist past, instead choosing to focus on more distant Russian history.
I also had the fun of being yelled at for taking a photo of an entryway. In Moscow, all sites charge an admission fee and a separate photo fee. If you don't have a ticket to show the proctors, you'll get told off for taking a picture. The result of this is, most people have crappy pics from Moscow, a result of sneaking the odd shot or two.
By now, it was 4pm. I was exhausted and headed back out to my hostel to check in and take a nap. That's a record of my first morning/day in Moscow. I think you'll agree that I was quite productive.
To see my pictures, please visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/christine7world/Moscow
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