Picture in your mind if you will the villianous Russian woman with high cheekbones, piercing blue eyes and a scowl on her face from any James Bond or Indiana Jones film, let's call her Olga. Can you see her? She is the woman at passport control. Welcome to Russia!
I must admit that I was rather frightened about this stint in Russia. They do like to interrogate you on the street and there are all sorts of laws about registering your passport and travel and etc. But in truth, my fears were probably over exaggerated. We must have blended in a bit because people kept speaking in Russian to us and, oddly, I got asked if I spoke German about 10 times. Maybe I look a bit Deutsch. Moscow and St Petersburg are like day and night but there are some things that you will find true no matter where you go. One is the fact that there are war memorials everywhere to honor the 27 million Russians who died in WWII, its very moving. They both had extensive subway systems (St Petersburg is the deepest in the world). The women look like supermodels, but I never saw one actually eat. Lastly buying tickets or standing in line will take you 3 times as long as anywhere else IN THE WORLD. But thats pretty much where the similarities end....
Our first stop in Mother Russia was to the political metropolis of Moscow. It was like we stepped back in time 30 years, at least from a technological standpoint. They have a wonderful subway...straight from the 1960's. Everything here is a bit archaic, even compared to Thailand. The escaltors run on a switch controled by villianous Olga's BFF. Ever heard of Visa? Not in Moscova. Nor will you find any sign in English or anyone who speaks it. The people here can be a bit cold, try not make eye contact, its less awkward that way. But I must say, once you get past all that, it is quite enjoyable. The Kremlin was very interesting. You have a choice of museums in the Kremlin itself, we did all them. The diamond fund inside the Armory had quite the showcase of Russian jewels. Spectacular. The armory itself is filled with treasures of the Tsars and Russian history. We also went inside the famous St Basil's Cathedral (it needs a little love). The Russians also love themselves some Peter the Great. There is a statue of him twice the height of the Statue of Liberty sitting in the Moscow river. All in all Moscow is a bit what you think: Stoic, Proud, Russian, Very Lenin, and Cold. One last note on Moscow that we missed in our travel book: It will rain.
But its always sunny in Saint Petersburg. St Petersburg is lovely. Romantic. Historic. And maybe you have heard a little museum called the Hermitage. We arrived an hour after it opened and waited in line for 1.5 hours (about the same as the Kremlin). But my oh my. It was just dripping with history and art. For those of you who don't know, there are over 3 million pieces of art in this one museum. But that's not the half of it. The museum itself is Peter I old winter palace. And they don't call it a palace for nothing. Grand staircases, ballrooms, chandeliers....I could live there. My favorite stop in this wonderful city was "The Church of Spilt Blood." Which was erected over the very spot where Alexander II was murdered, hence the name. The entire place was filled with mosiacs, floor to ceiling. is It was more beautiful than is possible to describe. We also stopped by St. Isaac's Cathedral who's dome cover with more than 100kg of gold. A quick jog across the river you will find Peter and Paul's fortress, built to withstand the Swedish (not quite the superpower they once were, eh?). There was another cathedral inside there (surprise) where the last royal family of Russia is buried alongside Peter the Great. A nice little beach also runs along one side with a lovely view of old town. I wish we had more time here as it is much more tourism friendly (look a sign in English!) as well as warm and welcoming.
I know have left out a lot of experiences and places but sometimes there is so much that there is just not enough space on a page. Its like that in Russia.
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