I remember seeing a picture of St Basil's Cathedral when I was a child and being fascinated by the place. It was a cross between history mixing with a 'Hansel and Gretel' picture. I loved it! And in reality I was not disappointed. I never got tired of looking at it (as my photos will prove). The day I actually went inside was glorious. Once inside, I wandered around and then saw these rather steep steps. Oh dear, I thought. Am I going to make it up these? The steps were very ‘tall’ and were difficult with my vertically challenged pins. Anyway, I made it up to the "gallery level". This gallery links all the churches together and you can wander completely around the whole cathedral at this level. I wandered into one church and as I stepped in, I heard this beautiful religious singing. How wonderful I thought and a good PR exercise - but I couldn't find out where it was coming from. Clever tactic I thought. Eventually I went into the central dome - and here was the source of the music - a choir! Bliss!
Muscovites are a strange mix of Slavic sternness and pleasant helpfulness. They spit out almost as much as the Chinese (but not quite). You really have to watch where you are walking. They smoke like chimneys and with the slimmest ciggies I have seen anywhere. Although, in every restaurant or coffee shop I went into I was asked if I wanted smoking or non-smoking so I guess the times are changing. The few words of Russian I used were greeted with delightful smiles and genuine shows of appreciation that I had made the effort. For all you Brits reading this, I couldn't help smiling when they did speak to me in English - all I could think of was the meerkat advertisments for "Compare the Market Dot Com".
The days of queuing for a few cabbages are long gone. Every designer outlet you can think of is ever present in all the shopping malls and avenues. The GUM store will match any UAE shopping mall in terms of wealth and prestige. It was great to see the churches and cathedrals being restored to their former glory as well as many of the other old buildings as well. It was interesting to see people openly worshipping in churches which were frowned on in the old Soviet times. Interesting to see some habits dying hard though and I saw many older people still worshipping very quickly, in and a quick out of the church. Many of the churches have been completely restored and this is great but what a shame to have lost so many to mindless destruction - wherever in the world you are! Interestingly, the ones in the Kremlin remained unscathed .........
The day I was in the Kremlin, I stepped off the pavement so as to get a better angle on a photo – and was immediately met with a sharp blast on the whistle! A man was glaring at me and said something in Russian which I think meant “get back on the pavement” – at least I hope that’s what it meant! Some things have not changed!
Moscow was great – I was not disappointed in anything I did. My hotel was the biggest disappointment. I believe the people who write for property sales, wrote the hype for my hotel. It wasn’t untrue but was very jaded and in much need of a bit of TLC. Great position – 20 minutes to Red Square but without the heavy price tag. Was clean inside and had all the basics. Must say, I didn’t know it was possible to get wall/floor tiles in Scottish Tartan, but I do now! I guess I have been super spoilt by some of the places I have stayed in this part of the world - even so, a bit more of a service would have been great.
I would happily go back to Moscow and try to visit further afield and then go on to St Petersberg. It was well worth the visit! Dosvedanya!
