Day Nine
Irkutsk to Moscow Train
Final Packing done and the food supplies sorted, we were met on time by Olga who presented us with a bottle of Champers! Might be in reply to the US$50 tip we gave her for all her good work? The train itself was only five minutes late and, an older version than the first…for a start the backrests were permanently fixed to the compartment walls so I couldn’t do my removal stunt. However, the beds were slightly wider and, the backrests positioned much higher up the walls!
Food in the Buffet-car is a lot poorer quality, poorer selection and twice as expensive than the first train! The difference was astounding seeing this train is supposed to be exactly the same as the first! So, we persevered and after another three days of not properly sleeping we arrived in Moscow. The scenery all along the way was exactly the same as Siberia, same cities, same small towns, same great emptiness and same trees, trees, trees and, Trains, Trains, Trains flashing past on an average of one every two minutes! At least, at Moscow Station, we could step immediately onto the platform and, we were surprised to be actually met by our connections-driver, halfway down the station. Bonus, he took our big bags from us and happily wheeled them straight to his car!
MS Litvinov: Cruise Ship
What a pleasure to find an efficient and very experienced crew just panting to help us poor tourists! We were almost carried on board…our luggage was grabbed by two burly porters and whisked straight to reception. When we arrived there, they had our room key, pack of boarding information and ships schedule ready to hand out and all we had to do was show them our passports! Wonderful experience.
Dining
The crew are experienced! Most of the passengers for this cruise joined the Litvinov sometime during the day. Most arrived during the afternoon and once settled in we were all herded together for our first “included” dinner. Fixed four-course affair with the food obviously nutritious but not hot, nor well presented…funny options only like Cauliflower/cheese soup or beetroot-‘borsch’ and chicken kebabs or sliced boiled tongue! The bread is about four days old and pre-cut to ensure its staleness! Many unhappy cruisers and it is only Day One! Most passengers expected a smorgasbord for the evening meal and, if not/why/not all meals. I am inclined to agree! Waiters scurried about delivering food, removing plates and also taking drinks orders…finally a COLD BEER!
On offer by the cruise people were tours of the Kremlin, Armoury Museum, art galleries, monasteries and many other optional arrangements. Not knowing anything about Moscow, we took the guided tour of the Kremlin including the Armoury museum.
What an amazing place the Kremlin is, blocks and blocks of yellow painted office buildings interspersed with many ‘onion-domed’ churches amongst which is the famous St. Basal’s with its four, differently designed and differently coloured onion domes. The largest dome is gold painted and the others red, blue with green stripes, purple and light-blue with stars. Unfortunately, this church is closed for renovations.
The Kremlin is used as the Government Office complex and also provides living quarters for the current Russian President “Putin”. The Armoury museum is the holding place for the Tsars (of all periods) treasure trove…absolutely fabulous to see huge gold plates, gold-plated carriages, and sleds and then there is armour and weapons from over ten centuries including gem-encrusted challises of gold and silver.
Displayed are actual coronation gowns of the two 'Katherines' of Russia, everyday wear, ermine robes and award regalia from the various dynastic Tsar houses. Then there are cases and cases of jewelled ‘gifts’ from various monarchs to the Tsars such as gold and silver ‘eagles’ which are wine decanters, huge tapestries with gold and silver threaded scenes of past courts and palaces and so on…One really needs a week just per floor in this museum…oh! I forgot, there are also displayed nine of the original Faberge Easter eggs which are incredibly detailed miniaturisations or family portraits, religious objects and including a complete, gold, clockwork model train…engine and five carriages plus a caboose…about seven inches long and each carriage about half an inch wide by three-quarters high. Even the door locks are detailed and work! It took months of work to produce each carriage!
Red Square…what a shock! After seeing TV coverage of troops and tanks/missile carriers and armoured vehicles streaming down Red Square, we expected something at least twice the size of Tianamin Square in Beijing! Red Square is a miserable 500 metres long by 150 metres wide and surrounded on all four sides by buildings including the Kremlin wall, GUMs the famous Department store (now simply hundreds of name-brand boutique outlets and expensive as hell!) St Basal’s church and some apartment blocks. About the same size as Edinbourough’s Tattoo venue! So…the must push the soldiers and war machinery in one end and take it away at the other…just so the parade looks ginormous!
Back to the ship for the night and a concert (by the ship’s crew) playing traditional instruments and traditional songs and music. Really very good! Next day, off to the Russian Impressionists art gallery…once again not enough time to see everything and, like the Armoury Museum…hoards of tourist groups getting in each other’s way!
The local Art Gallery is a bit of a surprise, Russian Impressionists were very famous long (20 years) before the French group got started…four huge galleries of their collected works! There are about six galleries with many huge paintings depicting Russian historical events. By huge, eight metres high by ten wide…some took 25 years to be completed and, in the same gallery, hundreds of the individual painting “sketches” done by the artist for the individual figures in the event scenes.
I am in some trouble, I have run out of painkillers and all my spare medication is now locked away in my ‘big’ suitcase, which the crew has locked away somewhere on board! No, they will not go get it unless it is life or death! They would have to sort through 200 suitcases to find mine!
