On one of my shopping adventures, in a supermarket, there was a little stand where one could taste some cake… It was actually good cake, and to my surprise, when I said “two” (in Russian), the girl began to explain all about these cakes in Russian… That was of course a little too much for my limited knowledge of Russian.  But as soon as she understood I spoke English, she continued the explanation in English !

But in the little shops, nobody can speak any English, so you just need a lot of time to find the right words in the phrasebook, and of course pointing at things always helps… however on one occasion I pointed at bottles of vinegar when I needed water… Paying for your shopping is often also exciting… a little calculator can do wonders here.

Typical things you might want to try when in Russia are the Russian Champaign , vodka, caviar, and do not forget the huge range of cookies, cakes, sweets, and chocolates.  But also take a look at more “common” thinks like fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, and cheese.  Especially big meat and fish markets are my favorite shopping places to wander around !

First of all, the metro system is deep, very deep… It takes a couple of minutes of steep escalators to reach the platforms.  And every escalator has an “attendant” in a little booth, and he or she can speed up or slow down the escalator, to adjust for the crowds.  The reason these subways are so deep below the surface is that they were designed to resist under heavy bombing conditions.  Also, they were equiped as shelters in case of war.  Actually, there is a lot down there, far more than you can see as a commuter on the metro… see the article Mysteries under Moscow for more information.  What is real and what is fiction ? I cannot tell, but one thing I can tell you : I was highly impressed by this metro system !

All stations are beautifully decorated, with statues, marble, mosaics, etc… Getting around in the maze of lines and stations (everything in cyrillic, including your map) is not that obvious, and walking distances are great down there.  But you can’t get lost, simply try to backtrack from where you came in emergency situations…  Some other remarkable fact about this metro is that it is so well maintained (no “tags” found anywhere).

From above the ground subway stations are often impressive too.  In the tunnels and underpasses, often whole “shopping streets” with little stalls can be found.  A good resource for drinks, snacks, pirated CD-ROMS’s, and souvenirs…

The Red Square is one of these places.

I arrived in the late evening, and the first view of the Red Square was sunset from the top of the ‘Rossia’ Hotel – a spectacular sight.  In the evening, I made a walk on the Red Square.  The evening light created a special atmosphere.  My first impression was that the square is in fact not that big… much smaller than I had expected.  Maybe it is because I came from Beijing just a couple of weeks before, and was comparing with the really huge ‘Tien An Men’ ? Also Lenin’s mausoleum looked actually much smaller than the pictures I remembered from sovjet times, when the sovjet leaders were standing on top of it, saluting the military parades…

Lenin’s Mausoleum

One of the following days I visited Lenin’s mausoleum.  There is actually not much too see inside, and it all looks quite ‘unreal’ to me, but still every day there is a line of visitors. It just one of the things to do when in Moscow… Regulations are very strict.  You cannot take your camera or any drinks or food inside, you have to take off your hat before entering, and you have to respect absolute silence !  I was not very serious about this last rule… As soon as you walk inside the mausoleum,  you have to descend some stairs, which are almost unlit.  As your eyes do not have the time to adapt to the darkness, you just have to shuffle to find the stairs, and I even didn’t see the Russian security men standing on the sides, but I knew quickly enough they were there, because when I said to my friends “It is dark in here, I cannot see…” , they reminded me promptly about the “complete silence” rule !
An interesting part of this visit is also the graves of the other communist party members and former sovjet leaders, which are buried in the space between the mausoleum and the Kremlin walls.

The Kremlin

Many Russian cities have a Kremlin, but the one in Moscow is always referred to as “The Kremlin”.  In present times, inside the Kremlin walls, you find a mixture of past and present.  The tsarist legacy such as the Armoury, the different cathedrals, Ivan’s clocktower, the big cannon,… but also the current government buildings and the residence of president Putin.
One rule that our guide made clear quickly, is that it is forbidden to walk anywhere but on the pavement !  If you get off the pavement, security officers use their whistles… and they have to use them a lot since not all tourists know or respect this rule.  Also when you stand too long in one place, especially when looking in their direction, they also tell you to move on.  Only privileged vehicles and officials have the right to use the roads.  Here you can see the black Russian limousines you recognise from every movie…but no photos allowed.

Also no photos allowed inside the cathedrals or in the armoury (or only after paying a photo allowance fee).  The armoury is a museum now and contains actually not a lot of armour, but ‘everything tsarist’ can be found here, ranging from tsarina dresses and jewelry to horse carriages, Faberge Eggs and (very expensive) tea cups.
The cathedrals are also all museums and have a very interesting collection of icons and also some graves can be seen in here.