Day 3 Monday 19 August 2019

Fortified with herrings and baked milk (Vern with eggs, beans and sausage) we met our guide at 9:45am prompt to begin our 7 hour walking tour. Sites on the agenda were the Kremlin, State Armoury museum, Cathedrals of Assumption and Archangel Michael, the Bell tower of Ivan the Great, Tsars Bell and Cannon, the Eliseevsky Food Store finishing with lunch at Cafe Pushkin.

The Kremlin is next to the Red square so after a brisk 15 minute walk we entered the decorative wrought iron gates with double headed Russian eagle symbols into the pleasing floral Alexander Park that runs parallel to the red brick Kremlin walls. Kremlin means fortress, much like city walls or protective enclosed area. The first wooden building was erected here in Moscow in the 12th century and from 1918 onwards the Kremlin was the headquarters of the communist regime. These days it houses the president and his government.

The building is interesting in that is was built on a triangle. It has a courtyard in the middle which Putins office faces into, but apparently all the Asian tourists stand and wave at the building hoping and expecting him to come out on a balcony and wave. Clearly this doesn’t happen but I wonder about the gentleman I snapped crossing the road?

The gardens are beautifully manicured within the Kremlin and the autumn foliage is just beginning to show complimenting the pastel colours of the 19th century buildings.

When we turned the corner and saw the golden crowned tops of the white cathedrals it was a spectacular sight. They were destined by an Italian architect and you definitely get the feeling of being somewhere in Italy – except of course for the eastern domes.

Just before the courtyard with the cathedrals is the bell and the cannon. Both share the never-been-used historical award. Firstly the bell was too heavy at first and was buried in the ground under a covered shelter to protect it while they worked the logistics out. The shelter caught fire, heated the bell and when water was put on to douse the flames it caused the huge bell to crack. The cannon whilst impressive was probably also too big and heavy to be practical out in battle. Some of the other cannon were interesting in that the centres where totally off.

We went inside both the coronation and mausoleum cathedrals skipping lines like a lamb in springtime La-la-la-la. We learnt a few stories of mystery like the death or murder of an important 8 year old, and what the levels of the paintings depict in the Orthodox Church, for example bottom row second picture on right past the entry door into the holy of holy place is the patron saint. The frescos were pretty and told detailed stories with their faded colours and disproportionate people – but no photos allowed unfortunately.

I have had the privilege of seeing a few cathedrals and squares full of history and this one certainly holds a high place for beauty – something about the grandness and purity of the white and gold made it quite heavenly.

The Armoury museum is the oldest museum in Russia and was purpose built by Royalty to store their treasures. Today it has ceremonial robes including wedding and coronation gowns of Catherine the Great, thrones, carriages and sleds, a small amount of armoury, gifts, Faberge eggs and things like very ornate large jewell bedecked bible covers. No photos again (Pooh) but we both enjoyed it.

Highlights as always are the clothes and the accompanying shoes. Interesting seeing the tiny waists of the young queens and then wider as they got older… One beautiful dress was an intricate work of art with over 10,000 small Russian pearls. It took 2 1/2 years to make and the seamstress went blind directly afterwards. Another highlight for me was a large bible cover – bigger than A3 that amongst other bling had two rare large dark and bright emerald green Colombian emeralds. OMG, did I mention Vern that is my birthstone???? They were the size of small chicken eggs – Seriously. The colour, the clarity and the cut were drool worthy.

Verns favourite were the Faberge eggs and their intricacy. One in particular had a platinum and gold steam train inside. If you had a microscope you could look through the windows to see detail in the carriage – amazing! Another had a boat with sails etc. inside. Faberge eggs are a bit like kinder surprise chocolates – they have a surprise inside. They had the inside treats displayed outside the egg. The carriages were amazing and in fabulous condition.

Apparently the Russian royals preferred to travel in winter due to the condition on the roads being poor in summer – pot holes etc. In winter they used sled-carriages for smoother ride and they even had fire places inside to keep the passengers warm. One carriage was made in England and a gift from the King of the time – so ornate and huge but not able to be used on the rough Russian roads. Accordingly in beautiful condition and never used. There were also some coronation crowns there, but the main bling was in a separate section downstairs that was not included in our tour.

After this time our legs were feeling like a break but we had a bit more work to do before we could sit down. After emerging into the now sunny day we set off on another good 15 minute brisk and sometimes small hill walk to the palace of gluttony – Eliseevsky food store. Built in 1901 by a millionaire who decorated it in the Neo-Baroque style with huge chandeliers like bunches of grapes it looks more like a palace than a grocery store for the elite. We had a browse, I snuck a photo and we bought a kvass drink before we headed off to Pushkin. Incidentally we saw zespri golden kiwi fruit and feijoa there for a mere $10 NZ for 4 very very small feijoa or three medium kiwi.

A quick note on kvass, we tried this under our guides recommendation yesterday and its rather yum. It’s a non alcoholic – or 1% if that – drink that is very popular. When I asked how it was made our guide looked it up and showed me – wait for it – burnt toast!!! Totally true, you just bout burn toast, add it to water, sugar, some yeast and let a little ferment happen, strain, bottle and second ferment and enjoy a cola coloured almost sarsaparilla tasting brew. I may even try to make it when I get home.

Cafe Pushkin was just around the corner and across the road from the food store, and after confirming our prepaid meal our guide farewelled us with instructions on how to get the metro home (as agreed). The building that houses the cafe was originally built in the 1780’s by a former nobleman of Catherine the Great in an Italian Baroque style mansion. Later on it had some changes, one of being a German pharmacist who started the first ‘cafe’ aspect by having drinks available for his customers. It also houses a fabulous old library and interesting antique collection. I didn’t know about the library until now which is a shame as we had a 40 minute wait until we got our food – and that was after I complained.

There was confusion about where we were to sit – we got moved and what menu we were to receive – this meant we didn’t eat until 3:30 and I was low on energy and hangry donkey on edge to say least. I was at the point that I even thought jet lag may have hit, but fortunately an hour after eating I felt fine again and able to complete a big day with over 26,500 steps.

The ambience is lovely with dim lighting, dark warm timber tones, period dressed staff, and antiques. Our meal started with bread rolls and a nice sour dough with fennel seeds. Then a fabulous seafood salad with caviar and fresh water crayfish (the last two items I got to eat Verns – wonderful as he doesn’t eat that sort of Kaimoana), then a chicken soup with giblets and noodles with finely chopped herbs in a clear consommé. It was nice bar the giblets which I ate but did not enjoy. Vern skipped his giblets LOL. Main course was beef stroganoff which I thought originated here, but it didn’t. It was ok, and of course we picked out the beef from the mushroom but I think I make better. Dessert was a cafe speciality of layers of crisp thin puff pastry with an almond cream cheese/cream layers in between. Like a Millie fuille but no fruit or jam. It was nice, but we both left about half of it as it wasn’t worth the calories in our opinion.

It was a bit after 4pm by now and we deliberated on what to do – go home and rest, do more metro, or go to the VDNH park. My vote was nana nap but happy to go with flow. Vern had a secret urge to conquer the metro system without a guide, so off we went anxiously and bravely to the underworld to find our way to VDNK – about 35 minutes trip with one change. We bought return tickets, knowing we would exit and set off on the first stint. The hardest part here is not knowing the Russian alphabet but there is a little English on the subway so we did very well and popped up right where we wanted to see the big rocket monument marking our park entry.

VDNH is the largest exhibition park in the world encompassing 317 hectares. It is a trade show and amusement park and the scale is Russian big and somewhat gaudy mix of Italian and Greek style and Russian nationalist propaganda. I get the impression there is a lot of emphasis on power and being bigger and better than other countries especially America – and yet the gaudiness of it reminded me of a tacky theme park. There are some great things to see like a cosmonaut museum which we would have loved to enter had we more time, but all we did have time to do was see two special fountains; the People’s Friendship and the Stone Flower – both recently restored.

The Stone Flower is made out of tinted marble glass and multi cantarelle (gold sheets baked between coloured glass). We weren’t sure where we were heading but found a McDonald’s first to use a reasonable toilet and get some water. The sun was very warm and it was a festive feeling with lots of families entering the park and enjoying the early evening. We interpreted the maps as best we could and found the peoples fountain easily – it was beautiful with the sun illuminating the golden gleaming maidens. One amusing thing is the young Russian women taking selfies of themselves like advertising for sex or marriage sites. That in itself was quite tacky and demeaning to females I think – not meaning to be judgmental as I have no idea what their life is like here – but not very emancipated me thinks.

We continued on from this fountain and low and behold found our Stone flower not far away – it was spectacular. A little further on and the cosmonaut museum with a bit of equipment outside including space shuttle and then a return home to our closest station by red square. Our legs were really really heavy but we just do the motto from Nemo – just keep swimming, just keep swimming and are thankful that we can still ‘swim’.

The sun was going down by the time we expertly handled the metro and arrived at Red Square – Theatre station. As lunch was late, we didn’t feel like a full dinner so opted for a picnic which we would source from Gum if it was still open – which it was. I got a Russian herring salad, some Asian slaw, and Vern a Caesar salad, and we shared a beautiful chip of blackberries. Total cost about $17 which about 7 of that was the blackberries.

As we exited Gum we were delighted to see the dark blanket of night as a backdrop to lighting on the buildings including St Basil’s. Whoop whoop I was energised – off I went with my 1.4 aperture lens and got treated to a laser show on the cathedral as a test for the tattoo. Wow. What a buzz, what a blessing to be here and experience such a wonderland. Gum also has pretty lights around it and generally there was a festive atmosphere of families, couples and tourists all enjoying the evening.

We again wandered home, slowly and stiffly feeling fabulously content. We had our picnic at home, enjoyed a long shower and crashed out very very quickly thinking thoughts about Moscow trying to make sense of the reality of the experience and our expectations and biases.