Moscow was our second stop over in Russia after our time in St Petersburg. It was also the starting point for our Trans Siberian railway adventure.
We arrived on a Thursday morning after an overnight sleeper train from St Petersburg.
Moscow is huge. It is much larger then St Petersburg and London. In fact, with a 12 million population, it’s Europe’s largest city after Istanbul (14 million). Locals will however argue that the population is closer to 20 million due to the large number of illegal immigrants who do not declare the correct paperwork.
Regardless of details with the figures, a ride in the Metro during rush hour is certainly an unforgettable adventure:
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Moscow’s Metro during rush hour
Our stay in Moscow was mainly spent exploring the famous Red Square, but also with our friends.
Our arrival in Moscow coincided with “National Russia Day” (Thursday 12th June) – a National Holiday. So, our friends invited us to a BBQ picnic at Moscow’s suburb of Strogino:
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Russian BBQ picnic group photo
Shashlik is a popular meat in at a Russian barbecue picnic. Shashlik was also a very popular food with these two greedy boys at our friends’ BBQ.
Moscow’s Metro
Moscow’s metro is impressive:
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A typical metro station in Moscow
Each station looks like you’ve just stepped into a large underground museum, classically decorated with beautiful columns everywhere:
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Moscow’s metro
Almost every station is deep. Think Angel Islington escalators in London deep, but almost double. At the bottom of each escalator is a little old lady in a hut guarding things making sure everything is safe and sound.
A ride on Moscow’s metro is a tourist attraction in itself.
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Moscow’s Metro’s Chehovskaya station
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Moscow’s beautiful metro
The Kremlin
The Kremlin is the official residence of the Russian government. The flag is always flying, apparently to show to the Russian people that the President is always in residence and working away. Truth is that the official Government institutions and administrations take place in the Kremlin and the President lives elsewhere in a location no Russian is allowed to know!
Around the Kremlin is a park with an eternal flame burning outside the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. This was built to honour the Soviet soldiers killed during World War II and is guarded by two soldiers:
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Tomb of unknown soldier
The two soldiers guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier are specifically chosen to be identical, to have the same youthful looks and blond/blue eyed image.
Every hour, the soldiers change, to the admiration of the tourists:
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The changing of the guards
And naturally, we had to be all 21st century, and get a selfie:
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Our changing of the guards selfie
We visited the Kremlin thinking that we would learn about the Russian political institutions and the history. Unfortunately, a visit inside is just to a few churches with nothing about the political history or the workings of the Russian government.
Interestingly, all of Russia’s princes and Tsars were buried at the Kremlin’s Cathedral of the Archangel Michael until 1712 when the burial place was moved to St Petersburg’s Peter and Paul Cathedral after St Petersburg was made the new official capital.
They did have a great big cannon inside the Kremlin which made for this interesting snap:
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Stefan posing by the Kremlin’s cannon
The Red Square
The Red Square is located next to the Kremlin and it is impressive.
Red in Russian means beautiful and was initially used to describe St Basil’s Cathedral (see below) but later used generically for the whole square.
25 years ago, you would have struggled to even set foot here as a tourist. Now things have since changed a great deal.
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Sebastien posing in Moscow’s Red Square
The Red Square boarders the Kremlin walls outside of which are the burial spots of Russia’s great leaders from Lenin onwards. Lenin’s body however is the only one which is not buried and was instead preserved after his death. His body is laid out in a heavily guarded and darkened mausoleum for the public to come and see (in a heavily guarded darkened room).
The queue to see Lenin’s body is large. Once inside the tomb, you have to keep walking through to see what looks like something taken from Madame Tussaud’s. (You then try hard to control your laughter as you hear lots of tourists tripping up on the final step by the exit in this darkened room and wonder how the guards manage to keep such a straight face all day).
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Lenin preserved body
Red Square also houses a large up market shopping centre, which translated is called, GUM. At night it lights up and looks like Christmas:
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Red Square GUM lit up at night with St Basil’s Cathedral
St Basil’s Cathedral
St Basil’s Cathedral was our highlight in Moscow. We loved this building. It is probably one of the most impressive we’ve seen, and boy did we enjoy posing by it:
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Stefan posing outside Moscow’s St Basil’s Cathedral
St Basil’s Cathedral is located in Moscow’s Red Square next to the GUM building. It resembles a Mosque, which is quite unique for a Russian Orthodox building. St Basil’s Cathedral was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible in the 1500s to celebrate the capture of the then Arabic city of Kazan. Hence its mosque-esque features.
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Sebastien posing by Moscow’s St Basil’s Cathedral
Moscow was our final break away from Europe before starting our Trans Siberian railway adventure across Russia.
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