First part: Moscow
It is probably the most hostile place in the world I have ever visited.
The flight went smoothly, not many people on board.
We landed in Domodedovo Airport. Holy Mother of God, there was nothing else than gray in this airport: just gray corridors, beton and steel and dirty windows. No "Welcome in Russia" poster like in every other country, no advertisement, no duty free shops, no ordinary shop, no bar, nothing!
We were advised not to use taxis but there seemed to be no alternative for a non-Russian speaker so we took the most official one possible and undoubtedly paid an exagerated sum but we just wanted to reach our hotel the fastest way possible. After all, there are little problems that can't be solved by money and it didn't make a dent in my budget; the only thing these krooks damage is the reputation of their city and their country. Good for them!
Having served in Sarajevo and having been a long time in a little Czech town in the 90's, the suburban quarters of Moscow that we went through didn't surprise me: stalinist habitation blocks as far as the eye can see. For my friend, it was a new experience: poor guy is accustomed to go backpacking in Scandinavia, Holland or New Zealand!
Hotel reached around 6PM, time to try Russian beer, food and the first vodka and we decided to take a fast stroll to the Kremlin. It was 10PM and we were just 10min away. The city is incredibly spartiate but the bridges were lighted with lots of lights on Russian flag colors, which ravished us. Then we were on Red Square and took a few pictures of the Cathedral, the Kremlin and the Lenin tomb. Even at night there were tourists and most of them Russians.
The day after, we got back to Red Square to take pictures by day. After lunch (beef Stroganoff) and the proverbial vodka (what the Hell, Man!! A bloody restaurant on Red Square can’t even have Russian vodka: they only propose Grey Goose, which I knew to be French), we went to visit the Kremlin.
First, outside, there are the monuments to the fallen of WWII: the eternal flame burns and is guarded by 2 soldiers. I was very impressed to see a third one opening the chain so a 5-year boy could go and lay a red flower before the flame. A place of utmost dignity.
Then we went to buy tickets for the Kremlin museums and something struck us: unlike any other city, there was no souvenir shop (well, just a little official one by the ticket-seller), no people selling objects nor postcards… Nothing!
Inside we visited an old church and the Armoury: a lot of silvery, orfevry, dresses of Catherine II, signs of Russian power and objects of the Orthodox Church (icons, chalices). Beautiful.
The evening we had the main objective of our travel to Moscow: the concert of Manowar!
Nothing to say about the band (except Awesome! of course) but the ambiance was…just like the city… We arrived by metro and had to pass a barrier with doors guarded by…Omons. Wow, but we thought that perhaps Russian metal fans were somehow more hooliganish than western ones. Without worrying much, I wanted to eat and drink (metal = sausage and beer usually). BLAH, only one seller of burgers and hot-dogs and no beer. Whatever we took a hot-dog. Then the queue arrived at the entry of the theatre: magnetic controls and CONTROL OF PASSPORTS to verify the name on the tickets! Then I couldn’t find any beer inside alas, so my friend bought a bottle of water…that he couldn’t bring into the concert room (security forbiddings). No wonder the ambiance was not so enthusiastic: they were all sober!!!
After testing a karaoke later, the last day was the worst.
We had to take the Sapsan fast train to St-Petersburg. Showing the tickets at our hotel, they indicated us the metro station. Good! There we go, we find the train station but no St-Petersburg on panels. After turning around, asking at at least 3 different ticket offices, we finally missed the train since the time passed. There was nobody able to speak English, nobody even willing to help or just able to read our tickets. And I speak 4 languages…
Eventually my friend looked on the internet, we took the metro back from where we came from, took a taxi which seemed to take us back to the same area again but asked his partners on the phone. The guy was the only smart enough: he put us right in front of the good station and the panels indicating St-Petersburg. The time to buy new tickets (it took easily an hour… People were telling their lives or what?) and we were in the train.
By bye Moscow!
The poster child of a sovietized police state with its policemen at every crossroads and the X-ray machines for your bags at every train station. At one entry of the station, there were 15 cameras one way AND 15 looking the other way!
