A Day In Moscow

After a rather dramatic end to my visit to Yoshkar-Ola, my train ride to Moscow was pretty uneventful. I arrived in Moscow early that morning at Kazan Station, a place I’d become very familiar with since I spent an entire day staying in the station hotel. I would once again spend a long amount of time at the station hotel, “CityHotel”, since my train to Murmansk didn’t depart until 12:30am giving me around 15 hours to kill. This time I was lucky enough to get a room with a view of the city rather than an interior room, which overlooked the train station.

My first stop would be a look around the Moscow Metro ring line. The ring line was Moscow’s first line and has some of the most beautiful stations! I was very familiar with my temporary “home station”, Komsomolskaya, since when I was younger I used to use this station every day to take the elektrichka train (a type of commuter train) to and from where I was living with my host family. Of all the stations on the nearly 62-year-old system Komsomolskaya is by far the most beautiful station! You cannot get any more elegant than this station with its beautiful golden yellow trim, incredible chandeliers hanging down and beautiful mosaics that adorn the ceilings. This should be ground zero for any tour of the metro.

The next stop along my metro tour would be the incredible Elektrozavodskaya station named after the nearby light bulb factory. The station was built during World War II, but was not finished until shortly after the war. The look of the station is very different! Instead of marble and mosaics, the station is a mix between Stalinist Art Deco and the post war look of the line’s other stations. The ceiling is the most incredible part of the station as it is adorned with six rows of circular inset lamps. This station is well worth a visit.

I continued my journey along the dark blue line going several stations north to one of the only above ground stations, Izmailovskaya. My goal was to visit the Izmailovskiy Kremlin, an entertainment and cultural center that were built in the shape of a Kremlin. I got to the station and looked around from the platform and could not spot the Kremlin. I then remembered that although the station’s name was Izmailovskaya, the name corresponded with the park, not the Kremlin and that it was up another station. So, I waited for the next train to come along in order to reach my destination.

I arrived at the next station, which unlike the other station was below ground. I got above ground and conditions were nasty. It was just above freezing that day and the snow was turning to brown wet slush. The mud puddles were looking deep and daunting. The Kremlin was not exactly next door, more or less about a half-mile walk from the station. With all the slush and mud puddles it may as well have been a few miles. After a lot of careful small baby steps to avoid slipping and creative hopping around the mud puddles I reached Izmailovskiy market where they sell all the tourist souvenirs. The place was pretty empty since it was a weekday and it was winter. Not many tourists were around at this time of year, so a lot of the vendors had packed up leaving rows and rows of empty stalls. There were still a few. I walked through the empty marketplace and the few vendors who were around were calling me in English asking if I wanted a furry Russian hat or offering me other souvenirs. I just kept walking saying “нет спасибо”, nyet spasibo or no thanks. Eventually a giant set of matryoshka dolls caught my eye. I tried bargaining with the guy, but I could not get him down to a reasonable price, plus he did not take credit cards. I eventually gave up and figured I didn’t need any more souvenirs, plus was unsure just where I’d put it. 

I eventually arrived at the Kremlin, which was totally empty since it was a weekday. Inside the Kremlin are a lot entertainment options. But I wasn’t there for entertainment options I wanted to see the architecture. Although it was not exactly as incredible as its much older cousin down south in Red Square it still had some pretty cool sights. Some of the highlights included the beautiful giant copulas that tower over the Kremlin and the tall wooden church, which is supposedly the largest wooden church in Russia. I’m not sure how accurate this is because there are some pretty large wooden

Vodka Museum

churches in Kizhi in Russia’s north. There’s also quite a large wooden church outside St. Petersburg, but who knows. During weekends and certain weekdays in the off-season you can visit two of the Kremlin other highlights, Museum of Vodka and Miniature Museum. There also is a marriage palace making this a popular place for wedding photos and parties.

Having seen most of the Izmailovskiy Kremlin I figured I’d kill some time and take another ride on the new second ring line. As I’d explained in an earlier post, the second ring line is the newest addition to the Moscow Metro system and really resembles a train line more than a metro line. I spotted what I thought was a ring line station (which are all above ground) so I started to dead reckon and walk toward it. I walked a good 15 minutes until I reached my "destination" and discovered it was just an overpass over the highway. I looked at Google maps and saw that the real station was really not that far from the overpass so I kept walking along the highway.

I eventually reached my station and got on one train, which was quite crowded, so I got off at the next station and decided to go the other way. I boarded the next train going the other way with the goal of riding the entire line. I eventually decided since I’d be on a train for the next two days and was paying for a nice deluxe room at the train station, I figured it might not be the best use of time to waste 2-3 hours riding the second ring line. So, I exited at the next station and headed back to the hotel.

I returned to my room for a bit of a rest. Just as I started to settle into my room for a rest I noticed it snowing outside. I figured it was probably just a passing flurry or two and not worth anything. But then it started to actually accumulate on the cars and looked like it could turn into something. Since I love everything snow related, I figured I had to act! No way was I going to let this opportunity go by without taking full advantage of it. So, I put on all my layers and headed out to Red Square. I had been to Red Square a few other times during the snow but absolutely nothing beats Red Square in the snow!!

Interior of St. Basil's

I reached Red Square in record time and luckily it was still snowing! I have a type of record where whenever I show up, the snow seems to stop or lighten up. But, luckily not this time. Although the snow was not as heavy as I would’ve liked it still was beautiful to see St. Basil’s and Red Square in the snow. Since I’d seen everything I tried to figure out what I’d do next. I could go back to the hotel room and wait another six hours, but no way was I going to just sit around the hotel all evening!! I figured it’d been a very looooong time since I’d been in St. Basil’s and it was open so I thought I might as well spend some time looking around the interior. The last time I had been there the interior was nice, but nothing too special. But I thought I might as well see if anything was new. The inside of St. Basil’s was awesome compared to the last time! Everything inside was so beautiful and they had done an incredible job at restoring the interior with restored iconostatuses (wall of icons), mosaics and other beautiful icons.

By the time I left St. Basil’s it was dark and still snowing. The snow made the entire square so beautiful! The holiday decorations along with the giant New Year’s tree outside GUM made it even more magical. In Russia Christmas is mainly a religious holiday celebrated by the Orthodox Church and does not really concern those who are not into religious ceremonies. The main holiday in Russia is New Year’s, which has become the default Christmas holiday with a New Year’s tree, ornaments, the exchanging of presents and a Santa Claus figure whose name is Father Frost along with his granddaughter, The Snow Maiden. The conversion of Christmas into New Year’s began in the Stalin era and is still going strong today.

Once I stepped into GUM, Moscow’s premier shopping arcade/department store, the place was decorated with all types of New Year’s trees in all shapes. One “tree” that especially stood out to me was one that consisted all of traditional Russian trays of all different colors. Besides the many trays in the shape of a tree, there was one giant tree dominating in the center of the arcade. It was beautifully decorated and one of the more beautiful New Year’s tree I’d seen in Russia!

I left GUM and stepped outside onto Red Square, where you could tell the holidays were just around the corner! The ice skating rink which covers about half the square looked as if it was only days away from welcoming skaters and the New Year’s tree market also appeared to be on the cusp of opening. All in all it looked like the capital was all ready for the holidays. After looking around at the beautiful decorations one last time and taking a final glimpse of the beauty of St. Basil’s with the backdrop of snow, I bid one last farewell to Red Square and headed back to the hotel. I was sad to leave Moscow, but knew that in no time I’d be back again and walking around Red Square!