Moscow, farewell

I guess this is going to be another long post for my last two days in Moscow.  Let me start off by informing everyone that taking photos or videos in the Metro stations (and maybe also train stations and airports) are illegal and if you get yourself caught by the local police, you may lose your camera!

Anyway, I did not know that it was illegal to photograph in the stations.  I thought this art piece on the wall looked really unique.  Why not right?

Another picture of the fortress but in on a sunny day.

The busy streets of Moscow.  If you look closely enough, you will notice that the presidential elections are on 4 March.

A very nice departmental store which existed during Pre-Soviet times that got scaled down later by the communists and now it is back (almost) in full glory.

Later that night, I went to visit an ex-university mate, Daniel and his family.  They were in Lund till last September when decided to move back to Moscow to stay in one of the suburbs.  Their home is warm and cosy with lots of noise and cheer from the kids.  I stayed till almost midnight listening to Daniel talk about the current political situation in Moscow.  Thankfully Elena, my final couch host was still up and guided me back to her home.  I had forgotten which building she lived in as most of the apartment buildings looked the same!

Natalia and one of her kids.

Daniel and her daughter.

Me and them.

At the Moscow state university

A web of network LAN cables!

A monument to the Russian space effort sending the first man into space.

Vostok rocket

Mobile electricity generator

The obelisk at the memorial square.

A view from the obelisk

Tanks on display at the war museum.  My camera batteries ran out here.  There were also planes, ships, a turret on a train wagon, and helicopters.  A must-visit place!

The next day, I took a long ride on the Metro to Moscow Domodedovo Airport where I would then be on a 10 hour journey back to Singapore.  I wonder how the humidity and heat will do to me.  Russia has been fun and would definitely try to explore the other cities and rural regions.

First 2 days in Moscow

Moscow is about 9 hours train ride from Saint Petersburg, if you are taking the cheapest and oldest trains available from the railway company.  You take the train from the Moskovsky train station where you need to validate your online pre-booked ticket.  If you really have an online pre-booked ticket, you would not have a seat number and would have to wait outside the train wagon for someone to tell the conductor that you are a valid passenger.  This is what happened to me.  The Russian train has many conductors and they are in charge of at least one wagon.

After the long journey by train which I should have bought sleeping berths, the train stopped at the Leningradsky train station.  Coincidentally, the nearest Metro station is directly connected to the Fruzenskaya station which my first Moscow couch host is staying at.  It was easy to just get on the train and get off at the right station.  After a few days in Russia, I have started to be able to read and pick out Russia words which was really helpful when listening to the Metro announcements.

I got a bit lost after exiting the Metro station.  After running around for a while, I found the right way to the couch host's apartment.  We had some pizza for dinner.  Alex, the couch host was mulling over where to go for vacation and contemplated China.  As I was learning some basic Russian, we had a google-translate session of him reading out Chinese characters with Russian phonetics.  It was really an amusing night.  There were quite a few transliterated  phrases which I had no idea what he was saying.  He did teach me a lot of Russian words in exchange, most of them I have forgotten (no worries! I have a English-Russian phrasebook!)

The next day, I went around Moscow to check out some tourist sites like the Peter the Great statue on the river, the red square, St Basil's cathedral, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Gorky Park.  Of course, since I am also a gastronomic-traveler, I sampled some of the daily cuisines enjoyed by the local populace, namely pancakes, buckwheat (there is a name, I forgot what.  Someone please help) and kvass in Теремок, a popular fast food chain in Russia.

The second day, I went to visit the inside of the Kremlin area, but only the Armory.  The Kremlin itself is closed probably due to the upcoming presidential elections.  It was really a pity since It is a major part of the fortress that I wanted to see.  In addition to that, I went inside the State Historical Museum.  I forgot to mention that if you bring your student card, you enjoy massive savings on all entrance fees to these state sponsored museums and galleries.

In the evening, I went to visit Я́ндекс, the company in which Alex works in. They had a English speaking club which I participated as a guest and we shared a lot of interesting stories of living in Moscow.

You can see the space shuttle Buran across the river.

Statue of Peter the Great navigating a small boat.

The busy streets of Moscow.

I love cats.

Statue of Lenin on the grounds of the State Library.

Outside the fortress near the red square.

The street outside the fortress.  Lots of Russian tourists here, disappointed ones as the Kremlin was close probably due to the upcoming presidential elections.

Buckwheat and Kvass for lunch.

There is a three level shopping centre right below these glass domes.

Medan is not in Borneo.

The Russian State Museum.

Ice skating on the red square.

World famous St Basil's cathedral

Pancakes and fish roe for tea break.

The weather got misty and rainy at that moment.  Coupled with ice on the river, you might think that its a very cold day, which is quite bearable actually since there is no wind.

The sky cleared up and ready for my camera to take the picture of the glorious red square.

A very expensive looking hotel.

Ooo... tank vs man

Close up of Buran.  Russian's version of the space shuttle.

Remember Gorky Park from Winds of Change?

The nice people at yandex.