Moscow (19th - 22nd June 07)

After our 5 days and 4 nights on the train, it was great to stretch our legs in Moscow.

When we arrived at Moscow station, our local city guide was a stunning blonde who was very typically Russian. Over the next few days she showed us the great sights of Moscow. On day 1 we did the 'sights' of the Kremlin, St Basils Cathedral, the State History museum and many bronze statues. By the end we were totally over any sights and just wanted to enjoy the local scene of Moscow.

St Basils Cathedral


Church in Moscow

Coming into Russia I had all these pre-conceptions about the country and its people - the sterness, the hostility and the mulititudes of concrete Stalin era structures. Yet throughout the day our pre-concpetions were proved totally wrong. The architecture in Moscow is beautiful - most of it was pre the communist era and was very grand. Further, once you get chatting to the Russian people they are really friendly and smile much more than I was expecting.

The beautiful Metro stations


The best part of Moscow for both Nick and myself was the great bars and cafes that we went to over the three days. Our local guide was great in knowing what we liked and she managed to find these great venues that seemed to be down an alley and through a big black door. But imagine Rakinos twisted in a Russian way, and these places were great fun. And they werent that expensive. Food was either the same price as NZ cafe food or cheaper. And a big glass of Russian beer was about $4nz.

The main expense in Moscow is accommodation at $40nz for a dorm bed. So I can see why a recent study put Moscow as the most expensive city in the world - as accommodation takes about 80% of your daily costs. But otherwise you can get around cheaply on the metro and eating at cafes rather than restaurants. Also most sights have a very good student price which makes things much more affordable to (luckily they havent seemed to notice my student card has expired).

Overall we had a fabulous time in Moscow. All my stress about Russian bureacracy and scams was erased once we were actually there and had the best few days that we have had in a while. It is definately a city I will come back to sometime soon.