St. Petersburg

Our bus ride from Veliky Novgorod to St. Petersburg took about 3 hours.  We arrived at about 11am, took a taxi to the metro station, took the Number 5 (Purple) line, then walked about 10 minutes to the Hotel Cameo.  The metro is fairly new so it looks very modern.  It is built deep into the ground.  Getting out of the metro, you take one of the longest escalators I have ever seen.  After checking into the hotel, we set out for lunch and took a walking tour of the city.

A metro station

Hotel Cameo

A very long escalator in and out of the metro

Sweet and savory pies for lunch at the Stolle's restaurant

A Chevy decorated with Route 66 logo on Nevsky Prospekt, the main street

I found out that it rains in St. Petersburg all the time.  It gets only an average of 35 days of sunshine every year.  So it's no surprise that it was raining the first two days we were here.  Fortunately, we scheduled a visit to the Hermitage Museum on the second day.  Our tour leader, Vasily, is a licensed tour guide for the Hermitage Museum.  He said it'd take years to see all the exhibits at the museum.  You can read more about the museum by clicking here and on their official website.  It was founded by Empress Catherine the Great in 1764 and is the largest in the world with over 3 million exhibits.  The museum comprise of six historic buildings, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian Emperors.  The admission is 700 rubles, about US$12.

One thing everyone agree on this trip to Russia is we ran into a lot of tourists from China.  At first I couldn't figure out why.  Then I realized it's their so-called Golden Week, which consists of their National Day of October 1 and a few extra days off.  Chinese residents, with their new money are traveling all over the world, and spending big.  They are replacing the "ugly Americans" of 40 years ago and the "curious Japanese" of 20 years ago.  When I was on the Slot Canyons photography trip a few weeks ago, at least 50% of the tourists going through the narrow canyon were Chinese tourists.  Similarly, at the Hermitage Museum, over 50% of the tourists on the day we visited, were from China.  How do I know?  Because I can understand (and speak) Mandarin and Cantonese.  Our tour leader Vasily said, unhappily, that many of the Chinese tour guides at the Hermitage are not licensed.  They use the license of a Russian guide, who waits nearby.  We spent 3-4 hours at the museum and barely scratch the surface.  Vasily took us to the exhibits that he wanted to show us.  He is very knowledgeable on Russian history and politics and it was a pleasure to have him as our guide.

Palace Square - main Hermitage Museum and Alexander Column in the middle, surrounded by the Winter Palace, also part of the Museum

Entrance to the Hermitage Museum

Unbelievably ornate decorations

Venus

Cupid

An Ornate Hallway

Collections include some of the oldest and rarest paintings

Throne of one of the Tzars

I've been to many museums around the world and I must say Hermitage is way on top.  There are palaces/museums in Vienna and Versailles that are almost as beautiful as this but not in the quantity and quality of exhibits that this museum has.  Sadly, this was built on the backs of the Russian peasants who have to work so hard to support the lavish lifestyles of the Russian Tzars.  This is one of the contributing factors in the February Revolution, which saw the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II,  right here in St. Petersburg (at that time known as Petrograd).  In the same year of 1917, there was another October Revolution, led by Vladimir Lenin, which eventually led to the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922.

On my third day in St. Petersburg, the rain stopped.  A miracle!  Even the sun peeked out among the clouds.  My objective for the day was to visit the Resurrection Church (aka Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood), the Peter and Paul Fortress, and the St. Isaac Cathedral.  I bought a 2-day ticket on the hop-on hop-off bus by City Tours so I was able to get to some of these places without to much walking.

Saint Petersburg is sometimes nicknamed the Venice or Amsterdam of Russia because of its many canals.  On my last day I decided to take a cruise that goes along the Neva River and the canals.  It gives you a different perspective of the city.  I sat on the deck of the boat even though the temperature was freezing cold at about 40F or 4C.

A view of one of the canals

Cruise boats are popular along the canals

An Art Mart on Nevsky Prospekt, the main street

Night scene alone the canal

Canal leading to the Church on the Spilled Blood

I was told this is an advertisement by a prostitute, painted on the sidewalk

Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood

Faberge Eggs on display at a souvenir store

Walkway at the St. Peter and Paul Fortress, with beautiful golden autumn leaves

Judgement Day painting on the ceiling of St. Isaac's Cathedral

St. Isaac's Cathedral

Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul

Souvenir Stands outside the Church on the Spilled Blood

Soviet Propaganda from the 60s'

Religious Icons for sale

Lastly, the Russian language is written in Cyrillic, an alphabet that originated from the Greek alphabet.  It is now used in countries like Bulgaria, Serbia and the Ukraine.  This makes signs difficult to read or pronounce for those from countries using the newer form of the Latin alphabet, like English.  You see the same sign over and over again and you wonder, what does the following sign mean?  See answer below

It means STOP.  How do you pronounce it?  STOP     😄

This is the end of my wonderful 10-day trip to Russia.  It's too bad that not too many Americans want to come here.  Most just stop in St. Petersburg for 2 days as part of a Baltic cruise.  Moscow has as much, if not more, to offer as in St. Petersburg.  Tomorrow afternoon I am flying to London, then to Edinburgh, Scotland.  I will stay in Edinburgh for 2 days, then York for 2 days, Cambridge for 1 day, and finally back to London before flying back to Phoenix.

Journey to St. Petersburg

On the way to St. Petersburg we stopped at a historic town called Veliky Novgorod.  Not many people have heard of this town.  It's about an 8-hour train ride from Moscow.  We took an overnight train.  The train left Moscow train station at 10pm.  We left the hotel at about 9pm and took a 30-minute taxi ride to the train station.  There are 3 train stations clustered together in Moscow - one for domestic, one to Central Asian countries, and one to big international cities like Beijing, etc.

We paid an extra half-day of room charge so that we can stay in our rooms until 9 pm that evening.  I've never done that before but apparently, this is a common practice.  I don't know if American hotels allow you to do that.  I've never tried.

We were booked into a compartment that sleeps four people, two bunk beds on each side.  There were three of us:  our tour leader Vasily, Victoria (from Australia) and I.  Another Russian man was the 4th person in the compartment.  As expected, the compartment is tight but the bed is comfortable.  Sheets and a blanket are provided.  Usually I cannot sleep on a train but I took my usual concoction of melatonin and a sleep-aid and soon enough I was asleep.  I guess I slept so soundly that I was snoring throughout the night, someone told me.  Perhaps the clickety-clack of the train soothed me to sleep.  The train is fairly modern so it was not overly noisy.  The toilet is a modern type, which means you are not flushing your waste onto the tracks.  I was expecting one of the vintage trains, like the ones I traveled on in other Eastern European countries in 2011.  When you flush the toilet in those trains, you can see the tracks.  Heaven forbids if you drop something into the toilet.

Vasily and Victoria in the train compartment

We arrived in Veliky Novgorod at about 6am and took a taxi to the hotel.  We had a nice buffet breakfast, then set out for a tour of the city.  It was raining but we had to brave it because it was going to rain all day.  Vasily, our tour leader, is a licensed tour guide in St. Petersburg.  This is his eighth trip of the year for this Tucan Tour - Moscow to St. Petersburg.  He is very knowledgeable on Russian history.  He was our tour guide for this town.  Instead of trying to repeat what he said, I'm going to refer you to this description of Veliky Novgorod and its history in Wikipedia.  Below are some pictures that I shot during our walk through the town.

Inside St. Sophia's Cathedral.  A service is going on at the other end.

Approaching the gate to the Kremlin

The Kremlin is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Information about the Kremlin

The Millennium of Russia Monument with St. Sophia Cathedral in the background

Bells from the cathedral.  Someone is ringing them.

Inscription on the door of the cathedral

A close-up look

Overlooking the Volkhov River.  A tired tourist is resting on its banks.

The Cathedral of the Transfiguration

Hanseatic Fountain

We finished the tour in about 3 hours.  After that it rained all day and I was just not motivated to walk around the city in the rain.  Instead I took a nice nap (naps are always nice when it's cold and raining), then continue to update my blog.  In the evening we went to a nearby restaurant for dinner.  The food was excellent and cheap.  At today's exchange rate of US$1 to about 58 Russian Rubles, everything is cheap in Russia.  Only a few years ago the exchange rate was US$1 to about 30+ Russian Rubles.

We spent 1 night in this town and stayed at the Hotel Volkhov.  After breakfast in the morning, we took a taxi to the bus station to continue our journey to St. Petersburg.

Moscow

I had little or no expectations coming to Moscow.  Many friends have been to St. Petersburg as part of a Baltic cruise and said how beautiful St. Petersburg is.  Other than seeing pictures of Red Square and the St. Basil's Cathedral, I know very little of the other tourist places.

My hotel is 5 metro stops from the Red Square.  Moscow has an extensive and well-built subway station.  It was built in the 1930s' to serve the people because back then, no one can own cars except the government officials.  So everyone has to use the metro to get around.  The metro stations are huge!  They look like a regular train station.  Some of them have statues commemorating past heroes or famous Russians.  The trains are old but they run efficiently.  They come every 2-3 minutes.  Once I got it figured out, it was a breeze getting to the Red Square, where everything in Moscow centers around, especially the well-known churches, museums, buildings, etc.

Inside a cavernous metro station

Revolutionary Heroes in the station

Muscovites told me that prior to 1991, before the fall of communism, you can get enough food but they were all from Russia or the other Soviet countries.  There were not many choices.  But, once Russia opened up to the world (just like China), all kinds of foreign goods appeared in the stores.  Who said the Russians are starving?  If you think they are, you are probably still listening to 60s' propaganda.  A visit to one of the grocery stores find it just as well stocked as any American grocery store.  Restaurants are everywhere too.  People are well-fed and well-dressed.

Deli Section

Smoke Fish

Lots of vegetables from all over

I was told that even in the 80s', if a truck selling bananas show up on the street, a line of at least 1 km long will form quickly.  Even toilet papers were hard to come by then.  Thanks to Perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, things changed quickly in the late 80s' and early 90s'.

In spite of the rain I had four wonder days of wandering around Moscow, enjoying the cathedrals, museums, park, etc.  Below are some of the pictures and narratives behind them.

The Iconic St. Basil's Cathedral

St. Basil's Cathedral is the most iconic building in Red Square.  Its formal name is The Cathedral of the Intercession.  It was built between 1555 and 1561 by orders of the Tsar Ivan the Terrible in memory of his victory over the Kingdom of Kazan.  It is believed that it was designed by a couple of Russian architects called Barca and Postnik.  Legend has it that the architects were blinded by the Tsar so that they cannot build another cathedral like this.

Each dome represents a church.  There are 12 domes altogether and collectively they make up the cathedral.  Today the inside is a museum but it is also a living church.  On the Sunday that I was there I saw a Russian Orthodox service going on in the church.  The museum contains Russian Orthodox Christian relics from the 16th and 17th centuries.  You see many icons, plaques and paintings adorning each church.  Walking through each church is like walking through the 16th and 17th centuries.  The fact that they survived wars and time is in itself a miracle.  While I did not understand or read through everything, seeing all these ancient relics really touched me.  It is a testimony of the faith of the early Russians.  I understand from our guide that there has been a resurgence of church attendance in the last few years.  Russian is building more churches and monasteries.  Considering that the church was banned during the communist era, this is truly amazing.

Admission into the museum is 500 rubles or about US$8.50, a bargain compared to other museums.  There is an audio guide available.  I wish I knew that before I bought my admission ticket.

Kremlin, after a rain

Politically, the Kremlin is the center of the Russian universe.  It is where all the major political decisions are made and it's where President Vladimir Putin's office is.  The word Kremlin in Russian means fortress.  Other cities in Russia also have their own kremlins, but this is The Kremlin of Russia.  You need to buy a 550-ruble ticket to get into the grounds of the Kremlin.  It is more than just the  government buildings, which, obviously are off-limits to the tourists.  Within the grounds are five beautiful and ornate cathedrals, built between the 15th and 17th centuries.  Below is a picture of one of them:  The Annunciation Cathedral.  They all have golden domes on them.

I was told by our tour leader that the golden domes are made of metal.  The reason why they are made of metal is so that they are strong enough to support the big cross on top of the dome.  Notice that each cross is also supported by wires or cables so that it can withstand strong winds and whatever natural elements that want to knock it down.  The big crosses are symbols asking the faithful to come to church.  Greek Orthodox churches also have domes but they are not made of metal.  Instead they are usually made from masonry with tiles on the exterior.  The crosses on those domes are much smaller than the Russian ones.

The Annunciation Cathedral, 1 of 5 within the Kremlin

St. Vladimir, the patron saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, overlooking the Kremlin

The statue in the picture above was erected in 2016 with much controversy.  St. Vladimir, the patron saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, was erected by his namesake, Vladimir, the President of Russia.  It is about 60 feet tall and located only about 100 yards from the Kremlin walls at a busy intersection in Moscow.  Some say the statue is a thinly-disguised monument to himself.  For more about this statue, read this article in the New York Times.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, one of the biggest and grandest churches

One of the biggest and grandest churches in the world is Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.  It is on par with other grand churches like St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and St. Paul's Cathedral in London.  The current church is the second to be built at this location, replacing one that was built in the 19th century and ordered destroyed by Joseph Stain in 1931.

A Panoramic View of Red Square after a rain

It is difficult to capture the size of the Red Square in one view.  It is just very BIG!  So standing on one end of the square, in front of the State Historical Museum, I took the above panoramic view.  Looking straight ahead in the distance is St. Basil's Cathedral.  You can see the a very small silhouette of the "onion domes."  To the left is the big and lavish GUM Shopping Center.  If there is need for evidence that communism is dead, this is it.  Inside this shopping center are the major high-end retailers of the world:  Tiffany, BOSS, etc, plus other Russian high-end retailers.  You can even find a Beluga Caviar cafe here.  I've never seen that anywhere in the world.  To the right is the Kremlin wall.  On the other side of the wall are the cathedrals that I mentioned above.

One end of Red Square.  Security is tight on Putin's Birthday

The red building in the middle is the State Historical Museum, in front of which is where I took the panoramic picture above.  But this nighttime picture reminds one that Russia is still a police state.  On that Saturday evening, they closed off Red Square and some of the neighboring major intersections.  Not knowing what was happening, I asked someone, who asked one of the policemen guarding the barricade above.  The policeman said that someone wants to harm Vladimir Putin.  Later I learned that there were some anti-Putin demonstrations nearby.  The hundreds of policemen and security personnel around Red Square is a show of force as to who is in charge here.  You have to be extremely cautious not to mess around with these guys.

A cute bicycle on the street

The Four Seasons Hotel near Red Square.

If the above building looks familiar, it's because it is on the label of the Stolichnaya vodka.  This hotel was once called Hotel Moscow.  Stalin was said to have tried to get Russians to come and stay at this hotel so he put a picture of the hotel on the Stolichnaya vodka label.  Today it houses the Four Seasons Hotel, one of about 10 five-star hotels in Moscow.

To say that well-known American brands have infiltrated the Russian market is an understatement.  McDonald's, Starbucks, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, and the very popular KFC (which used to stand for Kentucky Fried Chicken) are everywhere.  I was at a food court near the Red Square and the KFC store was the biggest and have the longest lines.  While Americans are shunning junk food, Russians are welcoming them with open arms.  Below is what a McDonald's menu in Russian looks like.

McDonald's Menu in Russian

Inside GUM Shopping Center, celebrating Fall

Cannons captured from Napoleon, when he retreated after a failed invasion in 

In 1812 Napoleon decided to invade Russia.  It was a disaster and Napoleon had to flee, leaving many armaments, including cannons, behind.  In the Red Square is a display of some of these cannons.  Each individual cannon has an unique French name on the barrel.  Below is a picture of one of the emblems on the wheel of the cannon.

Emblem on a cannon

Above I mentioned that you don't mess around with the Russian police.  After being in Russia for 4 days and doused with rain every day, I was delighted to see a beautiful sunny Sunday morning on my last day in Moscow.  I planned an early morning trip to the Red Square so that I can take some photographs without tourists around.  Unfortunately, I was met with the same barricades from the night before.  I waited at one of the barricades and here I met the most jovial and gregarious policeman I've seen in Moscow.  A couple of British tourists and I were at the front of the line and he was friendly and joking with us.  When his shift was over as he was walking away from his post, he met a bunch of his fellow policemen.  Everyone gave him a hug and slap on the back.  Humanity does exist in some of these stone-face policemen sometimes.

A non-typical friendly Russian policeman

Old Arbat Street is a popular pedestrian mall in the city center of Moscow.  I took a walk through the street one rainy morning.  Most of the shops were closed and there were very few tourists there.  In the summer, in the evenings, there'd be throngs of tourists, with street musicians and all kinds of vendors.  As I was walking along I noticed a graffiti wall on one of the side streets.  When I took a picture of the graffiti wall below, I did not realize the significance of it.  Later I found out that it was dedicated to Korean-Russian musician Viktor Tsoi.  This is called the Tsoi Wall.  More about this wall can be found here.

Tsoi Wall Graffiti on Old Arbat Street

I have been in Moscow for 4 1/2 days and it rained everyday except one.  I could have visited more museums and other popular places but the rain slowed me down.  I don't know whether I'll have another chance to come back but I've seen as much as I could and want.  It changed my mind about Russians and Russia.  At the end of the day, they are just like us.  The difference is that they have a political system that controls their lives tightly.  Hopefully, someday it will change.