She may be over 800 years old, but Russia’s capital city has never looked better, thanks to gargantuan efforts to repair and restore Moscow’s most important buildings ahead of the 2018 World Cup. Despite this, our adventures in the capital seemed doomed to failure, first when we were stuck transiting for hours at Moscow airport, and again when our ride forgot to pick us up at Ledinvasky Train Station, leaving us to navigate the city’s underground metro network — none of which is in English — with heavy backpacks at the height of rush hour. By the time we finally arrived at our hotel — which the front desk had helpfully described as being located between “Two Lenins” (she actually said two lions, but we misheard her completely) — we were dirty, tired and almost ready to cancel the trip completely.
Waiting for the train
After a few cups of coffee and breakfast from our hotel cafe, things were starting to look up. This time, our guide, Marina, was ready and waiting to introduce us to her city on a walking tour. The next three hours were spent taking in Moscow’s quintessential sites: from the hotel where we were staying on Arabat Street to the statue of Gogol, the Russian poet whose downcast visage was deemed too depressing during Soviet times so moved to this out-of-the-way park. From there we wandered through the stunning Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a great example of a Russian Orthodox architecture with white walls and gold onion domes and a high-ceilinged interior filled with moody frescos. All of the who’s who of Moscow society come here for Sunday services, including Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.
Cathedral of Christ the Savior
Next we crossed the river to look at the Kremlin from the opposite bank, before stopping by St. Basil’s Cathedral. The Red Square's iconic multi-domed church was built in the 16th century to celebrate finally kicking the Mongols out of Russia. It's much smaller than in pictures and takes only about 10 minutes to explore, but walls covered in elaborate frescos makes this well worth the 350 rouble (about US$5) entrance fee.
St. Basil's Cathedral
We also stopped by the embalmed body of Lenin, whose taxidermy-inspired remains have kickstarted one of communism’s most bizarre traditions; now Mao's body is interred below Tiananmen Square, while Ho Chi Min has been installed in his namesake city. Lesser Soviet dictators, including Stalin, are buried nearby; others' ashes are interred in one of the brick walls enclosing the Kremlin.
Lenin's tomb
In a more generous showing of Soviet spirit, all of Moscow’s subways — the masses' main form of transportation, especially on chilly winter days — have been decked out with chandeliers, mosaics and other artful facades. The propaganda value of such an effort was high (read: lots of hammers and sickles, along with statues of model citizens) but the city's metro network certainly gets points for style.
Moscow underground
On our last full day, we visited the Kremlin, where Parliament and Putin still meet. While we were in town, Putin was reelected to another term in a landslide election, despite widespread accusations of vote rigging. We found it interesting that the local papers, including The Moscow Times, felt empowered to report on this, despite the country's reputation for censorship. Facebook and Gmail, both of which are inaccessible in China without a VPN, also worked fine.
The Kremlin from across the river
Despite our rough start, a bit of rain and one day lost to a crippling vodka hangover, we really enjoyed our two days in Moscow. It wasn’t as traditionally beautiful as St. Petersburg, but the city's long history, unique architecture and urban grit seemed more real, and distinctly Russian. Neither of us can wait to go back, though next time, we’ll leave the vodka alone.
Jen Swanson