I left St Petersburg the cheapest way I could… on a night train! For less than $30 I got a small top bunk in a cart full of Russian pe...

Moscow... part 1

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I left St Petersburg the cheapest way I could… on a night train! For less than $30 I got a small top bunk in a cart full of Russian people. Getting to my bunk was super easy; as the train approached people started running up and down as they figured out where their wagon was going to be but since I had no clue I stood still and waited for the train to stop to figure out my way, and guess what? My wagon literally stopped in front of where I was standing... couldn't have been any easier!
Well, it was easier than that actually. I showed my passport and ticket and the girl told me my bed number. The Russian guy who was in front of me found his bunk and then without any words he took my hand and took me to my bunk and tap my bed to let me know it was mine, I said "speciba" (Thank you in Russian) and he left. We have this concept of Russians being cold and not welcoming but I really believe is the language barrier and them not feeling comfortable speaking to foreigners not knowing english.

I shared the side of my bunk with 3 people in their twenties but they didn’t speak to me even though I said hello and smiled. It was kind of funny because we sat there in silence. The boy in the bed below me was very kind and even with a very broken english asked me if I wanted his bottom bunk to sleep. How kind is that? I said no thank you as I knew that I would probably sleep the whole way and the bottom bunks are used as seats when people are awake.
The table goes down and makes the bottom bunk!

Quickly after boarding the train a girl came by and re checked our ticket and passport and everybody was given a pack with clean sheets and a pillow cover! I was so impressed! I had never been given sheets before in a train. In fact, in South East Asia the only thing you get are cockroaches and dirty wagons! 

Cool train jacket!

People started making their bed and changing into pajamas. I found it strange as the train was only like 6 hours, I just made sure to wear comfy clothes!
After making their beds everybody went to sleep. I was actually glad to be having an early night and immediately fell asleep until my alarm rang 20 minutes before we arrived in Moscow.


Once in moscow I got my phone out to see which was I needed to go to get to my hostel but I had marked the wrong station on my phone and couldn’t figure it out. In Russia they have this silly thing that in order to get free wifi they have to send you a SMS to your Russian phone number so pretty much every single tourist can not access the internet for free. 
Although it was before 5am there was an open information desk (see, Russia is really 24/7) and the girl helped me figure out my way on the metro.
I headed out of the station and had to wait until 5:30am until the metro opened but no big deal, I love people watching. What I don’t love is watching people smoke… So many people smoke in this country! It’s crazy!


The metro ride was easy but definitely I could tell I was not in SPB anymore. Most of the signs are only in Russian so it takes a little bit of getting used to. 
Without any problem I finally arrived at my hostel and I got the morning to rest and in the afternoon went for a quick walk down to the famous red square, literally across the street from my hostel.

My hostel is right across the back entrance of the Kremlin so had to walk through "Aleksandrovsky sad", the garden, to get to the red square and on my way I saw the change of guards. I didn't know where I was walking but I saw a lot of tourists with cameras ready so I knew something was about to happen and I followed. I stood right in front of two guards next to the tomb of an unknown soldier. 

The change of guard was even more bizarre than the one in Athens. 
A third guard who was on the side with a whistle whistling away the tourist walked to one of the standing guards and stood in front of him and fixed his hat by a couple of millimeters and then left. I thought it was so silly but sillier was the way he walked in and out...


... I really thought in any moment he would actually do a back flip! Maybe Putin trains them to be guards and gymnasts!

So, in a funny way he retrieved back to his position with the whistle in the corner and like 30 seconds later went to the other guard and did the same. I thought "This change of guard is strange!"


Another funny thing was that the whole time I was there the guard looked asleep!

I waited another couple of minutes to see if something else would happen and then a pair of soldiers (kicking their legs way too high to be comfortable) came by and switched places...

Look... he is awake! and the one in the back is asleep! haha

Later in my visit I asked the free walking tour guide what the whole fixing hat in the change of guards was and she said she had no idea what I was talking about but that at times if too hot the third guard would come and wipe the sweat off the standing guards! She also added that the guard position is very prestigious and that the guards standing have to look very similar to be paired up and that's why there are a lot of twins hire to do the job! How crazy is that?

After all the change of guards shenanigans I made it to the red square, probably the most famous landmark of Russia! 

About to enter the red square!

When I thought of Russia I imagined St Basil's church with its colorful onion looking top or the red buildings. It was so cool to be there because for me Russia seemed so far away, so unattainable and I was actually standing in the middle of the red square... I just felt like opening my arms and twirling around... but I didn't. Instead, I set up my go pro and took a picture.

Pano of one side of the red square.



I walked from one end of the red square to the other, passing by St. Basil's cathedral and made it to the river.

View of the red square from the bridge 




Before getting to Moscow I posted on a group in Facebook to see if anybody had recommendation and one girl from the group was living in Moscow and offered to show me around. I was super lucky to have Eleonora show me around her city and teach me a little bit about Russian culture.

We started our walk by going to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and crossed over the patriarshiy bridge.

View of cathedral from the river


View of Kremlin from the Patriarshiy bridge

Then she took me to red october, a super cool old factory. I felt like I was walking in L.A and not moscow. During Soviet times the red october was a chocolate factory but now it has transformed into bohemian part of town with art galleries, trendy cafes and restaurants, and even rooftop clubs.





From there we walked to Muzeon park of the arts. Eleonora showed me the fallen monument park where one can find so many statues taken from the streets and put all together here. Since the fall out of the Soviet union all the soviet statues were removed from the streets and some found their way into this park.



Lots of Stalin heads in here!

Explanation of some of the statues found at the park... all in Russian!
We kept walking through the park until we reached Gorky Park, the equivalent of NY's Central Park! 
The vibe at the park is amazing! People singing and playing instruments, dancing, roller skating, biking, hanging out... it was awesome!





selfie :)

 The walk around the water was amazing, the view of sunset was perfect! Awww... I loved it!
I loved it so much I went back the night before I left.



People are unbelievably "smart"! 




Lots of dancing going on! The funny part is that everybody dances the way they want no matter the music! In fact, NO ONE was dancing to the style or the rhythm of the music. I swear, some songs were hip-hop and they were trying to dance salsa to it! It was such a mess but so entertaining to watch. While watching I was even asked to go to the dance floor and show off my moves... I refused, I didn't want to shame the Russians with my awesome latina dance moves! (ha! I wish!)







I couldn't miss the fountain show!




That night I went back to the hostel around midnight and was determined to go see the red square at night and get sunrise pictures so I never went to bed and at 2am I went back out... on my own... in Moscow... and I was totally fine!

I started my walk backwards from the last time. I went to the river to see the night reflection in the water and then I wanted to reach the St Basil cathedral first and move on to  the square.





First of all I couldn't shoot any nice night pictures of St Basil's because of the construction around it and the super bright lights that totally ruined any night shots so disappointed I walked to the red square and to my surprise they had blocked the whole square!!!! Nooo!!! 


I had to walk 10- 15 minutes to reach the other side of the square on the side streets. The good thing was that I was able to see the square from sides I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise!

Can you spot me?


 I then had to walk another 20 minutes and fin my way back to the front of the square, a walk that should had taken me 30 seconds!



Sky changing color behind St. Basil's




The next day after 3 hours of sleep I decided to take a free walking tour where I met some pretty cool people to hang out with while in Moscow.
In the tour we pretty much saw a lot of RussianOrthodox Christian looking churches and went to the red square.




The guide also took us inside GUM, a huge, fancy and beautiful mall where people go window shopping, eat at the cheap russian buffet restaurant, and eat 50 rubble ($0.85) Soviet ice-cream!



We went to the Russian buffet... Pigeon milk chocolate souffle... anyone?
After the tour I parted ways with my new found friends but then got together at night to see the Red Square and Eleonora joined us and showed us another part of town.



We went through some artsy streets...







I think book stores are big deal in Russia!
 And walked along a couple of parks


This is a flower shop... Open 24/7!

 We ended the Eleonora tour back at the red square, all light up and even more beautiful!

The crew minus Maggie!


Gum all lit up at night!


... The next few days were as busy as the first two! Moscow so far was surpassing my expectation!


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About Post Author

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!

1 comment:

  1. Фрези ГрантDecember 20, 2023 at 12:24 PM

    This is fascinating, thank you very much! And the pics are awesome! Imagine discovering your lovely post 6 years later while Googling "top bunk" :-) What a r=treat! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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About me




Hi! It's me... Andrea!

In this blog you can live vicariously through my journey around the world!

Please feel free to share tips or places to go!
Contact me: andreaheartstraveling@gmail.com