This time arriving at the train station, we were able to roll our suitcases along with no problem. Helen met us and off we went into Moscow traffic. Construction everywhere. There are 9 train stations in Moscow and 296 metro stations. We are promised a tour of the Metro stations.

View from the dining room at the National Hotel

Our hotel, the National, is perfectly situated across a large park from the Kremlin. It is an old historic hotel, decorated inside, in what I consider “Russian” style, lots of red velvet with gold brocade chairs and sofas. There are huge dramatic paintings of peasants and scenery that are about one grade above velvet paintings, also heavy draperies everywhere. The bar is a pleasant room with lots of light where Shap has discovered the same women sitting there every night. He has determined that she is a “women of the night”, but he seems hesitant to approach her. Wonder why?

We take an evening stroll; it is amazing how clean these cities are. There is not a bit of trash to be seen anywhere, including the subways. It is disgusting when you compare our cities, especially New York to the Russian cities that we have seen. We have trash everywhere, people pissing in the subway; there is really no excuse for it. I don’t know what they are doing here but we could take a page out of the Russian’s book. I remember my “Austrian sister” (the family I lived with when on the Experiment of International Living) coming to the states and being appalled at all of the trash on the streets.

View across from our hotel

Although we were told that there was not much to see in Moscow and to spend more time in St. Petersburg, we were pleasantly surprised at how interesting it is. Besides the Kremlin, the architecture is from many different eras. The most interesting was during the Stalin period. He was very interested in style and his buildings have a hint of art deco. Most of the buildings have very straight columns with bas-reliefs of people or periods in Soviet history.

State building in Lenin style and National Hotel behind it

There are seven skyscrapers though out the city, which we could see from the St. Catherine’s Church. These were built during the Stalin period and are referred to as the “seven sisters.” The style resembles the Empire State Building in some respects.

Shap and Helen inside the Kremlin

Our guide, Helen, grew up in Moscow during the time of the Soviet Union. She was telling us her grandparents were Russian Orthodox and she was baptized in secret. Everyone was afraid to mention religion. Many of the churches were destroyed, but the ones in the Kremlin were closed up. St. Basil’s, the one with colorful onion domes, was also closed. However, St. Catherine’s (where we could observe the city from the top) was destroyed. All of the icons were destroyed except a priest hid one. There was a video of the destruction; you just wondered how such beautiful churches could be destroyed. But look at what ISIS is doing. So history repeats itself.

                            Kremlin walls with buildings inside the walls

We were offered a look- see at Lenin’s body, for me, this was a must miss. Shap thought it would be great to look at a 90 year old dead body. That is how many years since he died!

                    Inside the Kremlin

The Kremlin wall and the inside of the Kremlin are quite impressive. Beautiful gardens, churches, buildings with a lot of open courtyards and guard towers. I had no expectations of how it would look, except that I thought Red Square was in the middle of the Kremlin walls. We were a bit disappointed that Putin did not come out to welcome us, but then neither did Trump when we were at the White House in April. Guess we just don’t have enough prestige. We did get to see the changing of the guards at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. That makes it twice for us, one at Arlington cemetery and once at the Kremlin.

Changing of the guards

If you have not read “A Gentleman in Moscow,” I highly recommend it. It is a story of a man who is imprisoned in the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. Shap and I were curious to see it, so we walked down to the hotel, passing the Bolshoi Theater which is quite grand. I tried to get tickets to a ballet but there were none while we were here.

Bolshoi theater

The Metropol is a historic hotel, definitely unimpressive from the outside but quite impressive inside. It was fun to try to identify areas in the book.

Metropol Hotel and inside

We have seen a difference with our guides since we left Iskutuk. As we have gotten closer to Moscow, our guides have more of what I consider the Russian personality. I remember from our visiting teachers back in the 90’s when we did our Russian exchange program that there was a definite lack of interest in our culture, a lack of a sense of humor and a strict adherent to the schedule. I know that Helen had a bit of trouble understanding our questions and she definitely did not get Shap’s sense of humor, but we had to march to her timetable. She was not happy when I wanted to stop by our hotel to get some warmer clothes.

                      Inside the subway and view of my favorite station

After the Kremlin, and the view from St. Catherine’s Church, we did a tour of the subway. The subway stations are beautiful. Each one is different and designed by different architects. They also represent different periods, and different themes. Khrushchev came from Ukraine and one of the stations had mosaics depicting Ukrainian way of life. My favorite was a UNESCO landmark with an art deco look about it. Still I was amazed at the cleanliness of the stations, not a spec of dirt, litter or homeless people. Of course they probably send the homeless to a place far away from downtown Moscow.

                     Outside and inside of the GUM department store. Now it is a huge high end shopping mall, just like those in the States.

We are off on the high-speed train to St. Petersburg today. The train is crowded but comfortable and FAST. Wish we had trains like this in the U.S.