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Arrived in Moscow at 6:30am after a long painful overnight flight from Barcelona. We arrived not knowing what to expect from Russia, and the Contiki Tour we were about to embark on. To be honest, I can't say my initial impressions of Russia were great. We arrived at Passport Control/Immigration, and I kid you not, there were a few hundred people pushing and shoving, yelling and screaming trying to get to the solitary passport check desk. It was like a scene from a third world country. It was mostly people from places like Turkmenistan and other former soviet states. Anyway, it took us nearly 2 hours to get through Immigration, and by then our luggage had been removed from the baggage claim. After half an hour of trying, we were able to retrieve our luggage but we were tired, frustrated and a little bit over it.
To make matters worse, we hadnt been informed by Contiki or our travel agent the name or location of the hotel we were meant to be at for the tour. We basically arrived into Russia blind, one of the worst places for that to happen. Luckily for us, the hotel had sent a driver to pick up Contiki tourists from the airport, and credit to Malcolm for spotting the Contiki sign out of the corner of his eye. From this point on, our Moscow (and Russian) experience was absolutely incredible!
We arrived at the hotel, before being checked into our rooms. Unfortunately there were no triple share rooms, and I drew the short straw and had to share a room with another contiki traveller. This turned out to be great, as Ernest and I got on great. He is a top bloke (South African too!) and we became good mates as the trip went on. Anyway, we had a nap after checking in, before meeting the rest of the tour group at dinner, plus our tour guide Stu and driver Neil. Stu and Neil were also really great blokes, and did their jobs amazingly well. I can't speak highly enough of them and we were lucky to have them.
Our second day in Moscow was an early start (as was most days on the Contiki tour) as a whole day of sightseeing was planned. We had a local Russian tour guide take us around all day. We started off by doing a tour of the Moscow subway/train system. Sounds stupid I know, but it was incredible. All the train stations are elaborately decorated with some incredible architecture, plus paintings and statues everywhere. We learnt how Joseph Stalin had decided to design the stations this way as a means of Communist propaganda. There were pro communist paintings and signs everywhere, pictures of Communist leaders etc. He also made them so grand as to reinforce into peoples minds of how great communism is, and basically to keep all the people repressed.
It was really amazing to see, and to hear the stories from our guide as she had grown up through these tough communist times. Its even more amazing to see these stations as the government is planning to tear down and remove it all. There is a lot of discontent amongst the Russian people at the moment, and the left wing political parties are growing and gaining support, so the government doesn't want any communist propganda etc to remain to encourage these parties. There are 15 million people in Moscow, and 57% live below the poverty line, a theme which we would learn more about in the days to come.
After the Metro system tour, we went to a History of War Museum and a Arms and Armoury Museum. Here we learnt more about the Russian Revolution, and Russia's role in WW1 and WW2. It was really fascinating stuff, and we were able to see some amazing artifacts and remnants (as well as some really cool tanks, choppers and guns :P). After here, we made our way to the Red Square in the middle of Moscow. This was amazing to see also. This was the spot where all the Russian Red Army Military parades occured, as well as being the sight of the biggest cathedral in Moscow (St. Basils) as well as the Moseluem. It was really surreal being there. So much has happened there in the past, from revolutionary outbreaks to countless military marches and parades. The moseleum holds the graves and tombs of manyfamous Rusian military and political leaders, as well as the open tomb of Vladimir Lenin (the leader of the revolution in 1917 and first Communist leader of the country). Now this was an eerie and surreal experience. Lenin's body is preserved in an enclosed glass case inside an almost completely dark room, with the only lights present are those illuminating his body. I don't think I can even describe the feeling of being in there. We were extremely lucky to see this as well, as apparently its very rarely opened to the public anymore, and the queues to get inside were massive.
We then continued on to he see the changing of the guards in the Red Square before heading to Statue Park where all the statues of the various Military and Communist leaders have been moved to. Again, there are plans to destroy all these statues to remove the history and ideals of communism from the people's minds. So once again we were lucky to see these remants of Communist Russia.
After a full day of sightseeing we headed back to he hotel for dinner, before having a few quiet drinks in the bar. Our first full day in Russia was a hectic and tiring one, but one I'll probably never forget.
After a decent sleep, it was up early for another full day of sightseeing. We started by taking a guided tour on the bus around the city, seeing many of the famous buildings (eg communist party buildings, the KGB headquaters, palaces, churches, olympic stadium etc) before heading back to he Red Square for more photo opportunities. We then headed next door to the Kremlin, which is basically the giant fortress where the Royal Family palaces where contained (before Peter the Great moved the capital to St. Petersburg. Lenin proclaimed Moscow the capital again after the revolution), as well as the royal family churches and the parliamentary headquarters. We also attended a museum of relics from the royal families, including jewellery and crowns, royal carriages, thrones, attire and dresses, weaponary etc dating back nearly 500 years.
After the Kremlin it was off to dinner before going to the Moscow circus. This was an interesting experience. All the human acrobat and performances were amazing, but a number of the animal performances were a little concerning as it was clear there may be elements of animal cruelty invloved in training the animals to perform this way. However it was a good experience and a good night. After the circus we spent the remainder of our final night in Moscow at a nightclub. Now this was an interesting experience. NOBODY spoke english, and the music was a mixture of western music, as well as Russian pop music. It was really good fun, and a night out like no other we had experienced in Europe. A great way to end an unbelievable few days in Moscow.
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