Monday 30 June 2014

Moscow - More stories about buildings and food.

This morning was blue skies and sunny, so it was off to yesterday's spots to get some better pics. There was also a lot more tourists about when the weather was fine.

Today, I also went inside St Basils and took some pics, I will only show a few as I took a lot of detail shots.



Marvellous what blue sky can do to improve a photo.




































I also had the unfortunate experience of my camera battery running flat, this is the forts time that has happened so I needed to come back to the hostel for a few hours to recharge. After which I had two options planned. Before I came back, I managed to buy myself one of these big Russian Army General's hats and some other knick knacks. I am ready for the next fancy dress party.

1- was go to the Lumiere Bros Photography gallery to see some portrait works by the American Photographer Arnold Newman or,

2 - Go to the Planetarium which was close by

I chose the Planetarium as it was getting late and it was the easiest to get to, I could just walk for 10 mins.

The catch up with Yuri from the train never happened, he did not call. Hopefully, he wasn't waiting on me to call him. Sometimes arrangements can be a little muddy.

The Planetarium was good, they had a little 1960's car out the front, equipped with leather jacket, army hat and revolver on the front seat. Russia's James Bond, I suppose. The Planetarium show was good, although all in Russian, I got the gist of of what was being said. Afterwards I headed to a different metro station to get some more shots of Moscow Underground stations that I had missed the previous day. It is a cheap way to pass the the time as long as you do no get out of the system by exiting a station, you can just go from one to another all day. I especially wanted to get the station with the Stained glass windows.

On the way to the station I passed the entrance to the Moscow Zoo, (see pics) I have highlighted a pic that shows inside the gate a Kangaroo, so they must have some Skippies in Moscow.



















I did a cafe crawl on the way home, have a bit of food here, a drink there, etc. Hence my day has been about Buildings and Food. There was also a strange looking building near on of the stations, which was Disneyland like, and yet another very grand building which I think was another shopping mall.





I also took some video on one of the main streets nearby, about 8 lanes across where Moscow drivers seems to go like a bat out of hell. Of course  as soon as I try to capture it on video, they all seem to drive normally, but I got one Mercedes driver giving it the boot. Watch for the White Mercedes coming up on the inside lane closest to the kerb. There are just so many luxury cars here, Bentleys, Jags, big and special BMW's ad Mercs, Porsches and Audis. You name it, if it is very expensive, there will be ten of them here to see in the space of ten minutes.




Tomorrow, I will try to explore inside the Kremlin walls, I am told it is worth the visit and the crowds.


Sunday 29 June 2014

Moscow Day 2 - Metro and St Basils/Red Square

No early start, nothing happens in Russia before 10. It was still raining and cold this morning, more like Melbourne than Moscow for late June.

Today there are lots of photos, most will be self explanatory but I will run you through the program.

I walked most of the way to the heart of Moscow this morning, in the rain. I came across the Lenin Library and next to it was a metro. So I thought I would explore the metro stations for a while so hopefully the rain would ease.



I won't name all the stations, I don't even remember them all. The first is the Library Station.


Next is a station with many statues and is one of the oldest stations. It is very near Red Square. A popular practice is to rub the nose of the dog and by the look of the chook and the pistol, people must rub them as well as they were shiny.








 The Station name in Russian


 A different Station







 Another one


 Yet another station, this one more modern in design.


 Station Name
 Another Station










Time to come above ground and yes, it is still raining and cold.  But I found a church and a Cow.




 Pan shots of Kremlin, Moscow River, Red Square, St Basils






Weddings and extended limo's were very popular this Saturday, maybe every Saturday, but they were everywhere and it seemed every bridal party wanted to have photos at the Gum building overlooking Red Square.

 St Basils




Red Square & Gum Building (upmarket Shopping)
 Red Square and Kremlin

 State History Museum ???
Lenin's Tomb

Inside Gum Building


Still raining, so decided to get a taxi back, big mistake, got scammed. Taxi said price by meter, stupid me thought ok, did not think that probably an illegal taxi, made to look real but with dodgy meter. Once I had committed, I had to pay. It was more than it should have been. c'est la vie, experience is what travel is, lesson learnt.

Very quiet Saturday evening at the hostel, the attendant (Aleksander) finally came back  about 8pm (speaks no english) and now we are watching Chile play Brazil in the World cup, it truly is the world game. Before Aleksander came back, I thought I was in another ghost house hostel. I like the ones where there are lots of people coming and going (giving warnings about Taxi scams) etc.

Tomorrow, I have a loose plan to catch up with Yuri (from the train) and have a nice lunch somewhere, hopefully he knows somewhere nice but not for the super rich.

LB