The sapsan train took four hours to do 700km to Moscow. Billed as high speed, it’s certainly faster than all the other trains we’ve been on here but not quite a bullet train!
It then took 75 minutes to travel less than 6km on the bus to our hotel – maybe not the best transport choice in the rush-hour but it meant the least walking pulling cases. We spent most of this time at a standstill, giving us plenty of time to look about. We could admire the roadworks and new paving, no doubt in time for the footie fans next year.
But the last thing we expected to see, having travelled all round Kazakhstan, was a Sainsbury’s bag!
We finally got to Hotel Arbat and the receptionist was adamant he needed our visa registration form, but I said we didn’t need one and didn’t have one … so he rang the last hotel and said they would send it … and he seemed happy to check us in so that was all that mattered.
We checked out a couple of restaurants and ended up choosing this one for dinner, with a huge bread oven for cooking katchapuri, Georgia’s version of pizza, Chris was delighted and the khatchapuri went very well with a bottle of Georgian wine.
So tomorrow we get to explore!
Disappointed that we didn’t see the Russian Museum yesterday, we decided to make it our first stop today, stopping en route to get a picture of the Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood with blue sky for the top of the post! Focusing solely on Russian art, the collection begins with icons from C10th and here are a couple we liked best like including the Life of St George. Icons were first painted as a spiritual exercise for monks and to aid the veneration of the holy subjects they depict. Some believe they can bring luck or grant wishes. The latter icons have been influenced by European art and gain a naturalistic look and perspective like The Trinity.
Back to our walk, Bankovsky most, billed as the prettiest bridge in town, unfortunately had its golden-winged griffins covered for restoration.
There was a slight last minute rescheduling for the next couple of days due to a broken hydrofoil which meant we still managed to do all we wanted, but had to catch the ridiculously early 7am bus next day, well before most sensible people were up! There had been thunder and lightening in the night, which I’d slept through and lots of rain and the morning was grey and damp.
We are now heading north to the Republic of Karelia, a land of lots of trees and over 60,000 lakes. Karelians are Finnic people with their lands stretching into Finland and their own culture and cuisine including Karelian pasties.
The Romanovs had ruled for over 200 years and increased the Russian Empire but they still relied on autocracy and when serfdom was finally abolished in 1862, the serfs ended up worse off than before and moved to the cities to work in factories where conditions were terrible. Disillusionment brought revolt, starting with the People’s Will who assassinated Alexander II with a grenade in the street in St Petersburg in 1881.
Must also mention with everything else there was to see, the fabulous array of parquet flooring in every room, with every pattern imaginable …
Another beautiful day and we spent it at the huge imperial estate called Tsarskoye Tselo or the Tsars Village. We look the metro then the bus for 30 minutes out of the city, passed huge numbers of apartment blocks surrounded by countryside.
We slept well and awoke to sunshine and blue skies and a breakfast of oats, toast and excellent coffee served in our room.
Off Travelling Together 