Day One in Moscow - Red Square, the Kremlin and beyond

After our 10hr 40min perfectly pleasant flight from Singapore our guide Kirill (Cyril in English) meets us at Moskva (Moscow) airport. It’s 45km from the city centre and he tells us it will take about 1 to 1.5 hours depending on traffic. (The train takes 35mins as an alternative for independent travellers.)

As ours is an early morning arrival on a Friday, we hit rush-hour traffic - it’s solid but flowing and the multi-lane roads cater well for the volume. We trundle along slowly but surely. Kirill thinks this traffic is terrible and seems a little worried about the image it will give us of his home city - but he hasn’t been to Auckland! We make it to the hotel in just over an hour. (Auckland airport is 15km from the city and an hour in rush hour is good going - ponder those stats!)

Being morning, our rooms are not yet ready; we have a walking tour lined up so after a quick freshen up and rummage through luggage for umbrellas and rain jackets (alas it’s raining) we head off to Red Square. 
But first I need to check my emails - WOW judging results are out and I’m desperate to find out if I’ve been selected or not. I’ve had 8 garments in the show over 6 years and this is my personal favourite so far. I hook into wi-fi, open my emails with anticipation and the email is there in the In-box. Elaine has her camera at the ready to capture my reaction ... but OMG it’s not the jubilant one we’d hoped for. My garment wasn’t accepted. 😩 Her camera captures a disappointed grimace rather than jubilation. C’est la vie, it’s a bummer but I don’t have time to dwell on it ... I’m in Russia and that’s WOW enough for the moment. 

Standing here in this iconic landmark with the GUM store on our left, St Basil’s Cathedral over yonder and the Kremlin to the right, we are charmed by amazing architecture and history surrounding us in each direction. There’s a beautiful street of crystals and lights suspended above colourful flower beds that has us spellbound. We enter the GUM store and suddenly we are in another world - once drab, soulless and with nothing to buy (how it was when I was here in 1982 under Soviet rule), it is now a colourful  cacophony of joy. 

Statues, fountains, ice-cream stands, cafes, top-end shops (window shopping only), glass atriums, bridges, marble and more ... it is busy and vibrant, the dreary and heavy mantle of last century discarded and replaced with a lightness that is almost childlike.
We have time to wander, enjoy the vibe and have some lunch; some opt to go on a tour of St Basil’s. A small group of us eat tasty salads that are priced by weight and served by people whose joy doesn’t match the surroundings. We dine under candy-coloured umbrellas high up on a bridge link overlooking the entire store, the biggest in Europe; three long linked pavilions and 20,000 panes of glass. It’s quite breathtaking.
Next we head to the Kremlin - an old walled fortress with palaces, cathedrals, museums, gardens ... it’s also where President Putin resides. It is both vast and impressive. Tourists are everywhere and the rain is clearing nicely.

With nostalgia, I think back to when I was right here in the Kremlin back in November 1982 - suddenly all hell broke loose and we had to be evacuated. We found out later that Brezhnev had just died, right there next to us in one of these buildings. That was a landmark moment in USSR’s history and I still have the Russian newspaper that shared the news to the people of the CCCP (USSR).
No such sombre moments today although with so much 

walking after a long flight, some of the group are feeling understandably weary. We marvel at shiny golden “onion” domes, smooth marble facades and striking architecture - 

and try to forget about tired legs. There is no doubt this place is spell-binding. The rain has stopped. 

Kirill is a mine of information, his English is excellent and he talks at speed. He is tall and also an extremely fast walker. Keeping up with his walking and talking pace is a bit of a mission. Taming him is not simple; he’s like a machine with batteries that never go flat.

We leave through one of the towers near St Basil’s , so striking with its colourful domes and red brick. We pause at Lenin’s mausoleum. The square is busy and there are men at work erecting scaffolding for the International Day of Boxing to be held over the weekend; a celebration of all things boxing, including a mass training session. Boxing is very big here nd there will be huge crowds here over the weekend.

By now most are super -weary and pleased to get back to our hotel at the end of a fascinating walking tour. We are staying at the famous Hotel Metropol, by the beautiful Bolshoi Theatre. It’s a fantastic location and a very elegant hotel. 

Time to settle into our very nice rooms before meeting for our welcome dinner in the magnificent Boyarsky Hall on the 4th floor at 6pm. This is just one of many beautiful banquet and conference halls in this hotel. The ceiling is ornate in an understated way and the table is beautifully laid in anticipation of our arrival. There’s a large stuffed bear in the corner. 

Before dinner I meet my friend Anne from NZ who is serendipitously also in Moscow and also staying here! We enjoy a nice rose wine in the bar; she is off to the ballet.

Dinner in the lovely hall is magical - first class service and food blended with good Russian wine (complimentary for the group, after a bit of sweet talk - it wasn’t included but the maitre’d must have liked us!) and lots of camaraderie. 

Dinner is delicious, service is swift and it’s over by 7.30pm. 

It’s been a long day and now it’s time for sleep. I’m guessing everyone collapses into their comfortable beds without further ado! 

OBSERVATION OF THE DAY: It’s not simple to keep up with our guide Kirill, he’s a man on a Mission. Being a tour guide here is an intensive job - so much information to impart. There is a two-year study programme and exam process to pass. Kirill has been doing this for four years after 15 years in the travel business. When the rouble crashed about five years ago Russians stopped travelling so he took this up as a career.

There are plenty of guides and groups negotiating their way around the heart of Moscow. Flags are held high, people dutifully following their guide with their ‘whisper’ receiver units and earpieces, listening intently. It’s the busy season, and we’re part of the crowds enjoying these iconic sights. It’s tiring but oh-so-awesome.