Notes from the underground

As far as i know, most people outside of Russia and former USSR states require a visa to go to Russia. Visa applications need to be accompanied by an invitation to go there, typically made by travel agents, or if one has a friend there who can extend an invitation. the embassy is in Bern, visa application costs CHF140 and the whole process takes 14 days. bring a brolly, as you will have to wait on the pavement, because there is no waiting room.

i underestimated summer in Moscow, thinking it would be cool, but it was unusually hot over the last weekend, about 30degC. The city itself is kinda grey with lots of unimaginative buildings, presumably for public housing, although there were a bunch of concrete looking sky scrapers right out of a ghostbusters movie.

Russia is about twice as large as Berlin in size and population, but i think most of the sights worth seeing were in and around the Kremlin.

there are 5 churches and several museums within the Kremlin, in which one can easily spend 2 days. the highlights were the armoury and the armoury museum. Churches aren't everybody's thing, but i do enjoy visiting them myself and i thought there was an incredibly amount of detail in all the churches i saw. within the Kremlin, the archangel and assumption churches had freskos from the floor to ceiling, and each fresko had a main illustration surrounded by panels which told a story. Alters and decorations were opulent and decked in gold. typically, a choir will sing a tune every half hour and promote their CD.

St Basil's church was my favourite church in Moscow (not the world though, that would be the Hagia Sofia) with its colourful pretty domes, majestically overseeing the Red Square. unfortunately, everything is in russian, so i would recommend getting an audio-guide and taking your time to get to know the places.

Ethnically, Moscow is very interesting and one of the few places in Europe where i didn't get stared at or had people call me "jackie chan". In fact, i've had people speak to me in russian. the locals had features ranging from blonde hair blue eyes to dark hair dark eyes, but typically, they had some asian features like not so deep-set eyes, high cheekbones and softer chin. a lot can be said about russian women, but this report calls for some decorum. suffice to say, they're hot

food-wise, besides russian favourites such as shaslick, borsch, pelmeni, wintersalad and Pelzmantel, awesome georgian cuisine was also readily available, featuring exotic sauces and baked bread, hearty stews and lots of grilled meat.

Moscow underground is brilliant too, at times gothic and at times almost like a gallery or museum.

Tschaikovsky's hometown is located about 2 hrs from the main train station, and was, imo, pretty crummy. fans only.

Moscow had a special appeal for me, as I studied european history for a bit, including russian history from Lenin to Gorbachev. my favourite bits were from the clock and dagger era of the Cold War. and with that, i'd like to end with a newpaper cutting from 1980, involving a diplomat, a russian spy, seduction, betrayal and treason