On my second day i just had a walk around Moscow myself so that i could take my time getting some footage and timelapses, you can view all the footage i took here: http://dilatemedia.co.uk/moscow/moscow-video/
On the third day Anna met me at my hostel and we went on a tour round all the old subway stations.. The stations are just as amazing as any other building in Moscow with more than enough sculptures and paintings.
In one of the subway stations was the dog above and apparently it is good luck to rub the dogs nose, thats why its all worn away. I thought it would be just a touristy thing but most of the locals were doing it as they passed.
After going round all the best subway stations we headed to a shopping center that had a glass roof that let you see all the skyscrapers towering above. The shopping center also had a giant matryoshka exhibit which was pretty cool.
We then went to meet Tanya and drove to pick up my tickets for the Trans-Siberian Railway and then drove out to a large park with a lake and a large castle type building.
We then went on to another building that was completely made from wood! The roof was made of these small jigsaw style pieces that were all a different shade of green. It looked amazing.
To finish off the day we went for dinner. Which was a buffet of traditional russian food which was all very wierd but nice at the same time.
Now onto the Trans-Siberian for 5 days to Ulan Bator.
So i arrived in Moscow at 9:30am and had no idea where my hostel was or how to get there, i had no rubles so couldn’t flag a taxi at the train station. Outside the train station there was two or three ways i could have went and i luckily chose the right one! After a quick stop at the bank to get some rubles, i went to the nearest coffee shop, checked the location of the hostel and then walked down all the way down to the Red Square where i managed to flag a taxi.
The taxi driver had no idea where the hostel was, so he pulled over to the side of the road and made a few phone calls which got him heading in the right direction, once he was nearer he got lost again and ended up having to ask builders and parking attendants who eventually got him to the hostel.
Godzillas hostel is about a 20mins walk from the red square and is a rad wee hostel with a good mix of folk, clean rooms, a cool chillout room with a big tv and free wifi.
After getting settled in Tanya, Anna and Sasha came to pick me up and show me some sights.. We went straight down to the Red Square / The Kremlin to have a walk about and get some photos..
After a few photos we went inside St Basils Cathedral which was pretty cool and full of crazy architecture, painted walls and the smallest church hall ever!
We then left and headed for a shopping center beside the Red Square which was kinda like Moscow’s version of Harrods.
After a quick walk through the shopping center we headed round the outside wall of the Kremlin to see some more sights…
We then took a walk way out to the large church that you can see in distance when standing at the Kremlin.
It was amazing, would have been cool to go inside but i couldnt be bothered to go book a trip in for the next day.
Next to the church is a bridge and apparently when you reach the middle you have to make a wish.. so the girls all made one..
The bridge also had a cool view looking back at the Kremlin.
After walking more or less right round Moscow we headed back to go for some dinner which was kindly paid for by Anna.
We went to a traditional Ukrainian Restaurant where i left Anna to do all the ordering as the menu’s were in Russian. I think what i ended up eating was Beetroot Soup, Pig Fat and Bread, Potato Pancakes and Sour Creme and a Vodka shot with Pepper and Honey… There was a few other things that i dont know the name of but it was all amazing.
Then it was back to the hostel to chillout and get some sleep.
More photos and Video soon.
Here is a selection of clips from the journey to Moscow from London.
Clips are not played the order that they were filmed.
Dont have much to say about the train journey but here are some photo’s i took on the way.
Statue in St Pancras train station – I thought it was Winston Churchill but turns out its a poet called laureate John Betjeman.
The bullet train from Brussels was amazing! They had a speedometer on a screen at the end of the carriage and i clocked it at around 250 kph.
Changing the wheels from the normal sized european wheels to russian wheels – This was crazy, they were jacking up the trains with everyone still inside and let all these mental wee Belorussian women run about inside the workshed trying to sell you beer and homemade food…
This is what i got off one of the Belorussian women for 10 Euro’s.. 6 Homemade things (Have no idea what they were but they tasted amazing), 2 beers, water and a tub of raspberries..
All the replacement wheels for the trains.
Russian style carriage.
My cabin – was a bit cramped but had 2 good nights sleep in there, was cool lying in bed just watching all the small Polish and Belorussian towns go by.
Crazy Russian Guys – Met the guy on the left on the train and ended up drinking vodka with him for a good few hours one night. He looks a bit hench but was a really cool guy. He wanted me to meet his mates in Moscow for a photo before they headed to Ukraine to go swim in the Black Sea.
