Once again we slept in a little longer than usual and then caught the Moscow Metro to Arbat street. This was our first time to use the Metro, and I had heard a lot about it. The stations were supposed to be beautifully designed – ready to house the people of Moscow in the case of a war above ground. The stations we visited today were not over the top, but they were very elegant, and functional as well.
Which is more than I can say about the actual trains that we rode. I guess we’re spoiled in Japan – clean, quiet and fast train are the norm. The Metro trains that we rode were ancient, angular old beasts that stopped and started with a lurch. There was no AC so they just opened the windows, which can be a little wild while running underground through tunnels. It was an interesting ride, though – I enjoyed it.
Kuniko was impressed (and a little scared) because of the steepness of the escalators. Hold on to that handrail! We emerged close to Arbat street, and then walked down the touristy street looking in shops with one eye out for breakfast.
One fashion trend that we observed in Moscow was that many women wore a transparent top that showed the world her brassiere. Surprisingly this fashion was popular among old, young, large, and slender women, and none of them seemed to really care that their bra was clearly on display. It wasn’t like these were special bras, either. Just your standard workhorse bras. There were exceptions – sometimes I saw a six-foot-tall slender model type walk by and I was happy to look. Kuniko was mystified by the fashion trend, and we chalked it up to cultural differences.
Along Arbat street we found some shops with the usual cheesy souvenirs. Nesting dolls, fur hats, you name it. Some T-shirts on sale depicted Putin in various hero poses – one had him bitch-slapping Obama, for example. We weren’t really looking to buy anything that day – just getting ideas for what to bring back later.
We stopped for breakfast at a small cafe that had an English menu, and had some crepes. My crepe was stuffed with ground beef and topped with sour cream. Kuniko had a ham and cheese stuffed crepe. Both were excellent. I like crepes as an alternative wrap to a tortilla. The texture is soft enough that it absorbs some of the flavor of the filling, but it doesn’t completely fall apart. Breakfast was cheap, too – just like everything else. We found Moscow very affordable, which probably just goes to show how expensive Japan prices can be.
At the end of Arbat street we turned left and made a beeline for Gorky Park. Although it looked close enough on the map it was actually a solid 30 minute walk in the sun, and it was pretty hot. We walked by the towering foreign affairs government building, and then over a bridge that crossed the Moscow river.
I noticed on the sidewalk through Moscow we would come across a stenciled advertisement. There were many variations, but I think they were for nightclubs or other youth events. People likely spray painted them at night using stencils, and then enjoy the free advertising. Interesting system!
Gorky Park was a bit of a let-down. It was a nice enough park, and quite big, but there really wasn’t a whole lot to do. We ate ice cream on a bench in the shade of the trees, and just rested our legs for a while. There were some nice fountains in the park, and also a pond with ducks that was surprisingly bad smelling.
After resting for a while at the park we walked back towards the center of town along the river. On the side of the river we found a giant black monument to Peter the Great, perched on a ship and dominating the skyline. It was kind of strange – artistic but gaudy and cheap at the same time. It was placed near a small break in the river, and on the break there were many nightclubs that were shut down at the time. I’m sure at night the little peninsula really livens up. We took an overpass, and then walked straight ahead to the colossal Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
Once again the scale of the structure was way larger than I expected, and it really reminded me of the Taj Mahal in India. The day was perfect and we could walk around the outside taking pictures and enjoying the large amount of shadow that was cast. It was all closed up – maybe only open on Sundays? We didn’t really mind – we’ve seen the interior of one or two cathedrals in our day, and we moved on to our next priority – cold beer and some seats in the shade.
We found a place right near the cathedral, with outdoor seating and a view of the tourists coming in on buses. Unfortunately they didn’t have any Russian beer on tap, so Kuniko had a Stella and I had Hoegaarden – a big 500 ml glass of it. When it arrived there was a lot of condensation on our beers, and so we used our napkins to clean up the drips and drink deeply from the glass. We had been walking in the sun for a long time, and cold beer is just the right thing for that situation.
As we continued drinking the condensation kept dripping from my glass, and the waiter even stopped by to help wipe it up. Even with the hot day, I thought it was a little weird. Then, as I lifted the big monster Hoegaarden glass and took a big gulp, the glass suddenly separately neatly in half – with the bottom half with the big heavy glass base falling suddenly to the table, the top half remaining obligingly in my hand, and about 250 ml of beer dropping neatly in my lap.
I was kind of shocked by the sudden cooldown of my crotch area, as it happened in a most unexpected way. The waiter rushed over with towels and showed us to an adjacent table, and we examined the glass in more detail. It was a clean break – almost like it had been made with a glass cutter. I looked around for the camera crews in case we were on a reality show or something, but the only thing that appeared was a fresh, full beer in a stronger glass.
I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy, so I happily accepted the free beer and didn’t mind walking around in beer-soaked shorts. Later I washed them in our hotel sink, and they dried out nicely, so no worries. It was a weird event, though, and something we’re not likely to forget about the trip.
After that episode we walked on past the Kremlin back to “theater street”. It was a pretty long walk, and we were thinking about having a light lunch. We ended up at what was perhaps an Iranian/Russian restaurant. The waiter spoke a little English and they had an English menu, so we got by. We ordered some bread stuffed with cheese and tomatoes, and also “Khinkali”, which were a lot like jumbo shorompo that you get in Taiwan, but with a lot more dough. We also got some other dumplings, and I got the sense that maybe finally I was overdoing it with the dumplings. They went down well with some more cold beer in glasses that managed to stay intact. We really liked the music that they were playing there – despite their target audience being younger people they attracted us.
Next we went back to the hotel for pool and jacuzzi time. Afterwards we went up to our room for a little nap that turned out to last for five hours. Around 8 pm we headed out to get some dinner at the restaurant that I had heard all about, Khachapuri. It actually wasn’t far from our hotel, and as we approached it had a really nice atmosphere. Outdoor dining, nice lighting and the tables were all full. Somehow we communicated with the staff and she managed to explain to us that there wouldn’t be a table for 50 minutes. Rather than wait, we decided to try our luck somewhere else.
The neighborhood around the area was under construction, and it was not just walking down the street – you always had to watch out where you were walking, and avoid the sandtraps and granite flagstones just laying around everywhere.
We finally settled on a little cafe not far from Khachapuri, called Cafe Fillial. The interior was a little dark but it was filled with younger people and they had an English menu and the staff weren’t afraid to use English with us. It wasn’t exactly a Russian restaurant, but we had some really good food (and beer) there. Kuniko had a salad with braised duck, pomegranate seeds, cheese, carrots, and some kind of radish. I had a quiche with chicken, and both were really good. I really liked the atmosphere, especially as it was a restaurant that was off the beaten path.
After dinner we stopped at the supermarket to buy some souvenirs, vodka, and beers for our hotel fridge. Finally it was back to the hotel, where we ordered some ice for the vodka. There was some kind of mix up that delayed the delivery, and I think some other person probably was wondering why ice was delivered to their room. The vodka was good, as you would expect in Moscow, and then it was off to bed. Another long day of walking, eating and drinking!
