Zdravstvuyte, Moscow (Hello Moscow!)

Moscow! The city where the Trans Siberian Railway departs, and so much more.

How to get to Moscow

By plane

My first arrival in Moscow was with the plane from Vilnius (Lithuania). I arrived with our camera man in the Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO) on our way to Saint Petersburg. Flying in with Aeroflot, a part of the Skyteam alliance, makes this an arrival in “their” airport. But still, we had to switch terminals in a pretty large airport.

By train

Sapsan train in the Moscow Leningradsky Station

The second time I arrived in Moscow was with the train from Saint Petersburg. The Sapsan trains go from the center of Saint Petersburg to the center of Moscow in a little over 4 hours. Entering the train stations in Russia means passing security when you enter the station. Moscow and Saint Petersburg are not different to that.

I was unfamiliar with the boarding process in Russia, and was way to early in the station. The platform is only indicated in the last 30 minutes before the train will leave. So I spent some time people watching in the large hall of the station.

The stations on both ends of this line are called after each other: the railway station in Saint Petersburg is called the Moskovsky railwaystation, and in Moscow I arrived in the Leningradsky station. (Leningrad being the older name of Saint Petersburg)

How to get around?

Uber

When I arrived at the railway station, I tried getting me an Uber. It took 3 attempts before I could find a driver who was able to find me (standing in front of the station, as indicated on the Uber-map). This inventive driver gave me a memorable ride, when he slipstreamed a police car to pass faster in traffic. I made it to my place in no time

The Metro

As soon as I got installed, I wanted to go and pick up my tickets for the Trans Siberian railway. I worked with an agency in London to buy my tickets. The have an office in Moscow, and that’s where I needed to pickup my tickets. Having heard many stories about the Moscow Metro, I was curious. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Walking

My place was very close to the Tverskaya street, a lane that goes direct towards the city center. These lanes have large sidewalks, that are often in better shape than most other cities I visited. The walk from my space to the Red Square was about 15 minutes.

What felt weird was that I tried to imagine these streets 25 years ago. The amount of cars must have been so much less than it is today. The traffic is pretty bad in the center of Moscow these days. One evening, when I left the Kremlin towards my place, I entered the boulevard at the same time as an ambulance with lights and siren on. By the time I was at my place 15 minutes later, the ambulance was still 500 meter behind me…

Massive apartment buildings

The AirBNB I had reserved was located in one of those typical soviet buildings. Besides the typical 5 stories (always 5 stories, no idea why), this one had nice high ceilings. A perfect place to discover Moscow while waiting for the Trans Siberian part of my trip.

As much as I liked my stay in the small capsules in the Inbox hotel in Saint Petersburg, having a whole apartment to myself wasn’t bad. The space allowed me to repack my backpack, in order to have things I might need on the train better accessible.

I found several super markets and small stores in my area. There seems to be a choice between stores that are a mess, and stores charge a fortune. Besides that, the area was pretty cool to be. I felt comfortable during day and night to walk around here.

Visiting Moscow

In the days here, I took some time to visit the landmarks one must see. The rain and fog in he city on the days of my visit made it a little less photogenic than I would have hoped for. But the Red Square, the Kremlin, the St. Basil’s Cathedral on the Red Square were all worth the time, and look way better in real life than on any postcard I had seen.

I grew up of course with an image of Moscow being a city with long lanes in front of stores, with no luxury. So walking in a city where the shops are at least as fancy as in Paris, London or New York, and seeing a McDonalds across the street from the Kremlin felt a bit out of context. But at he same time, it made me realise again how our world is indeed very flat and how we’re all not that different.