So I finally made it to Moscow

And let me tell you, it was pretty fantastic!

The program took an overnight train to Moscow which took about 8 or so hours. The ride itself was pretty smooth and the Kupe compartment was rather comfy.

*Note on Russian Trains: Traveling by train in Russia is still probably the best option in terms of balancing speed, comfort, and price and is the most popular means of intercity, and possibly international, transportation. Typical trains in the former Soviet Union usually have three classes; Lux, Kupe, and Platzkart. Lux is the nicest and most expensive. It has 1 to 2 berths per compartment. Kupe is the next nicest and about half the price of lux. It's a four berth compartment. Then we come to the infamous Platzkart wagon. This is an open-berth wagon and is the cheapest option for overnight train travel. No Doors, and as many beds as they can fit in. It's a hoot, to say the least.

Anyway, Moscow was great. We arrived in the morning and despite being super tired, my level of excitement was annoyingly high. Immediately upon exiting the train, I saw the top of the Leningradskaya Hotel, one of the seven Stalinist skyscrapers in Moscow. For those who don't know, my fascination with these seven buildings (and a couple others) is approaching fetishism, so having one be the first thing I saw in Moscow was just splendid.

The first thing on the schedule was checking into the hotel, breakfast, and a bus tour, so after waiting for some very entitled people to get to the bus, off we went. We stayed at the Hotel Inn near the Cokol'niki metro, which was probably nicer than I would have wanted, but it came with a gas mask and a non-hand-held shower, so why argue? During the bus tour we experienced some of Moscow's horrible traffic, causing the bus tour to take about an hour longer than I would have wanted. We drove by a bunch of cool things, like a sputnik monument, Ostankino tower, the first McDonald's in Russia, and the center area. We also stopped by Red Square and the Sparrow Hills, where Moscow State University. Some point during the tour, we drove down New Arbat, which is a shopping/entertainment street with lots of Western things like Chili's, Starbucks, and Dunkin Donuts. I definitely need to go back there when I'm in Moscow again. Also, the bus tour added about 20 new things to my "Things to do in Moscow" list. Sheesh

After the bus tour concluded, about half the people on the program wanted to be lame and stay at the hotel for the rest of the day. I, however, went exploring to knock some things off the list. I hit up Gorky Park, to see the Buran parked there, and the sculpture garden across the street. Gorky Park was a pretty cool place to go walking. There were lots of sculptures and things; there was even a kids amusement park. I only explored about half of it, so I'm sure I missed a bunch of things. The sculpture garden is located outside the Tretyakov Gallery and is where they decided to put a lot of the old, Soviet monuments and statues. There are a bunch of Lenins there, some Brezhnevs, and a Stalin or two. This is probably one of the few places you can see a Stalin statue or bust after the De-Stalinization period. Also in the park, there is the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky which used to be located in Lubyanka Square and was knocked down after the Fall of the USSR.

Hurray Capitalism!! I'm pretty sure this is the 1st McD's. If so, It's the largest in the world as well.

I had plans later on to meet with some friends for dinner on Arbat, so I needed to kill time around that area for a bit.
And then it happened. STARBUCKS. I got a way overpriced coffee, but dammit, it was worth it. It was ACTUALLY coffee, not an Americano. Also, it wasn't half bad. I mean, it was....Starbucks. (Caribou FTW)
Dinner at Chili's. Had an overpriced hamburger. Meh.

117 rubles of pure joy

Day Two: Crusty Communist Leaders and Over-zealous tour guides

On Lenin's Mausoleum: First thing in the morning, we set out for Red Square to go see Lenin in all his glory. Things you are allowed to do in the tomb: Talk, have anything electronic with you, have hands in pockets, smile, stop walking. After going through a metal detector (and in true Russian fashion, it's more for show than regulation), armed guards lead small groups of people to the entrance. The path takes you through half of the Kremlin necropolis (parts of the wall where important people are interred) and around to the front of the tomb. You enter the tomb and from that point on, you are being watched by at least 2 guards at any given time. The walls are black marble (think, Ministry of Magic), and there's just a creepy feeling in the place. After going down a couple flights of stairs, you enter the actual room. Lenin is in a glass case, dressed in a suit. He looks a little green, a little waxy, and a little plaster-like. Lots of people think he's a replica, and he could be, but he's also pretty old so I didn't expect him to look, well, lifelike.
After that, we had some time to bomb around Red Square before the Kremlin tour. I hit up St. Basil's (oddly tomb-like inside), and GUM, a massive department store.

Kremlin tour--Mostly churches, which we had just gotten done talking about in culture class. Also the tour just took forever and the guide just wouldn't shut up. Annoying. Next was the Armory, where they keep all the spendi things the Tsars had. Unfortunately, the jewels were not part of the tour and cost like 500 rubles extra. Our tour was mostly over a bunch of metal things the Tsars got from other country; lots of dinnerware. Lastly, there were like 5 Faberge eggs---Not worth it.

Day Three: Optional Tours-Lubyanka, Gulag, Cosmonaut
One of our coordinators led the group I was with to Lubyanka Square to talk about the building (it has a rather morbid history), and to see the stone placed there as a memorial to those who were killed there. Unfortunately, we were there during a holiday, the one day a year they let the families come and pay respects. We were not allowed into the area around the memorial.
Next stop-Gulag Museum. It was a pretty small museum, definitely not what I expected. The problem is there is no unified Gulag museum in Russia. The funding isn't there, and it is still a little taboo apparently.
Last stop- Cosmonaut Museum. This was the absolute coolest. It's located outside VDNKh, underneath the monument to cosmonauts. It's probably as big, if not bigger, than the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson. I was impressed. Also, for students, COMPLETELY FREE. They had models of all the Soviet/Russian rocket systems and capsules. A life size replica of a Soyuz capsule and one of the pods currently in the International Space station. They also had Belka and Strelka...stuffed. They were among the first animals to go up to space, and survive. One of their puppies was given to JFK as a gift and their descendants are still alive today.

As much as I got to see, I didn't even come close to completing my list. I still have about 40-50 things left to do, including every station on the metro. I guess that's just one of the downsides of being in a group. I could have completed almost everything had I been by myself, but at the same time, I wouldn't have gotten a tour of the Kremlin, and I wouldn't have gone to the gulag museum.
Upon returning, I read someone else's blog about St. Petersburg. He is currently in Moscow as a student and was in Piter during roughly the same time I was in Moscow. He mentioned how in St. Petersburg, everyone speaks English and how you get a truer Russian feeling in Moscow. My two cents? I wish that were the case, but from my experience here, NOBODY speaks English to me. I can pretty much count on one hand the times someone has spoken English to me in St. Petersburg. However, in Moscow, literally everyone did. The waitress at Chili's, the barista at Starbucks, the cashier at the produkti--All spoke English. 

We shall meet again soon, Moscow.