Day 7 - Moscow

After a nice and relaxing train journey in the 'Red Arrow', I arrived in Moscow earlier than I remembered so it was a nice surprise. Little did I know that this would not rally give me extra time in Moscow.

After making my way to the hotel via the pretty cool metro, the fun started. The hotel did not bother to put up any signs on the building, doors or anywhere else so that one can actually find it. After spending half an hour looking for the right entrance, after finding the building hidden away from the street, I got fed up and tried to call but nobody picked up. Since it was hot and I was carrying my bag, I decided to do what I always do, go and get a coffee/drink somewhere and give things time to fall into place.

Just while enjoying a nice Ice Coffee, I got a call back from the hotel offering to meet me in front of the building or coffee shop. After finishing my coffee I did indeed find the person leading me to the unmarked black door to what was more a b&b, where I would spend the night. Given the crazy prices for hotels in Moscow, I was not really surprised with this being more b&b style but it will do the job and was cheap. They can certainly do with a sign though to avoid pissing people off.

After the delays in the morning, I set out to pick up my train ticket for Irkutsk first and then after having some lunch, I could finally set out to do some sightseeing and take photos.

It was a beautiful, sunny and warm day in Moscow, too warm and too sunny for photography almost. My fist impression of Moscow, already in the morning, was that it just feels big and very busy. The good thing is that most of the must see sights are all located almost next to each other and the hotel is very close to all.

As usual, I have done a lot of walking and managed to see again everything and more than I wanted, despite the late start. While I am quite happy with this way of exploring a city, my feet are not always the same opinion, despite wearing comfortable shoes. At least after today, I will have 3 days of putting my feet up on the trans Siberian train to Irkutsk.

Unfortunately, my timing for arriving in Moscow is not ideal as the Red Square is full of scaffolding for some upcoming marching band or similar event. This made taking pictures there less pleasant but afforded me some different type of photos.

Seeing how the lights in the evening transformed St. Petersburg, I had high hopes for the buildings around the Red Square but was a bit disappointed to see that they simply turn a big spotlight on each building so it's not overly impressive.

Today's post is only about Moscow since I did not take any photos in the train this morning and by the time I got up the train was near Moscow anyway. Tomorrow morning, I will have some more time here before taking the 13:50 train to Irkutsk. This means there will not be any more posts for the next 3-4 days since I doubt the train has wifi. This should give me some time to catch up with my (neglected) Ricoh GR review.