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Stop 1 - Warsaw,
Poland
Stop 2 - Vilnius, Lithuania
Stop 3 - Riga, Latvia
Stop 4 - Tallinn, Estonia
Stop 5 - Helsinki, Finland
Stop 6 - St. Petersburg, Russia
Final leg of the Eastern Europe adventure -
Russia!. Upon arrival at the Sheremetyevo airport (SVO) airport
via Aeroflot from St. Petersburg, we took the
Aeroexpress Train to
Belorusskiy Railway Station.
One way fare was RUB 340 or about CAD$10. The Belorussky train station
was 200 meters away from
Marriott Tverskaya Hotel where we stayed.
As soon as Peter and I settled at the hotel,
we planned of taking the subway and the hotel concierge was very kind to
translate the subway map. Unlike in St. Petersburg where the subway
map and signs had English translation, Peter and I had to decipher each
letter of the Russian alphabet in Moscow as signs were all Russian.
In Moscow, the famous tourist stop was the
Red Square where the
Kremlin, KGB
Headquarters, Lenin's Tomb and the
St. Basil's
Cathedral were all located. Good thing we went there on a Thursday
and there were not many tourists.
The Red Square was literally a compound of
red brick buildings. And we took our time going around the area and took
lots of selfies. Good thing, there was mall within the Red Square
complex and we were able to get some coffee and used the bathroom
facilities. We did not see any public bathrooms in the Red Square
other than those in the mall.
On my way to the Kremlin, I had the
opportunity to watch the changing of guards in the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers
and the video is on this page with the icon "15 Sec Movie." The
execution and coordination were so fascinating to watch.
When I was paying for my entrance to the
Kremlin (RUB 500 or about CAD$500), I suddenly remembered one of the movies
of Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible 3. On that movie, Agent Ethan had to
blow up one side of the Kremlin wall to get inside. I was surprised
why he didn't simply pay for the entrance ticket! As I said in my blog
on my trip to St. Petersburg, Hollywood films have unfairly portrayed the
Russians to be bad guys.
Inside the Kremlin were more Orthodox
churches and the KGB headquarters. We took our time going around
Moscow during daytime and decided not to go out at night because we had no
way of figuring out how to go back to the hotel as the signs were all in
Russian. And we wanted to be safe so cabs at night were not an option
also.
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