Back in the U.S.S.R.

Day 2 at St. Petersburg, we continued to explore around the city until the departure of our train at 22:50. We ate borsch and stroganoff, not as expensive as we expected, and prepared ourselves for the journey ahead. The overnight train, our four-berth cabin bunked us two, a young kid, and an army doctor who was unable to speak English. Reading so many horror stories on being robbed on-board did not help me relax, but both turned out to be very friendly, and at one point I think I was discussing about Russian movies with the older guy.

Around 7:30 we arrived Moscow, the capital of the largest country where wealth and power may as well be the same word. As opposed to streets in St. Petersburg neatly alined, Moscow streets spread out from the center of the city, which makes difficult to follow where you are on a map, especially when you cannot read street names. We stepped into a nearest КАФЕ with wi-fi, ordered coffee and Russian pancakes, and stayed until we knew what out plans are, and ended up spending decent amount of time there. 

After Bolshevik gained power in 1917, the capital once moved to St. Petersburg was returned to Moscow. At this time, Josef Stalin, who was appointed as the general secretary of Communist Party, saw the need to rebuild and restructure Moscow. He then tore old and historical cathedrals and monuments down, and built neo-gothic skyscrapers and the metro system. This urbanification, apparently is what brought Russia's rapid growth in decades to follow, and is clearly visible in various parts of the city.

We made our big event of the day to be the visit to Kremlin, the center of Russia's political power. Compared to architecture in the preceding capital, ones in Moscow appear to be influenced by Asian and Arabic cultures along with Eurpoean influence. Red Square was filled with tourists, probably because it is Sunday. Speaking of Sunday, we saw a few models working on photo sessions. I was also amazed, after coming from Scandinavia where all stores close at 17:00, that people work late and on weekends. Perhaps Russians do have Asian blood in them afterall.