Moscow... 2->7th of September 2008

Moscow,  the most expensive city in the world... 10 M people...

I arrived in moscow at 6.30 in the morning.
Jeno, the father of my sister in law was here to pick me up at the Leningrad Vokzal (station)and brought me to his house. It is good to have some family abroad!!

After I rested a bit in the house, I left. My mission for the day is to find out how I'll get the visa for Mongolia, my next destination after Russia.
I have 12 days left before my visa for Russia expires (the 15th of september), and I need at least 5 days non stop to reach the border Russia-Mongolia with the trans-Siberian train... Hot patato !!
That means that I must get the Mongolian visa by the 10th, that is in 7 days.. 
So that morning, I got to the Mongolian consulate, with all the document I needed according to the mongolian consulate website in France.
Unfortunately, they told meI needed an invitation letter... Shit!
Ok I'll find a internet cafe somewhere in the center of Moscow and then find out how to get that invitation letter.
So I walked toward the city center. It was very cold outside that day, and raining ... Not Cool... :)
I sat on a banc in a parc. When I stood up , my pants were stiking to the banc... It had just been painted... And nothing signalised it... My pants were destroyed... Really not cool either :)
Then I walked for hours in the search for an internet cafe...  When I was asking the people in the street, wether they would not speak a word of english, or not bother and keep walking, or they would tell me to go somewhere that I  never found...

By 3pm, I met Igor, a Russian friend that I had met in Turkey, in Istanbul in June. We wanted to go visiting the red square, and the kremlin together,but ,unfortunately, it was closed.... Because of the city birthday... And nobody could tell how long it would stay closed to the public... The authorities had just decided this... Then Igor took me to the sparow hills, from where there is a nice view over Moscow.



















The Moscow Skyline as seen from Sparrow Hills  with the Grand Sport Arena of Luzhniki Stadium.
Moscow State University at Sparrow Hills.

After this walk, Igor told me where to find a internet cafe... So I went there, connected to the web, but could not get information on how to get the bloody invitation letter for the Mongolian visa.
At 6pm, I had an appointment with Anna, a friend of Zoja, the mother of my sister in law, that spoke english. Zoja had asked her to show me around and explain me the history of russia.. Cool no?

The Kremlin seen from the others side of the Moskva river.
With Anna, we walked for hours all around the city. I came back home totaly exhausted...
The next day, my ankles were swollen and painfull, so I just stayed in the house the morning, and moved in the afternoon, in research of another internet cafe.
I had 2 questions I had to find an answer to:

- How to get an invitation letter for the Mongolian visa?
- If I can make the visa for Mongolia in Moscow, will I be able to make the Chinese visa from Mongolia, in Ulan Bataar?
I knew I did not have enougth time to make the Mongolian visa and the Chinese one in moscow... My Russian visa would expired before.

After some hours spent looking for the invitation letter, consulted a few traveller forum to get info, I sent e-mails to some hostels in Ulan bataar, the capital of Mongolia to obtein it. I was thinking it was too late for the mongolian visa and started looking for the Chinese one... That seemed to be even more difficult to obtein... I was stressed cause I did not what to do... Should I then get to Vladivostock, and from there to japan? (I don't need a visa for Japan).
But then I would have to skip Mongolia, that was place I really wanted to go to...

The next day, Thursday, the 4th of September, I went back to the internet cafe in the morning, to see if I had some answers from the hostels I contacted the previous day... Unfortunatly, there was none. On the travellers forum, I had an answer: No need of an invitation letter for a stay that last less than 30 days...  Chinese visa can be obteined from Mongolain Ulan Bataar...
I ran to the Mongolian consulate before it closes... And when the girl of the Mongolian consulate asked me for the invitation letter again, I just told her I did not need it as I was not going to stay more than 30 days... She asked me where I was from , and then asked her boss, and accepted.... Ouff!!! I asked for the emergency procedure (55 USD instead of 30). She told me to come back the next day between  5 and 6pm to collect it ...

Cool, I could breath... I can now start visiting and enjoy Moscow!!
But at night, I got scared again when I realised the next day was friday... A consulate open from 5 to 6 pm on a friday... I hope I won't have to wait till next monday to have it.

The rest of the day, I walked in Moscow, that what I saw, I was going to a Kiev train station, to reserve my trip with the trans Siberian train... I don't know the prices, and if there will be some place... I was told that it was often fully booked months in advance during the summer...( That is complete bullshit though (for the third class at least), something the tourist agency in western europe tells you so that you buy it with them, and they take a great commission...)... But that info still gave me some more adrenaline...

Actually, the trans Siberian train is not a train for tourists as some people stupidly  think, the rail way line is used every day by the russian people that goes from one point of Russia to another one... There are trains running everyday, and it is quite cheap (and easy if you speak russian) to buy them once in Moscow.
 
A stalinian period building, one of the 7 sisters... 7 same buildings were built in moscow, facing all the directions.
When I arrived at the train station , I was told that the train ticket for Kazan and Irkutsk were only sold at the Kazan train station... (while I had been told the opposite) Shit again, I started to hate Moscow. Ha!Ha! Don't ask me why...
In a very fashionned mall closeby the Kievskaya vokzal (kiev train station). All the shops in Moscow are so expensive,  it is a pure craziness, I don't know how the people can buy it.... (though Moscow has the highest number of billionnaires in the world.. that could explain...).

On my way back to the house, the Moskva river.
The Russian government ,with gazprom, the first gaz productor compagny in the world... One of the political and strategic weapons of Russia in their international policy... Cut the gas pipes, and european people will freeze in winter...
It was interesting to be in Moscow during the South Ossetia-Georgian conflict... In those conflicts ( different ethnicities staying in a same region) there are generally not the good one on one side , and the bad ones on the other side... It is always grey, and nobody really knows what is going on... Russians are not worse than others...The thing is that we only understand the western point of view... A lot of people in the western world understand english, but not russian... That is a unipolar information...  To learn more about the conflict: South Ossetia .
The Russian Government building...


The Moscow  metro stations...
In the house, with Jeno and Zoja, the parents of my sister in law... It was friday... I had the mongolian visa in my passeport, in the right side of the pocket of my pants...    Everything ok!!
For the week end, I went to a friend appartment that was working inMoscow... He was free for the week end ,so he showed me the Moscow night life!!

May be with too much Vodka!!
The first night, Friday, there was many things happening in the streets, concerts, one man shows, music... So we just partied in the streets.

Saturday night, we went to a night club... those following picts are taken on the way to the club:
The Natiional museum  at night.

Partying in Moscow was great fun... I wish I could have stayed longer!!
Sunday, in Arbat street... Some military guys getting ready for a parade.
National museum , by day...
The kremlin... It was opened that day!!
La tour Vodozvodnaïa
Entering the kremlin (Kremelin means fortress in Russian)
Inside the Kremlin



At the entrance of the red square. That was finally open!
The red square, with Lenin mausoleum on the right.
The saint Basile Cathedral.
The kremlin seen form the bridge in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
The other side.
The  Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.


I took the train from Moscow to Kazan that night, at 8pm. The train was arriving in Kazan the next day at 8 as well...
So that was the last day in moscow, and the start of the Trans-Siberien adventure...

Ride on!!!