Moscow's dos and don'ts (Moscow)

Member Name: Shuyanin59

Product:	Moscow
Date:	10/05/02 (254 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Extraordinary capital of extraordinary country, lots of sights, pretty women

Disadvantages: crime, foreign tourists are at disadvantage

I hope what follows will be of some use to those who, on the one hand, have never been in Russia before, and, on the other, prefer travelling on the cheap and on one’s own (without any bodyguards or escorts).

· Don’t come to Moscow in November to March inclusive. In any case wait until there is no snow. Keep in mind that hundreds of locals break their limbs on the notorious slippery pavements every winter. “Snowfalls” come back with a vengeance to town, as a rule, in early June: most of the city’s greenery comes from poplars that shed fluff in due course.
Early May is perhaps the best timing for a visit.

· Sadly, but of all means of reaching Moscow imaginable, flying is by far the safest. Do brace yourself before arriving at the Sheremetyevo Airport, for any sort of nasty surprise may lie in wait for you there (delays at the passport, luggage and customs checkpoints; understaffed, inefficient and largely unfriendly personnel (the sycophants have got an unerring eye for foreigners, though – but the unfriendly ones outnumber them by far); overzealous and overgreedy taxi drivers; murky and gloomy interior, etc.). They say renovated Domodedovo Airport is much better. But I haven’t been there for ages. But I can confirm that Moscow sees now an exodus of major international airlines from Sheremetyevo: they strike hands with the newly fledged owners of Domodedovo.

· If you have no choice and have to arrive at (or depart from) Sheremetyevo, do not take a taxi. Take a minibus (“Avtoline”, pronounced Af-ta-LAIN) from the Rechnoi Vokzal (rech-NOI vok-ZARL) underground station (at the end of a green line on the map of Moscow underground) instead. The journey will take you about half an hour at $0.5. You will save $30, at least.

· As to the underground itself, you will have to pay 5 roubles ($0.2) for a single one-way journey to any other station you like. (A return ticket is at RU

R 10; a ticket for 5 journeys is at RUR 20; 10 journeys – RUR 35; 20 journeys – RUR 70; 60 journeys – RUR 150). To get a better understanding of how the underground works, please, note that all trains go along the lines on the underground scheme (red, blue, orange etc. – about 10, all told) strictly from beginning to end (in both directions).

Generally speaking, Moscow underground offers a reliable and more or less safe transport service. According to safety experts, you’d better take a car somewhere in the middle of the train – just in case.

Some underground stations are true works of (socialist) art: for instance, “Maykovskaya” (my favourite), “Novoslobodskaya”, “Ploshchad Revolyutsii”, “Komsomolskaya”, to name but a few. “Maykovskaya” was the venue for the 1941 CPSU Congress that opened a few months after the beginning of the war against the Nazis. Joseph Stalin presided over the Congress.

· Whenever you are in the premises of Moscow underground (to say nothing of the city’s streets), keep a close watch on your personal belongings. You will see lots of people snooze, read, nudge or kiss there – still, be on the alert. Avoid the underground during the rush hours (0800-0900 and 1800-1900). Unfortunately, the stops are announced in Russian only – so plan your journey ahead carefully. Directions (that are very clear, precise and helpful) are written in Russian, too.

· I heard European business partners praise Sretenskaya Hotel (15, Sretenka St.) and Best Western Art Hotel (2, 3rd Peschanaya St.) for both modest pricing and good services.

· Don’t believe that once in Moscow on the cheap, you will be cut off from the rest of the world for good. With the cheapest of portable radios, you will be able to listen to The Voice of America (810 KHz AM), BBC (1260 KHz AM), Deutsche Welle (693 KHz AM) and
Radio
France International (1440 KHz AM). Foreign-language programming is scheduled mostly for the daytime, however.

You may also pick up a free copy of The Moscow Times or The Moscow Tribune in almost any supermarket, café or hotel in the inner city. Both newspapers come out on weekdays, are international by nature and origin and are generally reliable and comprehensive sources of local, national and international news.
My impression is that Moscow cinemas aren’t behind European premiere schedules (a ticket is at about $7 on average).

· Don’t forget to take your mobile along: public phones in Moscow have no international connection.

· As a rule of thumb, you’d better follow all the common-sense advice on precautions to be taken when you are in… well, Asia (and, surely, Asia it is! – the way I see it.) Visit www.tripprep.com, for that matter.
In Beijing and elsewhere in China, I saw women wearing nose-and-mouth sanitary masks in the dusty streets. In Moscow only medical personnel and gangsters enjoy the privilege.

· It is very easy to lose your way in the 854-year-old city. The government of the richest city in Russia apparently doesn’t want to stir a finger to make Moscow more attractive to foreign tourists: the shortage of tourist information bureaux is particularly evident. If that happens to you, you may freely address any student or yuppie in central Moscow in English. Keep away from skinheads, tipsy blue-collar workers, Moscow underground personnel, prostitutes, football fans and football stadia (that is, the Dinamo (dee-NAR-mo) and Sportivnaya (sporr-TIV-na-ya) underground stations) at the time of major national or international fixtures, street pedlars and policemen (unless you find yourself in hot water).

· Do not lie down on any patch of green anywhere within the city bounds without examining it first. The same applies to crossing any lawn in town – wa
tch your s
tep. The city abounds in unruly pet owners, men and women who don’t care a hook about cleanliness beyond their doorstep, on the one hand, and in stray dogs and cats, on the other.

· The streets of Moscow aren’t clean enough and the heavy traffic seems to make matters worse, so don’t visit open-air cafes or restaurants – have your meals indoors. I would recommend a PIR O.G.I. (pee-rog-EE) café (at Klimentovsky Pereulok (klee-MEN-tov-ski pee-ree-OO-lok), between its intersections with Pyatnitskaya (PYAT-nits-ka-ya) and Novokuznetskaya (no-vo-kooz-NETS-ka-ya) Streets: it is impossible to fail to locate it, since there is virtually one building between the intersections. Nearest underground stations: Novokuznetskaya and Tretyakovskaya (tret-ya-KOVs-ka-ya). The chef’s skills and the service are good enough. A sumptuous lunch (without strong drinks) for two adults and a child was at less than $20 a few months ago. There is a very good souvenir shop not far from the café – at …, Pyatnitskaya Street. Prices for the original souvenirs made by professional artists and craftsmen start from $1.
If you are going to come back home with a bottle of a real Russian vodka, why not try “Салют, Златогл& #1072;вая Люкс” (sa-LOOT zla-to-GLAR-va-ya LEWKS) at about $2 per 0.6-litre bottle. In any case, you’d better follow these two simple safety regulations: (1) never buy vodka at street kiosks (2) when choosing a vodka brand in a supermarket, give preference to those made from alcohol of the highest (LEWKS) grade.


· Consider visiting the following places of interest:
- The Kremlin;
- The Red Square;
- The Aleksandr Garden. The nearest underground station(s) to the three sights: Teatralnaya (tee-at-RAAL-na-ya), Okhotny (o-KHOT-ny) Ryad, Ploshchad Revolyutsii
(PLOSHCH-ad re
e-vo-LJUTS-ee-ee);
- St. Daniil Men’s Monastery (Headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church Foreign Relations Department). 22, Danilovsky Val St. The nearest underground station(s): Paveletskaya, Tulskaya (TOOL-ska-ya);
- Christ the Saviour Cathedral (15, Volkhonka St. The nearest underground station: Kropotkinskaya (kro-POT-kin-ska-ya);
- The All-Russia Museum of Decorative and Folk Arts (3, Delegatskaya (dee-lee-GAT-ska-ya) St. The nearest underground station: Mayakovskaya (ma-ya-KOV-ska-ya);
- The Tretyakov Gallery (10, Lavrushensky (lav-ROO-shen-ski) Pereulok (pee-ree-OO-lak). Russian Fine Arts. The nearest underground station: Tretyakovskaya.);
- The Oriental Museum (12a, Nikitsky (ni-KEET-ski) Boulevard. The nearest underground station: Arbatskaya);
- The Pushkin Fine Arts Museum (Antique and Western Fine Arts. 12, Volkhonka (vol-KHON-ka) St. The nearest underground station: Kropotkinskaya;
- The Andrei Rublyov Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Arts (10, Andronyevskaya (and-RON-yevs-ka-ya) Ploshchad. The nearest underground station: Ploshchad Ilicha (il-YEE-cha);
- The Moscow House of Photograhy (16, Ostozhenka (os-TO-zhin-ka) St. The nearest underground station(s): Kropotkinskaya, Park Kultury (kool-TOO-ry);
- The Photo Centre (8, Gogolevsky (GO-go-lev-ski) Boulevard. The nearest underground station: Kropotkinskaya);
- “Children Are the Victims of Adults’ Vices” – a moving sculptural composition made by Mikhail Shemyakin and placed in a park at the Bolotnaya (bo-LOT-na-ya) Ploshchad (Square). The nearest underground station: Tretyakovskaya.

· When at Rome, do as the Romans do. So, keep in mind that:
- women are expected to enter an Orthodox church wearing a kerchief;
- men are expected to offer their seats to women and elderly persons.

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