Heart of Russia

Myself and my fellow CIEE students were granted a much needed week off this past week, and our vacation started with a group trip to Moscow, the historic Russian capital.  We left Saint Petersburg on the midnight train to Moscow (there has to be a blues song in there somewhere) on Thursday night, arriving in Moscow early Wednesday morning.  After a quick breakfast, it was off on a bus tour to explore the city.

I have come to know Saint Petersburg quite well in the past few months, and it is a fairly user-friendly city (user-friendly for Russia, anyways).  Most of the action is concentrated in a fairly narrow strip of the city, and one can walk to and from most of the major landmarks in a reasonable amount of time.  It does sprawl somewhat, but nevertheless remains a manageable city, one quickly learned and mastered.

Moscow is no Saint Petersburg.  Moscow is defined by its sprawl.  I am a New York native, yet Moscow felt far larger than any city I have ever been to before.  Everything in Moscow is BIG.  The metro system is enormous (and lavishly decorated), the roads are all about 8 lanes wide, and the population is north of 10 million.  It is officially the largest city in continental Europe, and it certainly looks and feels the part.

Despite the vast scale of the city, it feels somewhat empty.  To be sure, it covers an enormous area, but much of that seems to be empty space.  Pedestrian friendly areas (aside from Red Square) are difficult-to-impossible to find, and after 48 hours in the city - admittedly a very short time - I still have no real sense of the place.  To be sure it has its fair share of cultural attractions: the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum, Moscow State Historical Museum, Lenin's Tomb, St. Basil's, the Kremlin...the list goes on.  But everything is spread out over such a huge distance that Moscow feels less like a city and more like a series of connected neighborhoods, somewhat like Los Angeles.  Indeed Hollywood kept coming back into my mind as I toured the city.  Everything in Moscow is a facade, meant to impress.  Moscow is home to the largest cannon in the world (but it was too big to actually be fired) and the largest bell in the world (too big to mount and be rung).  Glitzy cars and billboards are everywhere - there is a Ferrari and Maserati dealership just across the street from the Douma (Parliament) building.

To be sure, Red Square is an awesome sight.  As with everything else in Moscow, it is enormous and thoroughly intimidating, especially when one considers the history of the place.  Touring the Kremlin was also a special experience, but due to time constraints the weekend felt more like a blur than anything else.  Getting to know Moscow, getting to really know Moscow, is something that would take considerable amounts of time.  Unlike other cities, I'm not sure I would be willing to devote such time to it.

If you are going to Russia, go to Saint Petersburg.