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For me, Russia is one of the most amazing places in the world: 12 time zones, mysterious expanses of unmatched natural beauty, turbulent history and literary heritage, which will provide you with wonderful reading for life. I travel to Russia 1980-ies, more than a dozen years of struggle with its difficult language, remove about her documentary and draw inspiration for his books.
Since then, as I became a father, I often wonder — when the time is right to share his enthusiasm and passion for Russia with her family. Still I was afraid of the difficulties of travel and the associated material costs, and the inability to convince my wife Hannah (which there never was) that it is possible to leave much better than just lying in a deck chair and sipping the drink a bright color glass, decorated with a parasol.
Where in Russia I was working in the last few years, I’ve been thinking, weighing the pros and cons of a family holiday in these places: here a Museum that would have liked Sylvie and Enzo, but lying on the pavement alcoholic in the spirit of Dostoevsky; and here is an affordable family restaurant, but the bus for no reason rude the conductor; it’s a beautiful Park, but absolutely terrible toilet with a toilet bowl imbedded into the floor.
Finally they persuaded me and dispelled my doubts, “Putin discount, cheaper” — the devaluation of the ruble in the result of the adventurous foreign policy of the President. Because of this, everything became much cheaper — good hotels suddenly turned to me afford. Even Moscow, whose economy is inflated due to the oil and gas money, has now become more affordable.
I imagined my son and daughter (aged seven and nine years old) running around in red square, riding a night train to Saint Petersburg, eating ice cream on the banks of the Neva. I was thinking about how uncommon will be the familiarity with this country, which developed and gained its appearance, overcoming tragic events, idealism and tyranny, and which itself has had such a huge impact on the history of the XX century.
Even when planning a trip, I was forced to face incredible contradictions existing in modern Russia. On the one hand, it was huge and familiar “neo-Soviet” inconvenience. I have tested them in the process of obtaining our visas — the case a troublesome and requires a lot of time and money. Even members of the Russian visa Agency in London seemed almost apologetic for the fact that it is very difficult to fill out the form, you must collect the required invitation to present them with a certificate from the Bank and pay the visa fee at £ 80 per person.
the <small>© RIA Novosti, Sergey Kompaniychenko | </small>At the State Hermitage Museum
But, on the other hand, I saw and brave new world — watched on a high European level now there to serve customers, which fills my heart with hope about the future of Russia. In this wondrous world I was able to purchase and print train tickets to the Hermitage online even before I left the UK. In this world, the service of taxi and rental housing Uber and Airbnb was ready to make the experience of visiting the major Russian cities cheaper and more pleasant.
Having achieved the consent of the wife, I made a program, which I was hoping would see the best in Moscow and Saint Petersburg for six days. I knew it would be a short trip, which I hoped would stimulate the interest of my family to further adventures in the former Soviet Union. I dream of the day when my children will ask: “Daddy, please, can we go to Yakutsk?”. But while my wife was interested in more basic things. “But in fact what we’re eating?”, — continuously asked anxiously.
Finally, we arrived in Moscow Domodedovo airport. Once, more recently, the arrival in Russia was due to a huge inconvenience. Now — everything is different. Beautiful terminal building, no customs declarations, no longer have to bargain with taxi drivers that accept payment only by cartons of Marlboros. Can be easily reached by Aeroexpress train — a direct train that goes to downtown.
I booked a room at the hotel “Leningrad”, where for the first time stopped 25 years ago during the final collapse of the Soviet Union. It is the smallest of the seven Stalinist skyscrapers that adorn the city skyline. Since then, she became part of group of hotels “Hilton”, it overhauled. The once squalid rooms are joined by two, which increased their size twice. But the building retains its charm, typical of the style of the Stalin era — fashion in the reign of dictator pompous luxury, and in which mixed art Deco, the marble, and strange heraldic composition.
The first night I ordered a taxi via Uber and we went to dinner in “Chaikhona № 1” is one of a chain of restaurants serving Central Asian cuisine. I wanted my family to try dishes of Uzbek cuisine, which is in Russia, about the same place that Indian food in the UK — roasted meats, tortillas, spicy salads, and pilaf. Since my wife anything good from this trip were not expecting, now I triumphed. She felt relieved and almost cried with joy — a room with two beds! A hotel with a pool! And now — not just food, but really tasty food.
The next morning we took the metro to Red square. When you pass under the arch of the resurrection gate and see a large area with recognizable domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral, standing in its far end, it always produces a strong impression. We arrived half an hour before the closing of the Lenin Mausoleum. We began to turn. Inside my wife and children saw the embalmed body of the first Soviet leader — head with an unusually prominent forehead, red beard, and a hand with fingers like claws that gripped as if in a velvet blanket. They stood still in amazement with eyes shining with delight. Embalmed people! Better than Alton towers!
The same, if not greater, interest has caused my kids ‘ pokémon cards with inscriptions in Russian, which they found in Gum, the huge Department store next to red square, now turned into a supplier of luxury items and luxurious goods in the style of Soviet retro. The drafters of the menu located on the top floor of the dining room pay tribute to the Soviet kitchen — but more like the glossy abundance that portrayed propaganda, than what was fed in real dull and unsightly messes of the Soviet era.
the <small>© RIA Novosti, Valery Melnikov | </small>Santa Claus in red square during the meeting the main new year tree of the country
After lunch in the Gum, we took the subway to the station “Park of culture” to visit Gorky Park. Stood hot summer day. The Park was rebuilt, what has been allocated £ 1 billion — he was transfigured, and now it has its own gallery of modern art “Garage”, designed by REM Koolhaas (Rem Koolhaas) and financed by the owner “Chelsea” Roman Abramovich. Throughout the Park was scattered with huge cushions on which we were able to sprawl. We tried a special Russian creamy vanilla, which is called “ice cream”. Lake for boat trips surrounded by an artificial beach. This beach at the fountains had fun families with young children.
My children with great interest looked at the Russian children playing around them. Updated Gorky Park does not correspond to conventional ideas about Putin’s Russia. It is a place where fun, where everything is well organized, where you can feel the creative inspiration and kindness reigns.
The same evening, at 11 o’clock we, sunburned and tired, got into our train at the Leningrad station, a short walk from the hotel where I deposited our Luggage. Between Moscow and St. Petersburg go fast trains and the journey takes three and a half hours, but I booked us tickets for the night Express, which is slower. I showed the conductor our passports and was almost sure that he wouldn’t let us in, saying inexorable “no.” It was impossible to imagine that the tickets that I booked and printed in London, will be valid here. To my great relief, sleepy conductor smiled and motioned us to go in our four-seat coupe.
Still preparing for the journey, I felt that the night train would be my ultimate trump card. Who can resist the fun of a trip to the most beautiful city of Russia on the bottom or top shelf in the gently swaying car? My children happily set on their top shelves. My wife’s trip started to like it more and more. When we arrived in the morning in St. Petersburg, she was offered a ride in the bus on Nevsky Prospekt in the centre of the capital built by Peter the Great and designed in pastel colours.
For the next three days we settled in the apartment, which I booked through Airbnb. It was a beautiful bright Studio apartment located a five minute walk from the Hermitage. But there was a typical Russian lack — to get to this apartment, had to pass through common areas, which resembled the scenery for the horror film. I tried to play it cool and joke, but the creepy stairwell and clanking Elevator with painted steel walls for my son’s objects of attention, and led him in horror.
I enjoyed walking around St. Petersburg with the family. We drank great coffee and enjoyed the wonderful cakes in the “Bush” the lesser sea, eating delicious food in the chain of Italian restaurants called “Mama Roma”, which somehow bypassed the embargo on Parmesan cheese. We had a fun day at the Museum of Soviet arcade games in the stables area, where for an entrance fee you get a big handful of Soviet coins 1981, which can then spend playing on refurbished machines. It turns out that playing ice hockey, torpedo merchant ships and maneuver armored vehicles of the cold war — those pleasures that do not change with time and do not know language boundaries.
the <small>© RIA Novosti, Alexey Danichev | </small>ACAT on the embankment of the Neva river
And I took the daughter in the Museum — the original Museum of rare and unusual items from the collection were gathered by the Peter the Great. Curiosities is located directly on the banks of the Neva opposite the Winter Palace. A significant portion of the collection consists of ethnographic artifacts, but as we approached the main Museum, where in one of the halls of spooky exposed the embryos and animals with two heads, my daughter became silent, and her hand was sweating. I suggested we not talk about our mother.
Sometimes something recalled the terrible situation in Ukraine — a group of men of irregular armed groups with Russian flags, staged a March along Nevsky Prospekt. “Be careful with them!”, warned a young Russian woman, but they behaved quite friendly. News on Russian television, as one would expect, different bias. The taxi driver was willing to show me different assembled using photoshop pictures depicting President Putin is humiliating President Obama so that I would not have to explain it to their children. But more often we met intelligent, friendly and inquisitive Russians that are there, kind of makes dire predictions about the future of the country.
Among the most pleasant people we met was the young workers of the entertainment center, called “Rostrum and located close to Nevsky prospect. “Lustrum” — a place where you can arrange real quests in the format of “escape the room”, of which I first read in Russian magazine. The basic idea is that a group of people is locked in a room, from which you must escape by solving logic puzzles and trying to find clues. It is somewhat reminiscent of the game “the Crystal maze (the Crystal Maze) and “Dungeons and Dragon”. I signed up for this game partly out of curiosity and partly because we have before departure to Moscow by night train was a free evening and kids were tired.
Our quest was called “the School of wizards”. First we were in a room decorated like a school library, but after we rearranged some of the books, he heard the clang and the wall opened a secret door. It’s hard to overstate how it all turned out awesome. We went through a door into a room that resembled a classroom at Hogwarts with painted wooden tables and the jars with magic potions.
All of this from behind the scenes directed (like the Wizard of Oz) woman — she was watching us through the camera and as we moved ahead, overcoming obstacles and solving complex problems, opened doors or sent smoke. She was pretty condescending when we were faced with more serious problems, she gave us clues. At the end of the 60-minute quest, we defeated the forces of evil out of prison and went to catch the train — and not removing the badges that we were given in the “Kostroma”.
According to my children, it was certainly the highlight of our entire trip. For me the trip itself was a welcome event, during which I was able to combine two things — visited with loved ones in those places that I really like. I’m very happy to see familiar places with fresh eyes.
I know there are a few things that have become a bright spot in the memories of my children — the embalmed corpse of Lenin, terrible Elevator, the mushroom soup, which was served in a hollowed-out loaf of bread, and night trains.
But I hope that they have left other memories Moscow skyline, the domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral, the gilded spire of the Admiralty in Saint Petersburg, Russian equivalent to our “please” and “thank you”, a few names — Dostoevsky, Peter the great, Pushkin. I think they will also remember that, despite the cold relations between our governments, we were treated with warmth and hospitality wherever we have been. “I love Russia!”, — I wrote to my daughter in her diary, as we approached Moscow. I hope that I never have to justify to immigration officials the US
