Story: Spring Break in Frigid Moscow

The words “spring break” evoke images of bright sunny beaches, packed with revelers in bikinis. However, spring break in Russia remains a frigid affair. During my “spring” break while I was teaching in Russia, my friend Misha and I decided to spend five days in Moscow. Despite the dreary and miserably cold weather – and the fact that we had little money – we had a fantastic time.

At the time, Misha and I were living and working in Vladimir, a small town located about three hours east of Moscow by train. We left early in the morning, and arrived in Moscow before noon. First we made our way to our hostel, Sweet Moscow (www.sweetmoscow.com), which was in a great location near the city center. For $15/night we got mattresses on the floor (sounds uncomfortable, but it wasn't at all) in a room for six other people (beds were $25/night). Not exactly luxury, but considering the location and that all we did there was sleep – and the fact that Moscow is one of the world’s most expensive cities – it was a great value.

After dropping off our bags at the hostel, we set off for the Novodevichy (New Maiden) Convent/Monastery. It was founded in 1524, and in addition to its religious functions, it was also a spot to which unwanted and obstreperous female royalty were exiled (namely Peter the Great's sister Sofia and his first wife Evdokia). It is an incredibly beautiful monastery, and one of my favorite sites in Russia. I had been there before and was eager to return; it did not disappoint.

We then explored the neighboring Novodevichy Cemetery. Now, I adore cemeteries in general, and find them picturesque and fascinating. The Novodevichy Cemetery is my favorite cemetery in the whole world, and I feel that's saying a lot. Aside from the multitude of Very Important People buried here (Khrushchev, Bulgakov, Shostakovich, etc, etc), I love this cemetery because all of the monuments are so interesting. None of those flat-plaques-for-easy-lawn-mowing here; each tombstone is a work of art.

Day Two was a national holiday (Defenders of the Fatherland Day). We awoke kind of late, and set out down Tverskaya in search of the Contemporary History Museum. We ended up smack in the middle of this crazy Communist gathering, full of people (all somberly dressed, in contrast to me in my Yushchenko-orange coat) waving red flags, wearing communist armbands, and carrying signs venerating Lenin and Stalin. I was rather afraid that they might notice that there were two Evil American Capitalists in their midst and proceed to pummel us, but they didn't seem to notice us, being all caught up in chanting their communist slogans and whatnot. I did sneak a picture before scurrying away.

The Contemporary History Museum was wonderful. I had expected it to be pretty small, but it was enormous, with a wealth of exhibits covering the late 1800s through the present day, with (of course) a heavy emphasis on the Communist Revolution and World War Two. I highly recommend this place to anyone with an interest in Russian history. (It's on Tverskaya, within a block of the Tverskaya metro station.)

When we left the museum, we were starving, and we scurried to the nearest café for lunch. Afterwards we decided to go to McDonald's for dessert, mainly to see what a Russian McDonald's was like. It was crazy! The place was three stories tall, and it was decorated like a classy restaurant, with a coffee bar on one end and a place with headphones where you could chill out to music while you ate on the other. All three floors were packed full, and some people had to eat standing as there was nowhere for them to sit! If any of those Russians make it to a McDonald's in the States, they'll be sorely disappointed.

After dessert, we took the metro to VDNKh, the All-Russian Exhibition Center, which was formerly a huge park dedicated to glorifying Communism and the Soviet State, It's still a huge park (probably a great place for a stroll when you're not being bombarded by very wet snow) although now all the Soviet Achievement Pavilions are home to thousands of vendors. Oh the irony. There is a pretty cool space-program monument there, with a cosmonautics museum at its base. I am interested in seeing that museum, although after having spent so much time at the Contemporary History Museum I was pretty much museumed-out. I went back to the hostel thaw out my poor frozen feet.

Day Three we went to the Kremlin. I'd been there before, so I wasn't wowed by it, the way I was my first time around, but it was still impressive. We saw the famous Tsar Cannon (used for shooting the ashes of your deposed enemies towards Poland) and the Tsar Bell (never used for anything, as it broke during its creation), and we went into all of the incredible cathedrals. We didn't get tickets for the Armory at the main gate (the ticket-seller was terrifying and had me totally flustered), and to get into the Armory museum (ticket or not) you had to wait in an incredibly long, unmoving line in the frigid snow. We stood there for about 20 minutes before giving in to the cries of our frozen feet and making for the nearest indoor café.

After the Kremlin, we went to the State History Museum, which is located in a red building at the opposite end of Red Square facing St. Basil's. It's a decent museum, covering Russia from pre-history through to pre-Revolution, although after the astounding Contemporary History Museum, we weren't that impressed. After the museum, we walked about Red Square for a bit, taking far too many pictures of St. Basil's.

Day Four we took the train 1 1/2 hours out of Moscow to Sergiev Posad, in order to visit the beautiful Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius, founded in 1340. Entrance to the monastery is free, although you have to pay 100 rubles to bring in your camera.... do it or you will regret it, as the inside of this place is incredible. We were told at the entrance that the only way to go inside any of the churches would be as part of a tour, costing 850 rubles. Being poor, we opted against that, and I'm very glad we did. The doors to nearly all of the churches were open for worshippers, and thus we were able to go inside. One church was indeed locked, but we gained entry by tagging onto the back of a tour group and surreptitiously sneaking inside. While we probably spent less time in Sergiev Posad than it took to get there, it was definitely worth it.

On Day Five, our last day, we went to see Lenin, who these days is open from 10:00am to 1:00pm. Lenin is free, although you have to put your bags, cameras and cell phones in the bag-check before you go in, which costs 20 rubles. I first saw Lenin back in 1999. My opinion of him then was that he was remarkably well preserved, although he looked as though he had been powdered with some gold-based makeup. Nowadays, Lenin is decidedly worse for wear. You know how the skin on mummies looks all tautly-stretched and paper-thin? Well, Lenin's starting to look like that. I think it's about time they buried the man. After seeing Lenin, we were allowed to walk behind his mausoleum to see where various important Soviets were buried - including Brezhnev, Andropov and Stalin. I was most excited by the graves of Korolev (father of the Soviet space program) and Gagarin (the first man in space) myself.

After a quick lunch, we took the metro out to the relatively new Sparrow Hills station. We walked through the snow filled, woodsy Sparrow Hills to the city overlook. This overlook is in all the guidebooks, although I've always found the view from there depressing. We then wandered across the grounds of the famous Moscow State University. Along the way, we asked a stranger for directions to the University metro station. He not only showed us the way himself, but he told us all about the area, talked about the Russian educational system versus the western system, and bemoaned the modern interpretations of plays put on these days at the MXT.

Finally, it was time to return to our hostel and collect our things. We made our way back to the train station and began our three hour journey back home to Vladimir.