08-22 Day 43 (Moscow Sightseeing)

A guided tour of Moscow

Mileage

A day of sights

Up early, with the intent of meeting Maria, our guide for the day. Alex had provided us a connection to “Maria” and we did not know much about her, except that she’d be a great guide, as Alex mentioned several times.

I met Maria at about 8:15, and at 8:40 or so, we started our day. It turned out that Maria was a 30 something, who also happens to have lived abroad, in NYC, is a Motorcycle guide, and has great knowledge of history, of Russian culture, and of many other things.

We spent the day with Maria, and Feroz, who was hosting dinner for us asked Maria to join us for dinner, and join us she did. We had a nice day with Maria, and I look forward to seeing her again, for another tour, the next time we visit Moscow. Or, perhaps she’ll be a guide for things around Moscow, on the motorcycle. Although, given the traffic in Moscow, that might prove especially difficult.

Sightseeing

Over the course of the day, we visited St. Basil’s cathedral, Red Square, the 6th floor observation point which is located on the top of a shopping mall, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, another mall, and numerous places along the way. But, I’m writing this post several days after we took this tour, and with the spotty internet access, I’m simply going to have to upload the photos and other content later.

Incident de pantellones

We had been warned that in order to visit the Kremlin, and to enter the walls, the men would need to be wearing long pants, and the women would need to have a skirt of appropriate length, or pants. Under no circumstances would shorts be allowed. In addition, our guides mentioned that shorts would be prohibited from some cathedrals, but that little bit of information didn’t really register with me, and since we weren’t going to be able to visit the Kremlin, as it is closed on Thursday, I wore shorts.

Our first real sightseeing stop was at the Christ the savior cathedral, and as I walked up to the door, I was waved away, and in Russian, I was told that I could not enter. So, faced with the dilemma of what to do, we quickly learned that Rental Pants are available. Rental Pants? I thought this odd, but decided to have a go of it, as I did not want to miss out on seeing the cathedral and all of it’s beauty.

So, I went to the ticket booth, and rented me some blue sweat pants. Now, I’m a devout pragmatist, so I don’t really understand the restriction on pants in the first place. I mean, is it less respectful to the church if I wear shorts? Apparently, and without getting into a religious discussion, it is.

In the end, we were able to resolve the situation with rental pants, avoiding an International Incident.

Dinner

As mentioned, Feroz hosted dinner for us, and we had a nice time in a restaurant that was relatively close to our hotel, the Marco Polo Presidential hotel. What a wonderful and generous thing this was for he and Mina to do for us. We’re grateful, and the dinner was really excellent.

What will tomorrow bring?

Well, tomorrow was supposed to be a relaxed day, where each of us could choose what type of day we’d like, and then enjoy it. In my case, because I managed to accidentally leave my brand new rain gear in the hotel in Tallinn, I needed to go out, and find more rain gear. And so, with Maria’s help, I connected to her friends Pasha and Alex, who own Moto Ekip, a discount store for Motorcycle accessories.

So, I’ll need to find a way to get to the store, buy the gear, and get back to the hotel to enjoy the day, however I might choose.