More than nine million people ride the Moscow Metro every day. That is more than in NYC and London combined, and about half of the city’s population! Construction began in the 1930’s by Stalin as an attempt to make the people happy. The city’s populace didn’t exactly have the easiest of lives (and it wasn’t going to get better any time soon) and most of them were extremely poor. So, Stalin decided that the best way to make the greatest number of people “happy” and “feel rich” was to create a decadent and marvelous public transportation system. Through gritted teeth, I guess one could say that the metro was the one nice thing that Stalin left behind.

Joe is always the logistical half of our travel plans. He was well prepared to get us from the airport to our hotel via three trains. It was a solid plan…until we actually arrived. You see, all of the preparatory information that can be gathered about the metro system is clear and helpful…and written using the Latin alphabet. However, all of the signage used within the actual metro system (on the trains, on the walls, throughout the stations) is written using Cyrillic. Hello!! Huge problem!!

Joe did an amazing job! He did some rapid letter-by-letter Cyrillic-to-Latin translations, some internal compassing, some random guessing and we were off in no time!! And I? Well I just followed behind like a lost lamb. This is what makes us a great pair! 😉

The greatest part about the metro is that a ticket only costs $1.10!  So, we spent an evening roaming around the stations, being tourists, and feeling pretty good about our economical entertainment. Here are just a few of the best stations in Moscow’s metro! I’ll stick to the Latin names…to keep things simple!!

Novoslobodskaya – This station is home to thirty-two stained-glass panels which depict the “intellectual” professions: architect, geographer, agronomist, engineer, artist and musician.

At the far end of the hall is a mosaic titled Peace in the Whole World. The doves are not original. They replaced a portrait of Stalin during de-Stalinization.

Ploshchad Revolyutsii – This station is filled with bronze statues representing the roles that people played during the revolution: carrying out and protecting the revolution, industry agriculture, hunting, education, sport and child rearing. This was the station by the Red Square, so we were there pretty often. It was freezing cold every single time.

If you rub the nose of the border guard’s dog, it will bring you good luck on exams

A certain part of this statue also had an obvious patina. Awkward!

Park Pobedy – This is the deepest metro station and supposedly has the longest escalators in the world.

There are two beautiful panels on each end of the hall that depict their war-time victories of 1812 and 1945.

Need some security? Don’t worry…they’re there.

Mayakovskaya – This was Joe’s favorite station. Inside each of the light wells are mosaics titled 24 Hours in the Land of the Soviets. This station is also really deep, which resulted in it being used as an air raid shelter during WWII.

Notice the planes that form the letters CCCP. This is the Russian abbreviation for the USSR.

Kievskaya – This station is filled with frescos that embody the “idyllic Ukrainian existence”. Hmmm…I guess that can vary based on time and perspective!

Oh look…there is some security.

Throughout all of the stations remain subtle pieces of propaganda. Sometimes they were blaringly obvious, sometimes well hidden amongst intricate décor. Even though Stalin wanted the repressed population to feel “happy” and “rich”, he didn’t want them to forget where they were.

The red star of communism amidst the capital decorations.

Komsomolskaya – Named for the youth workers who built the first five metro stations, Komsomolskaya was my favorite station. With a beautiful yellow hall and stuccoed flourishes, this station features mosaics of Russian military heroes.

Feeling watched? Don’t worry…you are.

Ceiling mosaic

Marble column capitals

Your daily dose of propaganda.

There you have it…a tiny glimpse of the most beautiful public transportation system in Europe!

Ballet or circus? Ballet or circus? Despite Russia’s world renowned ballet…we chose the circus! We definitely made the right choice!

When you arrive at the Nikulin Circus hall, it smells just like any other circus…popcorn! Yum!! However, it doesn’t look like your typical Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey. In the lobby are all kinds of circus animals waiting to make your childhood dreams come true!

Because who doesn’t love a bear in a ruffled collar?

Here is the leopard…so doped out he can’t even open his eyes.During the performance, ABSOLUTELY no photos were allowed. I’m not kidding here! If you tried to sneak a snapshot, the crazy Russian lady would walk over and yell at you with hands flailing, insinuating that she would take your camera and kick you out of the circus (and probably out of the country). The message was clear, even without a translation! We saw it happen several times and it was enough to scare us into compliance.

There were two acts that are really worth sharing, but you will have to rely on my storytelling due to the lack of pictures. There was no way we were going to mess with the Russians…even at the circus!

Towards the end of the first half, they covered the circus-ring floor with plastic and started flashing ocean scenes on the wall. You know what that means?! Sea lions! Four of them came sliding out and the male was the biggest sea lion I have ever seen in my life! It had to weigh at least 2,000 pounds. It was absolutely huge! Unbelievably huge! So huge that we tried to sneak a picture, but fell victim to the terrorizing finger wags of the Russian anti-photo mafia.

After the obligatory flipper-claps and balancing beach balls on noses…the fun began! Hello dance party! Ever seen a sea lion do the “Night at the Roxbury”? It’s not bad. What about the “Stanky Legg”? It’s pretty good…considering they don’t have legs. How about the “Harlem Shake”? It’s AMAZING…trust me!!

I’m probably biased, but I thought pinnipeds at the prom would be hard to beat. Then came the big cats! In order to truly appreciate this spectacle, you need a visual of the circus hall. Here is a picture we managed to get before the show started:

What you can’t see here is the height of the rafters where the lights, rigging, etc. were hanging. From floor to ceiling was probably about six stories tall. Before they started the cat act, a safety fence was built, which was probably about two stories high. After some growling and hopping on two legs by the cats, and weird dancing from the lion tamers, two “scratching posts” appeared from the side of the ring. “Scratching post” is a gross underestimation here, but it is a starting point. Imagine a cat scratching post that is taller than a grown man and at least three feet in diameter. You can’t find one of those at PetSmart!

Now, imagine two spotted leopards hanging from these substantial scratching posts, swinging back and forth about twenty feet in the air (within the confines of the safety net, mind you). Crazy, huh? We’re not finished though. It was the panther’s turn next. Another massive scratching post swung into the ring and the panther took a leap. Thank goodness he was successful because the post was rapidly moving towards the rafters. They raised that sexy black panther past the safety net and about three quarters of the way to the ceiling! It was insane!

Want to know how to get your jungle feline to dangle hundreds of feet in the air to the awe of japing-mouthed observers? Use carabineers to attach huge chunks of meat to the top of your oversized “scratching post”! Keep your other tigers happy by pulling more chunks of meat from under the stage and tossing them to obedient recipients! Voilà! You’ve now got yourself a Russian circus act!

My recountance of these acts probably don’t do them justice; however, the circus was one of my favorite parts of our trip to Russia. Dancing sea lions + flying cats = sooooo much better than a ballet!

Oh man…I wish I had a pedometer on this trip! Joe is still in contact with a friend from language training who was born and raised in Moscow. He was our personal tour guide, showed us everything we wanted to see, a few things we didn’t, and everything in between. The three of us walked our tails off!!

St. Basil’s Cathedral and Red Square are obviously the icons of Moscow, so there are plenty of pictures of them here, as well as a few other gems! We took over 700 pictures during our 3.5 days in Moscow, so this is nowhere near a comprehensive display of the capitol of the largest country in the world!

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour – This is the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world and it seems to always be visible, no matter where you are in Moscow. It has quite a history. In 1882 Tchaikovsky premiered the 1812 Overture here, the church was destroyed in 1931 and turned into the world’s largest open air swimming pool, and then it was finally rebuilt/reopened in 2000.

Fallen Monument Park – This is a really interesting park, which belongs to a museum, but is open to the public for free. The park contains sculptures that were removed from their original locations and probably doomed to a sad fate. There is everything from 16^th century lions to Josef Stalin.

One corner of the park with the controversial Peter the Great monument and Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in the background.

Ancient sculptures and the ever-present hammer and sickle.

Damaged Stalin

The Kremlin & Red Square – The Kremlin is striking, whether from the outside or inside the walls. Sadly, the Bell Tower was closed for renovations, but we still got to see the amazing Armoury, many of the cathedrals, and even the paraffin-covered Lenin himself.

Red Square

St. Basil’s Cathedral through the State Historical Museum Gate.

The Armoury, Savior’s Tower, and Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Rooftop behind the Church of the Deposition of the Robe

The Kremlin is still an active military installation.

Savior Tower at sunset

Archangel Cathedral, Tsar Bell, and Ivan the Great Bell Tower

St. Basil’s Cathedral – Moscow’s icon! This building is gorgeous from the outside, but surprisingly dark and cramped on the inside. There is no main hall, but several individual cathedrals on the second floor that can’t hold more than a dozen people. They are elaborately decorated, but nothing like the inside of the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg.

Ok…I have to go recover now. I seem to have misplaced my feet.