Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: vivienr on July 29, 2010, 06:25:35 PM
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Through a rather complicated set of circumstances I have an unexpected holiday in Moscow from 7th - 14th August - a bit daunting as I will be on my own and have never been to the country before.
I was looking forward to visiting many of the parks and open spaces, partly to help out my very limited budget in a very expensive city. But now I believe people are being told to stay indoors because of the smog. I would be grateful for any advice, ideas from any residents or visitors so that my week does not turn out to be just a very expensive opportunity to catch up with my reading backlog :-\
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Vivien.... your Moscow break sounds extraordinary... you must make the most of it!
I think we need the help of Oleg and Olga here, for a start!
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Vivien
Nobody knows what kind of weather will be at that time. Smog was very strong but today air is clear. But it’s still very hot. Yesterday at about 40, today 30 and it is nearly cool. ;D
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Conditions don't seem to have changed much yet - hopefully they might change in the middle of next week so that I can have a good look at the parks and botanic garden.
Looks like the first few days will be spent hiding in museums and galleries but there are plenty of them so that should be OK.
Conveniently, as part of the complicated set of circumstances, I have a pack of face masks which might come in handy :)
Expecting to return home slightly kippered :) :)
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Expecting to return home slightly kippered :) :)
Isn't that a fairly usual state for UK holidaymakers to return in from the Costa whatever, even without the sadded hazard of smog??
Here's hoping you avoid the smog and have a super time in Moscow, Vivien ..... not an opportunity many of us will have under any circumstances!! :D
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Thank you Maggi,
I really should be finishing my packing but remembered that I had not read this weeks bulb log and I could not go without doing that. Then of course it is easy to get distracted... check forum, check Russian news, check for updated foreign office travel advice, double-check that hotel has air-conditioning, check tennis results...now look at the time - I'm not going to have time to wash the kitchen floor (again) :( ;D
Do svedanya
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Vivien
I made this foto today driving to Moscow remembering about you:
(http://cs924.vkontakte.ru/u6450879/31156622/x_93260bca.jpg)
Take face bandage, it's nearly impossible to buy it here. Sorry it's not a joke. :-\
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Oh crikey... that is very bad, isn't it? Good advice there, Vivien to get those face masks ready. I wouldn't want to be breathing that.
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Maggi
It's really hard to breathe and very hot. I sleep under wet towel. Many people at the streets are in masks. The same smoke is around Moscow for hundreds kilometers. S.-Petersburg is much better.
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Thank you Olga, the masks are already packed. It does look bad today. The forecast here is showing some rain and a little drop in temperature around Moscow on Tuesday/Wednesday. Let's hope it does.
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The TV reports over here are that the severe smog in Moscow is due to forest fires which have already claimed many lives. The authorities were reported to be advising people not to visit!
Has this advice been given in the UK as well?
cheers
fermi
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It has, fermi .....
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/europe/russian-federation#health
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That slightly stronger warning was issued after I left. As I have no health problems, it would take an official recommendation not to travel, rather than just a warning about current conditions, in order for me to reclaim any costs with travel insurance.
As it was, I went and had a great time 8) The smog was bad when I arrived but most days it lifted late in the morning as the heat increased. It was very hot though, and my feet blistered so much that I was hobbling by the end of the week. I have just got home - hope to post a few pictures after a bit of rest and recovery (lots of cups of tea) :) :)
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looking forward to your photos and hearing more about the trip. "Unexpected" did you win the holiday
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looking forward to your photos and hearing more about the trip. "Unexpected" did you win the holiday
Mark, I was due go on a voluntary project in a Russian village which was cancelled with only two weeks to go. By then I had paid for travel to Heathrow, airport hotel, Russian visa and other costs which were not refundable, so rather than cut my losses and stay at home I took up the option of keeping my flight to Moscow and booked a reasonably priced hotel in the south of the city. Then....the news of the fires came through :-\
Until I get any refund of the project costs, I will not know how much it has actually cost me but I did know that, as I do not like shopping or eating in fancy restaurants, that I did not need to spend much money while I was there 8)
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Landing at the airport was rather scary as the ground could not be seen until we were about 10 metres above it. The airport was very hot and smoky inside but I made a fairly quick exit by a coach ride to the Metro station nearest to my hotel (for the princely sum of less than £2).
The hotel was in a fairly lively commercial district and the view from the window gave me much entertainment. The shopping centre opposite contained the French supermarket chain Auchan which was rather surreal.
On Sunday there were a lot of tourists hanging around in the centre as all the attractions had been closed and there was not anywhere else for them to go. The fountains were a very popular way of keeping cool but the water here was a rather bright green.
The water trucks were spraying the roads and bridges to stop the tarmac melting. My feet never recovered form the hot surfaces and I hobbled round on blisters for the rest of the week.
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The next day, after visiting the great Tretyakov art gallery, I went to the north of the city hoping to visit the Cosmonautics museum which is in the base of the huge rocket scupture. However it had closed early so instead I walked round what used to be the soviet exhibition centre full of fancy pavillions now used as a funfair/shopping centre. There was a display of small gardens - a bit like the bedding displays at Tatton show.
Again, the fountains were very popular. There was an exhibit of sand sculptures - probably the only people to be happy tht there was no rain.
Unfortunately I did not make it as far as the botanic gardens, which were not to far from here. It was just too hot and tiring :'(
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More to follow, but I have lots of visitors to look after this week so it may take a few days :) :)
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The next batch.
By Wednesday everything was open again but the sunshine made the streets even hotter.
Red Square was an amazing place and I kept going back there just to have another look.
The first picture is the view looking north west followed by a clockwise tour of the square.
The Resurrection Gate and Kazan Cathedral are two of the buildings which were demolished in the 30's and rebuilt as replicas in the 90's.
GUM is now an arcade of expensive designer shops - rather like a larger version of the Victoria Arcade in Leeds :)
The building under renovation beside St. Basil's was covered in a screen painted to look like a building - something I saw a lot of in Moscow which helped to make the place look very neat and tidy.
The State Historical Museum is a beautiful building - my favourite - I think because it looks as if it is covered in snow which gave a slight psychological cooling effect 8)
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One thing about Moscow that made an impression on me was the huge number of trees and green spaces in the city. The only place you could be and not see trees was in the Metro :)
The Kremlin was an example of this and I was amazed to find it so spacious and with its own wooded garden on the side facing the river. The garden is immaculate and was being tended to by a group of gardeners. There was an orchard of old trees laden with small green apples. If anyone happens to know the variety of these apples please let me know (my husband is an apple fanatic).
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You certainly did and saw plenty, Viv, and your photos of Moscow in the heat are really interesting. The architecture is so impressive and I'm not surprised you were drawn back to Red Square and the State Historical Museum (topped with snow effect :D) - did you go in? Everything looks very well kept and it's great there are so many free open spaces. After your comments and Olga's photo of the effects from the fires and heat I thought it would be impossible to do anything but you certainly achieved a lot in spite of you blisters :o