25 June 2018, Monday

It was my second last day in Moscow, and I had three objectives to achieve today. First was to visit the Kremlin Museums, second was to collect my Trans-Mongolian train ticket from the Real Russia office, and third was to go to the FIFA Fan Fest early to catch the Russia vs Uruguay match. I decided that it was best to visit the Kremlin first thing in the morning, before the crowds got crazy. For the Kremlin Museums (click here), I discovered that online booking needs to be done two weeks in advance, so the only way I can get a ticket now is to buy it from the ticket office itself, located at Alexandrovsky Garden.

When I arrived at 9:15am and approached the ticket office, I saw that a long queue of around 100m had already formed. Naturally, I quickened my pace and hurried to join the queue. Based on my estimate, I expected to reach the front of the line at around 10:00am, just as the Kremlin opened.

However, the queue moved painfully slow and by 9:58am, there was still about a third of the way to go. I considered giving up because it was more important to get my train ticket from the Real Russia office. I also wanted to go to the Fan Fest early enough to secure entry, because based on my past experience, matches involving Russia tend to be very popular and latecomers will not be allowed to enter the Fan Fest area once it is full.

Just as I was about to leave, a female staff member came down the line and asked if we were queuing for the Kremlin or the Armoury Chamber. She added that the queue I was in was for the Armoury Chamber and those who only wanted to visit the Kremlin could skip the queue and buy their tickets from windows 11, 12 and 13 inside the ticket office.

Everyone in the queue said they were here for the Armoury Chamber, and I then realised that I was the only silly one who had queued 45 minutes for nothing! I only wanted to visit the Kremlin grounds and not the Armoury Chamber, so I left the queue feeling exasperated with myself and went straight into the ticket office, where I got my ticket in less than five minutes. Argh!

Before you visit, you should know that there are different tickets available. The one I bought was for the architectural complex of the Cathedral Square and Temporary Exhibitions and it cost 500 RUB (S$11.63). The highly sought-after ticket to the Armoury Chamber costs 700 RUB (S$16.29). The reason why the queue moves so slowly for the Armoury Chamber is because there are only four admission sessions per day (10:00am, 12:00pm, 2:30pm and 4:30pm) and the number of tickets for each session is limited.

There are also tickets for New Kremlin Square (250 RUB/S$5.81) and Ivan the Great Bell-Tower Complex (250 RUB), and these tickets are limited too. So, before you visit the Kremlin, have an idea of which ticket you wish to buy and check carefully which queue you should join to get your ticket(s). Don’t just hop into the first queue you see or you could end up wasting 45 minutes for nothing, like me!

The entrance to the architectural complex of the cathedral square is via Kutafya Tower (there is another entrance at Borovitskaya Tower for the Armoury Chamber). After going through strict security checks (this is the Kremlin after all), I was finally inside the complex. I followed the throng of tourists and tour groups and soon found myself in Cathedral Square. To be honest, I hadn’t done any research about the Kremlin beforehand so I didn’t know what to expect from the visit. I was surprised to find so many cathedrals clustered around the square. They were all painted in white with magnificent gold domes, and they all looked spectacular.

I visited them one after the other – the Assumption Cathedral (aka Dormition Cathedral), the Church of Laying Our Lady’s Holy Robe, the Annunciation Cathedral and the Archangels’ Cathedral. Photography is not allowed in the cathedrals so I am not able to show you what it looks like inside. But they are all Orthodox churches and are all quite similar in terms of the style and decoration, with the walls and pillars covered with murals and frescoes of iconostasis.

The only one that is slightly different is the Archangel’s Cathedral, which also functions as the burial vault for rulers of medieval Russia. Their sarcophagi were put in the earth under the floor and funeral monuments with white stone plates were put above them. The graves have been covered with metal cases, lined up side by side all around the cathedral. It was a little eerie to walk among the graves in such close proximity.

After I was finally satisfied with the photos I took of the cathedrals’ exterior from all angles (it was a sunny day with puffy white clouds), I moved on to the Tainitsky (Secret) Garden. It is a beautiful garden with well-manicured lawns and colourful flower beds, with plenty of nice, tall trees providing respite from the sun.

From the garden, you can see the fortress walls enclosing the Kremlin and the many towers along the walls. The image reminded me of the scene in the Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol film, where Tom Cruise scaled the walls effortlessly and infiltrated the Kremlin without breaking a sweat (which will never happen in real life).   

I finished touring the Kremlin at about 11:50am. From the exit at Red Square, the first thing I saw was St. Basil’s Cathedral. When I was here on my first day, the skies were cloudy so my pictures weren’t that great, so I spent some more time getting better pictures today.

St. Basil’s Cathedral is really very pretty and unique. It bears some resemblance to the Church of Savior on the Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg but it is more whimsical and colourful. It looks like someone filled in the colours of a colouring book and an architect decided to bring it to life. If you look carefully, you’ll see that the “onion bulb” domes are all in different colours and patterns. The cathedral is without a doubt one of the most recognisable and iconic buildings in the world.

After that, I made my way to the Real Russia office at 9 Bolshaya Maryinskaya Street. I took the Metro and alighted at Alekseevskaya station and walked for around ten minutes before reaching the building. The building is located in an industrial area and I had some difficulty finding the entrance. The Real Russia office is on the third floor and it occupies a small, nondescript room numbered 313. I retrieved my train tickets fast enough, and was out of the office in less than ten minutes.

By the way, my train ticket is for the journey from Nizhny Novgorod in Russia to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. After Moscow, I am going to a city called Nizhny Novgorod to watch my second FIFA World Cup match. Hence, I am only starting my Trans-Mongolian Railway journey from Nizhny Novgorod instead of Moscow.

Just to clarify, one of the most famous railway journeys in the world is the Trans-Siberian Railway, which spans 9,289km from Moscow in the west to Vladisvostok in the east, crossing eight time zones. It takes eight days to complete the journey, which takes place entirely in Russia. The Trans-Mongolian Railway overlaps with the Trans-Siberian for most part of its journey, as far as Ulan-Ude (east of Lake Baikal) before heading south to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. It takes five days to complete the journey. You can say that the Trans-Mongolian Railway is an offshoot of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

For my Trans-Mongolian Railway ticket from Nizhny Novgorod to Ulaanbaatar, I booked it through a company called Real Russia (click here). They are a ticketing agent based in London but they have been in the game for many years and have built up a reputation of being the most reliable company to get your Trans-Siberian/Mongolian Railway tickets. In fact, they’re like a monopoly in the business because all travel websites and blogs will probably point you to Real Russia. The reason for their domination is because they have a very good website in English and their staff can communicate in English, so that makes things a lot easier for international travelers. Based on my experience, I can say that Real Russia are reliable and I will recommend booking your ticket through them.

Of course, the company profits by marking up the price of the ticket. I am not sure what their profit margin is but for the convenience and assurance, I will say it is worth it. For my ticket from Nizhny Novgorod to Ulaanbaatar, I paid €437 (S$730.48). It sounds expensive and it probably is, but remember that the journey spans 5,804km and 92 hours over four nights, so that works out to something like €109.25 per day.

Now that I had collected my train ticket, I was ready to head over to the FIFA Fan Fest. I had a quick lunch at KFC before taking the Metro to Leninsky Prospekt station to catch the free shuttle bus to the Fan Fest. I arrived quite early at 2:48pm, so I was able to enter the huge Official Fan Shop and browse at all the merchandise in peace. I ended up buying some souvenirs for family and friends, including a mini replica of the Jules Rimet Trophy.

Even though it was still two hours to go before kickoff, there were already a lot of people here. The beer stalls were doing brisk business as it was a very sunny day. I saw a cute Russian girl doing face painting and I even had the cheek (pun intended) to fork out 100 RUB (S$2.33) for her to paint two Russian flags on my face, one on each cheek.

I then met up with my new Russian friends again – Viktor, Katia and her absolutely adorable daughter, and we had a few beers at the table before finding a good spot on the covered lawn to watch the match on the big screen. If the atmosphere during my past few times at the Fan Fest were good, it was nothing compared to today. With Russia playing, the home crowd was out in full force. The Fan Fest area was completely filled with over 25,000 people and the unlucky latecomers were denied entry.

From where I was, I saw a sea of Russians proudly sporting face paint in their country’s colours, waving their flags and draping them over their shoulders. It was clear that they relished the experience of hosting the World Cup and it was a big deal for them. Unfortunately, the match didn’t go their way as Russia lost 0-3 to a spirited Uruguayan side, but the result didn’t matter as Russia had already qualified for the last 16 with two wins from their previous matches.

The negative result didn’t dampen the mood and the party continued. There was a one hour break before the next match between Saudi Arabia and Egypt commenced. During that time, there were live performances by a local rapper, a singer and a DJ spinning party tunes. We had a blast dancing to the music and drinking beer. It was such a good time I will never forget it.

As the second match commenced, Katia and her daughter took leave first because it was getting late while I continued watching the match till the end. For the record, Saudi Arabia won 2-1. I then walked the way back to the Universitet Metro station with Viktor to catch the train back to my hostel.

Along the way, Viktor, remarked that this was the spot where we first said “hi hi” to each other, and I saw that it was indeed where we first met three days ago while making our way to the Fan Fest. Funny how a chance encounter can lead to a friendship, and I’m happy to have made a Russian friend from my time in Moscow. Thanks, Viktor for your companionship for the past three days. Hope I’ll meet you again someday in the future, perhaps in Singapore!