Well, my friends at Food & Wine keep me refreshed with so many intoxicating drinks.

This intoxicant came to me from Rich Manning, a writer and spirits and food competition judge based in Los Angeles. He has been writing about spirits, wine, beer, food and travel since 2004. I understand Rich wants to battle; An East Coast vs. West Coast battle, which he is ready to settle.

This is timely news, for I just cancelled my river cruise on the Neva River.

And, BTW, Rich -The Moscow Mule, being a type of buck, is sometimes called vodka buck.

But Who Really Invented the Moscow Mule and Why Is It in a Copper Mug?

Courtesy of Rich Manning

The Moscow Mule’s most famous component isn’t an ingredient, it’s the copper mug that traditionally holds the simple cocktail of vodka, ginger beer, and lime. It’s the mug’s burnished sheen that set the drink apart in the early days of the cocktail revival when vodka-based drinks were considered passé.

The mug is the very reason the Moscow Mule exists in the first place. Where this began is up for debate, however.

While some people trace the post-Prohibition cocktail’s origins to Los Angeles, others insist the drink was created in New York City.

“It kind of comes off as a Biggie vs. Tupac, East Coast vs. West Coast kind of argument,” says Gina Hoover, bartender and consultant for CURE in New Orleans. “But I’m not surprised at all why the argument exists. If you ask an American to name five drinks, 90% will probably name the Moscow Mule as one of the five,” she says. “If you’re a city, and a drink has that kind of power, you’d naturally want to take credit for it.”

There are shared traits to each city’s tale. Both pin the drink’s creation to 1941, a relatively modern date compared to other cocktails with convoluted beginnings. They also stake claim to some of the same players, including a struggling-at-the-time vodka brand that’s now a household name. The theories’ part ways from here.

New York: Three guys walk into a bar…

According to the New York theory, the Moscow Mule stems from Midtown Manhattan’s Chatham Hotel.

A Los Angeles-based beverage executive named John “Jack” Morgan was in town to promote his own Cock ‘n’ Bull ginger beer, a product that shared a name with the Hollywood bar he also operated.

He was hanging out with a couple of industry folks – John Martin, president of the now-defunct G.F. Heublein & Brothers distillery and distributor, and Rudolph Kunett, president of Hublein’s vodka division, Smirnoff. After a couple of drinks, the trio wondered what would happen if they combined vodka, ginger beer, and a squeeze of lime juice. Deliciousness ensued.

They named their creation the Moscow Mule. Shortly thereafter, they purchased 500 copper mugs embossed with the phrase “Little Moscow.”

Los Angeles: Pick one…

There are two Los Angeles origin stories to consider.

Morgan and Martin show up as in the first account. Instead of Kunett, they’re joined by Sophie Berezinski, a Russian woman living in Los Angeles, struggling to find buyers for the 2,000 solid copper mugs she designed.

Though not confirmed: The Moscow Mule method (courtesy of the European Bartending School).

Step 1

Start building your vodka ginger beer cocktail by pouring a scoop of ice cubes in your copper Moscow Mule mug. We’re pretty traditional about our cocktails here at EBS, so we think these cups well worth investing in.

But why do you need one? Well, copper is an excellent conductor of heat, and a copper mug will keep your Moscow Mules perfectly chilled as you sip it. Mystery solved.

Step 2

Next, pour your vodka and lime juice over the ice.

The original Moscow Mule recipe uses Smirnoff vodka, which is one of our favourites. You can go for their classic Smirnoff original, or if you want to push the boat out (which we always encourage), try one of their premium blends, Smirnoff Red or Smirnoff Black.

These two are filtered using the traditional charcoal method, giving them a deep and authentic flavor.

Step 3

Fill up your glass with ginger beer, and garnish with a fresh lime wedge.

As we said earlier, the world won’t end if you use ginger ale instead. But a good cold ginger beer can really be the star of a Moscow Mule recipe.

Which ginger beer brands do we favor? Fever Tree Ginger Beer is decent option. It gives the cocktail a spicy kick that complements the zingy lime and sharp vodka.

If you are a fan of this drink, you’ll be pleased to know there are tons of Moscow Mule variations that use other spirits instead of vodka – like the Kentucky mule (with bourbon) and the Mexican mule (with tequila).

Grab that copper mug and start experimenting!

Moscow Mule ingredients as per the European Bartending School

(Makes 1 cocktail)

• A copper mug
• 1 scoop of cubed ice
• 40ml (1.5oz) vodka
• 20ml (¾ oz) fresh lime juice
• Ginger beer (just fill that glass right up)
• A fresh lime wedge for garnish

For the vodka, we’d recommend the OG, Smirnoff. Also, if you prefer, Absolut works just as well. The ginger beer should be just that – beer. But if you have to switch it up with ginger ale instead, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

And it goes without saying, freshly squeezed lime juice is always better than the bottled stuff.

Or, if you are feeling particularly adventurous, you could even make your own ginger beer.

Well, there you have it. And please have fun creating your own Moscow Mule, regardless of the ingredients. But, most importantly, remember not to Drink & Drive. – Audrey

POST SCRIPT

Peter the Great’s Quest for the Holy Moscow Mule

By Ringo Boitano

Peter I was Tsar of Imperial Russia from 1682, and the first Emperor of all Russia, known as “Peter the Great,” but to his friends as “Sparky.” Tsar Peter I was disappointed that he was unable to find the Holy Russian Mule in his empires’ capital city of Moscow. He decided to lead his Imperial Army to the Baltic Sea to engage his enemy, the Swedish, in battle. His ultimate plan was to find the source of the elusive Moscow Mule. After defeating the Swedes, their top generals were captured, and he asked them at gunpoint, “What exactly is this thing called the Moscow Mule?” The generals all smiled, and then in unison, said one word: “Nej!”

Peter was fluent in many languages, but was a little weak in Swedish. He was once a master of it, but had forgotten much of it, after having watched his relatives murdered before his eyes when he was a little boy. He was particularly annoyed for he had already made plans to torture and murder them later, which had caused him to cancel his weekly bowling night with his sensitive Cossack bowling team. Even more so, for his cousin Dimitri had planned to join them, and he was the only one who could actually score the bowling card without cheating, despite the fact that Dimitri would often pretend to be asleep whenever Peter the Great threw a gutter ball.

Peter then asked his generals to translate the Swedish word into Russian. The generals, despite a sense of obvious nervousness, finally replied that it meant,”Nyet!” in Russian.

Peter, now “Peter the Great,” was clearly disappointed, and decided to concentrate on building Imperial Russia’s new capital city in a marsh, which he christened, St. Petersburg. Throughout history, many Moscow Mule aficionados have assumed that he had named St. Petersburg after himself. But later, in the last century, despite the confusion if it was the Julian Calendar, the Byzantine Calendar, the Russian Orthodox Calendar, the Gregorian Calendar, the Free Willie Calendar or the Doomsday Calendar of 3000 ACE, where all Dutch waffle irons which were timed to explode in 43 second sequences to the tune of “Froggy Went a Courtin.'” Finally, an elderly Basque shepherd in Bakersfield, CA, who had signed an oath to only eat lamb meatballs prepared in a microwave, confirmed, after a sleepless night in the fields, due children throwing snowballs at him with rocks in the center, that the city was actually named after the Catholic Christian, Saint Peter: the world’s first Pope! Sadly, not recognized in the US Bible Belt by tele-evangelicalists, who preach regularly in a unique form of American-English, often crying, while pleading for donations from innocent viewers.

Epilogue

Peter the Great’s Last Will and Testament was just discovered in a snowbank in Siberia by Terry Cassel. Sources indicate that it was hidden in a Beatles Handpainted Nesting Doll 5 PC Matryoshka Stacking Doll Set. Apparently. Cassel was enjoying his free day on a Volga River cruise. He decided to hire a group of retired Russian Serfs to pull a sled 7,008 miles to Siberia. The Serfs were available after rescheduling their weekly mix-couples’ Parcheesi Board Game (Gold Seal Edition Vintage 664 COMPLETE, Confirmed, Like New!) to a later date. The game had been postponed due to heavy showers of Tartar bombs.

Though strangely reluctant, Cassel was eventually forced to reveal the contents when 16 retired Nazi Storm Troopers, who had been living comfortaby in the Bavarian Aps as cattlewomen, pointed AK-47s Soviet assault rifles, possibly the most widely used shoulder weapon in the world. The initials AK represent Avtomat Kalashnikova, Russian for “automatic Kalashnikov,” named in the honor of its designer, Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, who designed the accepted version of the weapon in 1947. This confused Cassel, for the day before, he had watched repeated viewings (on his phone) of the January 6th assault on the US Capital Building, and had noticed many of the Trump cultists boasting that they had inherited identical ones in the rural US Territory of Idaho by their grandfathers. This only confused Cassel more, for he remembered old photographs (not on digital) of grandfathers in Idaho who all had similar brown stains on their MAGA T-shirts.

Mr. Cassel understood why there were brown stains, after having acheived a PHD at Trump University in the delicacy of log cabin construction (and with a Swiss Pocket Knife, complete with toe nail tweezers and a gold-plated toothpick!). Cassel was stunned by his repeated viewings of the January 6th assault on the US Capital Building, noticing many of the Maga domestic terrorists were hoarsely screaming, Hang Mike Pence! (something about the US Vice President not having the courage to do the right thing, and there was some kind of noose waiting for him inside). This upset Cassel, realizing their hoareness might have stemmed from drinking a bad batch of Trump Wine, currently on sale at CVS for $1.99! Even more so, assuming the patriotic MAGA domestic terrorists did not have the courtesy to drink Moscow Mules in a proper copper-colored glass, traditionally consumed annually every January 6th.

AFTER MUCH DELAY: The contents of the Beatles Handpainted Nesting Doll 5 PC Matryoshka Stacking Doll Set was revealed:

An Official Imperial Russian Document to NEVER Send Vladimir Putin any Christmas Cards.* ** ***

* Sealed by a Kiss.

** Translated to poor American-English from a unique Cyrillic Script.

*** Sadly, this confused Terry Cassel further; believing it was TOP SECRET documents which belonged to the People of the United States, stored in an emperor’s bedroom at an overpriced building in South Florida, converted into a hotel, in a particularly bad and ostentatious design. Cassel was unable to confirm if there was still a large US Flag outside that blocked neighbor’s views. Or, if there was one at all, and wondering if it was waving upside down.

The post Summer is Here and the Time is Right for Drinking the Moscow Mule appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Most of us have been on a cruise ship, riverboat or barge; some good, some bad, and generally with a bit of overeating. We’ve asked the members of the T-Boy Society of Film, Music & Travel what were some of their cherished moments, or lack of, when traversing the world’s waterways.

Ringo Boitano – T-Boy Writer:

Chaplin’s “City Lights” Revisited

On a Mediterranean sailboat cruise, an older and heavily intoxicated British gent would approach me and demand I sit at his table. Due to the martini in his hand and strained attempts at a posh British Received Pronunciation, his words were incomprehensible, but I always enjoyed playing along. Later, in the daytime, I would often notice him and greet him with a warm hello. He had no recognition of me at all, and would meet my greeting with a sour grimace as if I had just escaped from a penal colony in Australia. Didn’t I see this in Chapin’s “City Lights”?

Susan Breslow – T-Boy Writer:

Don’t Fall in the Water

On Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe was a place called Water Wilderness, comprised of four houseboats and a lodge. My traveling companion Tony and I were brought there by motorboat, served tea and scones, and then instructed to take a canoe and choose a houseboat. “Try not to tip over,” advised the guide. “There are hippos in the center and crocodiles by the shore.”

Tony complained of not hiking after several days on safari in Land Rovers. “I’ll take you tomorrow,” the guide offered. Good to his word, he showed up bearing a long rifle and had bandolier ammunition belts strapped across his broad chest. They held the longest bullets I had ever seen. The day before, he had talked about what a conundrum it would be for him to decide whether or not to shoot if he were charged by an endangered rhinoceros.

As we motored to a nearby shore for the hike, my mind raced. What if I was charged? What if my legs gave out? What if I fainted? What if I were bitten by a tsetse fly? What if I fell in the water disembarking and a crocodile ate me?

The other hikers eagerly alighted from his vessel.

I burst into tears. The guide looked at me sympathetically.

“Do you want to go back to the houseboat?” he asked. I nodded.

He tossed his rifle to Tony and turned the motorboat around.

“Please, don’t cry,” the guide said kindly. “If someone stuck me in the middle of Times Square, I’d have the same reaction.”

Then Tony called from the shore: “What am I supposed to do if we get charged? Whack him with the butt of the gun?” Everyone laughed.

I spent the rest of the day on the deck of my houseboat, watching a herd of cape buffalo leisurely graze on the hills beyond. Tony, the guide, and our fellow travelers all returned safe.

Roy Endersby – Philosopher:

Regional Food on the Columbia River

The Empress of the North continues to make voyages along the Columbia, Willamette and Snake Rivers. My memories of this historic riverboat voyage; a voyage to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Meriwether Lewis and William Clark expedition into the nation’s new Louisiana Purchase, still color my thoughts today. The history, sites and day trips were profound. But I was anxious to return to the dining room for the Empress offered something that is often not found on a cruise vessel: Regional Sourced Food. Menus included everything from Dungeness Crab Cakes Benedict, herb rubbed Ellensburg lamb and Tillamook cheddar cheese soup to smoked salmon, grilled halibut and scallops. You could quite literally taste the landscape and waterways.

Deb Roskamp – T-Boy Writer & Photographer:

Frolicking on a Tahitian Motu

Each port of call was better than the last as my ship glided through the waters of French Polynesia. One day – a day at sea – passengers were offered a luncheon on a motu. As we arrive at the island in Zodiac boats, the cooking staff was already in order with delicious Tahitian and French hybrid dishes waiting for us. To see fellow passengers frolicking around the beauty, food and merriment of the small motu was an experience I will never forget.

Audrey Hart – T-Boy Culinary Writer:

I charged off the vessel, and somehow managed to reached the Bridge of Sighs, where the crowd had grown so thick that (ironically) I could barely look above the men’s mandatory Venetian straw hats to get a glimpse of the famous window. Of course, this is the window which prisoners would pass and take their final view of Venice before their descent into the darkness of the dungeons. A petite woman, almost hidden in the crowd, asked me to take a photo of the window with her camera; so she could actually see what it looked like. As I returned her camera, she politely smiled a thanks and disappeared into the crowd. My own personal sigh illustrated that I needed a break from the sweltering hordes of tourists. Yes, Venice is Venice, and everyone must experience it once in their life. But I felt it best to take a break.

Problem solved. My cruise pass allowed me two days of accommodations at a hotel. I accessed a water taxi in the Grand Canal to my pre-planned cruise lodging at the Molino Stucky Hilton. At first, it seemed strange that I would be staying at a Hilton property in Venice, but that was before my eyes set on the palatial Molino Stucky, a former flour mill that has been painstakingly refurbished into a swank hotel, but still very much in the Venetian character. Luxuriating by the roof top pool, with Venice’s unforgettable city skyline in the distance, it occurred to me that I was experiencing something that even a Doge in all his glory would find unimaginable. Trips to the Molino Stucky’s Rialto Bar & Lounge offered complimentary regional snacks; coffee and the Venetian mainstays of spritz, grappa and Prosecco. Both the terraced pool and bar and lounge, proved to be a welcoming venue to relax and refresh. Plus, my batteries were soon recharged for a further exploration of Venice’s major attractions. This time, hopefully, with less heat and crowds.

Richard Carroll and Halina Kubalski – T-Boy Writers & Photographers:

Heartwarming Experience on a Cruise Ship

We danced our way across the Atlantic on a 10-day dance-themed crossing from Lisbon to Miami on the Crystal Serenity. The vision of sea and sky, the foamy wake trailing behind, and the ever-changing rhythms of the sky evoked a sense of freedom. The bad news of the world, if only for a moment, could be tucked away in the heels of our dancing shoes. Throughout the cruise we were dancing Salsa and West Coast Swing, and meeting most of the guests on the dance floor, some who had not danced in years but were having a great time.

Following a morning dance session, we would enjoy a casual lunch and Halina, born and raised in Warsaw, quickly became friends with three or four of the Polish waiters. They were excited to speak Polish with Halina, hovering around her, and our service was beyond special. Halfway through the crossing, Halina ordered PlackiZiemmiaczane, one of her favorite Polish dishes which is potato pancakes Polish-style, and it definitely was not listed on the menu. The plate arrived at table and the Polish waiters were silent and staring at one another. One of them in Polish said to Halina, “That is not the correct PlackiZiemmiaczane! The cook on duty is German” and” picking up the plate, “I’m going to the galley and will create the correct Polish PlackiZiemmiaczane.” Guests were staring, but he returned to the table with a steamy plate of PlackiZiemmiaczane, the Polish waiters all broadly smiling. Halina said in Polish, “What about the German cook?” They answered, “No problem, he’s a friend and the Executive Chef is not on duty.”

Then one morning the ship came to a dead stop in the middle of the Atlantic. Everyone rushed to the port side and below was a ragged group of sun-tinged would-be amateur sailors from Boston, near death. standing helplessly in their sailboat. They were far off course, lost in the vast sea for days without food or water. It was a heart-rendering experience to watch the Crystal Serenity lower boxes of food and water down the side of the ship to the sailboat, but no PlackiZiemmiaczane. Crewmen also boarded the sailboat to help them get back on course. Later, the Captain told us that it was a one-in-a-million chance for the ship to encounter the sailboat and if it had been dark they could have easily missed them altogether.

A day later Halina spotted a large double-rainbow from our balcony, and she was thinking it was a positive omen for the sailors on the sailboat. This dance crossing was a travel memory to savor.

Fyllis Hockman – T-Boy Writer:

Love That Drink

So I was just finishing my soup at dinner on a river cruise when I spied a waiter walking by with a bottle of Disaronno Amaretto. Oh, I love that drink I mumbled as he walked by. Without skipping a beat, he stopped and poured a hefty amount into my soup bowl and casually continued on. The recollection has brought a smile to my face for years!

Ed Boitano – T-Boy Editor:

Salty Food in Moscow, Aspirin on a Plane

My group of journalists returned to our cruise ship late at night after a delayed flight from Moscow. Starved and thirsty – yes, thirsty due to the highly salted Muscovite food we had consumed earlier – and well aware that it was too late for dinner and beverages on our ship. To our surprise, we found the vessel’s staff waiting for us with champagne and a lavish buffet, complete with smiles and applause.

Earlier in Moscow, my restaurant tablemates and I had poured down a bottle of champagne and liter of water with a vengeance. When we requested addition water, our Muscovite waiter politely informed us there was no more available. Welcome to the Russian Federation.

Previously, on the tarmac for the flight from St. Petersburg to Moscow, I climbed the stairs to enter the chaotically packed plane that was well past its prime. I flashed my ticket to the flight attendant, but she decided to snatch it away into her own hand. She pointed to my seat, and then opened my hand and returned the ticket into my palm, not forgetting to close it into a fist.

Yes, I thought I was ready for anything. But as I took my seat, I found the seatbelt was out of order and the back of the seat refused to stand straight. I realized it was useless to complain, but when another attendant passed by and gave me a hello, I took a chance, informing him that I had a headache of the splitting kind. A short minute later he returned with a glass of water on an elegant tray with two aspirins by its side. Spoiler alert: My headache disappeared and I enjoyed a fascinating day of exploration in Moscow, one of the world’s most remarkable cities; salty food or not.

The post Memories of a Cruise appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Members’ Selections

Ed Boitano – T-Boy editor:

• Space Needle — Seattle:  I would be amiss not to place this space age tower that has come to define my hometown at the top of my list. As a first-grader, each day at recess I would rush out to my elementary school playground and watch this architectural wonder’s construction, marveling at its new growth and futuristic space age splendor. Little did I know that in 1962 we were at the cusp of new era with the assassination of JFK and the arrival of the Beatles. And with the completion of the Space Needle for the 1962 Century 21 Exposition — Seattle World’s Fair, my little maritime town, seemingly hidden in the northwest corner of America, became a world-class city for the rest of the planet to see.
• Duomo di Milano — Italy: The stunning Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete, and today is the largest church in Italy; a technicality with the larger St. Peter’s Basilica in the State of Vatican City. Occupying an entire city block, the cathedral’s façade of pink-veined white Candoglia marble is adorned with 3,400 statues, 135 gargoyles and 700 figures, and a gold-colored statue of the Madonnina, standing on the terrace’s highest spire.
• Roman Colosseum — Italy: The forerunner of the modern sports stadium, the Roman Colosseum (Anfiteatro Flavio) was the largest amphitheatre the world had ever seen. Constructed in AD 80 with travertine limestone, volcanic rock and brick-faced concrete, it was an engineering marvel with an enormous retractable awning to protect 50,000 to 80,000 spectators from the beating Roman sun. Programs included gladiatorial contests, mock sea battles on water, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.
• Newgrange — Ireland: This megalithic mound was built by Neolithic farmers approximately 5000 years ago. Considered a place of astronomical and religious significance, at the dawn of winter solstice — December 19th to 23rd — the passage and chamber are illuminated by 17 minutes of light.
• Chicago Architecture River Cruise — The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 burnt down 3.3 square miles of the city, destroying 17,500 buildings. The rebuilding began almost immediately with architects pouring into the city, anxious to try out new architectural styles. You can see the results on a Chicago River cruise where 40 notable buildings are on display.

Richard Carroll – T-Boy writer:

• Tikal in Guatemala, dating to 200 A.D.
• Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico, 600 A.D. The Maya sites in Mexico and Guatemala are stunning as old as the Egyptian Pyramids, but a huge step above, as they were cities, and much more thoughtful and intriguing than the pyramids.
• La Cite du Vin Bordeaux: Rising 55 meters into the Bordeaux sky, the creative and unusual architecture appearing like a huge ship’s hull or with a little imagination a wine barrel. The wine complex/museum is ranked number one in the world focusing on cutting edge technology, with incredible videos, like something Disney would create.
• Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, the forefront of architectural design, construction began in 537 A.D. and with enough history to fill a library. A breathtaking experience to visit Hagia Sophia.
• Eiffel Tower in Paris

Here in the U.S.:

• Statue of Liberty
• Empire State Building
• Golden Gate Bridge

Stephen Brewer – T-Boy writer:

• Fallingwater – Pennsylvania
• Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba – Spain
• Acropolis – Athens, Greece
• Empire State Building – NYC
• Mont–Saint–Michel – Normandy, France

Susan Breslow – T-Boy writer:

• Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach
• Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria
• Sydney Opera House
• Dancing House, Prague
• La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
• Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
• Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City
• St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow
• Chrysler Building, NYC
• Taliesen West, Arizona

Jim Gordon – Co-host & co-producer Travel Guys TV:

• 300 ft tall Buddha statue in Leshan, China (filmed there in 2008, just breathtaking)
• Glasgow Cathedral in Scotland (filmed there in 2019, walking through a century of history, snuck a camera in, could’ve stayed for a day)
• Sydney Opera House in Australia (filmed there in 2005 & 2011, stood in awe of the design)
• Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (filmed there in 2009, I’ve seen many similar building designs, but this one with the city’s park beside it, the lights, stunning)
• Old Trafford, Manchester, England (filmed there in 2008, not my team, hate them, but to stand and film in that empty stadium, sporting cathedral really, left me breathless as a British football fan)

Richard Frisbie – T-Boy writer:

• In Sevilla – Parasol Metropol: the world’s largest wooden structure, a series of mushroom-shaped, interconnected buildings with undulating walkways over and through them – simply stunning – with the Roman ruins in the basement that prevented it from becoming the transportation hub it was designed for!
• In Saugerties – Opus 40: one of the oldest and most magnificent earthworks in the US – a series of stairs, ramps, and pools all made of bluestone, centering around a huge stone obelisk, created and built by one man, Harvey Fite.
• In Rio de Janeiro: the black and white tiled walks and walls created by Roberto Burle Marx. Also – any of his gardens, especially the one at his home: Sitio Santo Antonio da Bica.
• In Brasil – Oscar Niemeyer’s Museum: that looks like the star ship Enterprise, from the Star Trek series.
• The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain: Frank Gehry’s undulating titanium masterpiece.

James Boitano – T-Boy writer:

• St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow
• Stave Churches of Norway
• The ‘Three Bridges’ of Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Aya Sophia Mosque in Istanbul
• Grand Coulee Dam, Washington State

Allan Smith – Artist & T-Boy writer:

• Sagrada Família, Barcelona, Spain. Architect: Antonio Gaudi
• Chrysler Building, NYC, New York. Architect: William Van Alen
• Great Pyramids, Giza, Egypt. Architect: unknown
• Bird’s Nest Stadium, Beijing, China. Architect: Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron
• Reims Cathedral, Reims, France. Architect: Jean d’Orbais
• Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey. Architect: Anthemius of Tralles. Isidore of Miletus
• The Space Needle, Seattle, Washington. Architect: John Graham & Company
• Neuschwanstein Schlosse, Bavaria, Germany. Architect: Eduard Riedel
• Himeji Castle, Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan. Architect: Toyotomi Hideyoshi
• Yellow Crane Temple, Wuhan, China. Architect: unknown

Deb Roskamp – T-Boy writer:

• Duomo di Milano – Milan, Italy: The awe-inspiring magnificence of scale… breathtaking!
• Statue of Liberty – NYC: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…T E A R S.
• Arch de Triomphe – Paris: So much history transcribed in its triumphal sculpting.
• Walt Disney Concert Hall – Los Angeles: Makes me happy every time I see it.
• The Space Needle – Seattle, Washington: Whimsical memories of the 60s in my home state.

Alex Brouwer – T-Boy writer:

• Machu Picchu – Peru
• Teotihuacán City/Pyramids – Mexico
• Chichen Itza – Mexico
• Stonehenge – England
• Eiffel Tower – France
• Honorable mention: Roman Colosseum and Leaning Tower of Pisa

Ringo Boitano – T-Boy Writer:

• Neuschwanstein Schlosse – Bavaria, Germany
• Taos Pueblo – New Mexico
• Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Brooklyn Bridge – NYC
• Emperor’s Palace – Imperial City of Huế, Vietnam

Brent Campbell – Musician & Composer:

• St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow
• The Guggenheim Museum in NYC
• Chicago Bean (aka Cloud Gate) in Chicago
• Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing 
• Seattle Space Needle

Greg Aragon – T-Boy Writer:

• Panama Canal
• Hoover Dam, Nevada
• California Aqueduct, which transports water 444 miles from Northern California to Southern California
• Mike O’Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (886 ft-high), which spans the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada
• Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

Fyllis Hockman – T-Boy writer:

• The Great Pyramids – Giza, Egypt
• Empire State Building – NYC  
• Chichen Itza – Yucatan, Mexico
• Mount Rushmore – South Dakota
• The Hermitage – St. Petersburg, Russia

T.E. Mattox – T-Boy music critic:

• Eiffel Tower – That guy lived in an apartment up there
• Roman Colosseum – Massive
• Musee d’Orsay – Paris. Train, train
• Toji – Buddhist Temple in Kyoto, Japan 
• Duomo di Milano – Milan, Italy.  Majestic

David Erskine – T-Boy VP of advertising:

• Knossos on the Isle of Crete – Greece
• Taj Mahal – Agra, India
• Love Temples – Khajuraho, India
• Eiffel Tower – Paris
• Wat Pho ‘Temple of the Reclining Buddha’ – Bangkok, Thailand
• Blue Mosque – Istanbul, Turkey
• Acropolis – Athens, Greece
• Roman Colosseum – Italy
• Empire State Building – NYC
• Munich Franuenkirche – Germany
• Red Fort – Delhi, India

Tom Tapp – Film & music critic:

• Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain
• The Ruins at Petra, Jordan
• The Anasazi cliff dwellings in Gila, Arizona 
• Highway 1 in California 
• The Medina of Marrakesh, Morocco

Raoul Pascual – T-Boy co-founder, illustrator and art director:

• Empire State Building, NYC
• Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy
• Great Pyramids,  Giza, Egypt
• Statue of Liberty, Liberty Island in New York Harbor
• Singapore Changi Airport, Changi, Singapore

Lee Olson – TV producer & writer

• Summer Palace in Bejing – China
• Angkor Wat – Cambodia
• The Alhambra – Granada, Spain
• Versaille Chateau – France
• Chichen Itza “El Castillo” Pyramid – Yucatan, Mexico

Rourke – Film critic & musician:

• Eiffel Tower, Paris
• Roman Colosseum, Italy
• Brooklyn Bridge, NYC
• Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City
• Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong

Honorable mentions:

• Trevi Fountain, Rome
• Holocaust Memorial, Boston
• Pan Pacific Theater, L.A. (burned years ago)

Chloe Erskine – Educator:

• The Golden Gate Bridge – San Francisco
• The Walls of Benin – Edo, Nigeria

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Through a combination of modern-day technology and a painter’s artistic touch, this photojournalist, invited by Insight Vacations to document its Easy Pace Russia journey, is transported back in time to September 7, 1812 as French and Russian forces collide on a massive amphiteatre-like clearing near tiny Borodino.

I’m standing on a circular platform at the top of the Battle of Borodino Panorama Museum in Moscow looking down and panning right and left, taking in every detail of a gigantic 360-degree oil painting created by Franz Roubaud, a panoramic master, in 1911.

This tableau of bloodshed, standing 15m tall and stretching 115m around, is impressive. Along with Roubaud’s brush strokes, the added dimension and depth of dramatic set recreations in the foreground, special lighting and realistic sound effects make me feel as if I’m actually there, standing alongside Pierre, Leo Tolstoy’s naive, unworldly hero from War and Peace, witnessing the bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars.

Nearly 250,000 French and Russian forces answered the call that sunny, September day, but when the last cannon sounded and the final saber rattled, nearly 75,000 brave souls had perished on the battlefield.

Napoleon himself summed up the battle best: “The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy of victory, but the Russians showed themselves worthy of being invincible”.

What was left of the Imperial Army of Russia retreated, burning every hamlet, village and town in its wake, while Napolean’s equally depleted, but tactically victorious, Grande Armée continued its march to Moscow, some 115 km (70 mi) away, only to find it, too, deserted and ablaze.

Holed up inside the Kremlin for five long weeks, Napoleon waited impatiently for an official surrender from Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, but it would never come. Totally frustrated and weary, Napoleon limped back to Paris, in the middle of a harsh Russian winter, leaving behind nearly three-quarters of his original 600,000-manned invasion force dead, strewn about the countryside.

Celebrated historian Oleg Sokolov observed that the significance of the battle came much, much later. “The importance of Borodino,” he noted, “is by literature, by history, by poetry. It’s not so important strategically.”

Mikhail Lermontov wrote a poem, Borodino, that’s read and recited by every Russian schoolchild. Tolstoy made the battle the focal point in his aforementioned epic novel. And, 19th century symphonist Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed the world-renowned and easily-recognizable 1812 Overture, complete with cannon fire, that today accompanies elaborate, choreographed pyrotechnics that light up the sky above the annual Fourth of July concert on the Mall in Washington, DC.

The Battle of Borodino, the event that signaled the beginning of the end for Napoleon and, to a lesser degree, the conclusion of my visit to the Panorama Museum, the very last stop on this week-long, Easy Pace Russia journey. I just wish it were the overture and not the finale.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted routes around Europe, or call toll-free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

Do svidaniya!

The post Easy Pace Russia: The Battle that Inspired an Overture (Dispatch #17) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Hey, wait a minute. Wasn’t that cancelled so we could leave a little bit earlier than usual this morning? OMG, I’m late!

A photojournalist invited along to document the Easy Pace Russia experience, I scramble for my camera kit, dash out of my hotel room at the Radisson Royal, grab an elevator to the ground floor, race through the lobby like Usain Bolt (well, almost) and leap aboard the waiting motor coach curbside, with its engine running, completely out of breath.

“MEA CULPA,” I embarrassingly cry out, as Gennady, our tour director, Vera, our local expert guide, and the 22 bona fide travelers already buckled into their seats, strum their fingers on the armrest or point at their watches. Slinking all the way to the back of the coach, like a political prisoner exiled to Sibera, I can feel the chill coming off everyone’s shoulders as I pass by.

Barely seated, “Alexander the Great,” our expert pilot, puts the sleek, state-of-the-art Mercedes carriage, with business class legroom seating, in gear and we’re into the flow of morning traffic in no time, heading towards the M8 motorway.

Where to? The Trinity Lavra of Saint Sergius, the most important monastery in the country and the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church. Named after one of the Church’s most venerated saints, it’s located about 70km (42 mi) northeast of Moscow in Sergeyev Posad, one of a group of ancient “open-air museum” towns that form the Golden Ring.

Along the way, we steal a glance at the Monument of the Conquerors of Space, a 107m tall, titanium depiction of a rocket rising on its exhaust plume that stands right above the Memorial Museum of Cosmonauts.

“In case you forgot,” announces Vera via the onboard sound system, “the very first man in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, made his historic single orbit around the earth aboard Vostock 1 on April 12, 1961.” She adds, “Ten months later, on February 20, 1962, American astronaut John Glenn countered as he orbited the earth three times aboard Friendship 7, and the manned spaceflight race between the USSR and the USA was seriously underway.”

Speaking of the heavens, we’ve just arrived at the Trinity Lavra. Founded in 1337 with the building of a simple wooden church atop Makovets Hill to honor the Holy Trinity, one of the cornerstones in the religious teachings of Russian Orthodoxy, this monastic community is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of 26 areas so recognized in Russia.

“In awarding World Heritage Site status,” comments Vera in our earbuds as we enter through the Holy Gate, “UNESCO cited the Trinity Lavra as an outstanding and remarkably complete example of an active Orthodox monastery that was characteristic of the period of its growth and expansion between the 15th and the 18th centuries.”

This sacred destination, both spiritually and architecturally, is a unique ensemble of more than 50 buildings and constructions. An angelic park-like setting — absolutely spotless despite the foot traffic — Trinity Lavra is simply stunning with life-sized murals adorning many of the facades and a skyline filled with gilded onion-shaped domes and glistening bell towers.

Inside the nine churches and cathedrals of the monastery are scores of religious artifacts, paintings, ceilings filled with heavenly frescos and walls draped in iconostases.

The holiest spot of Trinity Lavra is inside Trinity Cathedral where the relics of St. Sergius, the monk from Radonezh who founded the monastery, may be seen, but not photographed. Also noteworthy, the tomb of Boris Godunov, the tsar who ruled briefly between the Rurik and Romanov Dynasties, sits in the family mausoleum near the entrance to the monastery’s main church, the Cathedral of the Assumption.

The Grim Reaper seems to be stalking us as our Insight motor coach returns to Moscow and drops us off in front of the entry gate to the most famous of the city’s cemeteries: Novodevichy Cemetery, where Russian history sleeps. Established just outside the south wall of the Novodevichy Convent, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, interment during Soviet rule was considered second in prestige only to burial in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

Today, the Novodevichy Cemetery, a veritable who’s who of Russian politics and culture, is the final resting place for only those symbolically significant burials, like more-recent arrivals Boris Yeltsin, the Russian Federation’s first president, and Mstislav Rostropovich, the world-renowned cellist.

Just about every field of endeavor is represented, but only luminaries reside six feet under. From architects, athletes and artists, to composers, cosmonauts and chemists. Why, there are even a few spies buried here, along with a World War II female sniper — I swear I couldn’t find her grave marker — and a circus clown! Yuri Nikulin, the Buster Keaton-like, “brainy clown” of the big top, is interred in the most entertaining and most moving of the more than 27,000 plots contained within these hallowed brick walls.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted routes around Europe, or call toll-free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

You’ve heard the expression, “Napoleon slept here,” right? Well, we’re soon to find out why his stay in Moscow didn’t last very long when we pay a visit to the Borodino Battle Panorama Museum to relive the Grande Armée of France’s bloody skirmish against the Russian Army on September 7, 1812.

The post Easy Pace Russia: Cosmonauts, Churches and a VIP Cemetery (Dispatch #16) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

From St. Petersburg in the west to Vladivostok in the east, the Russian Federation is one very, very large country. Stretching 20,000+km (12,000+ mi), it shares its borders with no less than 16 other sovereign states, and has a maritime boundary with the United States. Remember Sarah Palin? She boasted she could see Mother Russia clear across the Bering Strait from her front porch in Alaska.

With more than one-eighth of the earth’s inhabitable land area, there’s plenty of room to accommodate a population of 144m from 160 different ethnic groups. Diverse and multi-cultural, you’d think this variety would translate well in the kitchen, right? Well, it certainly does.

Enjoying a break in the official itinerary after today’s walk around Red Square and a glimpse inside the Kremlin, I — a guest photojournalist invited by Insight Vacations to experience its Easy Pace Russia journey — am looking for a restaurant recommendation, on my own ruble, and I don’t have to look very far. Gennady, our GQ-worthy tour director-concierge-storyteller, tells me straight away, “Go to Odessa-Mama, it’s one of my favorite Ukrainian kitchens here in Moscow and it’s where Muscovites dine. You’ll love it.” Well, I’m out the door quicker than you can say, “Doctor Zhivago.”

Just a ten-minute stroll through a park from my hotel — the Radisson Royal, one of Stalin’s “Seven Sisters” skyscrapers that’s been converted into a five-star luxury hotel overlooking the Moscow River — I arrive at no. 7 Ukrainskiy Blvd., home to the 37th ranked out of 11,000+ Moscow restaurants by Trip Advisor.

“Forget about diets, calories and revolutionary gastronomical breakthroughs,” comments Egor Osipov, the founder of the restaurant. “Just sit down and relax as if you were back at your family home and indulge in the tasty, elegant and hospitable food straight from the heart of Odessa.”

It’s pretty lively tonight as the restaurant is packed, but the hostess says she can clear a table in about ten minutes. So I stay out of the way of the busy wait staff, enjoy a glass of the house white — a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc — and listen to a young musician playing traditional tunes on his squeeze box over in the bar.

Like Mother Russia, Odessa-Mama is as diverse as it is tempting, with ethnic dishes reflective of the multi-cultural city overlooking the Black Sea for which it is named: Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish, Armenian, Greek and Romanian. I scan the special menu selected from recipes created by celebrated Chef Oksana Perkina, a true Odessian who really knows her way around the kitchen, and decide on a starter and a main.

The Jewish salad leads off. It’s a healthy (read, large) portion of fresh baby spinach, roasted eggplant and slices of crunchy cucumber drizzled with a tahini sauce and topped with crushed hazelnuts. Delightful.

And, I savor one of Chef Perkina’s favorites, an oven-roasted poussin chicken. This young farmyard bird, stuffed with dried apricots in a honey-cream-rosemary-melted butter sauce and surrounded by cubed red beets and a knot of fresh scallions, is, to say the very least, TO DIE FOR.

If it weren’t for the fact that I only have one more day in Moscow, I’d be back in a heartbeat to savor more Odessian ethnic fare at Odessa-Mama. You were right, Gennady. I absolutely loved it!

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted itineraries around Europe, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

There’s no sleeping in tomorrow as the normal “relaxed start” is thrown out the window so we can board the motor coach early to cruise about 70km (42 mi) outside Moscow to OD. Say what? OverDOME, not overdose, at Saint Sergius Lavra, the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Spokoynoy nochi!

The post Easy Pace Russia: Dinner Filed Under Odessa (Dispatch #15) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

“Welcome to the Kremlin,” Vera, our expert Moscow guide, announces in our earbuds as I, a photojournalist invited by Insight Vacations to experience its Easy Pace Russia journey, along with 22 bona fide travelers are fast-tracked through the turnstiles and security scanners inside the visitor’s center.

Following the “umbrella” along a carriageway above well-manicured Alexander Park, we pass through the arch of Trinity Tower, one of five towers topped with a one-ton, ruby-glass star, and enter into the 68 acre-fortress, the largest of its kind in Europe, brimming with history and architectural marvels.

The jaw dropping begins immediately as we spy the colorful, 17th century Glorification of the Virgin Church with its four gilded domes, the first of many decorative cupolas we’ll spot today on this 90-minute stroll around ground-zero of Russian life and culture.

“Sitting atop Borovitsky Hill in full view of the Moscow River to the south and Red Square to the east,” explains Vera, “the Kremlin means ‘fortress inside a city’ and it gave rise to a small settlement in the 12th century that has grown into the most populated metro area in Europe.”

Just a few paces inside the Kremlin grounds we’re faced with an eyesore, a piece of architecture that is completely out of place in this UNESCO World Heritage Site: the State Kremlin Palace. Originally named the Palace of Congresses when it was completed in 1961, the modern, 6,000-seat, concrete-and-glass hall was where the Communist Party of the old Soviet Union held its, well, congresses. Despite calls to send in the wrecking ball, Nikita Khrushchev’s “gift” to the Kremlin now serves as a venue for ballet and classical and pop music concerts. Covering my eyes, I walk away as quickly as I can.

The geographic and historic hub of Moscow, the Kremlin greets its visitors with a group of cannons lined up outside the Arsenal that were left behind by a beleaguered French army when Napoleon limped unceremoniously back to Paris following a bloody attempt to defeat Russia during the Napoleonic Wars of 1812. The Arsenal, a building commissioned by Tsar Peter the Great, houses the Kremlin Regiment, President Putin’s main security service.

While President Donald Trump of the United States officially resides and works at the White House in Washington, D.C., and unofficially at a few of his golf resorts, the Russian Federation’s President Putin resides and works out in the ‘burbs, but occasionally conducts business inside the triangular-shaped Kremlin Senate building. “Because his motorcades caused major traffic congestion around Moscow,” notes Vera, “a helipad was built in the Tainitsky Garden several years ago and President Putin now flies into an out of the Kremlin as he pleases aboard his twin-turbo Mi-8 helicopter.”

Most, if not all, tourists come to the Kremlin to marvel at the collection of onion-shaped domes that top three Orthodox cathedrals and a bell tower positioned around, you guessed it, Cathedral Square (Sobornaya Ploschad): the Dormition, the Archangel Michael, the Annunciation and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. This square is the absolute star of our walking tour with its postcard-perfect scenes.

Built several times over, the Dormition, with its six pillar-five dome design, is the oldest of this trio of cathedrals. Desecrated by French troops during the aforementioned invasion of Russia, it was the place for the coronation of the tsars. We take our sweet time to admire and take in the details of the frescoes and iconostases.

Annunciation Cathedral, the middle born of our trio standing in Sobornaya Ploschad, is the most ornate in design with its nine, count ’em, nine gilded domes. Filled with restored 15th century frescoes, the cathedral hosts the “Treasures and Antiquities of the Moscow Kremlin” exhibition. Our group stays outside and just admires.

The youngest of the Kremlin’s treasured cathedrals, at only 509 years old, is Archangel Michael. Like the Dormition, it, too, is a six pillar-five dome design filled with beautiful frescoes and iconostases. Once built, Archangel Michael immediately became a royal necropolis and is the final resting place of almost all of the tsars prior to Peter the Great, including Ivan the Great.

Speaking of Ivan, the Great Bell Tower, adjacent to the Dormition belfry, was erected in his honor. Standing 81m tall with 24 bells, it was the tallest bell tower in the country. As time passed other bell towers were erected with greater height. Today, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower is listed as the 16th tallest in the country, but it still looks like it could touch the heavens.

As we depart the “fortress within a city,” I leave you with two interesting facts gleaned during this stroll around the Kremlin. First, the largest caliber cannon, the Tsar Cannon — 6m long, 40 tons of weight and an 890mm barrel — has NEVER, EVER been fired because it was just too heavy to roll into battle. And, secondly, the Tsar Bell, the largest bell ever made, at more than 200 tons, has NEVER, EVER been rung. A large piece of the bell cracked off during a fire shortly after it was cast, couldn’t be repaired and was, therefore, deemed useless. I guess size really does matter.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted itineraries around Europe, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

See you in a few hours when we put our knives and forks to the test and savor some Ukrainian dishes at a popular Muscovite restaurant that we’ll file under Odessa.

The post Easy Pace Russia: A Glimpse Inside the Kremlin (Dispatch #14) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Barely out of first gear, the mood gets serious, but only for a moment, as our Mercedes coach, with business class-legroom seating, passes by Lubyanka Square and the former headquarters building of the Komitet Gosudarstvennoj Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security), better known as the KGB. It was here that erstwhile Soviet spies received their marching orders, then went out in the cold dressed in trench coats (collars up), fedoras (brims turned down) and sunglasses (the darker, the better).

What a difference a day makes, actually 12 hours to be precise. That’s how long, or short, it’s been since we meandered about the nearly deserted cobblestone and admired for the very first time the beauty that is Red Square, the very heart of Moscow, in the waning light at sunset. It’s daytime now, and Krasnaya Ploshchad — the Beautiful, but not Red, Square — is packed with Muscovites and tourists alike.

Following close behind Vera, our Moscow expert, and Gennady, our GQ-worthy tour director, we arrive at center stage of Red Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990, and bask in the beauty of St. Basil’s Cathedral, commissioned by Tsar Ivan IV, aka Ivan the Terrible, with its colorful, iconic rounded domes.

Over to our left is the 71m-tall Spasskaya (Savior) Tower with its Kremlin chimes that remind us all of the official time in Moscow every quarter hour. And, just behind those red-brick walls is where President Vladimir Putin governs and where we’ll be this afternoon.

Further along are the remains of former Soviet leaders buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, including Joseph Stalin, while the embalmed body of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, the “Father of the Revolution,” lies inside a pyramid-shaped mausoleum made of red, gray and black granite that fronts the cemetery.

In the far north corner of the square sits the State Historical Museum. Underneath its twin spires are 4.3 million pieces of Russian history, including the country’s largest coin collection.

And, on the east side of the square where the Upper Trading Rows once occupied the space — a massive trade center of 1,200 shops commissioned in the early part of the 18th century by Empress Catherine the Great and designed by Giacomo Quarenghi, an Italian neoclassical architect — stands Moscow’s swankiest enclosed shopping mall: GUM.

The ornate 240m-long (794 ft) facade, built in the 1890s, is a bright and open shopping gallery with hundreds of upscale stores and white tablecloth restaurants. Enclosed in a steel framed skylight of some 22k pieces of glass — designed by Vladimir Shukhov, an architectural engineer, to resemble the roofs of the great Victorian railway stations of London and to also support the heavy weight of snow during Moscow’s frigid winters — GUM, with its three-level arcades, wows the visitor with its spectacular interior.

“Nationalized following the Russian Revolution of 1917, GUM, which stood for Glávnyj Universáĺnyj Magazine or State Department Store, now National Department Store,” intones Vera, Insight’s local area expert, through our earbuds, “operated as a model retail enterprise for consumers regardless of class, gender, and ethnicity.”

Over the decades, GUM has morphed into and out of more characters than the late Lon Chaney, Hollywood’s “Man of a Thousand Faces.” First, it was a large block of state-run and tightly controlled shops followed by government office space. Then, in 1932, GUM was used briefly to display the body of Premier Joseph Stalin’s deceased wife, Nadezhda. After World War II, it returned to being a state-run trade center which then gave way to partial privatization. And, in 2005, GUM became wholly privatized and is now under the watchful, bottom-line eyes of Bosco di Ciliegi, a Russian luxury-goods distributor and boutique operator.

GUM, a “Who’s Who” of international brands elegantly laid out underneath its revolutionary arched glass roof, is one of the most popular shopping venues in Moscow, especially for rich and influential oligarchs packing a by-invitation-only black credit card in their wallets. And, that’s probably why I’m here just window shopping.

An afternoon walking tour inside the walls of the Kremlin will be Insight’s treat, but lunch is on my own ruble as I grab a table inside Shashlik-Mashlyk, a pectopah (restaurant) on the ground floor of an elegant, rose-colored, neoclassic apartment building along pedestrian-only Arbat Street, an affluent zip code in the heart of Moscow’s historic center.

Serving up some of the city’s most authentic Georgian, Ukrainian and Russian dishes, I study the leather-bound menu, over a glass of chilled Chilean Chardonnay, and decide to keep it light. Well, as light as I can.

With only an hour on the clock to consume (read, devour), I order a plate of succulent, marinated chicken kebabs, stuffed with herbs and spices and plated with sliced red onions and pomegranate seeds, along with a khachapuri, a piping-hot Ukranian cheese bread shaped like a turnover with a spicy tomato-based dipping sauce. Mmm.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted itineraries around Europe, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

The post Easy Pace Russia: Walking and chewing GUM in Red Square (Dispatch #13) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Through the turnstiles at Smolenskaya Station we go, me, the lone photojournalist invited by Insight Vacations to sample its Easy Pace Russia journey, and 22 traveling mates for an hour of underground time-travel back to the days of the old Soviet Union.

“Opened in 1935 as just a single, 11 kilometers-long line with 13 stations,” comments Vera, our local art-history guide in the easy-to-spot, bright-red jacket and matching red-and-white umbrella, “Moscow’s metro system of today has grown to 12 lines, 346.2 kilometers of track and 206 stations, with more expansion planned for the very near future.”

Sure, we’re here to share a ride with anonymous Muscovites, but, more importantly, we’re 50m below the surface to get a sense of what life was like in the U.S.S.R. via the thematic, hammer-and-sickle public art displays that are showcased in the many spotless stations, the so-called “palaces for the people,” that Joseph Stalin commissioned.

“Locals and foreigners alike claim that the Moscow Metro system, with its abundance of Socialist Realism art and architecture, is the most beautiful in the world,” comments Vera through our earbuds as we walk around the station, one of the 44 that are listed on the Russian Cultural Heritage Register. “It’s also the fifth largest system in the world,” she adds, “and its daily ridership of about nine-million surpasses both the New York City and London subway systems combined.” I’m impressed.

Cost of a single ticket is 55 rubles (approximately $.90 USD) which entitles the passenger to ride to any number of stations and make transfers within the system freely. Riding on Insight’s ruble, I’d say we’re a pretty inexpensive date.

With a train coming and going about every 90-seconds during rush hour, three to five minutes during off-peak, our time on the platform is brief as we hop on and head to Kievskaya Station on the Blue Line.

Inaugurated in 1953, Kievskaya is noted for its high white arches atop square pylons wrapped in red marble. Along each arch are detailed mosaics surrounded by a yellow-gold, baroque-style frame. The station’s theme depicts the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine and Russia.

When asked about the importance of the Moscow Metro, Vera replies: “It was touted as THE symbol of the new social order under Stalin, as these metro stations, with their reflective marble walls, high ceilings, artwork and grandiose chandeliers, became the focus of modern Communist engineering and architecture that eventually traveled above ground, too, in the form of the ‘Seven Sisters.’

No other station speaks more directly to Socialist Realism in public art than the Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square) station, constructed right underneath the square and our last stop on this underground, cultural museum primer.

In service since 1938, this “palace” features red and yellow marble arches resting on low pylons faced with black Armenian marble. Each arch is flanked and supported by a pair of bronze sculptures depicting the common man doing his/her part for the Soviet Union: soldiers, farmers, athletes, writers, aviators, industrial workers, and schoolchildren.

A total of 76 sculptures are on display at the Revolution Square Station, all created by Matvey Manizer, including the crowd pleasing frontier guard and his dog. It’s believed to bring good luck if one rubs man’s best friend’s nose. From the look of its snout, this canine has been petted quite a lot.

Returning above ground, we make our way through Revolution Square, past the statue of Karl Marx, the Prussian-born philosopher considered to be the “Father of Communism,” and onto the waiting Insight motor coach, parked right in front of the world-famous house of ballet and opera: Bolshoi Theatre.

Tourist: “Uh, excuse me sir, but how do you get to the Bolshoi Theatre?”

Muscovite: “Practice.”

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted itineraries around Europe, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

Our second day in Moscow is just getting started. As soon as “Alexander the Great,” our Insight pilot, maneuvers the coach through traffic, we’ll have another look around Red Square and go window shopping at the grand, elegant and opulent Main Universal Store: GUM.

The post Easy Pace Russia: Moscow’s Underground Art Museums (Dispatch #12) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Along with 22 other travel companions, I, the lone photojournalist invited by Insight Vacations (Insight) to experience its Easy Pace Russia journey, hop on spotless Sapsan Seven-Six-Fiver at St. Petersburg’s Moscovsky Station and step off the sleek silver, blue and red bullet train at Moscow’s Leningradsky Station in just under four hours (3:58:00 to be exact).

One of three major hubs that surround Komsomolskaya Square, the Leningradsky, where Moscow’s railway history began, is by far the largest and busiest as it takes quite a while just to exit the station and make our way to the Insight motor coach. Once everyone is on board and accounted for, Gennady, our tour director extraordinaire, gives the thumbs up to the pilot and we pull out into the rush-hour traffic headed for our new, temporary digs overlooking the Moscow River: the Radisson Royal Hotel, one of Joseph Stalin’s “Seven Sisters.”

“Having been on the winning side of World War II,” Gennady comments from the front of the coach, “Premier Stalin believed that foreigners would soon begin to arrive, walk around and notice that Moscow had no skyscrapers to match the cityscapes of other world capitals.” Gennady continues, “He strongly felt this negative reaction would be a moral blow to the Soviet Union, so he commissioned seven skyscrapers, nicknamed the ‘Seven Sisters’ because of their wedding cake-like design topped with a sweeping crown, to jump-start the modernization of Moscow.”

The historical footnote expertly explained, we arrive at the large circular drive fronting the Radisson Royal Hotel, the second tallest of the septet at 206m (676 ft). Dripping with 5-star opulence, it’s a magnet for rich and influential oligarchs, their leggy, runway-ready companions and their exotic rides, all buffed to the nines — the cars, SUVs and limos that is. If ever I felt out of place, now is the time; but, I’m a journalist on a mission and I must endure.

Check-in’s a “no muss, no fuss” affair as we’re pre-registered, handed keys to our rooms by Gennady, and head for one of at least six lobby elevators and quickly ascend to the 15th floor.

With 497 stylish rooms and suites, along with 38 serviced apartments, all spread out over 34 stories, the Radisson Royal, formerly known as Hotel Ucraina (Ukraine), is quite the structure, especially if you score a room overlooking the river from which the city got its name. And, I do. Right out my window I have a suitable-for-framing view of the city’s “White House,” a government building along the banks of the Moscow River where Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s prime minister, reports to work.

My deluxe room is not large, nor small, and is impeccably appointed and neat as a pin, from the light sage-green bed cover and gold fabric walls, to the complimentary, stiff-upper-lip Penhaligan of London toiletries on display in the sparkling marble bathroom.

A quick freshen-up, then it’s out the door, down the elevator and, before I know it, I’m seated at an outdoor table at il Forno, an Italian restaurant-pizzeria overlooking the river. With only an hour to consume, I’m in and out in a flash — I had the grilled salmon, it was delish — and back on the motor coach with Vera, our local art-history guide for the next three days, who’s going to narrate our “Moscow by Night” tour, an optional Insight experience.

Bursting at the seams with a population of 13.2m within her city limits and another 17.8m out in her ‘burbs, Greater Moscow — with more billionaire residents than any other city in the world — has its fair share of traffic, but our Insight pilot doesn’t seem to mind as he steers our business class legroom Mercedes coach through, around and above traffic until we safely reach the first of three destinations as the sun goes down: Novodevichy Park.

Following Vera with her raised umbrella, like ducklings behind their mother, we come to a bronze statue display and I wonder if life is imitating art. “Based upon the characters from the acclaimed American children’s book Here Come the Ducklings by Robert Mccluskey,” Vera explains, “these are exact replicas of the original statues at the Boston Public Garden.” She adds, “These statues were a gift back in 1991 to Raisa Gorbachev, the late wife of former President Mikhail Gorbachev, from Barbara Bush, the former First Lady of the United States.”

Further into the park we go until we come to a pond, but not just any pond. According to Vera, “Legend has it that Novodevichy Pond served as the inspiration for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to compose the world-renowned ballet Swan Lake.”

Straight across this postcard-perfect body of water is the real reason why we’re here, to admire Novodevichy Convent, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A marvelous example of Orthodox architecture, the convent, an ensemble of 14 buildings, including 8 cathedrals, is the only ancient nunnery which served as a fortress at the same time. “The complex,” Vera notes, “was home to Sofia Alekseyevna, the half-sister of Peter the Great, who was confined there permanently by the young Tsar when he became of age.” Wow, talk about sibling rivalry!

Like Athens, Lisbon and Rome, to name but a few, Moscow is also built on seven hills, including Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrows Hill), one of the highest points in the city and a popular rendezvous spot for lovers in love. From here your lens can capture quite a bit of Moscow proper spread out down below.

Before flying away from Sparrows Hill, we stop long enough to capture Moscow State University’s main building shimmering in a reflective pool. The tallest of Stalin’s “Seven Sisters” at 240m, she was once the loftiest building in Europe, but still remains the highest educational building in the world. Thirty-six stories in all, MSU’s main building reportedly contains 33km of corridors and 5,000 rooms. “Hey, does anyone know where the Bio 101 lecture is being held?”

“Despite what you may have heard,” intones Vera, “Red Square is not named after the color of the bricks of the surrounding buildings nor from the link between red and communism.” She pauses slightly for effect, “The red in our beloved square is from the Russian word krasnaya, which means beautiful.”

Red Square is a spacious quadrangle and is considered the country’s “kilometer zero” since all of the city’s major streets, which connect to Russia’s major highways, originate from here. Red Square serves as the cobblestone divide between two of the cities most iconic sites, St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin’s Spasskaya (Savior) Tower.

We’ll find out more about Red Square and the nearby environs when we return tomorrow, hopefully under sunny skies.

It’s been a long, long day as the motor coach finally brings us back to the Radisson Royal, one of Stalin’s magnificent “Seven Sisters” that towers above the cityscape, shining brightly from wherever you look when you tour Moscow after dark with Insight.

Spokoynoy nochi!

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six journeys to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted itineraries around Europe, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

The post Easy Pace Russia: Moscow after Dark with Seven Sisters (Dispatch #11) appeared first on Traveling Archive.