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.

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.