莫斯科／Moscow

原本是想看看这世界有多大，才有了这次的旅行，不过现在看来，世界或许没有想象中那么大。离开了叶卡捷琳堡后，就来到了俄罗斯最具代表性的城市，也是欧洲最大的城市――莫斯科。抵达青年旅舍后，还来不及办入住手续，就看到了Michael和Baptitse！从蒙古算起，这已经是我们第三次碰面了。考虑到莫斯科有几十家青年旅舍，我们居然会在同一天入住同一家旅舍，实在是太不可思议了。不过因为他们有朋友到莫斯科与他们回合，这一次我就没有与他们结伴到处游览。
I undertook this trip meaning to find out how big the world is. But now looking at things, I guess the world may not be that big after all. From Yekaterinburg, I next head to the mother of all Russian cities – Moscow, also the largest city in Europe. I was still waiting to check in at the hostel in Moscow, when lo and behold, I actually saw Michael and Baptiste! Considering the tons of hostels that you can find in Moscow, the fact that we ended up in the same hostel again for the third time is really unbelievable. However, this time round, the boys had friends joining them, so I did not join them in touring Moscow. 老实说，这么多俄罗斯城市中，我最不喜欢的要数莫斯科了。这里比任何一个城市还要“灰”，感觉比任何一个地方更“共产”，建筑比任何一个地方更难看，更没有个性。不过必须承认，撇开这些丑陋的建筑，莫斯科还是有它的美丽之处。
Frankly speaking, of all the Russian cities, Moscow is my least favourite. This place felt “greyer” and more “communist” than any other cities. And the buildings are drearier than those seen in the other cities so far. But I must admit, if you scratch past the surface and probe deeper, you can still find something to like about this city.

第一站当然是世界闻名的广场――红场啦。这个330米长，70米宽的广场有两百年的历史，周边有不少著名的建筑，包括存放苏联之父列宁遗体之处、华西里·柏拉仁诺教堂，以及克林姆宫的宫殿和大教堂。广场的东边是国家百货公司，其隔壁是国家博物馆。之前就听说很多与这莫斯科最大旅游景点有关的故事，知道在前苏联时期这里举行了很多军队游行；原以为这里会很雄伟，但到了那里之后，却没有这样的感觉。也许是因为那五颜六色圆顶的柏拉仁诺教堂看起来像个玩具多过于教堂，也许是因为列宁墓从外表看来只是个再普通不过的建筑，又或许是克里姆林宫根本没有想象中壮观吧。
First stop was of course, the world famous Red Square. This huge square measuring 330m long and 70m wide dates back to two hundred years ago. Within the square you can see many famous buildings, including the Lenin Mausoleum, St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin. On the east side of the square, you can find the GUM department store and next to it, the national museum. Before coming to Russia, I had heard many stories about the Red Square, and knew that this was the location for many military parades during the Soviet era. I imagined this place to be very grand and hence was very disappointed not see any “wow” factor on arriving there. I guess the colorful domes of the St. Basil’s Cathedral must have robbed the Red Square of any grandeur. Or it could be that Lenin Mausoleum turned out to be just an ordinary looking building, or that the Kremlin was not as spectacular as I imagined it to be. 先到列宁墓去瞻仰这个苏联之父的遗容。据说，列宁临死之前曾交代，他希望死后被葬在圣彼得堡，在他母亲身旁长眠。可是苏联政府在列宁于1924年1 月24日去世当天，收到超过一万封电报，要求政府想办法保存列宁的遗体，于是苏联政府不顾列宁遗孀的反对，命令科学家研究出能够将人体防腐化的方法，然后将列宁的尸体陈列在这里，供民众参观。既然是苏联之父，当然要给予绝对的尊重啦。列宁墓保卫森严，不但包包不能带进去，就连相机和手机必须寄存。进入之后，严厉禁止讲话，而且必须按照次序，一个一个经过列宁透明的“管材”，瞻仰他的遗容，然后就得立刻离开那里。对，不用怀疑，以下这张图片就是列宁墓，就一个简单俄文“列宁”字样而已。
My first stop at the Red Square was Lenin Mausoleum. Apparently, Lenin expressed his wishes to be laid to rest beside his mother in St. Petersburg before he passed away. However, on the day he died (24th Jan 1924), the Soviet government received more than 10 000 telegrams from all over Russia, asking the government to preserve his body somehow for the future generations. Thus, with no regards for his widow’s vehement protests, the government instructed scientists to come up with a way to keep Lenin’s body intact and then displayed it within Red Square for public viewing. Since he was the Father of the Soviet era, naturally one is expected to observe absolute respect when viewing the body. Security was so tight that not even cameras or handphones with camera functions can be brought into the mausoleum. Upon entering, you will be shushed by poker faced guards if you so much as whisper among yourselves. One by one, everybody filed past the glass coffin that Lenin is placed in and within seconds, you will be ushered out. Yes, this simple building with "Lenin" in Cyrillic is all that of the Lenin Mausoleum.除了列宁墓外，红场“最受欢迎”的建筑应该就是这个柏拉仁诺教堂了，这个外观绝对独一无二的教堂可以说是莫斯科的“招牌”建筑。这些葱头式圆顶加上那七彩缤纷的外观，令这个教堂看起来一点也不像个教堂，不过俄罗斯人似乎对这个教堂的设计感到很自豪。
Next to Lenin Mausoleum, the most photographed building in the Red Square has got to be St. Basil’s Cathedral. This onion-domed cathedral with a multi-coloured facade may not be to everyone’s taste, but it is an iconic building in Moscow. 国家百货公司内的商店很多，走的是高档路线。因为正好是奥运会时期，百货公司内挂满了俄罗斯重要运动健将的照片。
The Gum department store is also known as the state department store. It is filled with shops containing branded names. As the Olympics was ongoing, there were many banners of pictures of well-known Russian athletes lining the walkways. 红场内看起来较“象样”的要数这个博物馆和旁边的旧大门。
The only buildings that can be called grand in Red Square were the National Museum and this gate next to it. 随后就到克里姆林宫去参观。这里除了是莫斯科心脏地带的著名建筑群外，同时也是俄罗斯总统的官邸驻地。还没有进去之前，以为这里的建筑一定会很壮观。进去之后才发现全然不是，真是令人失望。
After exploring the main square, I next headed for the Kremlin. This historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow serves as the official residence of the President of Russia. I imagined this place to be huge with lots of grand looking buildings and was disappointed to find that it was not. There were four palaces and four churches, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall with Kremlin towers.参观完红场和克里姆林宫，到莫斯科的街上晃一晃。晚上回青年旅舍的时候再经过红场，才发现在下雨的夜晚，红场的每个建筑看起来漂亮多了。
After I was done with the Kremlin, I strolled through the shopping streets of Moscow. At night, on the way back to the hostel, I passed by Red Square and found that the square actually looked much more beautiful on a rainy night.通常到一个地方旅游，你最不可能去的地方就是坟场，不过到莫斯科就一定要到新圣女公墓去参观。这可是我第一次到坟场“旅游”，感觉还真有点奇怪，尤其是在拿起相机拍照时，不知道会不会对死者不敬，可是到这里不拍照又觉得有点可惜。这是莫斯科最著名的坟场，因为葬在这里的大多是俄罗斯名人，有政治家、作家、诗人、著名演员、运动员、殉职的军人和科学家等，目前共有2万7000多人。吸引人们到这里参观的不只是因为这些名人葬在这里，还有就是这里的坟墓设计独特。像俄罗斯第一位总统叶利钦的坟墓其实是个俄罗斯国旗，除非上前仔细阅读上面刻的字母，否则根本不会知道这是他的坟墓。至于其他的坟墓，即使你看不懂上面刻的俄文，只要看一看坟墓的设计，就可以知道这些人生前是做什么的。
The last place one will think of visiting while on a tour is a cemetery, but if you do go to Moscow, do visit the Novodevichy Cemetry. Actually this is the first time that I visited a cemetery as part of my sightseeing. It felt really weird especially when I was taking pictures. I kept thinking that it seemed disrespectful to the dead, but still I couldn’t help taking pictures. This is the most famous cemetery in Moscow as many famous people are buried here, including politicians, writers, poets, actors, sportsmen, soldiers who died in action, scientists etc. As of now, there are more than 27 000 dead buried here. What attracts the crowd is not just the famous dead, but also the designs of the graves. Most of the graves here are of unique designs which I’d never seen elsewhere. Like the grave of Russia’s first President, Boris Yeltsin, is actually that of a Russian flag. If you do not read the inscriptions on the flag, you won’t know this is his grave. As for the other graves, you don’t have to know how to read Cyrillic in order to know what these people used to do for a living. One look at the graves and you can tell. 坟场的旁边是新圣女教堂，这个教堂建于17世纪，是莫斯科保留最完美的教堂。到这里的游客并不多，因此环境非常清幽。除了外观美丽之外，里边还有展览可以看，绝对值得一去。
Right beside the cemetery is the Novodevichy Convent. Unlike the other Moscow cloisters, this convent has virtually remained intact since the 17th century. It is really serene here as there are not that many tourists. There is even an exhibition showcasing artifacts of the church from the old days, making this place worth a visit.噢，对了，是不是在想为何我都没有提到俄罗斯食物呢？那是因为我不知道何谓俄罗斯食物。应该会觉得很奇怪吧？在那里三个星期，既然不知道什么是俄罗斯食物？还不都因为一个“贵”字！唉！俄罗斯实在是贵死人啦！真的没有料到这是那么贵的国家，而后来才发现，原来莫斯科是全世界最贵的城市！教堂、博物馆、克里姆林宫等旅游景点入门票不便宜，住宿也不便宜，吃的就更不用说了。如果要吃正餐的话，吃一顿就等于我在新加坡吃三顿。考虑到我的旅途不是一天两天，而是最少一年，当然是能省则省啦。所以很遗憾的，没有什么机会平常俄罗斯美食，每天不是面包、比萨、热狗，就是肉派，再不然就是到超市买东西自己煮来吃。唯一知道的是，这里的派超好吃，而且种类繁多，有马铃薯的、鸡肉的、猪肉的、蔬菜的等，一个大概要1.50新元至2新元。　　～伟
By the way, you must be wondering why I have not talked about Russian food. That’s because I know nothing about Russian food. You must be thinking that this is absolutely weird, considering I was in Russia for three weeks. Well, that’s because everything is so expensive here! My goodness, I never knew Russia was such an expensive place. Only later did I found out that Moscow is actually the most expensive city in the world! Nothing only do you have to pay entrance fees for churches, museums, The Kremlin etc, accommodation is not cheap either. And food? Sigh… what I eat for one proper meal here, is enough to pay for at least three meals back home. Considering I am on a long journey, I had to give the food a miss in order to cut down the expenses. So it was bread, pizza, hotdogs and pies most of the times. Otherwise, I will be visiting the supermarkets to see if I can cook something myself. The only thing I do know is, they really make good pies here, especially the meat pies. There are other pies too, like the potatoes, cheese or vegetables ones. And I must say, all of them do taste good. What’s more, it is a cheap snack as each one only cost 1.50 – 2 SGD.　　～wei