Travelin' Fullers Blog: Moscow

Slowly recovering from jet lag, we "hit the hay" early last night after an uneventful (thank goodness) flight to Moscow via Zurich! It stays light so late (17 hours of daylight this time of year) that it's all too easy to lose track of time!

We started our tour this morning with a tour of the recently opened Secret Nuclear Underground Bunker which was built 65 meters underground (like a 20 story building). It was but in the early 1950's as the Cold War began to heat up and Russia and the US raced for supremacy in nuclear weapons. The bunker was the military command central for the launching of missiles. It was disguised as an apartment building and each 24 hours when the shift would change, 600 "residents in civilians clothes" would enter through the green doors and be admitted by an officer who would verify credentials. There was enough food and water to survive for 30 days underground. We were allowed to sit at a simulated console and "launch" missiles in defense. They determined the depth the Bunker had to built by doing a test in a remote part of the country. They built a simulated "city" and set off a nuclear explosion to see the effects. Animals were 50 meters down and survived the explosion which is why the command center bunker was built at 65 meters.

Moscow was established in 1147 as an early fortress on the Moskav River (from which Moscow gets its name). The river provided part of a natural defense system. Our guide gave us a brief overview of WWII. I had not realized that Russia lost 27 million people in the war. Three million Soviet Jews were taken to German labor camps. Almost every family in Russia lost at least one family member during the war...

Today, Moscow has become fairly "westernized". American cinema is HUGELY popular and ther are massive malls that are sleek and modern with all our western stores. There is a definite mixture of old and new, though many historical buildings were torn down in Soviet years.

One interesting fact, 60% of Russia is under permafrost! The Russian Federation is such a HUGE land area, even today. In spite of the fact that several of the Federation's regions became independent Republics in 1991.

After the bunker tour, we made our way to the beautiful underground Metro. It's like a walk through Russian history--like a museum. It's an underground palace with chandlers and beautiful art. Each major stop is a period of Russian History. The metro was built from the 1930's to 1960's. Today the metro transports 9 million people a day with a waiting time of only 2 minutes between cars. It used to be even more popular before the influx of used cars which first became popular in the 90's. The used cars that were imported became more affordable for the people resulting in massive traffic jams here - just like in any other major city around the world! There are beautiful mosaics on the ceilings depicting different time periods of Russian development. The subway is immaculate as is the city itself. Moscow is a very clean city. After the interesting rides to different metro stops, we stopped for lunch at one of the newest and "glitziest " malls -and visited Starbucks for lunch before venturing on to Victory Park built as a monument to the Soviet era, the museum in the park was finished in the 1990's.

Tomorrow is a visit to Red Square and the Kremlin. Stay tuned! We are also seeing hundreds of churches in the city that have been reopened since the 90's. However, even though all but 40 churches were closed during the Soviet era, the people kept their religion in their hearts and minds. Today, the church has come roaring back with even a lot of young people attending. There has been a great resurgence of religion for the Russian Orthodox Church, even though churches throughout Europe are diminishing.