I am at first not too interested in the idea of a river boat tour. My next stop is St. Petersburg during the White Nights. The city referred to as Venice of Russia will sure offer me plenty of opportunities for a river tour. I somehow manage to convince myself and get on one of the boats lined up in front of Hotel Ukraina – which is among one of the famous Seven Sisters of Moscow.
I immediately get the sense that it was actually a good idea. The boat is quite big and has sufficient room for everyone. I get a glass of wine and sit on the outside deck. The Seven Sisters – Stalin`s buildings - dominate the skyline. The most pleasant part of the trip for me is the part when the boat moves right next to famous Gorky Park. They say that the spirit of Gorky Park changes in accordance with the phase that Russia goes through. Now that I also got to see the Gorky Park – the image of Moscow in my mind gets completed. Wide avenues, beautiful architecture, stylish interiors and squares that have witnessed history changing events and now a park – which is similar to legendary Central Park in New York. Once the river tour is over, I this time decide to travel under the ground – through the famous Moscow Metro. Even though it is difficult to sort out the metro stops as everything is written in Cyrillic alphabet, the subway is very impressive not only with its amazing architectural details but also with those escalators, which give you the feeling that you are traveling down for the eternity. It was probably the deepest metro that I have ever been to. Moscow Metro, which was the first underground transportation option in Russia when opened in 1935, has today the fifth longest metro network in the World. There are 206 different stops located along the metro line, which is 340kms long. I make my way to three four different metro stops and then get above the ground. I wish I had more time to explore the metro, it deserves more than a half day for sure.