Category Archives: Travel Vignettes

Sketching Moscow – Part II

A random church on Moscow streets that begged to be sketched

I have often come across travellers wanting to pursue non-touristy trails in the most touristy places of the world, their penchant for seeing and experiencing things that are outside of the ‘Top 10 things to visit in a country’ , their heart’s nagging desire to make a personal connection, their search for an icon, an image, a flavour, a sentiment and ultimately a truth that hasn’t been projected on them by the media. I know these people, because I am one of them.

And if you are one of them, then you too struggle to balance your itinerary with the touristy and the non touristy, between seeing what you ‘must’ and granting yourself the leeway to seek your truth or form an opinion. I know you struggle to find a little head space for serendipity, for wonder and for introspection because thanks to technology, you have little room for these – you already know what a Colosseum, Brandenburg Gate or Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ looks like. And heck, with google street view you get a quasi-holistic experience of walking by La Seine with the sun on your back. The National Gallery of London lets you take virtual tour of its 18 rooms, where you are free to get as close to the paintings as you want from the comfort of your home.

A busy crossing near Belorussky Vokzal, sketched from a local cafe

So I don’t blame myself for wanting to make my own discoveries, wanting to find my own thrills but how far could I go with this? Would I ever give in to the temptation of skipping the so-called ‘must sees’ and humour my impetuous, intrepid side? On this very trip to Russia I met two different people who couldn’t care less about Kremlin or St. Basil or Red Square. When I failed to excite her with my lofty guidebooks facts, this person said, “I don’t have a clue, what you’re talking about. I’m not sure if I’ll visit Kremlin at all. I try to keep away from all things touristy.”

Cathedral of Annuciation inside Kremlin walls

Archangel Cathedral inside Kremlin walls

Yes, there are travel snobs who find not following the herd fashionable or romantic, and there are some who say it to emulate them but there are also those who mean it and for them travelling this way isn’t any less fulfilling. It’s only a different perspective. For the exact same period when we traipsed through the city, chained to a guidebook and an itinerary, she walked free on the roads that took her fancy, wandered inside Russian supermarkets and bought local food, visited far off flea markets to get handcrafted souvenirs and sampled Russian cuisine at a restaurant by the lake with swans floating on them.

I will always envy these people who don’t have qualms about dismissing a city’s highlights with a wave of their hand, because I would chop my head a hundred times on an imaginary guillotine, if I visited Moscow and skipped the Kremlin. Because there’s a reason why the ‘must sees’ are called such. Because to be a traveler, it’s crucial that I be a tourist first.

Leaning against a lightpost and sketching Kremlin and Red Square. The noise from the road repair just behind is turning me deaf.

Leaning against a light post and sketching Kremlin and Red Square which has right now been taken over by the huge shiny square box hosting Dior’s fall winter collection. Fashionistas, models and celebrities are walking in on red carpet as I sketch. The place is teeming with media, photographers and security dressed in black.

So here we are standing on the Red square, sweating like pigs, trying to locate the ticket office and entrance to Kremlin which by the way is a 5 mins walk to the right after exiting the Okhotny Ryad metro station and can be reached even if you’re blindfolded. But we are disoriented with a guidebook and a map in hand because this is what perspective changing vastness of the place, crawling with hundreds of people moving in different directions can do to you.

250 roubles and a brisk security check, gets us inside the fortified headquarters of the world’s largest nation with 800 years of history in there, at our disposal. If you’re planning to spend only half a day to see all that, then make it count. Entering through the Trinity gate, we head straight to the Cathedral square, where all the fun is. The walk may be lacklustre with armed guards in uniforms keeping you from deviating from track, though very politely. We pass the Arsenal on the left and the State Kremlin Palace on the right, stopping only briefly at the monstrous Tsar Cannon and Bell for pictures.

Cathedral of Assumption is easily one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen in my lifetime.

Of churches, a seasoned traveller once said to me, “After a while everything starts to look the same”. Well, Cathedral of Assumption, the chief cathedral during Russia’s Tsardom and a burial-place for Moscow’s patriarchs and metropolitans, is a class apart. The first impression of walking inside the thickest jungle of ancient frescos, murals, unparalleled iconographies and gilded fixtures covering every inch of the walls, ceiling and pillars, lit in the warm glow of opulent chandeliers, will most assuredly remain with you for a very long time. I settle down on a visitor’s bench, feel the coolness of the stone floor with my bare feet and try to calm a mind that’s giddy with this explosion of colours.

Other marvels to look out for are at a stone’s throw from each other, like the imposing Ivan the Great Bell Tower, the Annunciation Cathedral and the Archangel’s Cathedral which I sketch halfway when the skies open and fat droplets of water start smudging my ink line work. We take shelter inside the nearby Patriarch’s Palace and admire the precious tableware, furniture, jewellery and clothing used by the Tsars. The rain stops, so we exit to the Red Square.

You might have seen, heard, read or imagined it for years, but nothing prepares you for this

This is my third attempt at sketching St. Basil’s Cathedral. I am sitting in the only shaded spot next to the church and sharing the space with a hopeless drunk.

commanding expanse of grey cobblestone space that has seen many congregations and military parades in its Soviet days. Though rain-soaked, Red Square looks riveting with the candy coloured domes of the iconic St. Basil’s Cathedral at its southern tip contrasting the grey sky. While I dedicate multiple sketches to St. Basil, sitting outside on the cobblestones, the interior isn’t something you’ll want to write home about, specially after Kremlin, except some remarkable patterns and designs that make the frescos.

Queuing up for Lenin

If you decide to swing by Lenin’s embalmed body inside Lenin Mausoleum, on Red Square, prepare to come early and stand in a long queue because father of this nation doesn’t charge a cent for your visit and therefore takers are plenty. Surrender camera phones, cameras, bags at the gate, clear security, and be ushered inside a semi dark building guarded by soldiers, where you solemnly and silently walk in a queue around a waxy body lying on granite, inside a glass case.

Trying to capture GUM’s 120th anniversary jubilation.

If that was slightly macabre for your taste, step into GUM right opposite the mausoleum on the left of Red Square – and feast your eyes on a architecturally stunning, glass roofed, capacious shopping arcade that’s celebrating its 120th birthday this year. Stop by Stolovaya No.57, a Soviet style cafe on the 3rd floor for inexpensive traditional grub.

As we were tipped off on the best place to buy Russian handicrafts and not be ripped off at the same time, that’s where we head from GUM. Izmailovsky market, is essentially a flea market and though the neighbourhood looks gritty and worn out, the outdoor market is delightful and would’ve been a highlight of my Moscow trip, had we been there on time. But it’s almost seven and the shops are winding up.

‘Comrade, let’s have a deal, clear the table before you leave’ says a sign on each table

Matryoshka Dolls

Without the crowds flocking in and out, without the frolic, the smell of shashliks, the histrionics of the vendors, the back and forth haggling of their customers, the squeaking and squealing of children, the market seems feeble, inept, perhaps drowsy. Among empty shelves and hollow cleaned out shops , we pass by a few that are still heaving with blue-eyed Matryushkaya dolls in traditional to comic avatars, glistening lacquerware and innumerable Soviet kitsch – badges, lighters and the like. After what seems like an eternity, we emerge with our loot at one-third the price of those selling on the charming pedestrian street – Ulitsa Arbat, where we spend the rest of our evening, strolling lazily while scouting for a dinner joint.

Given the popularity of restaurants serving cuisine from the former Soviet Republics – like Georgian, Armenian, Kazakh or Uzbek , the task at hand isn’t difficult, rather a matter of choice. Vostochny Kvartal at Ulitsa Arbat 45/24 has a pretty outdoor seating with carved wooden furniture matched with bright mood lifting upholstery and folk music.

Uzbek Dinner

The English menu, perhaps the only copy at this Uzbek restaurant, takes a while to arrive as it makes the rounds at the

other tables. ‘Bichak’ – essentially fresh spinach and cheese salad stuffed inside a toasted flatbread – serves as the perfect appetizer, followed by ‘Plov’ which seems like a distant cousin of Biryani minus the grated carrots. We cleanse our palate with fragrant Jasmine tea served in provincial aquamarine ceramic wares with alluring pattens, which I cannot help but sketch. Temur, the waiter approves with a shy smile and a nod.

Sketching Moscow – Part I

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Moscow’s architecture is awe-inspiring, art galleries, resplendent, churches opulent, parks vivacious and metro stations so grand that they have to be seen to be believed. To top it all, the city is big, vast, enormous, sprawling. In short, overwhelming for a first time visitor, who is unaware of its dimensions till she is dwarfed by almost everything around her.

When overwhelmed, draw a map – that’s my advice. It’s therapeutic, it simplifies everything and it gives the control back to you. I always like to draw myself a rough map of the city I am travelling to, mainly to gauge the location of the sites I’d like to visit and their distance from my hotel. Turns out, if you walk straight on Ulitsa Tverskaya, that hits the red square in a tangent, you are all set to visit the major sights and get a hang of the city on the first day. Passing gigantic buildings, abnormally big arches that gain entry to such buildings, bronze statues and enormous squares like Tverskaya Ploshad, we reach the epicenter – Red square in about thirty minutes from Mariott Tverskaya, which is a hop skip and jump from Belarussky metro station, making it a great choice for lodging in Moscow.

My hand drawn Moscow map for reference

Instead of heading straight, we turn left to view a historic cultural jewel of the 19th century – the Bolshoi Theatre, that has been getting a lot of bad press lately post an acid attack earlier this year, on its ballet director by a hitman hired by one of its dancers. Scandalous inside job maybe, but on the outside, this eight colonnaded opera and ballet theatre with a bronze quadriga looks imposing and shines a golden-yellow in July’s afternoon sun. An expensive six-year overhaul has returned it to its Tsar era splendor. Perched on the wooden benches facing the fountain in front of the theatre, are scores of people, gazing at its majestic beauty. Many take photographs but it’s not easy to fit it in the viewfinder, unless you back up quite a bit.

Not even an hour old in Moscow and I am compelled to pull out my sketchbook.

The famous Bolshoi Theatre

Away from the Tverskaya, we keep walking left and cast a passing glance at the diagonally opposite – luxurious Hotel Metropole and a little ahead, the Lubyanka Building , which served as the headquarters of KGB.

Soon enough, metro travel beckons because in Moscow if you do not want your legs to unscrew and fall off your body from the brutal walking, you will learn to love the underground. And at 30 roubles a ticket, it is quite the value for money considering their grandiose art gallery cum museum cum theatre like look and feel. Try exloring Mayakovskaya, Arbatskaya, Kievskaya, Ploshchad Revolyutsii amongst many others to change your image of subway stations forever.

After a near 2 min decent on the escalator ( as per my stopwatch) into the bosom of mother earth, expect to find yourself amid high arched ceilings, splendid chandeliers, bronze and marble statues, walls and ceilings embellished with exquisite bas reliefs, friezes, stained glass and mosaic paintings. Though station names are in Russian, navigating isn’t difficult as the lines are colour coded and the metro map has the English translation for every station’s name in cyrillic. If confused, just ask a local. They might not speak English, but are very happy to help. When things are lost in translation, good old sign language works like a charm.

Wedding couples posing in front of Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Taking the metro at ‘Lubyanka’, we emerge at ‘Kropotninskaya’ (3 stops on the Red line) and are instantly rewarded with the splendid view of Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, along the banks of Moskva river. Get one of those chocolate coated vanilla ice creams on stick – the summer totem of Moscow held and licked by every Russian in sight – to celebrate, because you’re now one among the 9 million commuters, who brave Moscow’s metros daily.

I murmur a hesitant ‘Dasvidaniya’ (Goodbye!) to the grim ice cream lady, while walking away and she flashes an iridescent smile – two gold teeth standing amid few rotten ones, glitter in the sun like the onion domes of the cathedral itself. A stretch limousines is parked on the kerb. The bride and the groom step out with flute shaped glasses in hand, toast with champagne and kiss blissfully.

We watch their merry-making and follow them inside the cathedral. If the interiors don’t hold your fancy for long, step out and head to the beautiful footbridge on the other side of the church and start walking away. The further you walk away, more irresistible it looks. Facing the cathedral, you can spot Kremlin on your right and the unmissable giant bronze statue of Peter the Great on your left. If the photographers hanging about the bridal couples and the endless tour groups spare you some space on the bridge, take a picture with the church in the background.

With such visual treats around, who has time for a sit down lunch. We settle for a snack sold by a babushka on the sidewalk. The spread of sandwiches, breads and puff pastries neatly laid out on the table may have been most delectable and the freshest, but if you ask me, it’s hard to choose when you’re clueless about the filling. I turn to the bearded local next to me and ask if he speaks English. “Oh! Yes”. “Can you ask her, what that one is?”. “But I don’t speak Russian”. He is from Berlin. Good to know. We buy our puff anyway. “Enjoy your surprise!” says the Berliner. Tuna and cheese filling was the surprise that we gobbled up before walking into the Tretyakov State Gallery, to enjoy Russian fine arts, including several masterpieces. If you’re fond of landscapes, don’t miss Isaak Levitan’s work.

Exiting the gallery, you hit Luzhkov bridge over the Vodootvodny Canal, beautiful and teeming

Locks of various shapes and sizes with sometimes names of the couple and dates engraved on them

with bridal couples engaged in the de rigueur – sipping champagnes, kissing on cue, holding precarious poses for the photographer, flying white doves and fastening love padlocks with their names and vows inscribed. Countless locks in every imaginable colour, shape, sizes (some bigger than my head), hang from the iron trees that were built on the bridge for this very purpose.

At 8 in the night, the sun doesn’t show any sign of descent. So, we head towards the nearby Gorky Park to unwind but instead make several pit stops in between because what seems right under your nose on the map is actually quite a distance away. Cafe Parco serves us the last item left on their menu – fresh banana and strawberry smoothie in sealed plastic bottles.

Sitting on garden chairs and resting our tired legs at Cafe Parco while their music band is getting ready to play.

Nothing under the Moscow banner is ordinary or average in its dimension or architectural style – is the wisdom gained at the end of day one. Standing in front of the massive gate of Gorky park, once again we feel puny, ant-like, inconsequential.

Couldn’t resist a 5 min sketch of this imposing gate to enter Gorky Park

Gorky Park

But the atmosphere is electric. Loud, thumping music is gushing out of a concert in progress. Hundreds of people of all ages are engaged in every kind of sport/recreational activity in this 300 acre park, either playing table tennis, badminton, or riding Segway, rollerblading, bicycling, throwing frisbee, rowing in the lake or just sunbathing.

Children in prams are licking lurid pink cotton candies while their parents are lining up at the ice cream or hotdog counter. The smell of hot corn on the cob slathered with butter and salt gets me brisk walking towards the stall in a blink. Couples and families are lounging on communal bean bags under enormous trees. And right at the center, is a grand musical fountain that’s spraying water to the beats of an orchestra. The sun isn’t going anywhere and Moscow seems golden through my tinted sunglasses.

How do you tear away from all this? We do because, just across Gorky Park, on the other side

Church of St. Nicholas of the Weavers

of the river, sits another magnificent church that supposedly rivals St. Basil’s on Red Square in its beauty. Church of St. Nicholas of the Weavers , a late 17th century parish church for a weavers settlement, is a stunner all right with its onion domes and a tented bell tower, but we arrive when the evening service has ended and the church is about to close.

The orthodox priests in somber black cassocks are conferring on the church grounds, women are quickly removing their headscarves and leaving and families are bidding goodbye to each other. I cover my head and manage a quick peek inside the church and a hurried sketch before being ushered out.

Just outside, a signboard says, Leo Tolstoy’s house turned museum is only 400 meters away but we resist the temptation and reward ourselves instead with these juicy chicken shashlik for dinner.

Chicken Shashlik with salad and a truckload of dill

Singapore – Moscow – St.Petersburg – Moscow – Singapore

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Itchy feet strike again.

I am accompanying my husband on his official trip to Russia for 9 days and that up there will be my itinerary. The plan is, on the days he doesn’t work, we’ll explore the sights together and the days he works – which is most of the time – I will be on my own on the streets of Russia with a sketchbook and a map. Mixed feelings! On my own I’d amble along the streets without an itinerary, direction or purpose, just soaking up history and culture as it comes. But trying to record the sights and experiences in sketches, requires planning and a certain amount of alertness. The former is convenient, the latter is revelatory.

Packing for Russia

However, this isn’t the first time I plan to sketch while travelling. I’ve done it before in Cambodia, Japan and Malaysia, though with trepidation and on a very small scale. I was disorganised, clueless and conscious of people watching me and judging my craft. It was more like testing the waters before taking the plunge. If ‘testing the waters’ mean everything from timing my sketches, revising the itinerary to include that time to analysing the patience threshold of my travel companion while I take sketch breaks every 2mins; by ‘the plunge’ I mean an exhaustive record of my trip in sketches, no matter what.

And I am consciously moving towards that other end of the spectrum because for travellers like us, who prefer gallivanting across cities on tight itineraries, adding another element such as sketching slows us down no doubt, but isn’t counter productive.

‘Travelling is like pressing the reset button’, said a travel writer on TV the other day. So, I’m banking on Russia to clear my mind and reboot my machine, so I return home fresh and renewed. Catching a glimpse of Snowden would have been a bonus but we’re landing at the Domodedovo airport.