Jul 292016
 

After purchasing my ticket, I headed to the AeroExpress train to Moscow. It was only 1,000 rubles for a “business class” ticket (around $17) so I figured the extra was certainly worth it for a 45 minute train ride. It was definitely the right call, as the economy section was packed, and business had less than half the seats full and plenty of space to spread out. The train went to Pavletskaya Station in the southeast of the city, and it was an easy transfer to the metro. Unfortunately, I had to change metro trains as well, so this meant two transfers. Slight pain with a rolling bag, but really not bad at all.

Got off at Lubyanka station, which was right next to my hotel. I had chosen to stay at the St Regis in Moscow mainly because I still had to stay at one in order to complete Starwood’s stay at every brand in 2016 promo and I had a great corporate rate.

Oh, and it was also just across the square from a Starbucks….but that had nothing to to with my choice…

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I’d been “upgraded” to a tiny room on the top floor, with a perfect view of the old KGB headquarters, now home to Russia’s FSB Security Service:

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Overall thoughts on the hotel. The room was rather warm, although it did eventually cool down to around 22C after I asked the butler. 20C was the lowest setting on the thermostat, but that didn’t get the room below 25C, so when I asked the butler she said the engineer could do a manual override and set it for 17C. That helped the room get down to 22C, which was reasonable.

Other than that, bed was comfortable, but the room was super small. I’m also not used to hotel rooms with chandeliers hanging over the bed, but hey, everyone has their tastes in decor. The stay confirmed that the St Regis brand really isn’t my thing, although I have nothing but positive reviews for the hotel. It just felt a little too uptight and formal for my tastes, but the internet was super fast, since I unfortunately spent almost two hours on Skype getting my onward tickets sorted out. Tickets sorted. I headed for a walk.

Just five short minutes from my hotel, I passed the GUM department store and headed into Red Square:

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Lots of flowers. This was my first time in Moscow NOT in the winter, and it’s a totally different city:

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Red Square on a clear summer day:

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St Basil’s against a clear blue sky…complete with bird flying by:

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The Kremlin…I wonder if they’re busy searching for Hillary’s missing emails inside…

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Lenin’s tomb…unfortunately it had already closed for the day so I couldn’t verify if he’s still there…

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Stopped in GUM after my walk for an ice cream cone. They’ve been selling them there forever, and it’s a treat lots of folks look forward to when visiting. Plus, they’re an absolute bargain. Pistachio please!

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I did, however, pass on visiting GUM’s “historic toilet” – I wonder if it dates back to Soviet times, or what…

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Grabbed a quick dinner, and headed back to the room to get to bed early. Watched some rerun KHL hockey on tv, and noticed the Lubyanka was even more eerie looking lit up at night…this is after 10pm!

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Had a good night of sleep, and headed down to check out the breakfast. Very formal at St Regis, but also very Russian at the same time. Where else can you have smoked eel, caviar, and tea for breakfast?

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Walked around for a few more hours, before taking the metro back to the airport. Watching for a change of trains at Park Kultury station:

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Finally arriving at Pavletskaya to change to the AeroExpress train:

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One of the cool things about the Moscow Metro is that lots of the old soviet murals and architecture have been left completely unchanged:

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Check-in and security were super easy, and soon I’d arrived at the S7 airlines domestic lounge. Nothing to write home about. More meatballs as snacks. Seriously, what is it with S7 and meatballs?

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Last minute gate change meant a bit of a hike to our plane, which appeared to be absolutely packed. There was a family of eight occupying eight of the twelve seats in business class, and they were scattered around the cabin – probably a last minute purchase. Some swapping, but other people refused to give up their seats so I was stuck next to a 10 year old for the whole flight. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad…maybe he’d be well behaved…

S7 Airlines flight 181
Moscow Domededovo, Russia (DME) to Novosibirsk, Russia (OVB)
Depart 17:20, Arrive 00:15 next day, Flight Time: 3:55
Airbus A320, Registration VQ-BRG, Manufactured 2012, Seat 2D
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 119,579
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,308,716

S7 has an…interesting colour scheme going on….purple seats:

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Raspberry and lime flight attendant uniforms:

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Lime green safety cards…in case of a water landing, your flight attendant’s lips may be used as a flotation device:

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Even the toilet seat and the bathroom were lime green:

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Oh, and a snapshot of our plane…

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Just kidding….

S7 even had a printed drink menu for a relatively short domestic flight:

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Started off with a glass of red wine…I like the little airplanes…

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Nice and tasty salad and some good black bread:

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Chicken stew…it was way tastier than it looked.

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After eating, I watched some movies and had a few glasses of wine. At one point, I got up and went to the washroom, and remember thinking “I should slow down…I could swear I had a full glass of wine when I left.” Got a refill, kept watching more tv, eventually went to the washroom again. Came back…again empty glass…and then it clicked. The 10 year old was drinking my wine when I went to the washroom! I tapped his dad on the shoulder in front of me and told him what was going on….and he congratulated the kid with almost getting away with it. Ugh!

Soon, time to land, and they passed out some sort of vegetable juice shooter….it was…interesting…

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Overall, S7 was solid service for a domestic flight. Comfortable enough seats that rival anything in North America, and are way ahead of what you would get in Western Europe. I definitely wouldn’t hesitate to fly them again. With the time change it was just before midnight when we landed in Novosibirsk, and we ended up with a remote gate. There was a special bus for business class passengers, which meant we were from plane to taxi rank in less than five minutes. Can’t complain about that! Then, it was off to the hotel and time to explore Novosibirsk!


  4 Responses to “Overnight in Moscow, flight with S7 to Novosibirsk”

  1. Beautiful photos. I’ve always thought of Moscow & Petersburg as being creatures of winter; both cities blossom and explode with life once the snow & ice arrives. But you’re photos have made me wistfully desiring a long walk along the Neva or across Red Square on a nice summer night.

    I hope you do eventually make it to Crimea. I was just a tyke when I was last there, which was in the 1960’s. It would be fascinating for me to read of your impressions, especially since you have such delightful impressions!

  2. i love all your trip reports for their wry humor (flight attendant’s lips being used as a flotation device?!). this one was particularly interesting because i never thought of moscow as being so warm and colorful.

  3. That one photo of Red Square taken from the alleyway really puts Moscow into a different perspective for me. I agree with Stacey’s comment above that I never knew that Moscow was that colourful before. I just thought it was red, grey, and very drab everywhere. Summertime sure makes it a different city, though!

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