Because of Moscow Day, there were loads of festivities in town and The Wandelgek decided not to change clothes and stay in formal dress code because he was now attending a bustour through Moscow by Night.

The previous day after arriving in Moscow and learning about some of the possible activities in Moscow, he decided he wanted to join this tour, but it did mean he had to rebook the Cafe Pushkin appointment an hour earlier. His travel agency guide was of great help with that rebooking by phone. Thumbs up for that!??

1st we went to a spot to see the great fireworks of Moscow day, but we were a bit late and the streets were really jammed with traffic.

Did see some of it though but from a bus angle which was not worth photographing.

After this we went to visit Moscow’s modern

Financial district

The Moscow International Business Center (MIBC), also known as Moscow-City, is a commercial development located just east of the Third Ring Road at the western edge of the Presnensky District in the Central Administrative Okrug of the city of Moscow, Russia. As of 2019 the MIBC is still under development. Construction of the MIBC takes place on the Presnenskaya Embankment of the Moskva River, approximately 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) west of Red Square, overlooked by the Third Ring Road. The project occupies an area of 60 hectares.

The Moscow government first conceived the project in 1992, as a mixed development of office, residential, retail and entertainment facilities. An estimated 250,000 – 300,000 people will be working in, living in, or visiting the complex at any given time. MIBC includes 6 skyscrapers with maximum height of 300 meters or more (Shanghai has 5, Hong Kong has 6, Chicago has 6). Europe’s second tallest building, the Federation Tower, is in the MIBC. The complex also includes the third-tallest, fourth-tallest, sixth-tallest, seventh-tallest, and eighth-tallest buildings in Europe. By 2016, twelve of twenty-three planned facilities of MIBC were already built, seven buildings are in construction and four are in the design stage

This was quite something because it was full of beautifully lit skyscrapers.

One of those, named the Evolution tower, was decorated with thousands of lights that were computer controled. A continuous lightshow appeared on the skyscrapers outside.

Hotel Ukraina

Next stop was amazing. We drove towards one of the Seven Stalinist Sisters. This was the Hotel Ukraina. We entered it and I was stunned by its abbundance of wealth. This was probably the most expensive hotel in Moscow and I think our guide told us that the best rooms cost 800$ per night. I know I never visited anything remotely like this before.

The Hotel Ukraina, Moscow is a five-star luxury hotel in Moscow city centre, on a bend of the Moskva River. It is a Radisson Collection hotel, managed by the Rezidor Hotel Group.

The walls and floors were all of marble, the ceilings were decorated with frescos and there were really expensive artworks scattered around in its hallways. There are e.g. about 1,200 original paintings by the most prominent Russian artists of the first half of the 20th century.

History

Hotel Ukraina was commissioned by Joseph Stalin. It was designed by Arkady Mordvinov and Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky (leading Soviet expert on steel-framed highrise construction), and is the second tallest of the neoclassical Stalin-era “seven sisters” (198 m (650 ft), with 34 stories). It was the tallest hotel in the world from the time of its construction until the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel opened in Atlanta, Georgia, United States in 1976. Construction on the low river bank meant that the builders had to dig well below the water level. This was enabled by an ingenious water retention system, using a perimeter of needle pumps driven deep into the ground.

At the 1st floor we were visiting the diorama Moscow – Capital of the USSR in 1:75 scale, which shows the historical centre of Moscow and the city’s surroundings from Luzjniki to Zemlyanoi Val in the year 1977, when the artwork was created. (Approximately the area around the Kremlin and Red Square is in 3D).

On the way out I suddenly had the urge to visit the toilets…?

I think I must have shitted golden poop overthere, while surrounded by gold topped Dorian pillars, marble walls and floors and a gold framed mirror. And after washing my hands I dried them with a neatly rolled up towel from the top of an pyramid like pile and I threw it in a gold decorated bin. I was somehow glad I still wore my formal dress code gear 😉

We now drove to the other side of the river to see another of the Seven Stalinistic Sisters:

Moscow State University

Moscow River views

From here we drove to the Moscow river and enjoyed the views towards the city center.

After another drive we reachedthe embankment near Red Square and left the bus for another walk through Moscow.

Basilov Cathedral

Entering Red Square we now saw the spotlighted Basilov Cathedraland it was even more beautiful than in broad daylight…

Gum State Department Stores

The large state Department Stores of GUM were now ablaze with light and the shop windows were all dressed beautifully, with all sorts of delicious food. We walked around the Gum buildings towards Nikolskaya Street…

Nikolskaya Street decorations

Earlier today The Wandelgek had seen the light decorations hanging all above Nikolskaya street, but now they were lit agaist the dark night sky, they were like flowers or supernovas or juwels…