Day 6/7: Moscow!

Russia! The second part of our holiday began yesterday with a full day of traveling to get to Moscow what with the very early drive to Heathrow to avoid rush hour, the nice flight to Helsinki, the quick change of planes in Helsinki, our 'private' flight to Moscow (no one else in our cabin!), the Aeroexpress train to Moscow, a slog in the rain trying to find the Metro, lugging luggage up&down the subway stairs changing tunnels, and finally a short stroll to our hotel....

         That's our hotel, taken from the Metro, in the morning sunshine

We were 2 rather damp and bedraggled rats entering the grand lobby, quite blown away by the interior.

Our room, however, was less grand and the bathroom was definitely more Stalin-era than Art Nouveau!

The weatherman promised a warm, sunny middle-of-the-day today so we puttered around a bit; slowed perhaps by the 2-hour time difference, we found a café for breakfast, went by the KGB building, bought some water - just typical morning activities!

We tried to see Red Square first but only managed a small Red Corner as they were running parade practice for Victory Day on the 8th. So we went around the other way, seeing tons of tourists, huge buildings, some baby-faced soldiers, before buying tickets to enter the Kremlin. We didn't quite realize it but the Kremlin is a huge complex of various buildings. We missed the Armory and it's famous diamonds and Faberge eggs so we'll try again tomorrow.

            The State Kremlin

                  Royal Tsarist churches and cathedrals within the Kremlin walls

The day was so nice we decide just to wander a while down the pedestrian Arbat Street, looking at people, souvenir shoppers, and looking for a suitable cafe for lunch. A bit tired we opted to take the metro to an art museum but somehow we up at our hotel stop instead of the Pushkin Museum stop! However did I miss that? :-)

So, after putting our feet up and watching the news about the royal birth with great excitement for a few hours, we ventured out again. We had a great look inside G.U.M., the now very fancy indoor shopping arcade filled with every designer brand name possible.

Red Square was still closed but we were able to see a bit more of the Victory Day preparations from a 3rd storey window of G.U.M. as well from the far end.

       G.U.M. hiding behind the Red Square prep

   The onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral