Moscow! Sat 30th June

The breakfast here at this hotel is great. Very very busy but easy to get the food you want and it is all you can eat. YAY! Woosang heaven! We walked to the Cosmos Museum which is a Titanium tower with a rocket on top, but when we got closer, we found it was closed for repairs.  The monorail station was nearby, and so we went for a trip. We were horrified at the cost. 50r each way! Tp put into perspective, the metro is 17r per ride. That could be as long as all day if you don’t get off. The monorail is each way. Just ridiculous. The monorail also goes no where, so it is similar to Sydney’s monorail. Too expensive and doesn’t go anywhere useful.
Made it back in time for the tour to the Kremlin. This time we got a much nicer bus than the previous day and a much better driver. Got dropped off at the front door of the Kremlin and where warned that if we stray into forbidden territory, the security will whistle at us. This seat of government for most of Russia’s history, you have to go through a security check point and you find yourself in a small village. One of the few modern buildings in the Kremlin was built by Stalin for Soviet sittings. Very imposing. All the other buildings survived and are some of the oldest buildings in the city. The Armoury houses the national treasures of the Russian tsars. There are gold jewels, army uniforms, clothes from the Tsarinas. We saw the wedding dresses of Empress Elizabeth, Catherine and the last Empress, Alexandra. Fascinating, but I was too tired to see some of the end.  I sat with some of the oldest tour members and studied some of the oldest treasures in front of me.
We saw two of the 5 churches in the Kremlin; they have a church for every purpose. One for being coronated, one for praying, one for christening children, one for special services and one for being buried in. Ivan the Terrible is buried behind the altar in the last church. The artworks in the churches survive in near original condition and you just want to hug the walls. Of course I didn’t touch them, but I had the urge to touch such age. 1479 was the date the oldest one was finished. The churches are built on top of older wooden churches of the same names.
Also in the Kremlin area is the largest bell, and possibly the largest cannon ever cast. We saw the palace that Sofia and her little brothers (The real Tsars) Peter and Ivan lived in.

I had to buy guide books to keep track of them all. We finished at the Armoury at 1600hrs, and had to rush to St Basils as it wasn’t included in the tour. We thought the churches closed at 1700hrs but being a Saturday they closed at 1800hrs. This had to be the strangest church ever. We got up the biggest steepest stairs ever built to a top level and there are the altars. Everything was painted with some icon and the very oldest were behind glass. As with everything, it was an astounding building. Worth every kopek of 100r. So very tired, and was snippy with David. He wanted to photograph some more metro stations, but I was sore and tired so I got sent home in disgrace. Actually I didn’t mind. He was happy doing his metro thing and I was happy to be going to a nice king size bed. I saw a little child sitting on the floor being naughty and the mother couldn’t get him to sit on the seat. I had a clip on Koala, and offered this to the child IF he sat on the seat. The smile I got from the little boy was so very cute and a grateful mother kept trying to communicate with me. I used Chinese whispers with the lady next to me to tell her I didn’t speak Russian and she was welcome to keep the koala. These little koalas make so many people smile and they don’t melt like Tim tams. I am very happy mother remembered to buy some.
I spent some time looking for a store that sold stamps and run into some people from the tour. They hijacked me to lunch and we had the best time trying to talk to the poor waiter. He introduced us to some Czech Stout. So yummy, but too pricey at 80 Roubles. In the supermarkets here we can buy a 5l bottle of beer for 70roubles. Got back to the room and managed to set up the computer when David returned from his jaunt. He asked if I wanted to go for a walk to find the fair shop that sold MP3 disks for 50 roubles. They have so many artists but unfortunately no Inkuubus Sukkubus or Blutengle. They were all closed for a public Holiday so we continued our walk to MacDonald’s. The Maccas here is tastier than at home, and the menu is similar but not the same. I now have a love for the Macfresh and the Cherry Pie. David likes the Tropicana pies and shakes.
Now at midnight, we crashed into our lovely king sized bed only to watch the CNN channel report the Glasgow Airport Crash. It occurred to me that currently I am in the safest place. It seems no one of mad at the Russians ATM.
For anyone travelling to Moscow and St Petersburg, I would recommend the city guide from Lonely planet. I have the general one like the Trans-Siberian railway but for city travelling get the specialist books. I never bought the ST Petersburg one and I regret that now.  The Moscow book is excellent. It has guided walking tours and street maps to make travelling so easy. (You have probably guessed we like to escape the tour and fly solo... 