Day 1: Moscow

I had seen a travel program about The Trans Siberia Express a year before and I wanted to experience it myself. So, I looked at the perfect holiday and found one that not only had this, but also a 2 week tour of China after arriving in Beijing. I booked the tour in early january 2004 and counted the days till I got confirmation that there were enough people whohad booked the same holiday. I jumped for joy when that confirmation came!

We all met at the airport in the early morning and checked in for our flight to Moscow. At 9:50am we left Schiphol Airport, arriving in Moscow at around 12:40pm. We had to wait in line for 2,5 for the customs, with only 2 booths open. 1 for russians and 1 for foreigners..... Then we had to get a stamp on our papers, since we were leaving Russia somewhere else.

Our tourguide told us to get this stamp, since it was unknown to him if it would be a problem at the Russian/Mongolian border. The customs lady was very cranky and didn't want to give us the stamp, she wanted her coffee break. But we got the stamp eventually..... Welcome to Moscow!

So, we got on our bus for the ride to our hotel, the Moscow Rossija Hotel. This hotel was closed at the end of 2005 and demolished in 2007 to be replaced by a more luxurious hotel and shopping mall. At the time I was staying in it for 1 night, the hotel counted over 3400 rooms and suites and was the biggest hotel in Europe.

After checking in the hotel, we freshened up and then went to the top floor for wodka and orange caviar. I don't drink, so the wodka was for someone else, but I did try the caviar, which I had never eaten before. It was good actually, nice and salty :)

Then we left for a walk to a restaurant for our first dinner together. After dinner, some of us headed towards the Red Square which was across the street from the hotel. The Kremlin, Saint Basil's Cathedral (covered partially for repairs), Lenin's Tomb, Nikolskaya Tower, the Historical Museum and the GUM Department Store looking beautiful in the lights.