Big 2010 Trip: 21st - 23rd Moscow

We transferred back to Vladimir by minivan and picked up a local bus to Moscow. The journey through the countryside was enjoyable and not what I had expected. Most of the way was lined with forest. We encountered a bit of traffic as we drew closer to Moscow, but it was not too bad. The traffic in the other direction was much worse. We made it to Moscow in 3 1/2 hours. We caught the metro to Mayakovskaya station which was 2 blocks from where we were staying in an apartment that is a B & B. Belinda and Boris were staying in another apartment about 10 minutes walk away so they met us downstairs at 5pm to go on our orientation walk and dinner. We went to Red Square and saw the outside of Lenin's Mausoleum and St Basil's Cathedral as well as the walls of the Kremlin and the GUM store. There were many people out and about as it was Friday night and even though it is further south than St Petersburg it is still light until after 10.30pm. After Dinner David and I headed back to the B&B while some of the others headed off to night clubs, two making it home 30 minutes before we set out the next day.

22nd After breakfast we met Boris at the station and headed off to see Lenin and have our tour of the Kremlin and Armory. We waited in line for about 20 minutes until the Mausoleum opened and there was a bit of pushing as a tour group tried to squeeze in ahead of us. David put a guy in his place and one of the other guys on the tour said he should wait his turn as Lenin was not going anywhere. We all filed past the very pasty looking Lenin and back out into the sunshine. Our guide explained different things about Red square and we then walked through the Assumption Cathedral which was built between 1475 and 1479 and like many of the churches here is filled with icons covered in gold. On our way to the Armory we stopped to watch a parade which is only on at 12pm on Saturdays. It was quite interesting to watch the marching and horses on parade. The Armory is a treasure trove, full of jewels, carriages and coronation gowns from as far back as Peter the Great. It was overwhelming to see all the gold and precious stones not only in the form of jewelry and decoration but in the clothes and on the horse blankets. After the tour we had lunch in the gum store and then headed off to pick up our tickets to the ballet. Back at the hotel we had a rest before 7 of us set off to the Bolshoi to see La Fille Mal Gardée which started at 7pm. It was great to see the ballet. We sat in the middle tier next to the royal box, we had an excellent view of the whole stage and orchestra pit. All the dancers were excellent/ funny. The ballet was about a mother trying to marry her daughter off to the "stupid" son of a wealthy vineyard owner. The daughter "Lise" is in love with a farm boy. In the end Lise and the farm boy are married and the mother is happy. After the ballet we met up with the rest of the group and had dinner, then we went for a walk to the Arbat - full of buskers and street performers. We left the group and headed back to red square to see it under lights- spectacular.

After our late night we still managed to get up at 7am. After breakfast we packed our bags and set off to do a walking tour in one of the oldest parts of Moscow - Kitay Gorod, which was settled in the 13th century. We started at the Hotel Metropol then walked passed the 16th century fortified wall of the city. We wound our way through Kitay Gorod walking past the Synod printing house where Russia's first book was printed in 1563. We walked past a couple of monasteries, the old stock exchange the old merchants' court- Gostiny Dvor, St Barbara's church, the old English court, St Georges Church, and All Saints Cathedral. We also walked up a little back street to see the Church of the Trinity in Nikitniki. At the end of the walk we headed down to the river and caught a ferry from Bolshoy Utinsky Most travelling past the Kremlin, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which Stalin had destroyed and planned to build a 315m-high 'Palace of Soviets' which never got off the ground so the cathedral was re built. We passed a statue of Peter the Great ,Gorky Park, Olympic Park and finished off at Kievsky Vokzal and caught a train back to red square and had lunch at the Gum store again.