Dorothy's diary Red Square Moscow

Lenin's Mausoleum Red Square

Monday 27^th April

Our last day in St Petersburg. After breakfast we packed our belongings and then went to find a bank so that we could get some more rubles and dollars. It proved to be a long drawn out affair as the cashier had to check Alan’s passport on the data base, but we got what we needed.

Our last wander down Nevsky Prospekt in glorious sunshine. We returned to the hotel and stocked up on supplies for the journey to Moscow. Our driver collected us at 2.20 and took us to the Moscow Station to wait for the 4.00p.m. train.

We had been led to believe that this was an overnight train which would arrive in Moscow early morning. However it was an express train that took 5 1/.2 hours. There were 14 carriages and ours was carriage 3, so we had a long walk to find our place. Hopefully this means that we will have a short walk when we arrive in Moscow.

Attendants walk up and down the train selling refreshments, but we didn’t buy anything.

We were surprised to see snow at the side of the track as we were very hot on the train. The photos that I took of the villages show that some people in Russia seem to be on a different planet to us. They live in abject poverty. “Fiddler on the roof” comes to mind.

Our driver was waiting when we arrived in Moscow and took us to our hotel. The journey took about 30minutes through horrific traffic conditions. I’m just glad that I wasn’t driving. Drivers in Russia have no patience whatsoever.

Our hotel is very posh, and it takes us about 30 minutes to register. We find our room on the top floor and I think we have arrived in heaven as there is a BATH, not just a shower.

Five minutes later and I am having a soak. It really is heaven.

Breakfast is much more relaxed and there is lots to choose from.

We need to check our reservation for the next two nights, as our instructions are not too clear. Fortunately we do not need to move rooms.

We manage to register our visas, and now we can set off into central Moscow.

At the Metro station we feel very pleased with ourselves as we have bought a card for 5 journeys each rather than just a ticket for every journey. It is true that the stations are very ornate, unfortunately we are not allowed to take any photographs, and there are guards so we don’t go against the rules.

We arrive at Revolution Square, just five stops on the same line, so it was very easy. We arrive in Red Square easier than expected. As we arrive in the square we pass an orthodox church and they are playing music straight out of “Dr Zhivago”. We have really arrived in Russia. There are a lot of people around but the square is large so it doesn’t appear crowded. We have decided not to go into the Kremlin today as we don’t really have the time, so we visit St Basil’s Cathedral instead. It is quite confusing as it is not cruciform in shape. There is a second floor and the steps are extremely deep, Alan had to push me up at one point. There was a four men choir performing so we stood and listened for a while. The acoustics are fantastic.

It was 12.00 noon and the bell in St Saviours tower rang out so we went across the square to the Gum store and ordered lunch. Blinis and Honey and a cup of coffee. We had just finished and were going to go into the store but some military men started moving everyone out of the square. Not understanding Russian we didn’t know why. We presumed that it could be that there was going to be a rehearsal for the May Day parade. It helped us get some fantastic photos in Red Square with no people to wait for.

On arrival back at the Bega, there was a notice for our group to meet in reception at 6.00p.m so we are soon going to meet the rest of our group for the next adventure across Siberia and Mongolia.

Our tour leader is called Laziz and our companions are Joan from Georgia, Merrill from Toronto and Patrick from Switzerland. We discussed the trip and paid the local euros an the tipping kitty. Laziz asked if any of us would like to go out with him for dinner. The two ladies declined as they were tired and Patrick wanted to finish watching the Russia, Switzerland match on TV. We went with Laziz. The restaurant we visited was rather seedy and if we had been on our own we wouldn’t have given it a second glance, but the meal was fine. Alan was quite shocked that I had an authentic Russian meal and ate most of it. It was really very good. Two courses for Alan and myself, one course for Laziz and beer for all three of us and the bill was about £25.00 very good value.

We have managed to get internet connection so were able to speak to and see Richard. We don’t know when we will be able to do that again for some while.

It is 22.48 here so I am going to go to bed. We are meeting Laziz at 9.00a.m tomorrow and we are going on a orientation tour of Moscow.