From Russia with Love (via Helsinki)

---

So after a fun time at Heathrow, i.e. a 4 hour wait and then being told if we don't run we'll miss our flight, we blagged an upgrade to Club Class and finally arrived in Mockba (for those not in the know that's Moscow!). At Moscow airport we were so pleased to see 3 of our bags turn up within 5 minutes of arriving at the baggage collection... However after another hour's wait Sam's main bag had still not turned up (Claire was gutted but Sam was delighted at free shopping thanks to travel insurance), so we visited the fancy department store called rym (aka GUM) but as this store was on Red Square £100 didn't actually go very far!!

Red Square was exactly as we had both always imagined it (except Claire was annoyed because it's not actually RED!). Although on our night time visit we were stopped by the police who wanted to see our passports, visas, accomodations slip - reluctantly he let us pass, much to Claire's relief. St Basils cathedral was breath taking from the outside but a bit of a disappointment inside... As Claire and I have both queued for Wimbledon and various other long British queues - we didn't believe the guide book when it said arrive early to queue for entry to Lenin's Tomb and we ended up queing for what felt like weeks. The experience was literally a sixty second view of some ghostly white dead blokes corpse preserved by wet wipes! We also popped into the Kremlin which mainly consists of more amazing gold topped cathedrals!!

Other Russian highlights included visiting the 1980's Olympic Park, seeing hundreds of brides at every famous monument, being turned away from a crap restaurant by the strict Russian Face Police, riding the metro, visting various parks (Sculpture Park, Victory Park & Gorky Park), seeing where Lenin's second wife was buried, Sam discovering he was a millionaire in Russian roubles when he withdrew some money from an ATM, being caught out in a thunderstorm at Izmaylovo market and finally we got to experience the Russian Circus.

After a fab time in Moscow we felt it was time to move on back to Europe so Helsinki seemed a perfect option. Our first night was on an UNESCO World Heritage fortress island with a population of 900 it felt so small and peaceful compared to Moscow. This morning we had a lovely walk around the various islands and even got to go on a submarine. Then it was a short island hop back to the mainland to explore downtown Helsinki!

So after our first brilliant week we are heading EAST to Thailand tomorrow night...

BIG LOVE TO ALL,
Sam & Claire xxx

---

Photos

St Basils Cathedral
Stunning - don't you think !!

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Get those legs up soldier...

Us in Red Square
Note Sam's new outfit thanks to his insurance policy!!

Comments

[Fraser]

Russian Face Police?
Lol... care to explain? Anyway, good to hear you are both well and enjoying yourselves (gits). Safe journeys!

[anonymous]

Heather and Ria are very jealous, what else did you get for free from the insurance man...deluxe tent??

[Sue and Kenny]

Hello my lovelies
Well it sounds like you are having a lovely time. We are jealous! St Basils Cathedral looks incredible. Have a wonderful time in Thailand guys, we look forward to seeing all your photos etc - this is such a neat idea. We also GREATLY look forward to OUR leg of your journey - even looking forward to seeing you Sam! lol xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Keep smiling and having fun xxxxxxxxxxxxx