Day 281 - Black Caviar

---

Never asked to produce proof of a departure ticket, funnily enough. Though it was an interesting flight over, with a lady sat next to Gemma on her mobile for most of the flight and then just over the aisle we had two Russians polishing off a bottle of Johnny Walker and clicking to get the attention of the flight attendants, that was well received!

Driving through Moscow brought many memories flooding back to Gemma, who has been to Moscow a number of times before due to her father living and working here for about 11 years. It has not changed too much just got more cranes on the horizon and new developments going up.

We then crashed into our beds - exhausted, till about 1.30pm where we met up with Olga to collect our train tickets etc and then met up with Svetlana who was going to be our guide around Moscow this afternoon and tomorrow.

We had a driving tour of all the sights of Moscow, the Bolshoi Theatre (which is in the middle of some needed restoration), KGB building, a huge - jurors are out on the opinion of the piece - statue of Peter the Great, a park full of statues of fallen heroes and significant figures of Russia’s history, the British Embassy (which played a big part in the Soviet times, located just over the Mocba river from the Kremlin walls).

We also visited the University on the hill. There are 100 state universities and about 100 private universities in Moscow it is believed. From the main one you get a fantastic view of Moscow when you are not stood behind the huge ski jump built for jumpers to practice anytime of the year. We drove over the bridge that in 1991 had the tanks on it which fired at the White House government building in an attempted coup against Gorbachev.

Our tour took in Red Square - called 'Red' because that's the Russian word for beautiful rather than anything communist - and the main things dotted around it: St Basil's, Lenin's tomb, the GUM state department store (why any state should think its job includes running a department store is another matter). To finish off the tour today we were able to travel the Metro to some of the most exquisitely decorated stations, with abundant marble and chandeliers, all to show visitors the wealth of the country in the Communist times.

Dinner was in a very typical Russian restaurant which was lovely until we got the bill. We had accidentally ordered some very expensive Black Caviar. We now realise that the reason why Black Caviar is not listed on the menu is because it is several times the price of red caviar. It was delicious though, washed down with some less-delicious homemade vodka, just cost us 3 days budget. Won’t be making that mistake again in a hurry!

Our walk back to the hotel was up the main street in Moscow, Tverskaya which led us to a huge book shop which we went in to have a browse, not expecting to be met by so many other punters, it was quite a squeeze for such a large shop. By about 9pm we were falling into bed - exhausted.

---