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Published: November 7th 2007
Moscow
Russia is a diverse and amazing country and despite its tragic past where it lost over 40 million people through neglect and murder brought about by the old communist party lead by Lenin and Stalin, its 21st century people are working hard to modernise to compete with a new westernised society and commercial world. Having lost its soviet union satellite countries, who all claimed independence during the late eighties, itself went it alone in 1992.
This vast and proud country with huge natural resources such as Gold, Diamonds, Oil and Gas has much to do to catch-up with the rest of the world after a succession of past totalitarian dictatorships that had ruined the countries financial stability. Despite this, under the leadership of Vladimir Putin its major cities of Moscow and St Petersburg are very much multicultural and cosmopolitan cities.
Even today in order to visit Russia you need to apply for a 30 day Visa and to be invited by a Russian organisation such as a tourism company, hotel or a business. Once you arrive at Moscow's airport, there are stringent checks on entry, having encircled Moscow airspace for an hour waiting for permission to land,
Behind Kremlim Walls
The Domes of St Peter'smaking our expected three and a half hour, a four and a half hour journey.
After the plane had landed I met up with a couple from Australia who were to be on my tour and we together encountered a further hour and a half taxi journey to our hotel through heavy rush our traffic taking us to an area around half an hour from the Moscow's center which houses a population of over 12 million people.
Having met with our Russian buddy Natasha, who was to help us with the language, navigating the metro system and finding our away around over the next three days, I met with the others on the tour, all of whom were from Australia and New Zealand (the worlds greatest travelers) after which we headed into the center to get a taste of Moscow to include passing by - The Kremlin, St Basils Basilica, Red Square, The KGB buildings, Parliament and Their Bolshoi Theatres.
During the next three days I went within the Kremlin walls and saw a number of ornate churches and the famed Armoury, where amongst other things saw a number of valuable Faberge eggs found amongst the former
Tzar Crown Jewels and national treasures.
My visit also included many theatres around the city from those at the Heritage Gardens, culminating in a visit to the Operetta where I enjoyed a lively Russian interpretation of Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss. Other highlights were the Guard change at the eternal flame war memorial, visiting a number of ornate underground stations and sampling Moscow’s best hot chocolate, beetroot soup and red caviar.
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