Day 1 (7 Sep 2014) to the airport and on to Moscow

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Sunday 2:15am and we got into the car. I (Lesley) managed to get an hour's sleep, but Don none since his shabbat shluf. En route to Ben Gurion we saw tens of ambulances and several fire trucks and we followed them to the airport. Oh oh does that mean the airport will be closed! We had already had three mini catastrophes at home. Thursday the tumble dryer died. Then a glass lampshade fell off the lights over the table, and knocked over a glass of water too, but amazingly nothing broke! Friday, Don lost a crown and couldn't get hold of the dentist.

Our friends Ellie and Steve contacted us 10 days ago and asked if we wanted to join their holiday group, The Trekkers, on a Jewish experience to Moscow and St Petersburg. We thought about it for all of 17 seconds and said "Why not?" So that is how we were en route to the airport at such an unearthly hour., and so soon after our previous trip to HK, NZ and China.

We got to the airport and met our guide Michael and the flight was on time. We had a short flight - only 4 hours. As we were coming in to Moscow airport I was reminded of the descriptions of the farms in "Anna Karenina" - green and divided into sections. Trees were alongside the airport perimeter. I am not sure whether this was to keep out the noise of the planes from the populous or to take up some of the CO2.

There are 12 of us on this trip plus our Israeli guide Michael. We were met by our Russian guide Svetlana. Then it was on the bus and off we started. Moscow has an 'official' population of 11 million. So it is a bit smaller than Beijing (half the population) but the number of cars seems the same. We drove to Red Square where there was a carnival atmosphere because it was Moscow City Day, a national holiday. Security was extremely tight. We went through two bag checks and two security scanners. Before passing through the second scanner we saw the zero kilometre marker which indicates the centre of Moscow. We walked past the National History Museum, St Basil's cathedral with its Disney like domes, and the walls of the Kremlin. Kremlin means fortress and it is certainly that. There are 19 towers along the wall. We continued walking past the Kuzari cathedral. This is a copy as the original was destroyed by Stalin after the revolution. We also caught sight of Lenin's mausoleum.

Next we went to the oldest mall in Moscow - GUM to rhyme with room & frum. There are three storeys of exclusive stores but we were only there to eat our packed lunches and to have a strong cup of coffee. The marketplace also contained 'historic toilets' but we chose not to pay the hysteric prices and opted for the free loos instead.

Our final stop before going to the hotel was the Choral Synagogue. The shul guide explained its name was derived from their long established choir. Furthermore famous chazanim come from all over the world to lead services. A typical shabbat attendance could be as much as 300 people, however for the high holy days as many as 1000 might attend. During sukkot they erect a sukkah in the carpark opposite the shul. That space is also used for marquees for various smachot.

Late this first afternoon it was back on the bus to finally reach the Novotel hotel where we checked in. Whilst not luxurious, our spacious room was well outfitted and comfortable.

By this time it was past 6pm. The group were given one hour to rest before going back on the bus for dinner at the JCC and a night of sightseeing. Don and I ducked out. We didn't want to eat and we certainly didn't need any more sightseeing. So we went to bed at 7:30pm and slept through til 7am.

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