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The final day in St Petersburg turned out to be wet, cold and spent mainly in coffee shops trying to find something that resembled a hot chocolate! The train to Moscow on the other hand was a different story...
Trains in Russia are given a number starting (unsuprisingly) at 1 - the lower the number the better. The train to Mosocow was number 1 - the Red Arrow - and fully lived up to its billing. The cabin we were in was second class so we were sharing with two Russians which prooved to be very helpful when working out how to set up the beds! It turns out that it takes a little while to get used to sleeping on trains but this was not down to the beds, which were comfy. We will have plenty of opportunities to get practice at this over the next few weeks...
We arrived in a sunny and warm Moscow which was very welcome after the cold send off from St Petersburg. It's probably best that we leave the description of Day 1 in Moscow there. Suffice it to say that there was a great deal of time spent misinterpretting maps and
a long distance walked! The highlight of the day was a stroll along the banks of the Moscow River and through Gorky Park and the surrounding area. The place is very much set up for relaxing, so there were plenty of people rollerblading and sitting round with a bottle or two of the local brew. In the evening we also passed by St Basils Cathedral, a classic of Moscow and amazing to see in real life.
Moscow has been gearing up to celebrate the 9th May, the Great Patriotic Day, which marks the surrender of Nazi Germany to the Russians so the main sights, Red Square and the Kremlin were closed. Given the timing of our trip we visited the war memorials and museums at Pobedy Park which are set in beautiful surroundings with views over the city. It was also an enlightening experience as, contrary to popular belief, it appears that WW2 only started in 1941. A quick google lets you know why the Russians are a bit quiet on their involvement between 1939 and 1941.
Also, walking through the park we overheard a wise man say
"there's plenty of top totty round here". The man has
a point. We have put this down to the abundence of steps in Moscow, they are everywhere - which we can vouch for after Day 1. Keep those glutes toned...
The celebrations on 9 May included a parade through the city showing off all the Russian's military strength followed by fireworks in the evening. There was very little information about the parade and it proved to be difficult to get to see it as the majority of the roads along the route had been closed and were guarded by a number of grumpy looking men in grey (we think that these were police). A lot of it seems to be set up for the benefit of the public, without the public being able to get too close. Having found a spot we waited for a long time and the parade when it came was a long line of military vechicles which went past pretty quickly! Regardless, we still managed to take a couple of photos that Rich has coined 'the money shots'.
One of the nice things about the day was the respect shown to the veterans throughout. After the parade we sat in a central park and
did a spot of people watching, with all the kids dressed up in retro army gear and going and giving a single flower each to the veterans. Some of them ended up with huge piles of carnations! All in all it was interesting seeing a different way of celebrating the end of the war. I guess in the UK the focus is more on rememberence, where as here it was a lot more of a party atmosphere.
Today was once again a lovely and sunny day. After a trip to pick up our train tickets for the rest of the journey we visited Red Square (and finally managed to get in) and also the Armoury in the Kremlin. Around the Kremlin itself are some beautiful gardens that were nice to sit in an have lunch, whilst the the Armoury is where all the treasures and jewels are held. The entire collection must be worth an absolute fortune, at least into the hundreds of millions if not a magnitude or order higher. Some people would argue it is priceless.... a single one of the crowns of one of the Russian empresses had over 9000 diamonds in it!!
Overall Moscow
has been fantastic. It's a lovely city to wander around and has great archeticture and sites to visit. The Hostel - Godzillas - also derserves a mention as it is great and we would recommend it to anyone wanting to visit the city...
Tomorrow morning we're going to pop in to see Lenin then off to Suzdal....
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Phil
non-member comment
moscow
great writing and excellent to hear from you, twice in a week we are honoured. Give my best to Lenin, and the top totty on your tour :) Mia says hi, she just lost another tooth so is quite gappy now! Will send a photo. Love from us all xxx