Day 1-2 Flight to Moscow

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Day 1



Gatwick airport at silly o’clock in the morning. Backpacks are in the hold and we’re flying to Moscow on the start of our around the world trip. We had a smooth flight. Arriving at Moscows Domodevo we looked out to see a snow covered landscape. We later discovered that Moscow had previously had a great deal of snow the previous day, causing a lot of flights to be cancelled. We met our driver who was to take us to our hotel, after so much planning, visa applications and packing it was a relief to finally be in our hotel room.

We were amazed that in the middle of January the Christmas Holiday season was still in full swing. With Christmas trees, stalls, ice rinks even the television shows were in Christmas mood. This I discovered was because they follow the Russian Orthodox calender which extends the festive season to the 13th.

The following day we met with Lena who was to be our guide around Moscow for a few hours. There’s two good ways to familiarise yourself with a unfamiliar city, jump on a sightseeing bus or as I have found out now hire a guide. Two reasons we appreciated the guide, one English is not spoken widely, and the other Cyrillic! If the latin alternative is not available it makes travelling around and eating out really difficult. Fortunately Lena helped us on our way. Lena also made Russian history come alive with stories from her families' history.

To finally see the views that we had only seen on TV and the movies was amazing. St Basils Cathedral, with its multi coloured domes, The Kremlin and the GUM store, once an austere department store now transformed into an upmarket mall, with Armani, Louise Vitton, Jimmy Choo amongst others.

Although we saw lots of expensive cars, Range rovers BMW Mercedes Bentleys. Moscow is incredibly cheap. As our guide said ’how can you not come to Moscow at these prices’. Two vodka and tonics in our hotel £2.99, and a meal for2 with drinks for around £11. Our Metro pass for 20 trips. (One trip allows you on most of the Metro for a day providing you don’t surface) cost us £6.

One thing as the guide pointed out that made us chuckle was the modification to the stairs to allow people in wheelchairs to access metro. Dangerous to anyone going down and exhausting for anyone pushing up!

Tomorrow we go to the Kremlin for our last day in Moscow before we start our travels east over 3000 miles to Irkutsk on the Trans-Siberian Railway

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Photos

In Moscow at last.
In front of st Basil's cathedral

Communist Archive building.
Ironically opposite Prada, Louise Vitton and others.!

Snow Clearing
One of the army of snow clearers that keep Moscow's paths clear.

Yellseyevsky Grocery Store
One of the oldest stores in Moscow.

Comments

[Lesley]

Looks cold
How exciting you both look well wrapped up! I don't think the wheelchair ♿ adaption would pass health and safety lol I like the sound of £2.99 for 2 vodka and tonics! That's my drink of choice, Moscow is looking like a great holiday destination. Take care xxx

[christine]

It look really nice bur coldxxxx

[Libby]

Xmas
I want to live in Russia...Xmas til the 13th January YaY!!!!! ?xxxx