Had an interesting first full day in Russia today.
After breakfast I walked across the river from my hotel to visit the monastary on the other side. I turned up just as the church service was under way and so I stood at the door and had a quick look before heading back to the hotel.
At the hotel I met our guide for the day,Luba, and the other members of our tour group. Two (or possibly three) will be travelling with me part of the way along the railway. The two who I know will be travelling are called Martin and Charles. They are both off to Beijing and so won't be going to Vladivostok with me. Martin lives part of the time in Essex and part of the time in Thailand and Charles lives in Stockton on Tees. In the rest of the group today there is a couple who are travelling onto St Petersburg after Moscow. The rest include another group who have already been to Vladimir and Suzdal and are going onto Veliky Novgorod. I know Novgorod very well as I lived there for 5 months in 2002. Some of these are from Huyton!
We went via the Moscow Metro (underground) first to Red Square. The highlight of the trip today was the visit to Lenin's tomb. We entered this after walking past the graves of many revolutionaries. We had to keep totally silent in the tomb itself and keep hands out of pockets. It was very strange seeing Lenin and he looked like he was only asleep. After this we came out past more graves including Stalin, Breznev and Yuri Gagarin.Following this we walked across the square to visit St Basil's Cathedral. Last time I visited in 2002 I only saw part of it it this time we managed to see all of it. The morning service had not long finished and he smell of incense was very apparent. It was as beautiful inside as outside.We then went across the square to visit the GUM department store that is full of very expensive shops that I cannot imagine many Russians can afford to shop in. It was then another walk past the eternal flame in memory of the Second World War, and the State Russian Library, prevously known as Lenin Library.
After this it was time for lunch and some of us, including our guide, went to restaurant chain called 'Moo Moo'! I had borsch with sour cream and buckwheat. This all took me back to living here last time.
After lunch a few went back to the hotel and I went off to the Tretyakov art gallery. I had a whistle stop tour before as I didn't have that long before it closed. I got a bit 'iconed out' as there were galleries full of icons!
After this I went back to the hotel, had something to eat and soon I'm going to get ready for the next stage of my journey tomorrow to Yekaterinburg by overnight train. In the morning we go for a tour of the Moscow Metro and the Kremlin. I will only be able to write this blog again when I get to Yekaterinburg as there is no internet connection on the train.
