First thing this morning, Michael and I got the metro to a market for some souvenir shopping. The metro at rush hour was mad - a sea of people, and the trains come about every 30 seconds. I read in a guidebook that more people use the Moscow metro than use the London and New York metros combined, which is pretty phenomenal.
The market was great - there were heaps of Russian dolls, cashmere, Soviet memorabilia, fur hats and lots more. We made some essential purchases and were on our way again - the metro to Red Sq to see St. Basil's Cathedral.
The Cathedral (built by Tsar Ivan the Terrible about 1560) is small and poky inside - there are several very tall chapels inside, with not much floor space. Every inch of the walls and ceilings were covered with colourful floral frescoes, and there were rich icons on many of the walls. Apparently Napoleon used it as stables when he was here!
The women here are very stylish, and I've never seen so many high heels. I feel out of place in my trainers and jeans, while there are lots of women in stilettos and fur coats.
The temperature here in Moscow surprised us - the first snow has not fallen. It's about 5 degrees, which is the warmest place we've been since Beijing a couple of weeks ago. The sun has been shining every day we've been here, so we feel pretty fortunate with the weather.
Michael and I get an overnight train to St. Petersburg tonight. I can't believe our 3 days here is up already - there's so much we didn't have time to do. We have really enjoyed Moscow, and thoroughly recommend it to anyone.
I have added more photos of Moscow to the Moscow photo album...
