Wed 26th - arrived in Moscow at 6am and the ok the subway to the hostel. The hostel Unity Bay was very hard to find as not clearly signposted. They weren't particularly friendly either when we arrived. No where to put our bags securely. As we couldn't get into room straight away we walked down towards Red Square, on the way we got pancakes for breakfast. I got cheese and mushrooms. When we got to Red Square we queued to get into Lenin's mausoleum for 10am. A bit like Mao he looked very waxy although much less people. St. Basics opened at 11am so we went into GUM shopping centre which was lovely, all decorated in Christmas decor and had a coffee. At 11am we went inside St Basils which was very pretty. We had pizza slice for lunch and walked around then went to the supermarket and had soup and bread for tea. Supermarket was expensive.
Thu 27th - walked to tourist information which was closed yesterday and again it was closed today. Decided to walk to where parkrun starts from and on the way stopped at The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. We used Apple maps to find the station for parkrun but it was completely wrong. We eventually found it and decided to walk to Sparrows Nest which wasn't that great and then we could see the Lomonosov Moscow State University building which was amazing. We walked right up to it. On the way back it was pretty cold so we grabbed a hot chocolate and walked back along the Moscow river. Saw a big outdoor ice skating rink and the Radisson Royal river cruises. We had dinner at McDonald's in Pushkin Square which was the first ever McDonald's in Russia and had recently re opened after being closed for 4 months. Night in hostel was noisy. They had a weekly sailing group come in who didn't go until around midnight.
Fri 27th - after pancakes for brekkie, walked to the Kremlin. After getting tickets and putting bags in storage we walked around and visited the cathedrals which were all impressive. Dropped Troy's iPad and screen smashed. Walked to tourist info which was finally open but apart from some leaflets it was not really any good. We had jacket potato and a jam tart for lunch then walked to the White House and back along the river. Soup and bread for tea.
Sat 28th - went to Gorky Park parkrun. We got there earlier and grabbed a drink from the vending machine. It was very cold but well organized and friendly. About 29 runners and an out and back along the Moscow river. After participants had brought hot tea and pancakes which was really nice. We then went across the river with a few of the guys and had a drink. They were very kind and gave us a Russian parkrun bag and plastic bracelet and also a badge for doing marathon. We walked back down the river and had McDonald's for lunch then chilled out in the hostel for a bit. After soup and bread for tea we went out to see some of the artwork in a couple of subway stations. Another restless night in the noisy hostel. Tv and people talking well past midnight.
Sun 30th - got up early and walked down to a pedestrian street then coffee in McDonald's. Pancakes again and then walked back to hostel to checkout and go to Leningrad station to take the train to St Peterburg at 1.30pm. It was a bit difficult at first to send the station but once we did we took seats and waited for train. Train was really nice, modern and fast. We arrived in St Petersburg on time and took the subway to the hostel, Soul Kitchen. The hostel was amazing. The service was extremely friendly and helpful and the hostel layout and rooms were fantastic. We dumped bags, had a shower then headed to get food (McDonald's), then back to hostel. We bumped into the same guy who met in Mongolia and again in Irkutsk.
Like
- lots of history
- subway was very artistic
- walking along the river was really nice
- parkrun was fun
Not so like
- the hostel was noisy
- tourist information was useless
- expensive, even in the supermarkets
- bitterly cold
- generally the people were not helpful or polite, in fact they were quite rude
