Our third overnight train journey over, we were glad to see Alexander, our tour guide, waiting on the platform to help us with our luggage and to find the minibus to take us to our hotel in Moscow, giving us just enough time to drop off our luggage before setting straight out on our tour of Moscow. Thankfully, being Saturday morning, we didn't have to face the traffic jams that we experienced when we arrived just two weeks ago! Plenty to see and so much history to take in; amazing architecture architecture, plenty of photo opportunities. Our mini bus driver dropped us off by the Cathedral of Christ Our Saviour. A fascinating history of a grand building which appeared to be well established but in fact wasn't completed until 1997. Built on the site of an earlier, smaller church, I preferred the smaller more personal Church rather than the opulent newer Cathedral.
By this time Alexander could see we were all flagging, so off to the food hall for pancakes - what a choice, 8 different fillings between us, 4 savoury, 4 sweet - these didn't last long! Next off for the tour of some of the famous underground stations of Moscow. These vast caverns, each one decorated in a different style , so ornate, plenty more photo opportunities! Finally time to say goodbye to Alexander and for the first time since we arrived in Russia were were on our own, no one to tell us where we needed to be and when - could we manage this? of course, We're all members of Trefoil Guild! 22nd October Woke up to a bright and sunny day, not realising there had been a (very) light fall of snow over night. Not enough to build a snowman, though Audrey managed to make a snowball, as Jenny can confirm! So today we've decided to visit the Kremlin. First stop the Metro and to buy our multi ticket for the 8 of us. The lady sitting under the'We Speak English' sign could not understand the difference between 16 and 60, so you can guess which car we ended up with! No problem, we just have the potential to visit almost every Metro station in the next 36 hours. Thankfully the card is very good value and a great way to travel. First stop St Basil's Cathedral, where Helen made her Trefoil Guild promise, what a memorable experience. From there we headed off to buy our tickets for the visit to the Kremlin and the Armoury, while four of our group stopped to visit it Lenin's tomb of the way.The cathedrals inside the Kremlin wall are beautiful, the wall paintings all so different, The Armoury to me seems to be a bit of a misnomer, with so many stunning artefacts, beautiful gowns and outfits, thrones and carriages, impossible to take it all in. After all this culture, we decided to visit GUM, the famous 19th century shopping mall, once the largest in Europe, for a chance to rest our feet and enjoy an (non-alcoholic) drink. Our day took a downturn from here when one of our group discovered that her purse had been taken from her bag. Straight back to our hotel at this point to make sure bank cards had been cancelled. Walking back to the hotel after dinner, snow was falling which lifted spirits again. 23rd October Early start as we were wanting to make sure we could get places on the English speaking tour of the Bolshoi Theatre. Arrived at the theatre doors at 10 am for the 11.15 tour, relieved to be given green wristbands to fast track us to the head of the queue. Such a beautiful building, only wish we could have seen a performance as well. Later we explored St Basil's Cathedral where we heard 4 Russian men singing a capella singing in one of the chapels - magical. After a walk down Arbatskaya we headed back to our hotel for our last dinner in Moscow before catching the overnight train to Moscow. Da svidaniya Moskva!
1 Comment
Sandy Gola
10/25/2017 03:27:41 am
What an amazing time you are all having. 1st Mudeford Brownies loved Sheila's Russian dancing which I put on their Facebook page.
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