Sunday 6 September I wake early. I have to do a few things before we are packed and ready to leave at 9:30. We check our luggage into storage and join with the others going into town. The subway is really a great system. Cheap too. We have options on what to see first. We head towards the Kremlin. There is so much security to go through. Entering the train station on the path and into the kremlin. We see several cathedrals inside the kremlin. Everything is very ...

Saturday 5 September I sleep in late. It's after 9. I guess there's something to be said for dark bed curtains. No natural light interrupting the sleep you need. We have breakfast and just relax until it's time to pack up and leave. It's raining outside and not appealing. When we actually get outside it's not raining so we head off to the metro station. We toss up between walking to red square or straight to the new hotel. We decide on straight to the hotel and ...

Friday 4 September I must admit I love staying in bed late sometimes. We have no plans so it's nice. After breakfast we pack and talk to family. Then off to the train station. We're not sure where to be or go. But over the time we wait we figure it out and by the time we have to leave it all goes smoothly. The country side is nice and even pretty in places. The speed is amazing; you don't feel it at all. We could have been going 50km/hr instead of over 200km. S...

Thursday 3 September I want to go to the hermitage museum today. It's a free day (1st Thursday of each month) so we need to get there early to get in line. It's open about 10:30. We take the bus (only 60c) get there about 9:50 and line is already long. It's about 11am by the time we are inside. It's cold waiting in line. Apparently they only have 35 clear sunny days a year and lots of rain. It's really exquisite inside. Even see some Leonardo de Vinci pain...

Wednesday 2 September It's a little late by the time we get up and again the noisy ppl have up and gone. I want to have my groats for breakfast. They come in little separate cooking bags of wheat, barley, millet and buckwheat. Unfortunately I can't read the cooking times but the manager helps. The times are different for each grain. I cook buckwheat and millet and enjoy then with sour cream and salt. Reminded me a rolled buckwheat mum once made for me from a cle...