Nigel: Our next destination was Moscow which is famous for several things. These include it being the capital of Russia, the Kremlin, and Manchester Untied's famous 2008 Champions League victory over Chelsea. First destination....the football stadium.

To get to Moscow from St Petersburg there are various trains which you can catch but we opted for the bullet train which takes approximately 4 hours. We had been on a similar train previously in China but with speeds reaching 200kph they are always better (and quicker) to go on. Leaving St Petersburg also meant the start of our trans-siberian train journey (with stops) from Moscow to Beijing. Similar to our last destination, we had 4 days to view the sites and also similar to St Petersburg the city was going through a heat wave, meaning viewing the sites would be difficult and draining. Our first hurdle when arriving into Moscow, was to try and reach the hostel. Again we were having to do this through rush hour and on the underground but we also had to try and fathom out how to understand most of the signs as they were written in Cyrillic. Alison will tell you more about this and the hostel.

On our first day we didn't go to the main areas as it was very hot so we thought we would go for a walk by the river thinking it would be cooler... it wasn't. We did go past the "White House" the building where Vladmir Putin's office is. We knocked on but he wasn't in. Not far from the building is a huge area which has several tall buildings being constructed. The unique part of the build is that all of them are to be constructed with a glass facade and the intention is to modernise Moscow city. After this we went to the stadium to see if we could go in and see it. Unfortunately it was closed and we could only see it from a distance (Alison was bitterly disappointed). It looked impressive though.

On day 2 we ventured down to the centre of Moscow to see the Kremlin and walk around the Red Square. Unfortunately the Kremlin was closed so we explored the area surrounding it.

Not far from the Kremlin walls, there is a flame in the ground that continuously burns which marks the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. The tomb contains the remains of a soldier who was killed during WWII. It is guarded by 2 soldiers during the day and every hour the changing of the guard takes place. Each of the guards that come onto duty, have to walk down a section of path, approximately 50-60 metres in length, and march with each leg lifted perpendicularly to the floor (but not simultaneously!!). Its one of those marches that looks funny to see but very uniformed when done.

We were also fortunate to be able to go and visit the mausoleum of Vladimir Lenin the former leader of Russia. When we were in Vietnam previously, we missed out on the chance to see Ho Chi Min (former leader of Vietnam) so we really wanted to go and see this one. Before entering the building you have to queue for about 45 - 60 minutes and go through security. The mausoleum is situated adjacent to the Kremlin walls, and in the grounds next to it, the bodies of previous leaders are housed, including Stalin. When you enter the mausoleum you are hit with both the cool air and the darkness of the building. After a precession of walkways you eventually enter the room to view the body. You have to continue walking throughout and no pictures are allowed to be taken. The body appears to be of a waxy texture and this is due to years of preservation works carried out on the body.

To finish day 2 off, we decided to ride the metro. Not that we are train fanatics but because we had read that Moscow metro is famous for the art and design of many of its stations. We weren't disappointed and some of the stations had been built very stylishly.

Alison: It was a shock arriving at the station in Moscow because we had expected more English signs but there were very few. We knew which underground station we needed to go to in English letters but we hadn't thought to make a note of it in cyrillic so we found ourselves on the platform looking very confused. In the end we compared our English map to the Russian one and worked out the name of the station we needed in cyrillic and then it was a case of trying to match the cyrillic station name up with those written on each platform wall.

Finding the hostel was the next challenge. Underground stations have several exits that pop up to the surface in different areas. We did our usual thing of leaving the station through the most inappropriate exit and had another confusing 10 minutes or so standing on the street trying to figure out what direction we should walk in. Fortunately we chose the right way to walk based on the fact that we knew we had to walk past a park and there appeared to be a few more leaves in one direction! It is a miracle that we found our hostel because it is in one of the most concealed spots that I have ever seen a hostel. We were loitering in the street where we thought it should be, scratching our heads, when luckily, a Russian man who looked like he was doing his daily commute home stopped (obviously recognising us as tourists with rucksacks on) and told us that to get to the hostel you need to walk through a gated archway into a courtyard and through an unmarked door in the corner. He looked like he had imparted this information several times in the past and I imagine that he sees a similar seen every day on his way home!

The hostel was very unusual. It was like a rabbit warren of rooms and I have never stayed in a room like the one we had. When the door opened there was a tiny room with only enough room for a single camp bed and a small table and chair. I was about to launch myself onto the camp bed and declare it mine, when I looked up and way up in the ceiling was a double bed with a ladder leading up! It was pretty high up and the climb was a bit scary but it was actually quite comfy! The rest of the hostel had much the same space saving theme.....knees touching the toilet door whilst seated, elbows demolishing everything in the bathroom whilst trying to wash your hair, washing dishes in the sink next to the toilet...that sort of thing :)

Nigel has covered the first couple of days so I will talk about the 3rd day. We spent our final day in Moscow in the Kremlin, St Basil's Cathedral and the Red Square. It was really exciting to go into the Kremlin because it is such an iconic place. As per usual, I didn't really know that much about the Kremlin and only really knew what it looked like and also that it was something to do with politics! I hadn't realised that as well as containing the Senate building, it also contains several cathedrals and many other historical buildings. After viewing all of the cathedrals, we then headed out to Red Square to view yet another cathedral...St Basil's. This is the cathedral that is the one you think of in Moscow with the colourful onion domes and it is very grand. In retrospect we probably should have looked at this on another day to the Kremlin because there are only so many cathedrals you can appreciate in a day! There isn't that much to say about Red Square....it's a huge cobbled square next to St Basil's and the Kremlin, and it is where big celebrations were carried out in the past and still are today. I was a bit disappointed to see that the square isn't actually red but many of the buildings are surrounding it so I wasn't completely let down ;-)

Smile update - We have experienced a lot more smiles in Moscow! Now it is just plain confusing. We have no idea what to do with our face when we meet people. I'm going for a semi neutral/half smile that I can quickly stop in it's tracks or turn into a full smile if required!