We arrived at Leningrad station, swarming with people, none speaking English, no idea where the Metro station was and a very confusing Metro map in Cyrillic to navigate with - Major trauma but we survived.

We joined Kim, Carol and Carole in the apartment and spent the Saturday on a walking tour around the major sights - The Kremlin, Red Square, St Basils, The Bolshoi theatre, Tomb of the unknown soldier etc. ( Culture) In the evening we went to see Swan Lake performed by the state Ballet company (more Culture and bulging tights) A few blonde moments along the way - Kim entered a lift and when the doors opened, got out oblivious to the fact that she was on the same floor. In a Chinese restaurant Heather found the spring rolls difficult to palate, they turned out to be heated wipes.

Back to culture and all of Sunday hitting every landmark on the map, very impressive and clean city but how many onion domed churches do you need - We rested on the rooftop terrace of the Ritz Carlton, where we overlooked the whole of Moscow - I suspect it would have been cheaper to take a helicopter trip. After walking through Moscow at night and seeing the city "all lit up" we attempted to find the night boat, failed and found ourselves in some dodgy, area, saved in the nick of time by a Metro station - We went home and reverted to type by staying up until 4 am wiping out a significant store of Vodka.

Last day, we actually did the river trip and it was very enjoyable giving Moscow a different perspective. Afterwards, we made our way to the station to book tickets for the following day, when we were headed for Suzdal. It should have been routine but it took an hour of basic communication which ended with us replying "Da" to all questions and paying six times the normal rate for Business class on a special high speed train …. Not helping our budget. A quiet night ready for an early start.

"Dosbidanya" Moscow