Thursday 19th June - St Petersburg

Had breakfast & went for a walk on the other side of the Nevsky Prospekt, the main street. We walked up towards the Neva River & found a lovely gourmet deli with mechanical, puppet like figures from the 19th century in the window. Unfortunately it was closed but it reminded us of Fortnum & Mason's in London. From there we moved on to Peter the Great’s Castle, which is undergoing repairs & then returned to our hotel along another river embankment & the Nevsky Prospekt as it just started to rain.

We were picked up at 11.30 to catch the 1.30 train to Moscow & the journey took about 10 minutes so we sat down & had a coffee before passing through scanners on to the platform where we stood & froze for 40 mins. The High Speed train arrived & we boarded it after yet another check on tickets & passports & off we went at 1.30 on the dot. The ride was good but the countryside palled as we passed through endless forests with occasional lakes & towns.

Arriving at 6.00, again on time, we were met & our driver spent the next 70 mins taking us, very skilfully, to our hotel near the Kremlin, through jam after jam. The hotel is fine & we had an expensive but excellent meal before retiring.

Friday 20th June - Moscow

Started after breakfast at 10 & met Helen, our 40ish, friendly guide who took us first to Red Square outside the Kremlin. After an explanation of the history of the place we stopped outside St Basil’s cathedral which apparently is 5 churches under a single roof & she explained that the custom was to build a church to celebrate a victory rather than a memorial. From there we drove to a lovely park outside the walled Novodevichy Convent founded in 1524 which held the first wife of Peter the Great & his half sister. This had been set up for the unmarried daughters of the nobles & had been massively endowed in its day. Inside the walls are some fine examples of Russian churches & chapels & it was very calming after the madness of the Moscow traffic. Then on to a site where we could look across the River to see Moscow laid out below us. On one side there is a huge group of ultramodern skyscrapers under construction away from the centre of the city. The high ground we were on is a favourite place for wedding photos & several huge stretch limos were there with their bridal parties.

Finally we returned after visiting the park & war memorial to the 22 million Russians killed in the last war of 1941- 45. Note their late start!! This was because Hitler & Stalin had signed a pact to carve up eastern Europe before Hitler invaded Russia. I didn’t discuss this with the guide. The memorial is a spectacular obelisk with St George, the patron saint of Moscow slaying the dragon running down one face.

After a well earned lunch & a rest we walked down to the Kremlin & eventually found the GUM store which was an eye opener to Dick. It is a pair of arcades on 3 levels about 500m long tenanted by all the upmarket brands that one could think of. It is a very smart Karrinyup, most similar to the QV Arcade in Sydney. Naturally the Noyelle care gene came to the fore & we left empty handed.

Today is the last day of the school year in Russia & this is celebrated by school leavers with a huge celebration so Red Square was blocked off for the event in the afternoon. We saw masses of them turning up in the stretch limos all in their best for the big show.

We walked home & had a quiet dinner before going to bed pretty tired.


Saturday 21st June - Moscow

Another *********** the tourist trail. The weather was warm & dry & Helen met us at 10am after breakfast. We walked down to the Kremlin where we entered & walked around the gardens before we chanced on a military parade complete with a host of graduating soldiers of both sexes & military bands. We stopped to watch as one group marched into the parade ground. The ceremony was truly moving particularly when they all sang the Russian National Anthem with great gusto & well in tune. They then received their diplomas after goose-stepping to & from the ranks. We went off for a further walk whilst Helen pointed out the various cathedrals we visited including the Assumption, with all the tombs of the Tsars before Peter the Great. The interiors are full of frescoes & are tall but with a relatively small footprint & one was used for the crowning of the Tsars until the 1917 Revolution.

As we came out the various units were displaying their skills & one band gave an incredible performance combining complex choreography & excellent playing, somewhat similar to the US marching bands. The whole parade was very impressive & it was clear that all the participants were enjoying the process in front of their visitors.

At 12 we queued to go into the Armoury, a huge museum of Kremlin artefacts ranging from religious relics, bibles & vestments through gifts from foreign Ambassadors to the carriages of the Tsars & some very well preserved robes, both clerical & secular & the famous Faberge eggs. 90 minutes later we left, totally dazzled & exhausted.

Leaving the Kremlin we descended into an underground food hall where we had a drink, some lunch & a sit down before starting on our exploration of the metro. Here we visited about 6 stations, each decorated in a totally different style. We were surprised to hear that the first stations were built in the late 1930s that it & was extended after the war, so that it now has 600+ stations. The decorations are impressive & reflect a different theme in each station. Ultimately we came out at the end of Arbat Street, is a pedestrian way lined now with souvenir shops, cafes & restaurants. We were taken into one store featuring jewellery but it was all too much for us & came out empty handed, as usual. Soon after at 4pm we said good bye to Helen & walked the short distance back to the hotel. We had been walking since 10 & were both pretty tired so had a lie down. At 6 it looked pretty grey & started to rain so we had a meal in the restaurant & called it a day.