Happy Home Hostel Moscow

... we had a quick tour of central Moscow including our first glimpse of Red Square. O for Awesome just doesn't sum it up really. To finish off a very long day we headed off to the Moscow State circus - expecting to see small hands and smelling cabbage. No luck there, but the first thing we see was bears driving go-karts and cars... that was pretty impressive - like big bears, not like the one the girls saw in the park. The rest of the circus though was lame - the ...

... me a real spaceship and the stunning autumn colours in the botanical garden, wants none of that nonsense. Music, art, nature and her beagle Bruno are her passions. She's disappointed with many of the changes in the city she was born in, and is being priced out of. She seemed to believe Moscow's cultural heritage and the wellbeing of its people are neglected as no opportunity for soulless commercial exploitation is missed. She hopes to move out of the City towards St ...

... of people everywhere,
trains packed, trains whistling into stations, leaving wind gusts
behind them that blow and whistle through the station. Trains are very
noisy and arrive every minute or so. Hard Rock was ok, glad I went as
it was HRC in Moscow, but food was ordinary, inside was smoky and
shop was disappointing. Lots of rain today, we were dumped on at the
kremlin and ...

... through the night and were finally kicked out around 6 am. We waited up after that for a glimpse of Lake Baikal, took some photos and then headed for bed. So day 5 started out pretty good despite the potential hangovers. Around 6pm we hit the Russian border and the fun began. First some guys collected our passports and checked our visas; after they collected them from our cabin they looked at each other and us and started gabbling ...

... passports and bags scanned, but due to the MASSIVE language barrier, we went along with it. Finally we found the 'Bilyet Naya Kassa' and with a great sigh of relief, we were in posession of our tickets. Back to our dodge hostel for a rest and then dinner, we set off with great excitement once again to the stadium, anticipatin the famous words "HELLO EUROPE". It was awesome. The dag, the TERRIBLE warm-up act, the lights, the hair, and everything that Eurovision is ...

... Musical types can be like. He was an affable chap, who spoke good English and most importatnly offered to translate the myriad of immigration forms that needed to be completed before entering Belarus. Dimitri almost restored my faith in Russian humanity, a false dawn shattered upon my arrival in Moscow, but more on that later. In truth it was a fairly uneventful trip, the most exciting part being the changes made to the wheels and gauges when ...

... on life support are in the ICU, none are moved to other flours nor moved to home. This takes up a lot of beds in a ward where there already is a shortage. We then got to talking about organ transplant. In Russia it is a assumed that that you will donate your organs unless you or your first degree relatives relate that you wish otherwise. But, they have not more than 40 kidney transplants a year in Russia. The reason is that 1) the Russian Orthodox religion believes it ...

... is that the Armory has closed for the day by the time I get there. I'll have to return to see the eggs another day. I hit up Old Arbat Street, which is a pedestrian street famous for souvenir shopping and bars which double as a meeting point for all the English soccer fans in town for the game. Apparently, you aren't allowed to drink at the stadium during any European competition so the hooligans are getting their fair share in before the ...

Russia - a wonderful country with amazing wildlife and great people. Who is interested in the ...

... miles to a guest house reccomended by Lonely Planet. We got beds no problem, even though we hadn't booked, and it was central. Must admit our first impressions were not good but they seemed to be doing some painting so maybe things were being improved. The first assistant there was a bit scary but later ones were nice and helpful. Our first day was a relaxing day, we did go to Kolomenscoe for a cache (see ...