Holiday Inn Suschevsky Moscow

... br>I went into the square first, to take some nice pictures of the buildings around the square, including St. Basil's cathedral, Lenin's mausoleum, and what I think is a state museum. Once I checked in at the tour office, I didn't have long to wait before the guide came and led us out. We first walked through the square and around part of the Kremlin wall, looking at various interesting things along the way. Among those was a memorial to the Unknown ...

... each station has its own theme either in marble or glass, although some trains may be grubby there is no litter or graffiti. This also applies to the city itself.
Moscow - we have done all the usual tourists sites including St Basils Cathedral, River boat trip and saw old KGB Headquaters. But obviously most interesting was The Kremlin and Red Square.
Overlooking Red Square is Lenims Mausoleum. This NOW overlooks the future venue of an Elton John ...

... Eh well, I'll get over it. Got all checked in, somewhat unpacked. The view from my window is excellent, over looking a park area thats just huge. I then went to try out the metro and meet a friend in the central district for dinner (I'm about a 20 minute metro ride out of center of town). Relaxed for a bit and chatted and found my way to the next day.

I quickly found that my russian was far ...

... Ens kerralla sitten... Vahan jalkeen neljan lahtee juna, ja seuraavat kaks ja puol paivaa kokotan sitten siella. Meilla on platskartny-paikat eli halvin luokka, liput maksoi n. 4000 ruplaa. Katotaan nyt minkalainen matka tulee.. Kaks ja puol paivaa on aika pitka aika istua junassa, toivon mukaan siella on ees hauskaa porukkaa matkaseuralaisina :)Nyt muuten muistan sen seuraavan kaupungin nimenkin minnekka mennaan, se on siis Krasnojarsk. Siella ei kylla olla montaa ...

... stared at all these years.But for me it was a highlight. They are very strict about what they allow into the tomb. No large bags and definitely no camera. Even mobile phones they refuse as many have cameras. I thought it would take ages when I was at the back of the line but within 30 mins I was at the metal detectors and security. I cleared security fairly easy as I made sure to leave my bag at a left luggage place. Then I was walking towards the mausoleum.They take the ...

... ne tantomeno in quale stazione. Comunque niente panico, alla fine ce l'ho fatta a tornare alla base. Questo pomeriggio alla stazione Yaroslav comincera' la mia personale odissea su rotaia: non saprei come altro definire un viaggio in treno di tre settimane su una ferrovia lunga 9300 Km (novemilatrecento), attraverso due continenti e sette fusi orari. Prima tappa lungo la transiberiana: Ekaterinburg, a cavallo tra Europa ed Asia.

Obviously I got very very behind on journal entries. Now that it's months after the fact, I actually have some free time to bring these up to date. This was my last day in Moscow. As the college students we met in Novgorod said, Moscow is not meant for tourism. I think that's true to a certain extent. Key must-see sites are limited for a city of this size. Mainly because Russia isn't built for tourism. The government would probably be perfectly happy if ...

... We had had been eagerly fed movies like Red Dawn starring Patrick Swayze and War Games starring Ferris Bueller. I even wrote my first (and only) political rap entitled "Gorbechev Rock" in 5th grade. But none of this mattered in the land of disappointment. Red Square was closed as was the Kremlin, St. Basils...all of it. Huge Bummer Dude. We sulked off in search of a hot tea and ended up walking the circumference of the fortress and ...

... Over a period of time the topic of religion was raised. I let them know I wasn't religious in any way. The soldiers were happy with this and the civilian mustn't have been. From then on he just didn't like me at all. Why? Religion, it's the world's oldest reasons not to like someone. I didn't have a cross on me so he took dislike to me. This only got worse as time went by. I couldn't understand anything he said about me as none could speak English and I knew no Russian. I knew he ...