Hotel Bega Moscow

... Jim, and he'd introduced us via facebook the night before, so Inara had kindly agreed to meet up with us a bit later. We met up with her and went to a funky bar for a glass of wine, then to a lovely little bistro/bar place called Appartment 44 which was exactly the kind of place we had been hoping to find- small, friendly, arty - a place finally with some cosy character, not huge and imposing. There we had some traditional borscht soup ...

On our first night we decided to make our way back to the hotel by taxi, rather than the metro, although this turned out to be a struggle. <br><br>The language barrier didn't help and as we wandered down a busy highway trying to flag one down, taxis had seemingly disappeared from the roads. Random cars pulled up offering us a lift - remembering our warning in the hotel we ...

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Friday.... Red square- closed Kremlin - closed Lenin's tomb- closed Response when asked why both were closed... nyet (i.e. No). Pete decided to make it his mission to get us into both places by the time we left on Sunday. The mission was successful. Saturday......Red Square... still closeddue to random boxing match to be held at 10pm for 'Moscow Day'. We were both confused why 'the' public area in the middle of Moscow ...

... of Ivan the Terrible and comprises nine churches on a single foundation. The cathedral felt and smelt old. Inside St Basil's the stone steps had worn away with centuries of use and it was a bit tricky at times to find stable footing. Fortunately, St Basil's was protected during the soviet era and has remained a cultural and historical museum since 1923. One of the things I found a little disconcerting were all the souvenir stalls in the church. I think it took ...

... the Kremlin, looking at buildings such as the former KGB headquarters, the top floor of which infamously had no windows as it contained the interrogation prisons. We saw the Bolshoi Theatre, which was literally under wraps due to urgent renovations, an old supermarket - the Russian equivalent of Harrods. We passed by a fancy cluster of boutique shops along a short cobbled road called Tretyakovsky Proezd, famous as one of the most expensive shopping areas in the world. The ...

... holiday and the square was clearly having a do of some sort with cables for TV cameras and seating being erected. Then it was time to hit the Kremlin. Kremlin in English is fortress, funny that as that is what it is! The ticket office was about to close for the day so we decided it would be better to go tube hoping instead. Now this might sound a little weird to a Londoner but there is a twist. The underground stations have amazing architecture. My favourite had life size ...

... and impassive throughout. The next surprise was their rendition of 'You're to Good to be True', again maintaining a very proper posture and attitude throughout. They also performed some traditional Russian songs with singing, and they did show some signs of animation during these numbers. They were excellent, and played throughout the first part of the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was almost entirely in Russian so I missed most of what was going on ...

... to the congregation, and had given a general topic for each of us to focus on. He never once mentioned "crossroads"; however, all of our talks tied together under this theme on decision-making. One of the directions the Zelenograd church is headed in is to determine its roles in the community. It has always reached out to the community even before the building was completed by providing activities for children and care packages for the needy. Potential services ...