Radisson Sas Slavjanskaya Hotel And Business Centre Ltd Moscow

... start of our real adventure. After more sightseeing and some panic food shopping in one of the city's most ornately decorated stores (similar to Harrods food hall actually, but it was the only shop we knew), we were driven down several backstreets to an eerie station to start our journey on the Trans-Siberian railway. We didn't realise at first the station was Moscow Central station as our driver had dropped us off at almost midnight at the BACK entrance to the station... !

... Kremlin, and a great cemetary where loads of famous people are buried (including a very bad taste Boris Yeltsin grave). I had a great birthday on 11th, starting with a chat with my parents, and ending with a lovely meal (thanks Alan and Georgina!) at an Uzbek restaurant, where Nats and I had a specialty "Sultan" dish, yum yum.

It was sad to leave Alan and Georgina after 3 weeks travelling together, but we'll see them very soon!

... we'll start moving ever so slowly away from the station, and I'll think frantically, no, no, no!!! This isn't right, let me off, let me stay, just one more day, one more hour, one more minute!! But it'll be too late, and the city lights will disappear in a flash behind me and I'll be gone, and no amount of screaming, crying or fist-beating will bring me back.

Goodbye, but not farewell Moscow. You and I have a date in the future real soon.

... course ), got a few words, but didn't excite me too much. As I exit the teatre, I saw this massive military parade down Tverskaya Ulitsa, the largest boulvard in Moscow toward the Kremlin. As I asked some the bystanders, I found out this the day when Russian celebrated their end of WWII defeating the German Nazi's. Kind of remind me of the Red old days where the military parade occurs.

... daunting bit of travel. We shared a berth with 2 Russians, one of whom, Mila, was the Marketing Director of Cosmopolitan magazine in Russia. She was lovely and really helpful as she lives in Moscow and gave us lots of tips. We pitched up at our hotel at 0600 and after a quick wash in their lobby bathrooms went up to the desk to ask them to store our bags. Great shock they allowed us to check in.....FANTASTIC ...

... EVER seen) and Military museum. Unbelievable. And, in the middle - Lenin's tomb. We didn't go inside to see his corpse, but between the colorful cathedral and the deep red brick wall that inclosed the Kremlin, Lenin's magenta and black tomb was small and contrasted terribly. It sat to the right of the stage on which he gave speeches to thousands upon thousands of people some 80 (?) years ago. Yesterday was ...

... is absolutely amazing - clean, fast, safe and the stations are decorated in Art Nouveau style. At least it gives you something to focus on, instead of that sinking feeling as you descend far below the surface of the earth, as most of the stations were built to double as bomb shelters and are very deep - escalator maintenance qualifications would probably earn you a pretty penny in Russia! We did the usual touristy things, visiting St Basil's and ...

... wasn't my fault at the first place.I spoke to him very calmly and told that theres no way in hell,that i'm gonna give you any money.Then he dropped the price for a 100$.Again,I told him that i wasn't gonna pay for something that was his own fault. Then suddenly...BAM!He hit me on the top of my head with a 0,5l beer bottle!The bottle didn't break (thank god) but it put me for a good count of ten.I woke up and felt blood squashing from my head all over the cabin.I stood up and took the ...

... is similar to a plane - lots of noise, bright lights at weird moments, hard benches to sleep on and interrupted by people getting on and off. Still we had all day to nap if needed. We bought more beer, more icecream and managed to pass the time talking to our fellow travellers. We met 3 young brits who had just driven from Hyde Park in London to Ulan Batar in a rally to raise money for a charity in a run ...