The Tour Officially Began

Trip Start Sep 13, 1997
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Trip End Oct 02, 1997


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Monday, September 15, 1997

The tour officially began! UniWorld arranged us in 6 tour buses and headed for Moscow city tour. We only made stops at some points, including the most famous one - Red Square. We had chance to walked around in the square and got the best angles of Cathedral of St. Basil, the most famous landmark in the whole Russia. This cathedral's multicolored onion domes is the classic example of the traditional orthodox architecture. Other points stopped: the Novedovichy (New Maiden) Monastery and Moscow University. And the last one, Radisson Hotel for exchange Russian Roubles, I doubt if that counts as a stop.

You know about "city tour", you sit in the bus all the time and the tour guide keeps talking and talking:"At the right, it is blah blah, look at your left, it is dadada....."

In the afternoon, I had chance to wander around with my mother in the streets of Moscow. We walked from some place called 'Ulitsa 1905 Goda' outside of Moscow's "Garden Ring " to the east end of Arbat street, some old-historic-street- turn-new-chic-place in Moscow. After the long walk, we took metro back to the pier.

Taking metro for a non-Russian readers in Moscow is a very challenging experience, specially if you are traveling with your mom, who happens to want to see all the metro stations with the grandest interior decoration but feels daunted by the Cyrillic alphabet...... For more about the metro(subway train) systems in Russia, see my separate article about it.

There is a folklore concert tonight on board. It was also the first time I heard the most famous Russian folklore song "Kalinka"

I would hear that songs dozens times more afterwards, just like hearing "Macarena" on a Caribbean cruise.

10:30 pm, we set off for an "optional tour" (which means extra charge) of "Moscow by night". We went back to Red Square and Moscow University again. The Cathedral of St. Basil looks even more exquisite under the moonlight. Then, World War II Memorial, where they light the fountains with red color to symbolize the blood Russians shed in the War. It is after 1:00 am after we returned to the boat. I didn't take melatonin this night.

Moscow night is not really attractive at all. The street is so empty, just like.......Baltimore. But the Red Square is beautiful!
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