Getting to Moscow

After a wait in St.Petersburg Station for our train to be called, we boarded the ‘Megapolis’ sleeper – much excitement as we manoeuvred luggage into the well-designed couchettes and tried out the beds. Surprisingly, once achieved, sleep was good if not long enough. We got into Moscow just after 9.00 am and were met by the local rep and our guide Galina. Soon we were heading into Moscow traffic – could it be worse than St.Petersburg? Much! So we learnt one of the reasons the majority of Moscow’s 8 million inhabitants – plus more who work in Moscow but live outside the city use public transport.

As we went (slowly) Galina pointed out some of the notable landmarks, on our way to our first stop at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral. This is one of the features of Moscow, recently rebuilt to replace the one destroyed by Stalin. No expense was spared to finish this impressive building inside with marble and gold. First we took the lift up to the viewing platform, from where, despite grey weather we could see the major buildings of Central Moscow.

Next we headed out to Moscow State University on the Sparrow Hills, one of the 7 great decorated buildings Stalin built around Moscow. Here we could see across Moscow, with the Olympic Stadium and Park beneath us. Now we had a good idea of the geography of the city we headed for Red Square,stopping off at the Novodivechny Convent which inspired Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

Underneath the towering red Kremlin Walls we took in the famous sights – St.Basil’s with its multi-coloured domes, the GUM Department store, now a huge and very smart shopping complex. Facing it was Lenin’s Mausoleum, unfortunately temporarily closed for renovation, and the huge square itself, across the great May Day parades would process with the Communist leaders on the balcony above his name – a scene familiar to our historians.

It was time for lunch we went out to the new shopping mall built under the square through the arches leading to Red Square and found various eating places – with now a few more trying local fare.