Jun 10, 2013 - Red Square, St Basils Cathedral, Novodevichy Convent, Giselle - The Bolshoi Theatre.

Last night we had our orientation tour and today revisited Red Square and surrounds. The walls of the Kremlin towered over us and the numerous red brick buildings were unbelievably impressive. One is now a museum which we didn't have time to visit. Lenin's tomb could be seen in the distance and we walked through Gum a shopping mall which is a restored 18th century arcade of impressive shops. The most impressive building that we were all eager to see was St Basils built by Ivan the Terrible in . What an amazing building. It looks very big...

Jun 10, 2013 - Moscow 1

Monday and we were off to Red Square which runs along one wall of the Kremlin and at the far end is St Basil's Cathedral. St Basil was known as God's fool and his words were respected. So much that it's hard to write about - frescoes, icons, small chapels. Lunch - salad/mushroom soup/ chicken kiev/lemon mousse coffee a little outside the main centre to which noble women discarded by husbands or in some political strife were sent including Sophia the sister of Peter the Great and his first wife. Still a convent. Nearby is the cemetery of so...

Jun 10, 2013 - Moscow

We arrived in Moscow after taking the overnight train from St. Petersburg. Our train compartment was modern, nice but minuscule. Dick and I had a few laughs trying to maneuver around in it especially adding two suitcases and two pack packs. I have to be honest here and say that neither of us got a wink of sleep. The train left at midnight and the beds were not ready till one. We were both overtired by a day of extensive walking and lots of stairs plus not a very good night sleep the night before anyway. We arrived early in Moscow, met our...

Jun 9, 2013 - Moscow

I left London early on Sunday morning and escaped the usual traffic. It was my first experience in Terminal 5 so I had a quick look around and had some breakfast at Gordon Ramsays before heading off to find my flight. A train delivered me to the correct departure gate and the flight was uneventful. I met Suzanne who is also joining the ASA tour and we met our driver who took us to our hotel. John Wregglesworth met us and after a quick freshen up we joined the rest of the group for an orientation walk of Moscow. Clive and Catherine Thomas...

May 1, 2013 - Moscow and beyond

Greetings Comrades. Day 5 in Moscow and I haven't come close to being arrested and sent to a gulag. But I have visited the gulag museum which is sandwiched between upmarket shops. Moscow is in fact a pretty Western city. There are designer shops,, shopping malls, designer clothes, KFC, Burger King and McDonalds and western pop music. The young people in particular seem to have embraced the western life style but the older generation far less so. The best illustration of Moscow's embrace of capitalism and consumerism are Bunker 42 and...

Mar 19, 2013 - Russia

Hey guys, I just got back from Russia. It is amazing there. But again it is hard to understand what they were saying. I visited the Space station. It is so awesome. I also learned that there are over 200 volcanoes. Did you know that one volcano erupted in 2013! that was probably just a few months ago. I saw the dance they preformed. It was very cool. I liked the part where they came out and tried to jump in the air and touch their feet. I know I cold not do that. You must go to Russia!

Mar 19, 2013 - Russia

Hi Everyone I'm in the capital of Russia! I'm in Moscow Russia! Did you know the first woman to go to space was from Russia! I went to a really famous circus in Russia. The circus had very dangerous acts! I love the matryoshka dolls! The dolls are very unique! The dolls have one huge one on the outside, then in the huge one there is a big one, inside the big one there is a medium one, inside the medium one there is a small one, finally in the small one there is a tiny one! I bought one for the house. I went to St. Basil's Cathedral. Russia...

Jan 6, 2013 - The Nutcracker- where it all began

1/6 Wow. 8 hours of sleep. Haven't seen that in 6 days. I rise immediately at 9am - even though its still dark. I have to say living here is hard. Really hard. Cold, snowy,dark from 5pm to 11am. No light. It's night all the time. And Moscow is dirty and slopping with the snow on the ground. I wake with an extra 4 inches. Yeah!! At least it gives me grip on the layers of frozen ice. I have a quick breakfast - included in my $150 a night great hotel and head out to the Bolshoi theater to watch The Nutcracker- where it all began. I head to the...

Jan 5, 2013 - Beautiful Moscow

Have to share from last night- no English TV. Not even BBC. I did watch international skiing and the US didnt qualify for the final. Interesting being telecast in Russian. Also watched fear factor in Russian. English or Russian - eating insects is gross either way. Picked up in a brand new Mercedes 500 - less than 100 miles in it so it was a great 'new' car smell. It had snowed all night and my driver was spectacular so we stopped at a bunch of great spots to take pics with snow. I arrive at the train station. Not a lick of English. No...

Sep 18, 2012 - Moscou

Moscou Russie En ce beau dimanche 16 septembre, nous débutons notre 13e semaine de voyage en prenant le vol en direction de Moscou. La jeune hôtesse de l'air porte un joli képi rouge pour aller avec son tailleur de même couleur et de mignons gants blancs. Belle envolée d'une heure. L'aéroport se trouve en banlieue, notre Mirabel québécois. Nous devons donc prendre le train qui est très moderne et rapide vers le centre-ville de Moscou. De là, nous prenons le métro qui est lui aussi plus moderne qu'à Saint-Pétersbourg. La pollution semble...

Jul 24, 2012 - A Glimpse of Russia

Our arrival in Moscow was interesting, after a short flight from Stockholm in a half-full plane and it was nice not to be squashed in like Norwegian sardines for a change! We were supposed to be met by a tour guy but he wasn't there and the Information counter was closed...taxi drivers were hounding us for a fare - it would be a nice one into the city! Anyway eventually a rather flustered young man came rushing in the door with our names on a piece of paper, so we were relieved. He had no English at all, so I started trying to remember my...

Jul 23, 2012 - Sherementyevo, escale extraordinaire

Le premier voyage en avion s'est tres bien passe etant donne que Suzanne s'est endormi alors que l'avion se mettait sur la piste de decollage, soit reellement 2 minutes avant le decollage et elle a ecrase pdt 2 heures. L'avion lui a enormement plu et l'arrivee puis le depart de moscou ont ete vraiment super. \Elle a adore tous les avions, qu'elle appelle " BATO" et toutes les lumieres. Donc tete collee au hublot donc pas peur du tout ni du decollage , ni de ' atterrissage, une creme.. A moscou , elle a fait sensation avec tous les enfants,...