I went out like a light last night.  I’ve caught up with the sleep I lost whilst getting here now and I got up feeling great just before the alarm went off.  A quick shower and off to breakfast.  Still not sure about Russian food though.  I do remember this problem when travelling through the Baltics.  There I had to be very careful what I chose and it always seems the safe option to go for meat.  I don’t know, apart from the coffee, what I actually consumed for breakfast.  I think there was cheese in it somewhere…

After a quick dash back to the hotel room to pack my day bag I was ready to meet the other travellers.

Our group was split up into three chunks and we followed our guides to the nearest metros station, Petrovska-Razomovskaya.  We took in the Kremlin (having got off at one of the three mwtero stations called Borovitskaya!), St Basil’s, Lubljanka and a trip into the Cathedral of Christ our Saviour, having passed the enormous state library.  The cathedral was demolished during the Communist regime.  However, in 1993 with US$300 million and four years of buidling the cathedral was rebuilt exactly as it had been.  To say it was spectacular wouldn’t do it justice.  The guided tour ended in a ‘Sbarro’ restaurant where we spent some time getting to know the other people in the group.

My introduction to the group was through the cost of my lunch, bizarrely enough.  Everyone paid about R450 (£9) for their slices of pizza etc. except I only paid R69 (£1.15) for a pizza, bowl of Borst (Russian meat soup) and a large Diet Coke.  They hadn’t noticed a deal on the wall that I had.

I befriended a couple of Aussies called John and Snowy (dn’t know why he was called that) who managed to get a rubber crash test dummy into almost every photo they took.  Apparently, he had travelled with them all around the world.  I also made friends with a couple of Kiwi girls, Rachel and Julia, who were both lived in London.  The five of us decided to walk back through Red Square to catch a ferry up the River Moscow.  Along the way we noticed that Red Square was being set up for a rock concert.  The ferry journey was outstanding and seeing the Kremlin from the other side was breathtaking.  We also took in the Olympic Stadium that was built for the infamous 1980 Olympics.

After an hour it was time to get off the ferry and cross the beautiful Kievsky Bridge and have a walk up Arbat Street.  We bought all our touristy souvenirs from the market stalls here (in the pouring rain – we’d all laughed at the guide’s warning at the hotel earlier when it was sunny and at 33°!).  After an hour of trekking up and down we went to ‘Mic Mic’s’ (which had a mad cow statue outside the front door) and bought a three course beef dinner for R183 (£3.20).  John and Snowy had departed by now and had been replaced with Craig and Cath (an Aussie and a Kiwi) who told us about their travels over tea.

After tea we trekked all the way to the Kremlin to see the ‘Time Machine’ concert (apparently Russia’s biggest rock band) in Red Square.  What a setting and what a great gig!  The stage was right in front of St Basil’s cathedral and there was a cracking atmosphere.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget this gig!

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