Moscow

Landing in Moscow, at last. And a show we have been eagerly looking forward to.

Standing on the Moskva Rover, Moscow is among the largest citys of the world, established in 1147 and is the northernmost and coldest city in the world. 

We were met at the airport and glad I brought my thermals, that cold wind certainly chills the Urals. We were whisked off immediately to a live radio interview on Russia News Service. with Igor Sandler, very famous bloke in Russia and was kind enough to present us with a book wot he wrote. We also met our charming translator, who wore a rather tight leather dress.

All goimng well, but we have been here 3 hours and not had any vodka yet!

The next day we have a few hours to sightsee. So Red Square is our destination. The 1812 museum, pretty good stuff in there, and they even have the sleigh in which Napoleon fled Moscow, uniforms weapons etc.. from the Napoleonic period.

A visit to Lenin's tomb  is a must however I broke my watch at security, my favourite watch too, gutted. A tribute to Rolex I bought in Hong Kong for $25. neen al around the world with me has that watch, I can still envisage as it fell onto the icy floor and the crack as it hit the ground. 

Pete is a big fan of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space when his ship, Vostok, orbited the Earth in 1961, and wanted to see his burial place, although it was out of bounds due to repair works, a young Russian Soldier escorted us in so we could get a pic. Pete was delirious.

Onto the former Royal Palace that is the Kremlin, which is now open to visitors, including the amazing Armoury, with the Coronation Crown.

The last Tzar to be crowned with Monomakh’s Cap was Ivan V, the elder brother of Peter the Great.

After this  the ancient crown was not used again until 2002, when a copy of the crown was made for Vladimir Putin’s 50th birthday and given to him as a gift.

Finally the vodka arrived hooray! Just in time too. The venue was huge, massive stage, the biggest in the world if I got my facts right? certainly the biggest in Russia with at least 20 feet between the band and the audience. But we got them outta their seats and rockin’ in the end.

It was good, nice to see the sights, and everyone involved did a great job, Thanks to you all, hope we go back one day.