Kremy the Kremlin

Our third day in Moscow started with a quick self tour and photogrpahic journey on some of the most beautiful metro stations in the city on our way to pick up our tickets for our Trans-siberian railway adventure. The photos you see below were quite tricky to obtain as it had be in between each train coming into in the station (which is every 2 minutes) to ensure the photos were not overrun with Russian communters who would probably punch my lights out for taking photos of their angry unsmiling faces. This resulted in me waiting at the side of a passageway until the majority of the platform cleared and then me running out to the middle to quickly grab a photo before the next train arrived and before angry security guards came and told me off. I'm starting to realise there is an angry theme here.

After picking up our tickets with surprising ease, we made our way to the mighty Kremlin (my nickname - Kremy). We thought that the entire Kremlin was accessible based on the map we were given and decided to tackle it logically by transversing it in a clockwise fashion. We noticed that no other tourists were actually in and around this part of the Kremlin but thought that they were stupid not tackling it like we were planning to because we are so awesome. It didn't take long for the sound of shrill whistles to cut through the silence and we looked up to see Russian police officers gesturing wildly for us to return to the other side of the road. I learnt my let iesson pretty quickly, only cross roads at the Kremlin when there are actual crossings and where other tourists around. A given building might look like it's open to tourists, but that doesn't mean it is.

After our run in with the law, we proceeded to be good little tourists and looked around the cathedrals, which were heavily popular with Chinese tour groups, and then made our way to the Diamond Fund where the Russian crown jewels and other expensive jewelleries are held, including the biggest gold and platinum nuggets in the world. I had my eyes on the diamond encrusted crown but Jamie said he couldn't afford it yet which means one day there is hope.

We made our way out of the Kremlin and towards the exit where we encountered a changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown warrior. As Jamie pointed out, these soldiers better have good physiotherapists to correct the unnatural things they do with their legs. Spectacular to watch, disastrous for avoiding arthritis

It was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for our big train adventure which required a trip to the supermarket to pick up some food and more importantly a trip to the liquor store to pick up some vodka, the average price for a bottle being around 300 rubles (less than 5 pounds). I chose an apple infused Russian vodka (I think) for us to share and make friends with on the train.

The night ended with a trip back to the Lemon Pie cocktail place and then back for more shawarmas because they were so bloody good (and relatively cheap).

Tomorrow we hit the Trans-siberian railway, our first leg comprising of 4 nights and 5000km to Irtkusk in Siberia, so it's time for our last good sleep before we get rolled around a train cabin.Read more