Our next leg of this adventure takes us away from the warm weather and sunshine to Moscow, Russia. We have a fairly short 5 hour flight and land in cold miserable weather to the sound of a very well known song playing through the cabin of the plane; “I can see clearly now the rain has gone.” We all agree that this flight also had some of the best airline food we have ever tasted. The airport was a simple affair, with the sole Duty Free shop closed for “renovations”. Going through passport control was quite tense and took forever. Whilst this was going on the passenger at the next desk was taken away by a very scary looking federal agent. We were met by a man holding a sign with our name on it which was nice, he was very patient whilst we organised some cash and a SIM card. The drive into Moscow should have taken 60mins but took well over 2 hours. Our hotel was the Novotel Moscow City and was one of the nicer rooms we have stayed in. The girls both agree that breakfast here is the best they have ever had in a hotel.

The next day we get right into it and do a Free Walking Tour to see some of the major sights. First we had to navigate the Metro system which in itself is a major tourist attraction. We catch the metro to Red Square, the major tourist area in Moscow. At the moment it is full of Christmas festivities, Ice skating and amusement rides for the kids. Red Square is flanked by the Kremlin, St Basil’s Cathedral, the other end is the State Historical Museum, and the other side the famous GUM department store. Let me just say it was freezing cold. We were prepared for walking but we weren’t prepared for standing at each place for 20mins whilst the guide told us all about it. After an hour or so we had a break in GUM to warm up but it was very cold, approx 1-2 degrees.

The walking tour finished in a very large department store filled only with toy shops and kids clothing stores. The girls thought this was the best thing ever. At the top of the kids department store is a very nice viewing area to look right over the whole city. After the walking tour we went back to Red Square and the sun had decided to come out so another round of photos was in order at all the major sights again. We finished the day by having a look in Kazan Cathedral, which is on one corner of Red Square.

On our last full day in Moscow we booked in a Metro Station tour to find out a little more about the history of this vast network and to also see some of the amazing stations. But before that we went and had a look through the Kremlin and some of the cathedrals. These contained some of the most beautiful artworks and paintings we had seen in any church.

On our way to the metro tour we looked for somewhere to get some money out and went through a shopping centre right next to the meeting point. When we came out the other side I had somehow lost my beanie! Now this would be a total disaster and we were running late to get to the meeting point. So I sent Amy and the girls to go meet the guide whilst I started retracing my steps back through the shopping centre. I eventually found it up 2 levels sitting on a hand rail where someone nice had left it for me. I can say I was very relieved to find it, now time for the Metro Stations.

The Metro tour was fantastic, however there was nowhere near enough time at each station to really do them justice. We raced from station to station for about 2 hours, amongst thousands of other people going about their daily business. The stations were all amazing but by the end we were all very tired and headed back to the hotel. Later that night we headed out for dinner and some more night time photos in the city.

Moscow was amazing, a place that we would love to go back to. You could spend days and even weeks just wandering around and looking at all the amazing sights. I don’t think we spent anywhere near enough time to even cover the basics properly. However it will give us a good reason to come back here in the future if the opportunity arises.