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Mike's RTW Trip 06/07
Well I have lived a dream of mine and that was to stand on Red Square. OK it was not all covered in snow and minus 40 degrees but somehow I did not mind that it was sunny. I actually got goosebumps whilst standing there. I had a guide Oleg, who was showing me the sites. It was helpful to have him as buying metro tickets would of been interesting. I'm slowly starting to remember some Russian words like "Please, thank-you & hello". I have been reading a book about Russia during the time that I have been here which has given me an impression of what the USSR was before it became Russia. It's quite a read and also opened my eyes to what communism did to this country.
I spent 3 days wandering around the Kremlin, Cathedral of Christ our Saviour, Pushkin Museum, Red Square etc. My impression is that Moscow is big and also not very friendly if you don't speak the language. Although at night time a lot of people go to one of the squares where they hang out and drink beer with friends. I managed to get some more reading books as I'm on the Siberian train tonight and will be onboard till tomorrow 5pm. It will be interesting to see who I share a cabin with as I have not yet anybody in my hotel that is doing the same route as me. I met 3 English guys that were spending 4 days on the train going to Irkutsk. I'm stopping half way at Ekaterinburg for 3 days of site seeing. Doing some background reading is a must to appreciate what you are looking at.
Chatting to another English couple I met last night they have just come up from Beijing and they said Mongolia was awesome and the people really friendly. So am looking forward to the archery, horseriding and Nadaam festival.
The one thing that I did not realise is that I would not have a guide all the time on this trip, which makes me feel that I paid a lot of money for something that I could probably have arranged myself. Oh well next time it will be easier.
I was also struck at the contrasts between the very old cars and the new cars. The poor vs wealthy in Moscow. There are huge departments stores here with all the western labels.
And yes its true what they say a lot of Russian woman are hot, not just the tennis players!
I hope to post my pictures up here somehere along the line. Will need to find an Internet cafe that will allow me to post pictures up.
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