icy blasts and icons

reading back i see i didn't write about the kremlin visit on our last full day in moscow. well, we did get there despite the icy wind. next time, thermals! so after breakfast and meeting the agency lady with our train tickets we walked, yet again, down tverskaya ul to the kremlin.

the ticket said we could visit everything and the guide book said we could buy a pass to take photos...wrong! no photos allowed in any of the buildings but ok outside. as for the buildings all but one seemed to be shut at first so i had a bit of a rant...blame the cold seeping into my bones.

calming down it became clear that although two of the most externally impressive buildings were closed for renovation (how that has been the recurring theme of this trip!) we could visit the others.
i bought a guide book from the last cathedral and enjoyed reading back in the warm hotel what i should have looked at. happily i could relate a lot of it to things i remembered.

the smallness of the cathedrals was always a surprise and the richness of the icons never fails to delight the eye although even i had to admit to being all iconed out by the time we finished. how such marvels survived the revolution is a miracle although a lot didn't according to my book. i was amused that a great number of the icons had been brought to moscow 'for safety'. i wonder how many churches and cathedrals are now wanting them back?

the 'household items' listed by lonely planet were opulant in the extreme and being explained, very loudly, to a class of bored children by a woman with a very loud voice. we found ourselves dodging in and out of rooms to avoid her, likewise several other couples with their guides.

the stall with the guide book had russian dolls, much cheaper and better quality than the stalls by the resurrection gate on red square so some of those found their way into the stripy 'eco' bag. that bag is in most of the photos of me during this expedition! usually containing brolly, lonely planet,water bottle, souvenirs, wetwipes......travel light? me? :)

the kremlin is actually on a hill which is apparent when you are in the middle of it, hence the biting wind. there are government buldings too but we only saw a couple of soldiers despite my norwegian ladies swearing they saw putin. personally i think it was one of the 'characters' loitering outside. we could have had our photo taken with 'stalin', 'lenin', 'trotsky', the 'czar'......

leaving the plethora of onion domed buildings and the icy blasts, we quickly marched to the food court in the underground mall for lunch and a warm. next the internet cafe and then i heroically walked back to the english courtyard to return the cloakroom disc thingy that i'd forgotten to hand back (lou insisted!). it was shut! i shoved it under the door and when i got back to gum to meet lou i decided i needed to buy that skirt from monsoon as a reward for my selflessness! :)

then the supermarket to stock up on provisions for the train to berlin...getting to be old hands now...coffee, tea, coffeemate, biscuits, fruit, something yummy for breakfast, something for supper...and vodka of course!

that night it was yet another italian meal. there are two italian restaurants near the hotel, always busy and very good food...is there an authentic russian restaurant anywhere near the hotel pekin? we looked but never found one...and which region's cuisine in this vast country would you choose?

next morning we got up at a disgustingly early hour...5 o'clock...to be ready for the taxi driver...who came on time! :) sadly we were far too early at the station and waited on the forecourt for the train to be announced on the board. finally, when i was numb and very stroppy (no morning tea makes lynne a very unpleasant person!) the train number came up and we gratefully headed for our 'wagon'. even then the male prov. seemed in no hurry to let us on. he was very lucky i was weighed down with my back pack as by then i was ready to murder anyone standing between me and the samovar!
the train pulled out through the gloomy dawn and i suddenly realised i was looking at lowry-esque figures slouching along on suburban station platforms. was this what lowry saw in the industrial murk around him and so invented his signature style of drawing people?

we passed through very snowy landscape for most of the day and took the inevitable photos through the grubby windows. i had a strong sense that something very special was coming to an end and was very glad i had scribbled notes at randon times of the day throughout the whole trip which i would enjoy reading later...
and i have! :)