Back to 2. city... Moscow

When we (=the comebackers) arrived back to Moscow by plane the group split up and everyone went home... The plane took 5 hours and I was really satisfied with the Aeroflot service as for breakfast we had a 3 course meal with salmon and basically unlimited tea/ drinks!

In Moscow I had a very very nice host from our organizers group. 2 other participants also lived there for a couple of days. For me, these were the 2 last days in Russia. But I'm glad that I booked my flight 2 days later (23rd July) 'cos there were still a lot to see in Moscow.

This time Obama was far away so everything on the Red Square and Kreml worked as usual... so my first thing to visit was the Lenin Mausoleum and the Kreml. In school I learned a lot about Lenin so it was a pleasure to meet him... it is not allowed to stay next to him for a long time just a few seconds then you hear a click from the guards which means that you have to go further... it is quite dark in the Mausoleum so actually Lenin looks like a wax figure... but maybe it's because of the preparation... anyway it was a nice experience 'cos I really felt myself back in time :)

Then the Kreml was simply amazing!!! Soooo beautiful churches inside, all of them painted from inside from wall to wall, from down to the top... no words to describe! Here are some photos...
















Then the Red Square again...
Moscow metro stations are nice and famous... some are made of marble, some have mosaics, some look like a lobby in a hotel, but all of them are different and exceptional... as it is under the ground in case of a war it could be a shelter so this makes all metro station stategically important therefore it is not allowed to take photos... just some shots on the run...



Moscow is among the most expensive cities in the world... so of course I've walked on a fancy shopping street :)
Next to the shopping street suddenly a lovely little monastery happened to be on the way...


Then a huge square with the statue of Puskin
Just recently the government has finished to built this palace which was originally planned by Yekaterina tsar lady... I've no clue what is the official name of the palace... but it was nice wandering around :)



Until this point I always went together with nice other participant(s) from here I went alone.
First to the Novodevichy Convent (=monastery) which was amazing... just like the churches in Kreml







Next to the monastery there is a world famous Novodevichy Cemetery, full with famous politicians, actors, musicians, warriors, writers etc... so pretty much everybody who was an important figure of the Russian history!
My second stop was the Tretyakov State Gallery (the old one) with all the famous Russian paintings... for me "starring" Andrej Rubljov's icons
Then I just walked along Moscow river a bit...
a monument to Peter the Great:

There are a lot of paintings sold on the bank of the river (next to New Tretyakov Gallery):

Gorkij park...

My Moscow days finished soon and there came the time to get to the airport and fly back home... The way to the airport took 2 and a half hours by bus --> metro --> bus. On the last bus I was surrounded by a real criminal man having his hands in shackles and 2 men with gun on both of his sides... this wasn't a nice experience as I was just started to eat my cheese sandwich in a corner of the bus and these 3 men suddenly surrounded me... but then nothing happened... just my cheese sandwich didn't taste that good afterwards :)