MOSCOW
& ST. PETERSBURG
Friday,
October 5, 2001 Arrive Moscow
Early in the morning we passed through some of Moscows outer suburbs
including Rostov and Aleksandrov, and caught a glimpse of the gold domes
of Sergiev Posad. After the train rolled into Moscows Yaroslavskiy,
we were transferred to our hotel. The first morning we visited some
of the city highlights with Olga, our Moscow tour guide.With a population
nearing 9 million, Moscow ranks as the worlds fourth largest city.
In the afternoon we had free time to explore the City of Destiny.
While in Moscow, we stayed at the Rossija
Hotel, the largest hotel in Europe.
Saturday,
October 6, 2001 Moscow
We visited the Kremlin, the seat of government in the heart of the city.
Within its walls are many impressive buildings including the modem Palace
of Congress and the magnificent gold and silver domed cathedrals dating
from the 15th and 16th centuries. We also visited the Armoury Chamber
which houses armour, weapons, crowns, jewels and state coaches from
the tsarist period. The afternoon was free to explore this cosmopolitan
city and check our e-mail at one of the impressive internet
cafes. We took in a ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre this evening.
Sunday,
October 7, 2001 Moscow
A free day to explore this thriving metropolis we took a
few subway rides to see the spectacular Moscow underground, where the
stations are virtual art galleries! Before we boarded our train to St
Petersburg in the evening, we caught CNN pictures of the initial bombing
of Afghanistan, which sobered us up and took a lot of the joy of travelling
out of our group.
Monday,
October 8, 2001 Arrive St Petersburg
We arrived early in this magnificent city, and commenced the day with
a city orientation tour. The city is made up of islands linked by bridges
located in the delta of the river Neva which flows into the Gulf of
Finland. St Petersburg is renowned for its superbly planned squares
and wide avenues, and its spacious parks and gardens. Changes in the
worlds fortunes with the start of World War tin 1914 also saw
the city lose its proud identity, being renamed Petrograd. After the
explosive upheavals of the Russian Revolution it was renamed Leningrad
in 1924. The era of glasnost and perestroika
in the 1990s led to the end of communism and the name of St Petersburg
was returned. Seeing its restored beauty of today, it is hard to imagine
the shattering events it has withstood, including the bloody 1917 Revolution
and the bombs and artillery fire of the 900 day siege during world War
II. We took the metro downtown in the afternoon, and walked
around the central area, near St Isaacs Cathedral. In St Petersburg
we stayed at the Moskva
Hotel.
Tuesday,
October 9, 2001 St Petersburg
Todays highlight was the Hermitage museum, located on Palace Square
and displaying one of the worlds finest art collections. The collection
includes millions of items; paintings, sculptures, furniture and antiques.
Wednesday,
October 10, 2001 Tour concludes.
We concluded our Trans Mongolian odyssey today after breakfast, saying
our good-byes to our new-found friends, before heading off to Berlin
for our next travel adventure.
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