Time to Visit Mr Putin!

September 8th 2017

We don't get up until 8.30am, it's a treat! Thankfully breakfast is included in our package so its just a short hop to the 4th floor. It turns out that this is by far the worst breakfast we have had this trip; we still make do though!

Today we are going to the Kremlin; I wonder if we will see Mr Putin?

First off, we are going to visit St Basils Cathedral so we get the metro to Revolutionary Square; it is then a 5 minute walk to the entrance. There are already many tourists trying to take the perfect picture so we push past and queue for tickets. As it is a museum, I don't have to cover my head or wear a wraparound skirt; what a relief! There are 2 floors to the museum and it is definitely worth a visit, although 500 roubles (£7) is a bit steep!

It's already 12 noon and we are to meet our guide for the Kremlin tour at 12.30pm. Iain is desperate for some food, since breakfast was so disappointing, so we find a place with huge pizza slices; perfect! We walk through Alexander gardens towards the Kremlin ticket office as we are to meet our guide, Snezhana, at booth 13; unlucky for some! She is very different to our guide yesterday; much louder and bubbly but she does have the same lipstick!

We go through a ticket check, then our bags get scanned, but we are in! We enter through Trinity Gate Tower and work our way around the grounds; first stop, the Arsenal where the presidential regiment stay, followed by the senate. This is the seat of the Russian Government but Mr Putin is not here today; he is in Vladivostok meeting the Japanese Prime Minister. We continue past the Tsar Cannon, the largest in the world, then the Tsar Bell, the heaviest in the world and into the gardens where there is a tree planted by Yuri Gagarin. 

The Senate

The Bell - part of it has cracked off.

Tree planted by Gagarin

We then visited the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, where many of the Tsars are buried including Ivan the Great and Ivan the Terrible and the Assumption Cathedral, the traditional place of coronation for Russian Tsars. The last part of the tour took us to the Armoury Chamber which is a treasure trove of jewellery, weapons, armour, regalia, thrones and even carriages. My favourite was the Great Siberian Fabergé Easter Egg; it contained a tiny clockwork model train complete with gold and platinum engine and passengers! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos.

After the Armoury, we said goodbye to our guide and headed for some food. Because of the 870 year celebration, there are lots of little huts selling food and souvenirs. I opted for a lamb shashlyk kebab; this is barbecued and you pay by weight. I also got some bread and onion salad with it; it was delicious but incredibly filling.

We walked around the centre for an hour or and decided to visit TsUM, it is just a very expensive department store and not really worth it although the Fabergé eggs are quite beautiful.

It was time for a coffee and cake! We found a place called Coffee Mania and thinking this was just a normal coffee shop, we walked in! Turns out it is a hip, upscale restaurant and is extortionate! We did stay for cake though and it was lovely....it was also £26 for two cakes, a latte and a beer! I had a Russian honey caked which was amazing! 

We were both pretty full so we wandered around the city again; there is opera and musicians playing everywhere just now due to the celebration. It was starting to get cold and there was a very inviting bar with huge heaters outside. We stopped for a red wine, it was happy hour and it was half price, and watched the world go by.

It was now getting dark so we decided to go and see the square at night before heading back to our hotel....