Or Moscow in two and a half days on a dead run.
We were met at the airport by Lara who escorted us by mini van to our hotel where we went directly to lunch without passing “go” and collecting $200. After lunch we went to our rooms to find the luggage waiting and enough time to figure out how to operate the safe and freshen up for our tour of Red Square and GUM the major department store that has stood on one edge of the square for 120 years. We got yelled at for being late coming down from our rooms as there was no place to park the mini van and he was tying up traffic illegally while waiting, as if anything could make this traffic worse. Dinner was not included and four of us set out up the street to a Scottish (!) Restaurant. It was quite good and we enjoyed ourselves. I couldn’t bring myself to order Scotch so I had vodka deeming it appropriate in Moscow even in a Scottish restaurant.
Tuesday, today? We dressed with as many layers as we could fit against extended time in 30 F temperatures for extended walking in unsheltered park areas. We toured a Midtown Cemetery where, Krushchev, Yeltsin, Shostakovich, Rostropovich, Mikoyan (that’s a history test) and many other luminaries, political, military and arts are buried. We visited Victory Park (WW II) which seems to extend forever, there is a fountain for every day of the war. Finally we spent a long time in an art gallery dedicated to Russian art, Tretyakov Gallery, from the days of icons to just before the war. After a tour ofthe Moscow subway, we returned to our hotel to thaw out. Later we got 6 of us together for dinner out at an “oriental” restaurant. The menu ranged from Turkish to far Eastern and it was very enjoyable. It would have been more so without the hookah pipes at nearby tables.
I have noted that we are a well oiled tour group. We managed to stay together on the subway through rush hour and then find our way from the Metro stop to the hotel after Lara dropped us at the nearest stop.
In the morning we tour the Kremlin grounds. It will be cold! After lunch we return to the hotel to pack and prepare for a final farewell dinner. We fly on the following morning to Shanghai to join a new group and begin again.