Moscow, Russia

After a non-existent breakfast, our day started with a small tour of the Moscow Metro. Each railway station is ornately decorated with statures and mosaics. Each different from the last. The railway also runs deep underground. It is not known how far down, it is a Russian secret, but it was safe enough to use as a bomb shelter during the World Wars. Our tour included Izmalovsky Park (where the hotel is), Teatrainaya, Kurskaya and Prospekt Mira. The railway is privately owned, but it’s future is bleak. The owners intend to redesign the stations and sell off the art and/or melt the bronze statues etc. It would be such a shame to lose such magnificent art.

Komsomolskaya Metro Station, Moscow Russia

Lenin Statue, Izmalovsky Metro Station, Moscow, Russia

We went to Red Square again, where we went to visit Lenin’s Tomb, which was a somewhat morbid experience. Lenin has been dead near 70 years, and he is laid out in a way and preserved in a bullet proof glass case. He looks like he is stall at the funeral parlor or something you would find in Madame Tussaud’s. Behind the tomb is the burial ground of many of the Soviet leaders, such as Stalin, and plaques to the famous Russians, such as astronaut Yuri Gagarin (first man in space).

After this we had some spare time, so Roberta and I went for a walk up Tverskaya (the main road) before finding a market to buy some lunch to eat in a nearby park.

We then headed back to the hotel, after a couple of mis-stops on the Metro – can’t read Cyrillic - for a quick nap before the night out.

This night saw us back in town to see the Stanislavsky Ballet. It is said that this is the premier Russian ballet now, as the great dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet defected to the west at the fall of the Soviet Union. The performances we saw tonight were of Sulamimite, the tale of a king who falls in love with another woman. When his queen finds out, she plots to kill her, but the king kills his queen first. The 2nd act was the story of Salome – the dancer who impresses King Herod so much that he offers her anything she desires. She asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. John, at the time, was imprisoned by Herod but not put to death for fear of retribution. Although it was not classical ballet I expected, I still really enjoyed it.

Another Metro ride home before a quiet evening at home watching France and Saudi Arabia in the World Cup.