A short day in Moscow

Our only day in Moscow began on a lovely sunny morning with the smell of cigarette smoke drifting up from the ground and into the open window of this our fifth floor room. After breakfast, we walked to Red Square, which was a good way along a wide and busy boulevard. Every few hundred yards there was a prominent sign offering US Dollar/Euro forex.

We found that we could not walk between the Moscow river and the Kremlin, as preparations were underway for a marathon that afternoon. We saw squads of smart-shirted policemen walking up to take their posts, and some serious hard-looking men with dogs to sniff out drugs and explosives - though the dogs were not serious and were happy to play and scamper about. 

Russian - at least Moscow - roads are swept clean regularly. As we crossed the river three street cleaning lorries swept along, spraying water across the road in powerful jets. It is an effective and worthwhile public service in a hot climate. I have seen the same thing elsewhere in the world. 

We walked along the banks of the Moscow river, and crossed again to the Church of Christ Saviour, the largest Orthodox cathedral in the world. 

One phenomenon we saw a great deal of was wedding parties. On this sunny August Saturday, we saw not fewer than seven or eight wedding parties, with guests in their best dresses and suits, the bride in white, posing for photographs against some landmark or other. On that note, in Moscow nearly everyone - perhaps truer to say most women - dress smartly. Here you will see women in high heels and cocktail dresses popping out for a stroll in the park, ladies dressed fit for a nightclub going down to the shops to buy a loaf of bread.

We had lunch in My My (pronounced "Moo Moo"), a reasonably priced fast food joint serving a fine selection of food. Our lunch - main courses, starters (including Russian "borscht" beetroot soup), bread and beers, cost R1538 which is about £38.

We wandered up and down Arbat - the souvenir shop district - and then retreated from that cruelly expensive place to sit in Gorky Park for a while, listening to faux South American music. There are only so many times you can listen to "Theme from Last of the Mohicans" played in an "Inca" style...

Near midnight we made or way to Yaroslavskaya station, and prepared to join one of the great trains of the world - train 020 from Moscow to Beijing.