It's hard to believe I was in Moscow!!!! It's one of those places that you've always known where it was, seen it on the news and in movies but never thought that you'd actually be there, standing in Red Square, looking at the high walls of the Kremlin and the candy swirl domes of St Basil's. But there I was! My train arrived in about 6am so I was checked in and sorted pretty early and whilst I had things to do nothing was going to happen, including coffee which I desperately needed, before I got to Red Square. It was all fenced off for some reason, but the mist floating across gave it a wonderful, mysterious atmosphere.

My coffee mission was unsuccessful but I did find fabulous pastries in a tiny shop in a road underpass. Destination was the Pushkin Art Gallery. The first floor has the most incredible collection of Impressionist and early 20th century art that I have seen in a long time. I briefly slid through the rest of the gallery but returned to soak up the colours and images of some fabulous paintings that I'd never even seen in books before. Complete joy for a culture vulture like me :)
Moscow is a big, chaotic, confusing place. Noisy and dirty as most big cities are. It has a population of about 9 million and counting I think. It was hard to get a grip on the place, to orientate myself. Fortunately I was given the contact details of Katerina, a friend of a guy I met in Warsaw, and she very kindly took me out late Friday evening for a long drive, showing me all the sites and telling me loads of history, even though she was dead tired after a long week at work. We went to a pub but she ended up having to have a business meeting (at midnight on a Friday night!!!) She works for Coca Cola as one of their highest sales execs and she told me that because she gets a vry good salary, a lot higher than average locals, the work expectations are similarly higher! High price to pay I think!
I spent a lot of time a little bit lost in Moscow and twice I went to the wrong museum. Well not wrong exactly, one they had changed the name and contents - The "Museum of the Revolution" is now just Contemporary Russian History (but missing out the revolution!) and the Tretyakov Gallery had a nice collection but the 20th century painters were in the New Tretyakov a 40 minute walk away and I had no more time. Oh well.
But Moscow wasn't all frustration and disappointment. Along with Eric from Portland, Oregon, I went to the Circus!!!! It was in a permanent building with an impressive hydraulic wall which the raised and lowered around the edge. The animals in the foyer that you could get your photo taken with were a bit of a shock. Shabby old elephant, fluffy dromedary, cute little chimps in t-shirts and shorts, a glossy black panther, sleepy leopard and lion cub. Kind fo strange being that close to such animals, coming from the animals rights world that I grew up in. It was a joy watching the kids running around, posing for photos, gazing with wonder at everything (Eric and I were just as bad!) The show itself was brilliant. Wasnt too thrilled with the animal acts, Riverdance on horseback and Jimmi Hendrix chimps...?!!! But the acrobats were incredible. Sure you see stuff like that on tv, Cirque du Soleil etc (which one day I will hopefully see live) but to see these kids, no wires, flying around, defying gravity and common sense. It's just breathtaking. Definitely a matinee to remember!
Also fabulous was my few hours of relaxing in the banya. It's a Russian combination of sauna and Turkish baths. A very indulgent way to spend a couple of hours, alternately steaming in the super humid sauna, ocasionaly beating yourself with the branches of a birch tree, jumping into an icy cold pool of water, sitting in the lounge sipping cups of tea and reading magazines, then doing the cycle all over again. I felt a girl renewed when I left.