The March on Moscow part 2 (K)

Another overnight train brought us into St Petersburg, a city laid out
by Peter the Great in European style (some of the key architects
employed were Italian). It's probably long been the most attractive
big city in Russia, and the new money has helped do it up nicely. The
jewel in its crown is the Hermitage, one of the worst-named buildings
in the world. No self-respecting hermit would have put up with the
sheer luxury and opulence of this huge building and its decor. the 300
or so rooms are now filled with art treasures from all over the world.
We had a mere 4 hours (after queueing) to try and take it all in. For
those of you who've been to Paris, imagine the Louvre, the Musee
d'Orsay and the palace of Versailles all rolled into one and you won't
be far off. In a country that excels in taking large amounts of money
off foreign tourists, it's a steal at 7 quid to get in (and
incidentally has the cheapest internet in the city). We spent much of
the rest of the time wondering around the streets and canals admiring
the other fabulous palaces and cathedrals.

Sadly it was in St Petersburg that we said goodbye to Scott and Gill,
who'd accompanied us through Norway and Russia to this point, but had
little things like jobs and a house to attend to. We consoled
ourselves with some excellent sushi, (St Petersburg's favourite food,
it seems) and caught the fanciest train of the trip to Moscow. It was
a night train, midnight to 8 am and so we didn't spend much time awake
to enjoy it, but at least we slept well.

Moscow has also had some new money put into it, and so the centre is
looking pretty smart. Red square in particular is stunning - possibly
the best-looking square in the world with on the East side, the
Kremlin wall and Lenin's mausoleum in front of it; the magnificent
national museum in red brick to the south; GUM, which I imagined from
hearing tales about the lack of anything to sell in soviet times would
be a drab concrete block is actually an upmarket department store that
would give Harrods a run for its money, especially at night when all
lit up; and finally St Basil's a swirl of onion domes in primary
colours that is almost disney-style in its colourfulness. Inside it's
a little less impressive because it's broken up into a number of small
chapels, so you don't get quite the sense of grandeur inside that you
do in the other big cathedrals of Europe. But like almost all other
Orthodox churches it's a riot of colour - painted walls and gilt all
over the iconostasis. A male choir sang. a hymn inside the tallest
chapel (good acoustics) - very atmospheric - turned out to be a
marketing ploy for selling their CDs, but none the worse for that.

Other highlights of Moscow included celebrity grave-spotting in
Novodevichy cemetery) and visiting Peter the Great's log cabin in the
lovely Kolomenskoye Park by the river. The park is surrounded by apple
orchards and we were tempted to join the locals busily scrumping. We
also visited Adrienne's favourite Russian chain restaurant -
Yalki-Palki (which translates as "bleedin' 'ell!). It's easy to eat
well in Russia, but you often pay a lot for the privilege, so this
cheap and cheerful place was a good find.