30th April 2013 You will hardly believe it but I was speechless at times today!

This is the first time we will have a day with an Audleys guide and we are being picked up at 10. After a great nights sleep, not difficult after so much walking yesterday, we had breakfast and were ready on time to meet Tatiana our guide. The trip is a walking tour of the Kremlin, Red Square, the Armoury and the Cathedrals and the Metro which is famous and as it turned out justifiably so.

Right on time Tatiana arrived and we set off. Her English is perfect and our first stop was the local Metro station.The stations were designed by people from different regions in Russia and in the first one there were wonderful lights and oval recesses in the ceiling with different paintings in each recess. We have never seen anything like it and this was to be the case with most of the rest of the day for us.

We got on the train and immediately someone stood up for us to sit down. The trains are clean and so are the stations and very fast and frequent. As someone who hates the tube in London I found the spaciousness of the trains and the stations ok which was great given our schedule for the next 5 or 6 hours.

Off the train into another fabulous station.  We had read that we would not be able to take photos but this turned out to be wrong and I took almost 200 pics over the trip.

First stop Red Square which of course contains St Basils Catherdal, Lenins Mausoleum, the Gum department store and many other important buildings. This lived up to expectations but I don't think it is the hightlight of what Moscow has to offer.  The walk to the Kremlin allowed us to see some of the other different important buildings in Moscow.  We saw one building which is under restoration. We would not have realised this unless Tatiana had told us as it was covered in canvass with a picture of what the building will look like once it is finished.  This is not the first building we have seen like this since we left home.  We saw the first in Cologne. Clever. Pic in Gallery if Charlie manages to
upload the ones I am sending him each day. Loading them here seems to be difficult

The next part of the day was spent visiting three Catherdrals. There was no photography allowed sadly but we have a book and I will take some pics from that to put into the blog gallery. These Catherdrals were unbelievably wonderful.

People attending a service had to stand and the service would often go on the half a day.  In one we were told that the services were often televised and that national dignatories would attend and get on TV. They, unlike the rest of the congregation, just stay for a while. There are no seats so people must be squeezed together on big occasions.

Easter is coming up next week and it is a big feast here. The restuarants have a menu for Lent. No meat only vegetarian dishes and fish. Of course they also have a normal menu.

There is no alter as we know it but a floor to ceiling screen of icons of the various saints, the apostles and of religious scenes. There are paintings on every surface floor to ceiling and much gold leaf. There are wonderful candles on all the ledges, now electric but still lighting up the churches fabulously. I don't think I would have believed all this if I had not seen it and having Tatiana to explain made the day perfect.

On for another walk to The Armoury which is houses wonderful state and church treasures. Robes of the Zsars, Dresses of Catherine the Great, crowns, thrones, carriges and sledges, jewelled bibles, so much wonderful stuff that it is impossible to describe.  Come here if you can.

We saw some of the Faberge eggs. Sadly the best ones are in China and have been in Hong Kong. We thought we could see them there when we get there but they will be gone by then. Again I bought some PCs and will take some pics of them. Tatiana told us that there were about 50 eggs made originally but that 40 were sold off. An Amercan, Forbes, had several and now his family are apparently selling some of them off and the Russians are buying them back.

She said that "your Queen has some!" I was not sure if there wasn't a small note of accusation in her voice? Probably not but it must be galling to have such treasures sold out from under the nations nose and know how fabulous they are and not be able to see them.

We had a really great day with Tatiana because we were aable to discuss some political issues which we found particularly interesting.

Moving on we had pancakes for lunch before visiting a the Cathedral of St Saviour. This was only rebuilt and reopened in 2000. It had been blown up and when Tatiana was younger she used to swim in the pool that was there for some years.

Then Boris Yeltsin decided to rebuild the Cathederal and it took 5 or 7 years to complete.  Again it is fabulous.

Back to the hotel via several more fabulous metro stations. They are extraordinary and every one is different.  In one there were lamp shades which must have been inspired by Lalique. Fabulous. Come here!

Several times during the day Tatiana said to me "I keep thinking of your family"  She does not know much about her family and was interested in our story and the fact that so many of our family and friends are following this trip with us.

No one today has said "are you going far"

Back to the hotel for about an hour then out to dinner. Again an experience not to be missed.
I was going to make you wait to hear about it but we are off tomorrow night for four nights on the Trans Siberian Railway so if I don't tell you know it will take me a long time to catch up.

After much humming and hawing we decided to bite the bullet and go to Cafe Pushkin. It is very famous and we had read a lot about it. Tatiana called and made the booking for us.

Another 30 minute walk to get there.  The building is very pretty and we were welcomed by uniformed doormen one for the outer door and one for the inner.

As we settled at our table the waiter said would you like to put your bag here. "Here" was a little low Alice in Wonderland sized table beside us especially for handbags.

The menu was amazing. We chose Borsch for Tone and Jellied Pike, Sander and Salmon for me. So  pretty and delicious too.  Pics to follow. I know that is naff but they were so beautiful I could not resist.When mine came there was a little saucer of finely sliced fresh ginger to accompany it!!!!! The waitress spoke good English and I thought she had understood my request to have no ginger. So I did not show her the translation Audleys had prepared in Russian and in Chinese. She thought if I did not have ginger I would be ill.

For main course I had duck with duck liver ravioli and cherrys in kirsch, with no added ginger!  And Tone had Pike and Chips (really)  All delicious again.

After a good rest we decided it would be rude not to have pudding so we shared one. Scrumption and beautiful too.

All the time we had been eating we watch the goings on outside as we were seated fairly close to the door. A man with a big cloak directed cheaufeur driven cars to the kerbside. People came and went. Some looking quite sinister and many to an upstairs dining room.  Bentleys and big BMWs as well as other big cars. Interesting??

We have just got back to the hotel, skyped Cath and Mark and are going to bed.

A quite amazing day. I would say the best so far.

Back in a few days hopefully from Irkutz