China post 6# - still in Moscow!

Our last day in Moscow was our "useless tourist day". We joined the enormous line to see Lenin's mausoleum, but were told by the guards after half an hour that we had no chance to get in - it was noon and the tomb shuts at 1 p.m.. All of Red Sq is shut off for these days and you have to pass through metal detectors and a bag check first. No laughing, no drinks, no photos and no t-shirts with "Lenin sucks" on them. You get about a minute in front of the body, which could be mostly wax at this stage - what a loss.

Next was the Kremlin, where we bumped into the Irish lassies from SP, but just as we all got to the ticket counter the machine broke down and they didn't know when it would be repaired. We decided to come back the next day Thursday ...

We tried the Moscow History museum in Red Square next, but while queuing here there was some kind of altecation between a dark skinned man and several young drunken navy sailors. The preceded to kick the shit out of him in a corner and all the police normally milling around mysteriously disappeared! We abandoned the scene with haste.

Next was the Moscow State Uni, a long metro ride and walk afterwards. Our student cards and pleading to the stern faced and confused guards got us nowhere, so it was off to one of the biggest markets in Moscow. Pretty drab and not very lively we paid 3 euro for a few apples and oranges and headed across the city to VVT park.

The VVT park was initiated by Stalin to show the wonderful facets of all parts of the soviet union - now it's like a soviet theme park and has been converted into a commercial shopping centre .... ah, the new Russia.

We spent an enjoyable few hours here walking around and sampling Georgian wine and Armenian brandy.

Ended up dining in a Georgian restaurant that night (supposedly the best soviet cuisine) and paid nearly 40 euro for a bottle of ice-cold platinum vodka, our first on the trip. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a snap of the bottle, but it became our vodka of choice on the trip and was of course a third of the price in the supermarket.