Siberia 2013: 10.08.13 Moscow here we come!!!

We arrived at the airport in Irkutsk for 6.30am and said goodbye to everyone. We were really pleased that Olga, Natasha and Irina had been able to join us. Boarding the plane at 8am we were crossing fingers, toes and everything else that our return flight would not include an impromptu stop at Ulan Ude although we were braced for it this time!

The flight involved lots of sleeping in preparation for the busy day we had ahead of us. We were met at the airport in Moscow by a lady holding a sign with Alison's name on, she then walked us to a very shiny and rather large minibus which was to take us to the hostel. After a bit of driving around the driver managed to find the hostel and once we'd dumped our bags and changed our shoes we went back to the minibus to begin our tour.

We were shown around on the minibus, stopping off at several places on the way. We visited a memorial park where there were lots of brides wandering around having photos taken. We also visited a Novodevichy Cemetery which is attached to a convent where all of the famous Muscovites are buried including Boris Yeltsin and many musicians, ballet dancers, poets, actors and politicians. We then went on to see Moscow University on Sparrow Hill and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. We were able to go inside the Cathedral which was really impressive and we learnt about it's history including the fact that it is the tallest Orthodox Christian Church in the world and that it had to be rebuilt in the 1990s after being demolished in the 30s after being deemed as being an 'unnecessary luxury'.

We then went to GUM (a massive and very upmarket version of the Trafford Centre) for a traditional Soviet style meal which was really nice. After lunch we visited Red Square and saw St Basil's Cathedral before going on a boat ride down the river. After this we went on the Moscow Metro to see some of the amazing stations, our tour guide Dmitri was really good at telling us about the different images on the walls and ceilings. Once back at the hostel it was time for a much needed shower, dinner and bed!