(Wednesday 6, September)

Доброе Утро/Добрый день (Good Morning/Good Afternoon)

Day two started with a wake up call at seven fifteen in the morning, breakfast and then down to reception ready to take the bus into Moscow city center for the city tour and the Kremlin. Svetlana (Севтлана), our guide showed us and explained all the important and interesting buildings that lined the streets of Moscow. We saw the government building (The White House) and several statues of patriotic people who devoted their life to Russia.

Our first stop of the day was Red Square, this is the main square in Moscow and is celebrating its 870th anniversary this year. The square is a place to gather and celebrate, it is also used to show off power with military parades. Especially during the Soviet Era. After spending some time in Red Square we then went for lunch, a four course meal obviously, before making our way to the Kremlin.

The Kremlin (Кремль) means town surrounded by a wall. The Kremlin has three cathedrals that dedicate to various aspects of Christianity in Russia; patriotic people such as Peter the Great and Ivan the Great (Terrible) are buried there. After the Kremlin we made our way back to a few parks before heading back to the boat for dinner. With our bellies stuffed with tasty Russian food we boarded the bus for our tour of Moscow by night.

The tour started off with the Metro system which was first commissioned in 1935 and only had thirteen stations. It now has over 200 stations. Each of the stations are decorated in different styles are made to look grand. After spending time on the Metro we walked out onto Red Square, the buildings were all lit up with one looking very festival. Some of the domes had little stars which were all  lit up as well. From Red Square we ventured on to a few parks and saw some interesting statues before heading back to the boat for the night as it was quite late.