Moscow

11 August- last day with guide. Walked to Red Square to visit St Basils Cathedral. Full of old Russian icons. Ivan the Terrible responsible for the building of this Cathedral I believe . All gets a bit confusing after a while because the cathedrals get rebuilt at varying intervals and their purpose/meaning changes depending on regime change. Anyway incredibly beautiful inside and out. Very atmospheric. More a Capella singing inside to enjoy by male voices- no organ music in Orthodox churches. We're given more history to absorb about the eventual defeat of the Mongol Tartars, the Troubles before the appointment of the first Romonovs i.e. major unsettled times etc. seen enough Russian  religious icons to last us a while. Was also told the Bolshevics wanted to blow up St Basils i. e. Stalin but some brave architect refused to let this happen- basically camped there. Saved the church but he ended up in a gulag. Now like a national hero. After St Basils rode the famous Moscow metro with our guide and saw some incredible artwork inside the stations. The stations were built in the late 1930's and the mid 1950's- well the ones we saw were. The art was 'socialist realism' which was the only art allowed in the Soviet era. More hammer and sickles and statues/mosaics of Lenin as well. He is the only acceptable past ruler it seems. Other than the past Tsars. No statues etc of any that came after- well not yet anyway. oh yes- much excitement outside St Basils. Kremlin is closed today and a very noisy helicopter with camoflage flew in low into the Kremlin and it was Putin - well that was what we were told. People around us were very excited. Back to the metro- stations all very beautiful plus it is very impressive as a means of public transport. Very efficient it appears. Almost forgot- walked through GUM department store. Very upmarket. Were offices at some stage during 'Soviet times' ( getting used to that phrase). Now again all shops and food. Very glamorous. Also one of their favourite tourist things both here and in St Petersburg was to have people wandering around in period costume and you paid for photos with them . St P was full of people looking like French nobles to me. Moscow had men dressed as Stakin, Putin and Lenin. Our guide Masha told us at one stage one person appeared dressed as Hitler- she said in her deadpan way that no one wanted a photo with him. Not sure what he was thinking. While Stalin is not now liked they will laugh about some aspects- no one here laughs about Germany and WW2. I think Hitler rates just above Napoleon in the unpopularity stakes in Russia.

Both feel like over- stimulated 5 year olds. Been so much to absorb this holiday and learn and think about. Enjoyed Moscow as much as St Petersburg. Place and its history is fascinating. Also been worthwhile having guides- good for explanations at sights etc but also we got at least some local perspectives on life now and in the recent past. Did not like to pry too much as still some sensitivity about the break up of the USSR and did not want to appear condescending when asking questions about life under Stalin, Kruschev etc ( both guides being old enough to remember) as so much seems so bizarre in Australian eyes but we're not Russian or lived through any of this.
Just had last dinner at restaurant at hotel-,kept it fairly plain given long flight tomorrow. Stephen made very apt comment about hotel while eating dinner- reminded him of the hotel in the movie The Grand Budapest Hotel. Perfect description - slightly bizarre, old fashioned complete with maitre de resembling Ralph Fiennes.

Favourite parts of holiday? Possibly Norwegian scenery on the fjords especially, Norwegian people- love their understated manner- suits us both and for me- Russia. Really enjoyed other bits but probably these were the highlights for me.