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After jetting off on our business class flight, we arrived in Moscow and trekked across town to our hotel using the metro and buses only to find out they provided a complimentary chauffeur. Seems like backpackers aren’t their usual clientele and we have much to learn about living the high life.

The metro is great for getting around the city and the stations look like museums with chandeliers, artworks and sculptures. They were also nice and warm - a good place to hide from the chilly winds. Generally it was freezing cold, we’re glad we weren’t visiting in winter. The deafening noise and exhaust fumes also have a pleasant lulling effect and we often dozed off to and from the city.

We saw the Kremlin and other usual sights but Red Square was closed off because of a forthcoming music concert. Amazingly the guards let us sneak in for a minute to take some pictures of St. Basils. We considered making a run for it inside but weren’t really up for a free holiday to a Siberian gulag. We also took a trip out to a really surreal Communist exhibition park, sort of a World Fair for the USSR. The elaborate buildings must have been impressive in their day but now sit largely empty and it reminded us of an abandoned theme park.

Helen was a bit concerned that we’d be suspected of being spies since her parents also came to Moscow for their honeymoon in the middle of the Cold War. Unfortunately we weren’t even asked “show mee yur papeerz” by stern looking militsia and so boarded our train to Mongolia slightly disappointed we didn’t get to live out our James Bond fantasies.