The next day, we went with the rest of the group on the city tour, even though we had done it the previous year. It’s a fascinating city, with some very beautiful old buildings (and some horrible 50's and 60's ones). We spent some time looking around the beautiful cathedrals in the Kremlin, as well as its armoury with its fabulous collection of the Russian crown jewels; royal and church garments, richly decorated with gems; and the famous Fabergé eggs. There we bought a Russian doll ("Matrushka") for a friend of Bruce as we couldn’t quite run to a Fabergé egg. In the afternoon, we decided to break free and to make our own way round Moscow and explore further for ourselves.

Astonishingly, the Muscovites have felt the need to rebuild another cathedral demolished by Stalin to make way for an open-air swimming pool. Within two years of starting construction, it already towers over the Kremlin.

Negotiating the Metro was fun, and we got very lost at one point. For some reason, interchange stations have different names on the different lines... But people were very helpful and pointed us in the right direction. Indeed, wherever we went, the Russians were always helpful (well, almost always - read on!). I found a classical CD shop in Moscow’s Regent Street, Novoarbatskya, but like all shops, the choice was very small and even I could only find three to buy - all roughly 2/3 UK price. We also went to a book shop to get a Russian cookery book for David. Now, I know the word I wanted was "Kylinaria", but as in Russia all goods are behind glass and you cannot handle them, having found some cookery books, I had no idea what sort they were - it could have been about French cookery. I caught the eye of the assistant behind the counter: her name badge told me she was called Olga. "Kylinaria Rossia?", I asked ("Russian cookery book"?). Well, you’ve heard the expression that a look conveys a thousand words: Olga’s look said, "Look, buster, I’m having a very bad day - my boyfriend dumped me last night, I’ve been on my feet all morning and I’ll be damned if I’m going to offer a foreign tourist who can’t speak Russian an iota of help or even courtesy.": as you can tell, a very eloquent expression. What she actually said was, "Da, Rossia", ie, "Yes, of course it’s in Russian, you dolt, what did you expect in a Russian shop, that all the books would be written in Spanish?" Nevertheless, I was now determined to acquire this volume, so I indicated that I would take it. This is not straightforward in Russia, but at least I knew the procedure from our last holiday in Russia, and this was the opportunity for the charming assistant to redeem herself. She could either (a) write on a piece of paper the price of the book and give it to me, or (b) do nothing and let me go to the cashier and say in my best Russian, "Look, I want a book costing eighteen roubles from that helpful assistant over there. Here is twenty roubles. May I have a receipt for eighteen and two change, so that I may exchange the receipt for the book? Thank you" You may not be surprised to learn that Olga went for option (b). However, the cashier was marginally more helpful, and my ability to count up to twenty in Russian, and a lot of sign language and pointing at the assistant, got the message across and I returned to the counter, triumphantly, with my receipt. Lovely Olga, expecting defeat, had put the book away and so it was with great pleasure that I flourished my trophy. Scowling she gave me the volume. Victory! But I still wonder what I have bought...

We also went to the university to see the viewpoint over looking the city where I managed to get a couple more lacquer boxes to add to my collection at a very good price from some street traders.

Later, we went back to the river port and our ship.
We felt proud of ourselves for finding it all by ourselves using the metro and following directions
from the metro station which was a short walk across the park.

Above: A bad photo taken in the park,
very close to where our ship was moored.

Above: This photo was taken a year earlier when we
cruised from Moscow to St Petersburg. Spot the difference!

This photo of the Moscow river port was also taken the previous year

Back on the ship for dinner (the one on the left, below), we were pleased to discover
that they still sold very good Russian "Champagne" for $10 a bottle...

That evening we left Moscow, sailing along the Moscow Canal towards the Volga river itself.