Mike arrived on Boxing day when it was absolutely P-I-S-S-I-N-G it down with rain, there were small ponds everywhere!! Djalma and I waited for him for over 2 hours at the Airport (now that's what I call love!) and filled our time with a beer and tempura sushi. On the coach back into Moscow he was invited to a game of chess (with a lovely Russian boy) but only won one of the games they played!! It was charmed first hour in Moscow! That night was the only Saturday he was here for (the last Saturday night of 2009 no less!) and although Djalma had big plans for him (and so did Big Ben) we ended up staying in and having a relatively early night.
The next day was a late start, Djalma was working but we took him to Izmailovksiy Market where he bought a Russian hat and a 100ml shot glass (convinced it was the same size as a shot glass back home!!)
The next day (Monday) was also a fairly laid back affair with regards to rise and shining time. Michael and I headed out to Sparrow Hills and climbed the hill to the top, to look out over Moscow while dusk fell, about ten minutes after we got to the top, the lights in the city started to come on - one of my favourite things I like about living in a HUGE metropolitan area. We headed towards Moscow State University, which suitably impressed Michael with it's fairytale Gothic architecture and I managed to munch it. Lovely Job. With Michael desperate to offload his number 2 we headed towards the next metro station (which I thought was much closer than it actually was) found some portaloos where Mike lost some serious weight and we continued on our journey to the station. We got off at Mayakovskaya (one of my favourite stations with mosaics from a ground viewpoint all looking skyward. And the walked the wrong way up the next station North instead of South, we got back on the Metro at Belorusskaya and headed down to Tverskaya where we dined at one of Moscow first truly international restaurants and the first of its kind in Russia - MacDonalds. We then strolled down Tverskaya Ulitsa towards Red Square where we took an abundance of photographs of Mike in his hat posing in various positions in front of St Basil's Cathedral (have been inside, it really isn't too special) the Kremlin, GUM (shopping centre) the Museum next to the Kremlin, Lenin's Mausoleum and next to Father Frost and his "niece". We went inside GUM to see some of the extravagant Christmas decorations and also to find Michael some Louis Vitton socks, we weren't successful in the latter.
The following evening we went across town to the other side of the River in the old quarter, where we went into an old Cathedral and right in the middle of a service. Outside Mike made a snow angel and we were on our way after a flase start in the wrong direction. We walked the same way that Djalma and I went on my 25th birthday, past the sculpture of a tree and leaning picture frames, past an Art Gallery, over the Lovers Bridge where D and I padlocked ourselves together (symbolically not literally) and over the bridge leading to St Basil's and Red Square - more photo opportunities!! It was still snowing while we made our way around the bottom of the Kremlin wall to see the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour - a flipping long walk!! We stopped for pancakes just before the church which were a much more welcome sight than the Cathedral which was the purpose for the long and painfully slow walk there (Michael's short legs which he did not tire of reminding me about whenever I walked too far ahead). We met Djalma, some of Big Ben's students along with the great man himself at a bar not long afterwards, but not before I walked into the wrong bar and Mike was accosted by the 2 door men, one of whom was exceedingly drunk, but in a very congenial manner! After a couple of beers and some chips, Djalma, Mike and I headed back to the Cathedral for a big snowball fight and to take some pictures for Nan. On the metro on the way back home we took a picture of Mike with a guy who had passed out cold, this inspired the idea of Michael wanting to have his picture taken with everyone who had passed out from a little over indulgence.
The following day we made it out before the afternoon, I think we actually made it to the metro by 11am - RECORD! \The reason for the extraordinary wake-up and get out of the house time was because of a little man with a little beard. We queued up for what felt like an interminable age after having found the line and then, convinced I had to check my bag in first, we set off trying to find the entrance, bad mood ensued and a not so small argument and frosty silence with my brother made the queuing exceptionally boring. After flashing my saggy white thermals at a security guard after being asked to show the contents of my coat pockets, we followed the long path into the mausoleum, there were pairs of guards stationed along the pathway, seemingly one pair for one set of instructions; 1st set of guards: remove hat (gestured the removal of head coverings), 2nd set of guards: remove gloves (mimed by pulling his fingers, 3rd set of guards: hands out of pockets (action mimed again) the rest were there to ensure silence and continued momentum. I must say I wasn't too impressed by what was on show, he was really small, very pink and EVERYTHING looked plastic, not just his replaced hand.
We stopped in a Shokoladnitsya for, what turned out to be, quite an expensive lunch and having rested there and warmed up enough we headed back over to the Cathedral which we had by now, visited twice but had not yet been in. I've now been inside the Cathedral four times and each time it takes my breath away, even though the inside was dark, it was still incredibly beautiful. We wandered downstairs to see the little museum they have on the history of the Cathedral and then made our way back to the metro. We headed up to Mayakovskaya which is one of my favourite stations with aerial view mosiacs in the ceiling, we left by the wrong exit and I was immediately lost, not that I admitted this to Mike until we were too far from the station to reasonably turn back, instead we, quite sensibly carried on until the next station, although I had no idea where it was or how long it would take to get us there. Mikhail the Moaner, true to his name, moaned the whole way to the next station, Belorruskaya. We got on and took the metro down to Tverskaya which is where Mike was convinced a little DVD place was. After much brother and sisterly arguing, I realised which DVD place he meant and that is was no where near MacDonalds but instead a totally different station and on the way to Rostiks (a Russian fried chicken place taken over by KFC, which true to Russia, also serves beer = genius!). We got back on track and after eating some fried chicken went and got an Akon CD, Year One (best bloody comedy ever) and Eight Mile, which despite being assured by Mike as an excellent film, was all in badly dubbed Russian and so I didn't get to find out whether or not I agreed. All that we were good for was a little trip round some of the stations on the brown ring. By this point Mike wasn't too bothered and just wanted to sit on the metro!
We made it to another of my favourite stations - Aviamatornaya, the ceiling of which is covered in gold and is spectacular. We took a few pictures including one of Lenin, not a smidge of recognition on Mike's face when I asked who the head belonged to despite having seen him in his final resting place the previous day. Exasperating doesn't even cover it.
TBC
