Moscow

Well, arriving in Russia was definitely like arriving in a very foreign place, unlike a lot of the other countries we have been to. The first hassle starts on the plane with the immigration cards printed in Russian only, which for those who don't know, they use the Cyrillic alphabet, which is totally different from ours. Next comes the gruff, non-smiling, non-english speaking faces behind the glass windows of passport control. It turns out the non-smiling, non-english speaking face is throughout the whole of Moscow! And the cyrillic alphabet makes ordering even McDonalds difficult!
On a positive note though, our guide here has been fantastic in her use of the english language and even had a sense of humour. The commonly held image of Muscovites lining up in the snow for bread is pretty much non-existant anymore, with westernisation very obvious in the streets. They have everything that any western country has, it just costs a little more. But that's ok because there are over 20 billionaires in this city, more than in any other in the world. Of course corruption is to blame...
We started our city tour at the Red Square, which is really just a large rectangular area bordered by red brick walls on 2 sides, a large old fashioned building (housing an exclusive shopping centre) and St Basils Cathedral.
We visited several other cathedrals with the iconic onion domes on top, many of which were brightly coloured or gold gilded. As expected, there are also plenty of tourist stalls selling russian dolls, statues, fluffy hats and cathedral replicas.
Our tour of the Kremlin started in the pouring rain, which must have put the guards in a bad mood as we had issues getting in as they didn't know what the Vosonic (IPOD thing) was and wouldn't allow us to pass the gates with it. They started waving their batons at us and speaking loud russian, resulting in the Vosonic having to go in a left luggage office to be collected at the end of the tour. Hence it was a long 4 hours wondering if it would still be there on our return!
The Kremlin, like the red square, was not as flash as thought it was going to be. It is actually just a collection of cathedrals and presidential buildings inside a big wall. There were some good museums though, including the armoury, which housed royal treasures as well as some weapons, armour and coaches. And of course some beautiful Faberge eggs.
A trip on the Metro by ourselves to a local market or two proved an interesting experience, firstly trying to get the right stop and secondly trying not to worry about the rickety old trains breaking down or falling apart at breakneck speed in the tunnels (which apparently 90% are prone to do). We survived unscathed though, only to be stopped by Russian police whilst walking back through Red Square for a passport check. This is a worry because apparently corrupt police often ask for payment for return of your documents, citing problems with them. Thankfully however on this occasion we must have been intercepted by honest ones (hopefully) and we were let go without any further hassles.
Now we just have to catch a plane to Hong Kong, via London. Then home. We will be very glad to see Australian soil and everyone reading this!