Almost Friday!

Ok, we're not going to get photos sorted until next week! I just didn't realise how many picture Murray had taken (silly me)! They are all on his little external hard drive - so we need to sit down and upload them all, sort through them, and THEN I can post them - will post by next Monday at the latest I promise!

SO, in lieu of picture - a Russia story for you.

One of the sites to see in Moscow is Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square. Is it just me? Until I read through our guide book I had NO idea that Lenin's embalmed body was on display (and has been there since 1924!!!!)- ewwwwwwww! So our first day in Moscow we went to red Square to check out St. Basil's Cathedral and do the tour! By the time we headed back to go to Lenin's Mausoleum we realized it was closed for the day - oops! Apparently it's only open til 1pm! So the next day we headed straight to Red Square again - and at about 12:30 we walked down to get in line. BUT oh dear - the line was already closed! They had guards who sectioned off the line and when we when up and said 'Lenin' he barked back 'No - Closed' and shooed us away. OH DEAR! Then thankfully, a man came up to us and said 'My friends, you have come to late to get in! But you can still get in if you hire me as your guide.' Turned out he would do it for cheap - so we agreed. Then he looked at the cranky guards, then back at us and said 'we must run up to the other entrance NOW.' Ok - so we ran BACK through to the other entrance and it was all good - the guards let us through - whew that was close! He checked our bag for us (after shouting at me 'hey lady don't you want to go in - hurry up!) but hey there was NO way I was checking our bag with our passports in it!!! You have to check your bags cause NO cameras are allowed inside, not even camera phones. SO I quickly got our passports out and then we proceeded through the checkpoint and metal detectors.

We finally got in and then slowly walked around the glass case containing Lenin's body. Ummm ewwww - it was gross and made me feel kinda sick to my stomach. I can't believe they actually have him on display - our guidebook says it was done against his wishes as well - nice. But we saw him - briefly (looked like a wax model if you ask me) and I hope I never see something like that again - bleh.

But otherwise - Moscow was AMAZING! Wow there are so many great sites to see - gorgeous Cathedrals, really nice shopping centres, and SO much history! St. Petersburg was lovely, but felt a lot more 'European.' Looking forward to posting the photos!!!! :)

Things I learned from this trip:

1. Eyewitness guide books rock! I already knew that, but WOW we would have been lost without it! They have GREAT pictures & maps to help you get around, but also really helpful advice like how much cabs should cost, etc etc.

2. We just can NOT walk 10 hours a day when we go to South America! Oh my gosh I am STILL knackered! We'll have to pace our selves a LOT more on our big trip (since we'll be gone for so long)! Granted we'll probably never go back to Russia and we had SUCH limited time, so had to fit a lot in - but South/Central America SHOULD be more leisurely - or at least not at the crazy pace of last weekend!

3. Even if you have a comfy bed and sleeping pills, it's hard to sleep on a moving train!