From Russia with Love are the famous words from the novel of Ian Flaming (James Bond).

Privyet,

Yes, today my trip starts and we are going to Russia. On 15th of September at 09:40am my flight is going to Tallin and than to Moscow (Sheremetyevo International Airport, is an international airport located in the Moscow Oblast, 29 km (18 mi) north-west of central Moscow). From there I took a taxi to my hotel, the Izmailovo Gamma-Delta. At the reception they asked me for my passport to check in and they made also a photocopy of my passport with Russian Visa & Entry Stamp. While I was checking in I met the tour guide from Tucan Travel Sahra Mc Donald, she was saying to me that whe had a meeting in about half an hour in the lobby. After I was having a shower I went to the lobby and met the rest of the group.There was a couple from Australia, two sisters from the UK a twin from Australia and a few singles from the UK and Australia and a lost Guy from Holland, he,he...I'm sharing a room with a Aussie guy named Micheal Newman.

After the introduction we had a little walk to a restaurant for a typical Russian dinner. I had Russian Stroganoff with a vodka. The Russian Stroganoff (meat sautéed with sour cream, onions and mushrooms) I had was totally different what I know from my place. After the dinner we went out for a couple of shots (vodka).

The day after we went with the metro to the city centre of Moscow. Moscow is the capital city, it has a population of over eleven million, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center in Russia and in Europe. According to Forbes 2011, Moscow has the largest community of billionaires in the world. Moscow is the site of the Moscow Kremlin, an ancient fortress that is today the residence of the Russian president and of the executive branch of the Government of Russia. The Kremlin is also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council) also sit in Moscow.

The city is served by an extensive transit network, which includes four international airports, nine railway terminals, and one of the deepest underground metro systems in the world, the Moscow Metro, second only to Tokyo in terms of passenger numbers.

Moscow's architecture is world-renowned. Moscow is also well known as the site of Saint Basil's Cathedral, with its elegant onion domes, as well as the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Seven Sisters.

After we visit many things in Moscow, Red Square (Krasnaja Ploschad), Lenin Mausoleum, St.Basis's Cahedral, Kazan Cathedral, GUM, Lubyanka Square (the sight of Moscow's famous KGB building),we had a dinner with the group and went out for a couple of drinks - Naz dorovye! The next day we had a guided tour of the most beautiful and interesting Metro stations as well as the Novodevichy Convenant & Cemetry with Helen, our Kremlin guide.

At 09:30pm we left the hotel and went to metro and the train station for a overnight train to Venice of the North St.Peterburg. We stayed in compartments of four. We arrived early in the morning. Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject (a federal city) of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. In 1914 the name of the city was changed to Petrograd , in 1924 to Leningrad and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg since the fall of the Sovjet Union. Saint Petersburg is often described as the most Western city of Russia. It is also the northernmost city in the world to have a population of over one million.

We are staying in the Azimut Hotel. After we checked in and had a shower we had a walk by our tour guide Sahra to see some famous buildings. For example the Kazan Cathedral, The Church of St.Isaac, Yusupov Palace, Church of Saviour and Blood (Khram Spas-na-Krovi etc... We had a quick lunch before we had a two hours guided tour of the State Hermitage Museum, one of the most famous museums in the world, it is so large, it would take eleven years to see each piece of the collection for just one minute (no breaks) and cover the entire three million artifacts found in these five attractive buildings (incluiding the magnificent Winter Palace). Some of the great works of Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Da vinci, Reuben and more are found here.

After the tour we decided to have a break and to sit down in a park and have some drinks. When we came back me and my roommate Michael from Australia we went to the supermarket for some beer and snacks, we didn't go out this evening anymore because everybody was tired!

The day after we had a free day, we went to Peter and Paul Fortess and had a bit of a walk through the parks. This was also the last day of the sisters from the UK, we had a goodbye dinner nearby the hotel. Tomorrow we are going to Estonia (Tallin), but thats another story...!

Do svidanya!

Edwin