Moscow - Day 2

In search of the perfect Russian doll, we continued on a solo tour of the city and headed straight for the Kremlin via a tiny pastry shop located beneath the city - just one of the many units lining the underground walkways leading to the Metro platforms.

The Kremlin, designed by Italian architects (unknown why), is essentially a walled city within the city and is the home to government buildings, cathedrals and an armory which houses the crown jewels. The cathedral square on the Kremlin grounds is perhaps the most majestic spot in Moscow. We had audio guides which basically looked like giant mobile phones but provided you with information whenever you were ready to listen.

After another photo session in Red Square we headed to the nearest coffee shop to rest our feet and read The Moscow Times (which can be easily obtained in English). The newspaper is actually one of the best I have read. The very well written, non-biased articles make for an interesting read and a good feel for what's currently happening in the city. I also picked up some great ideas for our last day in Moscow tomorrow.

Today being "Cutlery Day" (Friday) we looked up some good places to eat and decided that Georgian food sounded interesting.

Mama Zoya is a Georgian restaurant housed within a house boat floating on the Moskva river. The atmosphere was lively with people dancing to tunes played by the wandering accordion. Again, not understanding any of the menu and not so well assisted by a frustrated waitress, we end up selecting random dishes not knowing exactly what we're ordering. The food was very similar to Greek and was excellent. The Veal Kebab with "ketchup" (the word our waitress used to describe the tomato based sauce that accompanied the dish) was particularly good as was the Khatschapuri (hot bread layered with cheese). After discovering that the cheapest bottle of wine was about 18 pounds, we opted for a simple beer instead.

Tried to get Ali to dance but she refused.

We ended our evening with an exploration of the underground stations. Without going into detail about how incredibly ornate some of these stations are I will state only one of the many features... chandeliers!!!