Victory Day dawned in Moscow and the streets were pulsing with people excited about seeing the might of the Russian defence force on display. While Putin and Medvedev watched troops goose-step around Red Square, we stood sweltering and feeling slightly nauseous in the dense crowds in one of the main streets.
Just as we were about to throw in the towel, some choppers flew over head in formation, followed by the rest of the air force. Wow, it was so impressive! I'm not really keen on anything war related, but I must admit that seeing the planes overhead and the excitement of the crowd really made it all pretty cool. Unfortunately when the army drove its big tanks and missiles through the streets I couldn't really see much due to the huge crowd, and my arch nemesis - tall guy with giant camera who pushed in front of me at the last minute. His arms appear in virtually all my shots.
Yesterday afternoon we took a tour on the Moscow metro - some of the stations are so ornate and splendid that it would certainly make taking public transport a more enjoyable experience.
Just to top off our day, they opened up Red Square and we made it in!
In the evening we had dinner to celebrate Tom's birthday, capped off by a fireworks demonstration that I had organised for him. Just kidding - they were for Victory Day. Ho ho ho.
While we have thoroughly enjoyed the flash of Moscow (they have a millionaire's expo!), today we start heading by train towards Siberia! Not a massive train leg today - about 7 hours only to Nizhny Novgorod, where we will stay in a homestay for the next couple of nights.
