Day 2 - The actual second day!

Hi gang!
Picking up where we left yesterday, here's the second part of the Russia diary:

I got up today at 7:45 with some serious bags under my eyes. Luckily, however, it was only a short stagger to the bathroom, where I could wake myself up with a refreshing face wash. That appeared to have done the trick for now, at least. After dressing and sorting out my things, I headed down to breakfast, to sample some of the more unusual foods on offer. Thirsty, I stocked up on juice again, reminding myself that I needed to get water from the supermarket!
Breakfast came and went, and once I'd gathered up camera, wallet and iPod, I was ready for today's adventure! We set off in the coach around the city of Moscow, with Irina pointing out interesting details. On the trip we saw several good examples of the various periods of architechture, as well as important buildings such as the university, the olympic stadium and Tolstoy's house, which is now a museum. Then, out of nowhere, we saw it right in front of us - St Basil's Cathedral! The actual St Basil's Cathedral in actual Red Square next to the actual Kremlin - Incredible! It was every bit as elaborate and majestic as I'd imagined, and as for the Kremlin - Well, I couldn't see much over the towering red-brick walls - This must be one of the only times I've actually liked red-brick architechture! Lenin's tomb was there as well, but we couldn't see him because he was being filled with new preservatives or something.
Anyway, just off the main square there were some stalls where I managed to buy a fluffy Russian hat - half the price it was in the hotel! So there I was, wearing an actual Russian hat, in actual Red Square, in actual Russia, with and actual light snow beginning to fall. I know, it sounds about as cliched as going to Pisa and it being really sunny and you buying a hat and taking a picture of yourself holding up the leaning tower. I mean, what were the chances?
All too soon we had to move on, continuing our tour of the city. We stopped off at a convent where lots of famous people were buried, and saw the Church of Christ the Saviour, which was covered in gold plate! I love Russian architechture. At some point I nipped into a souvenir shop to buy some postcards I probably won't send and a Russian doll keyring. Eventually, we stopped off in the manic food court of an underground mall for lunch. In terms of ambience, it was very Singapore-esque, only less busy. One large slice of pizza and a bottle of fanta later, I went for a walk around in the mall. Unfortunately every shop was either a clothes shop or a perfume shop, and you all know that neither of these things interest me in the slightest! Somehow I managed to kill time until we met again, and next thing we knew, we were being taken to the Kremlin! Foolishly I had left my camera on the bus along with the rest of our stuff, so my mobile would have to suffice!
After passing through security, taking a group photo and passing through the gates, I'm afraid to admit I found myself rather underwhelmed. A walled palace complex which has been around for centuries and is exquisitely adorned with gold and ornamentation? Sorry, been there, done that. And Bangkok was far cooler. Don't get me wrong; there were some interesting points - we went into a couple of amazing churches which were literally plastered with paintings, and in one we even got a choir singing for us! We also saw the broken bell which was in one of Dad's pictures, so that was quite interesting. Apparently it got really hot for some reason and they poured water over it to cool it down, but then it got too brittle and cracked - D'oh! It was pretty huge, as bells go, and touching the piece that fell off is supposed to be good luck, so I gave it a go myself!
Moving on, we then entered the Armoury, which is a museum where all the crown jewels were kept. Though everyone was feeling a bit lacklustre and worn out by now, there were still some quite interesting things on show. For instance, in one cabinet we were shown faberge eggs, which traditionally had a gift of some kind inside. One had a train inside - solid gold carriages and a platinum engine - which went around a track when you turned a key. I can't even imagine what these artefacts would be worth today. I bet even one of the eggs must be close to a million, at least.
With the tour finished, it was now definitely time to get back to the hotel! Upon returning, we had half an hour chill-out time, and then it was dinner. Some people's lack of adventurousness saddens me - a load of "the lads", as they call themselves, your generic "tough kids", decided to walk out halfway through dinner just because they didn't like one particular thing. Well, their loss, I guess. They had a new juice today; I think it was probably cherry, but it tasted a lot like cranberry, with just a hint of water chestnut. Not a winner over the "fruit" juice, but still pretty good.
Anyway, we then headed out to the supermarket again, where I stocked up on (non-alcoholic) drink for the train journey. It's quiet surprising, how cheap everything is. I've hardly spent any roubles so far. Mind you, I'm sure the market tomorrow will change all that! Yawn... Well, after a diary update and a few postcards, it was time for bed at the end of another busy day.

So, part 2 over. TOMORROW - Actually, tomorrow I'll probably end up reviewing Doctor Who, but the next diary entry will include some interesting monuments, a circus and plenty of travelling, as we leave Moscow for St. Petersburg! Until then, see ya 'round!

Jack