Amsterdam to Russia with love..

Here is what we would like to have done in Amsterdam: canal trip, visit museums, bike tour, stroll around the city finding interesting places to stop off at. What happened? Rain. Lots and lots of it. All day. So what we actually managed to do was a visit to a museum, took a long hike across town to join a bike tour that the guide didn't even bother to turn up to as no one (apart from us obviously) was mad enough to want to do because the weather was so awful and pretty much nothing else. The visit to the MOMO museum was excellent. An exhibition of Banksy and Warhol. The Warhol pieces were things we had seen before but the Banksy work was really interesting and some great pieces including a film 'exit through the gift shop'.  We didn't manage to see all of the film but we were so intrigued we watched the rest later on YouTube. Worth a watch. 

We went back to boutique view hotel (still no sign of the boutique or view) to dry off and when the rain eventually stopped we ventured out again to eat and visit the red light district. The rain waited until we were the furthest point from our hotel and then it returned. So after two soakings we gave up. Sure it can rain anywhere so I don't hold a grudge against you Amsterdam but to sum you up; a city where the bike is king. Step into the road and it's your fault if you get hit (I saved Mr L on more than one occasion); the paths are too narrow (blocked by parked bicycles) and the maps unfathomable. Mr L thinks I'm being harsh but that's I how I see it. Anyway we left Amsterdam and headed to Russia.

 As a child growing up, Russia was depicted as a place of spies, men in dark clothing, usually the baddie in a film, bleak and cold. What we found in Moscow challenged all of that. On our first full day in Moscow the sky was blue, the sun shone and the people could not have been more tolerant of my complete inability to properly pronounce any of the words I had been rehearsing on the flight over. It was as if everything I had ever watched on TV about Russia was filmed in black and white. Here in the flesh the colours of the buildings are vibrant, bright and of course Red Square is surrounded by red buildings but other colours too. We went into St. Basil's cathedral - the one I would describe as the turreted building that has hats on it - each hat is a different church full of icons (Mathew you would love it). We watched the soldiers march by the tomb of the unknown soldier and we toured the Kremlin which is huge and also has another five churches/cathedrals within the grounds as well as a strange fake rock I noticed hiding in the foliage. Mr L said it was an actual rock but I'm having none of it. It was definitely suspicious. In the evening we ventured to a local bar where we were supplied with complimentary vodkas (rude to say no). See - very friendly!