Red Square

Our flight landed at about 9 am Moscow time. Our driver, the son of the guy that took us from on airport to the other at the beginning of our journey, brought us here to the Marriott Grand Hotel. That started our long and sweaty day.

First of all, the Marriott is great. They let us check in 5 hours early! I couldn't tell you how happy we were. This Marriott points thing might be all worth it!
The room is nice, not much on the TV though. Lots of news channels and UK sports. I actually watched Cricket for a while.

About noon we started out towards Red Square. I'd say it took us about 15 minutes by foot. Not bad, but remember Moscow is in the middle of a ridiculous heat wave. More on that in a bit. Once we arrived in Red Square, we were both super impressed. It's an amazing place. I can't explain how amazing it was to walk in the same steps as the Soviet army. St Basil's didn't disappoint either. We paid 200 rubles each to take the self guided tour. The interior is just as amazing as the exterior. We took a ton of pictures of the Kremlin and the other buildings in the area. Check Facebook after we get back home (the netbook isn't very fast sometimes).

After buying more souveniors than I believe is legal, we started the trek back to the hotel. The heat was really oppressive at this point. Interesting metaphor for the old Soviet army huh? We both thought we were going to pass out on the way back!

By the time we reached the hotel we were exhausted. Instead of going out for dinner, we order room service and decided that we've had enough of the heat for the day.

Jenny and I agreed, this was an experience like neither of us have had before. If any of you have a chance to spend a day in Moscow, and Red Square in particular, do it. It's worth it!

Tomorrow morning we take our last plane ride for the trip, from here to NY to Minneapolis, then home about 8 pm central time. I can't believe it's already over!

Rich