We had chosen not to do the optional excursions the next day, so we had free time to explore Moscow by ourselves on foot and via the Metro. Our first stop was the former KGB headquarters (now home to the Russian Security Service) on Lubyanka Square.

From there we went to Gorky Park, where we got hot dogs and I rode the dragon boat several times before we explored the rest of the park. One of the original 4 Buran Soviet Space Shuttles is there; looking at it, Dave remarked that it was hard to believe it was ever capable of flight! It now houses a children’s movie theatre.

After a slight detour, we were able to find the Hard Rock Cafe for a late lunch. The local draft beer Baltika No. 7 is really quite good! We sat outside and watched a Hare Krishna parade go past as we ate.

That evening we rejoined the tour group for the Moscow State Circus. We really enjoyed it; there were some amazing acrobats and Cirque du Soleil type acts, as well as trained housecats and a dancing bear (well, it was Russia after all!)

The following morning we stopped at Victory Park on our way to the National Cemetery. From the bus, we also saw the central hot water plant, from which many homes get their hot water, which flows through separate pipes! In the cemetery, we saw the graves of Kruschev, Tupolev, Boris Yeltsin and many others – to have been buried there, you had to really be someone. I loved the graves – so different from the low markers used in the US to make it easy for the groundskeepers to mow; each one was its own little garden!

Afterwards, we had the bus drop us and some others off at Red Square to visit Lenin’s mausoleum. It is only open a few days a week from 10-1 and we had missed it the other days we were there. When we arrived, the line was so long there was no way we would have made it to the front before it closed; but Dave found a person offering tickets to go to the front of the line for 450 rubles ($15). Lenin’s body looked like a macabre exhibit from Madame Tussauds. After that we explored GUM and ate lunch in a typical Russian cafeteria before meeting up with the rest of the group for a tour of the Kremlin, including the state armory. Inside the armory are the crown jewels of the czars, as well as many of their dresses, carriages, and gifts received, as well as the famous Faberge eggs. Another part of the  armory is used as a barracks for the military – I snapped a platoon marching out before anyone could tell me not to.

Then we headed back to the hotel for dinner and to repack our suitcases for the trip home the next morning. It was a great trip! I can’t wait to see where we choose for our 10th