Moscow (12/4 - 14/4)
We had to take a long distance train from Helsinki to Moscow, from 5.42pm (FI time) to 10am next day (RUS time). Russia is one hour ahead of Finland, at least in Moscow and St Pete's.
This sign seems to be wrong, but who cares. We are going to Moscow!
DAY 1
After an arduous journey, which included border crossings and passport checks (I forgot how many), we finally arrived at our destination. Moscow!
My first photo in Moscow, just after we are just outta the train and in the city of Moscow.
Then our group needed to take the Metro (aka subway, or underground train) to our hotel. I have never taken a metro in Europe before, so the following scene was a little "new" to me.
The crowd and everyone's rushing to get into the station and onto their trains. I had to stand very firmly on my feet not to get pushed around while taking this photo.
And of course in Russia, all the signboards are in Russian. It's indeed very "tourist-friendly".
Read Russian, anyone? It looks like £$%^&^%$£"!"£$%^ to me.
A typical scene at the metro station.
What a nerve-racking ride! Train doors were closing on you no matter if there were people entering the train or not, and they close in like 1 minute no matter how many people were at the station. I was so afraid I might get separated from my tour group, especially when the doors close so fast. But our tour guide was good in the sense that he told everyone how many stops before we all entered the train, in case you couldn't get on the same train. Still it's nerve-racking to be caught in the midst of Russians and not knowing how to speak any Russian (except "SPASIBA", which means "thank you", but that is hardly helpful to get any information.)
We finally arrived at our Izmailovo Park Station. Don't ask me how's it written in Russian. I DUNCH KNOW!
We got into our hotel after much heaving of our luggage. My backpack proved its worth, and I could see the others having much trouble with theirs. Hotel Izmailovo. Looks not too bad, but we had to wait like 2 hours to get our rooms. Lotsa frazzled nerves and hot tempers as the people around me started to get frustrated with the long waiting time, not to mention we just had a 14 hour train ride. After "a while", we got our room key.
The temperature in Moscow was about 15 degC so it was really quite warm, considering that I had a temperature transition from about 0 degC in Oulu, then to about 5 degC in Helsinki, and finally Russia. Sweating in my jacket. First time in 4 months!
Then we had a 4 hour bus tour, of which I was sleeping for at least 1 and a half hours. Took some pictures though.
If you notice the next few pictures, and in fact most of the other pictures, the churches in Moscow almost always are capped in gold (or gold plated metal or gold coloured metal). It is fascinating for a while, but it gets quite sickening after some time, and after that, it's just simply obscene, even revolting, to have so much gold colour in your eyes. But of course, we'll just enjoy the pictures, won't we?
This Russian Orthodox Church reminds me of the White Church in Helsinki. But it has *gasp* gold on its top. What did I tell you?
One of few buildings which has pleasing colours. I like the turquoise colour and the park. The statue you see is just one of many (no, many is just a plain understatement) in Russia. Turn left, turn right and you can't avoid seeing statues. Maybe I should just erect one of myself in Russia. My living legacy.
The church posing with me. We went inside, but as usual, no pictures to be taken within the church, as with most other churches around in Europe, so too bad, you have to come to Russia to see the interior of the churches yourselves.
Moscow River and the many buildings dotting its landscape.
Wooden church. Too bad we didn't get to stop and check it out.
This statue is of err... some person who came on a ship and conquered Russia. No, don't mind me, i'm just blabbering nonsense. I seriously can't remember who it is. Looks very majestic though.
Another church, again.
Street market with vendors selling their wares, mostly consisting of Matrioshka (aka Russian) dolls, Russian hats, and some other miscellaneous stuff.
A closer look at the Matrovsky dolls. A mind boggling variety to choose from. I didn't get any from here though. Wanted to wait for some irresistible offer first. As it turned out, it was a good decision.
Me in a Russian hat!
"No money to buy? No problem, just take a picture!" (No, the vendor didn't say that. I did.)
Then the bus tour ended and I woke up. We were dropped off nearby the Red Square for some wonderful sightseeing. "You have never been to Moscow if you never visited the Red Square or the Kremlin." So said the guide. So I have to visit those places!
Statue of Karl Marx, father of communism. Seems like Russia can't get rid of its past.
The old Bolshoi Theatre being renovated. The new one is just beside it. Heard of Russian ballet?
The new theatre. As I was shooting the picture, a limousine just happened to be in the way, and I happily shot away with my camera. 
The entrance to the Red Square, which houses the Lenin Mausoleum. Impressive spires, don't you think?
One of many buildings in the vast vast Red Square. Of course it's red in colour.
Disneyland in Moscow? Shrek and Mickey Mouse. If you want to take a picture of them or with them, "money please!" I took it on the sly. W00t!
These guys were standing there and of course I just had to take a photo of them. When I tried to take a second shot, one of them saw me and both of them turned their backs on me. But I guess this is good enough a shot. They're not guards by the way. They're just money making people in costumes, abound everywhere in the Red Square, with Shrek and Mickey Mouse amongst others. There were even people dressed up to look like Lenin and Stalin and some historical figures. 
The girls in Singapore would scream when they see this. This is called the "G.U.M." (pronounced GOOM). Eva told me that it's the abbreviation for Glavnyj (main) Universalnyj (multi-purpose) Magazyn (shop). It's a shopping complex that is so mind-bogglingly big you can't take the whole facade of it in a single shot, and so new that one whole floor isn't even opened yet. *chuckles*
This church houses 9 churches of different beliefs under one roof. We call it the Onion Church cos it looks like it's full of colourful onions. For the real name, I need to go refresh my memory first. CJ just told me it's St Basil's Cathedral. How can I forget? Sure as hell, when you have 1001 cathedral names swimming in your mind. How can I forget indeed!
The Red Square and the Kremlin behind those high walls. You can spot Lenin's Mausoleum right smack in the middle of the photo. On the first day, it was already closed, so we didn't get to enter. It's open from 9am - 1pm on weekdays. I'm not sure for weekends though. We got to finally enter it on Friday. There were guards at every possible corner, and photo taking was strictly prohibited, not that it was even possible in the first place. Hands outta of your pocket please, otherwise the guards will forcefully pull them out for you and slam them at the side of your pants. And no stopping to admire Lenin's dead mummified body, which almost looks like a wax figure (and I wouldn't be surprised if it actually were a wax figure instead of the real one.)
Moi in the Red Square. Now you can fully appreciate the vastness of the Square. No, not like Takashimaya Square. In Russia, everything's big big big. And every road is long long long. And your legs are tired tired tired.
Up close and personal with Lenin's Mausoleum. Super solid door, which is like 1 metre thick or something like that. Made of solid rock.
Entrance of the "Goom". Home of the many European brands that you can find, including but not limited to Escada, Esprit, adidas, amongst others.
The Red Square is full of people at any time. Except when Lenin's Mausoleum is open and the whole Red Square is cordoned off by armed soldiers.
The entrance to the Kremlin for vehicles. Patrolled by armed guards. Soldiers and policemen are just patrolling every square inch of the place. 
Entrance to the Kremlin for curious passersby and tourists. As you can see for yourself, these menacing-looking soldiers on guard are nothing to be trifled with. Not like some "sissy-fied" soldiers in the SAF, who don't even look the part.
Traffic in Moscow is haphazard, with vehicles honking for no good reason. Drivers are also very fickle-minded and they will just change direction anytime they want, in the middle of nowhere. Beware the Russian drivers. The roads are huge, and there are no markings. I think it's high time the Russian government drew some lines on the ground for the drivers to follow.
Then we left the Red Square and went to visit the city centre, and also to grab dinner.
The group I was travelling about with in Moscow, and for most of St Petersburg too.
From left: Yannick (Belgium), Fatih (from Turkey but living in Germany), Anieska (partially hidden from view, from Poland; I can only guess the spelling of her name through the pronunciation), Jose (pronounced Ho-Say; Spain), Vicente (pronounced Bi-Ten-Teh; Spain), Marika (Poland; er not sure about her name), and Natacha (France). 
At night we came back to the Red Square to take some night photos. This was taken at 9pm. It was still light. But we couldn't wait anymore for it to turn dark cos we were wanted to go back home to rest a bit.
End of Day 1 in Russia.
DAY 2
After a not-so-good night's sleep, we woke up early to catch the metro downtown for more sightseeing. My legs were aching already, but what the hell. I didn't come to Russia to rest my legs. So off we went.
First to Lenin's Mausoleum. As I wrote in the earlier post, it was really tense inside the Mausoleum, as guards were at every possible corner. No sound was tolerated, except your breathing. No talking and the guard sshhhhhhhhh-ed us very loudly when we entered. No photo-taking, no weapons (don't know why, Lenin was already dead, you can't kill him a second time). No hands in pockets. Guards will yank your hands outta your pockets and slap them very hard on your thighs. Bloody hell, I got that treatment twice. Stupid Russians don't speak English, tell me properly, la!
In the end, the Mausoleum was nothing much to speak of, just a stupid dead body which looked like wax (please pardon me if you think that Lenin is a great man, I just queued up like half an hour to go in, and had to pay 2 euros to deposit my bag because it was too big. And we were out of that place in 15 minutes.) And all the other tombs of the not-so-important but was still a part of Russian history were outside the Mausoleum. Just some stones and some flowers (definitely not from any tourists, but put there by Russian soldiers). For this kind of place, I will only go just because I want to say I have been there. But really, you lose nothing by not going there. If you want to see wax figures, might as well go to Madame Tussaud's wax museum. At least there you can take pictures and the wax figures are smiling and look alive.
We walked around town a bit, then went to the famous Arbat Street, where it's something like a Chinatown open-air market in Singapore. It was a market street with lots of wares being sold and there were all kinds of vendors selling most things you could imagine. There were even dogs and cats being sold! Animal trafficking is rampant in these parts.
There were also lots of artists around, and as evidenced by these 2 drawings, they are really good in their craft. But it's such a pity that this talent is not recognized and that they have to resort to selling their art on the street.
There were lots of people thronging Arbat Street as we walked past the street-side stalls and there was an overall cheery atmosphere. Lots of music, sounds and noise from all over, even those of birds. It's been a long time since I heard so much noise, considering that Oulu is mainly a quiet place (of course it isn't true when there's a party going on.) But the hustle and bustle brought back memories of Singapore, and so did the sun's heat. I was sweating with 2 layers of clothes!
Another look at Matrovsky dolls since I know my friends back in Singapore don't get to see much of them.
Next we came across this odd-looking restaurant, but we didn't go inside. The design was quite fascinating though.
As we were walking, my eyes picked out one odd-looking group. There was this woman dressed in a wedding gown but wearing a pelican's beak and costume. Apparently there was this couple getting married and their friends made them dress up in public in odd costumes. I'm not sure if this is a tradition or they were trying to be funny. But it made for good entertainment though. The bridesgroom and best man gamely posed for me. Cool!
Interesting huh? I think in Singapore, people will just wave you off. But I do hope that there will be more fun in Singapore, where I feel it's getting too stressing for its citizens. People must learn to have fun, even in land-scarce Singapore!
We had lunch in My-My Restaurant in Arbat Street. There was excellent cheap food there (the quality topped the price we paid for). I had some chicken steak and Russian fish soup, which was really nice. Then we had coffee and some chocolate cake as well. What a good way to spend some time, sitting, chatting, eating, laughing, taking photos. I need to get those photos from Vicente and Natacha.
After a fulfilling lunch at 4pm, we had a walk round the city centre and walked over to the Moscow City Library. I thought it was a metro station when I saw it. But of course, Anieska knew how to read Russian and she laughed at me. Laugh for what? I dunno how to read the Cyrillic alphabet ok? I can bring you to China and see how you read Mandarin characters. HAHAHAHA! Just joking =P
This picture is of the back of the tower of the entrance to the Kremlin. There is no more doubt that I did indeed enter the Kremlin, cos you could never take this shot otherwise. =) 
The ceremonial guard on duty. Caught him with his eyes staring to the side. In Singapore, the ceremonial guards have to always look ahead, but of course it is only human to look around, especially when there are so many pretty girls around.
Then there was another guard coming out, marching in an extremely hilarious fashion with exaggerated motions. This must be the communist way of marching, because I think in China they march like that as well. This picture didn't capture his exaggerated motions, so you won't really think it's funny. 
Then the second guard, which I presume was of higher rank than the one on duty, spoke a few words to the sentry, adjusted his attire (peak cap and uniform) and marched off smartly (or rather funnily) again.
After this we headed back to our hotel. 
Picture of the casino near our hotel. There was a nightclub as well, with very stunning looking women. Anyway the entrance fee was sufficient to put most men off any action. HAHAHA!
We then flipped through the hotel menu and decided that it was super cheap to order room service, but met with some problems as we spoke English to the operator, and the stupid operator didn't understand Jose's English, so we got Anieska to speak to him/her instead (in Russian of course).
Below is an excerpt of the conversation between Jose and the operator.
Jose (unsure): Hello, do you speak English?
Operator: Yes... but slowly.
Jose: OK my English is not so good anyway too. I would like to order......
Operator: Water?
Jose (flustered): No, I would like to order....
Operator: Tea? Coffee?
Jose (irritated): NO! I want to order pizza! 7! 7 pizza! No water, no tea! I want to order omelette!
Operator: (silent)
Jose: ARGH! (speaking to Anieska) You come speak to her!
HAHAHA! We were watching Jose and laughing till we cried. It was super hilarious. Especially Jose's facial expressions.
Later on at night the rest wanted to go clubbing but I was tired and anyway it was raining and I had to run to get the last metro. I decided very smartly not to go, because I wanted to go clubbing in St Pete's!
End of day 2.
DAY 3
After another fitful night of sleep (I think it's because I am too tall and the bed is too short and my legs can't stretch properly, so I got a backache in the morning), we had breakfast in the hotel cafe and then went to the souvenir market to hunt for cheap buys.
Street market, with lotsa colourful building displays to attract tourists. 
Facade of Hotel Izmailovo. Delta wing. This hotel used to house the Olympic athletes and the four wings' names were actually in the Greek alphabet (alpha, beta, gamma and delta).
At noon, the guys who went clubbing last night got up so we went to the Kremlin. This is where the Russian government operates (Russia's political seat of power), and also where the President Vladimir Putin is working (akin to Singapore's Istana).
As we walked to the metro I noticed this stretch limousine. Nice. You have really rich people in this country, what with Roman Abramovich (Chelsea FC's billionaire owner) and what-have-you.
The metro station which is near my hotel. It is supposed to read Partizankaya (Partisans' street or something). Does it even look like that? Told you the Cyrillic alphabet makes no sense to me. I'm sure it makes no sense to non-Russian speaking people too. 
Statues of 4 horses and a nice man-made "river" with colourful mosaic on the flooring. This is just outside the Kremlin. There was a MacDonald's nearby too. It's really invading everywhere, this MacShit. 
Bridge to entrance of the Kremlin. 
Emblem of Russia. The 2 eagles are Russia's national symbol. They never appear on the floor of any museum or church, as it is considered to be blasphemous to step on the national symbol. 
Tsar's Cannon, weighs 5 tonnes. I think from the size of it, the weight is indeed quite believable.
I am getting quite good at posing for pictures. At least my group mates said so. =)
OK, I can't remember what is the name of this church. There is the Assumption Cathedral, the Annunciation Cathedral, the Archangel's Cathedral, the Patriach's Palace, the Church of Laying our Lady's Holy Robe and the Exhibition Hall in the Assumption Belfry (I got all these names from my ticket, so I am not making this up). You can choose to name them yourself. The exterior of the buildings were different, but inside most of them were the same, plastered with so many paintings that you could literally feel lost looking at them. After a while, the mind just switches off and looks at all the paintings as a single piece of art instead of admiring individual artpieces.
Admire the rest of the pictures. No more comments.
Bell of dunno-what. 20 tons.
Entrance to one of the cathedrals. I feel the door is the main attraction. HAHA! 
Part of the Kremlin overlooking the Moscow River.
After about 2 hours in the Kremlin, we decided to go off to visit the "Onion Church", and then for lunch (since it was already 3pm). High time for lunch indeed!
On the way to the "Onion Church" we passed by the Kremlin Clock Tower. Threatening looking clouds. Uh oh.
"Onion Church" with the statue in front of it. Dunno if it's also called Church of the Spilled Blood like in St Petersburg, where they have a similar looking church (see sidebar for the picture). I knew the name but I forgot. Wait for CJ to come back and tell me =P Thanks dude for "refreshing my memory". I'm sure I had that at the back of my mind. Just couldn't figure it out myself.
One of the more interesting exhibits inside the "Onion Church". The other pictures are with Vicente.
One of the roads of Moscow. Taken from inside the Onion Church.
Next we moved outside for lunch and then a short tour inside of the "Goom" for some window shopping. 
And after that we went girl-hunting. Joke. Girl shooting, I mean. We went round on the metro to take photos of every metro station. Pictures with Vicente, so I need to wait for him to come back from Tallinn and Riga. But first, pretty girls. I got some pretty decent voyeur shots. It wasn't easy but it was certainly fun! Enjoy!
Vicente and Yannick sniggering away as I shot this "excellent" shot with my camera. But I guess you can imagine how pretty this lady was. 
Haunting look of a lady who knew she was being photographed. She was giggling away just a few seconds ago, I swear. This is one of my favourite shots, because it has an artistic feel about it. OK, the girl is also artistic. Thank God for his wonderful artwork.
Me to Vicente *winking at him*: "Go stand there, I want to take photo of you."
But the girls were just too smart. They already knew. See, one of them was even waving her hand at my camera!
OK after those voyeur pictures, I must have a serious one to cap off this post. This is one of many artworks found in one of the stations. The rest I can show you on my laptop when I come back.
After that we went back to the hotel to have dinner (at 9.30pm), freshen up then get our luggage to leave to St Petersburg.
The last picture I took as we left Moscow for St Petersburg. 8 hour train ride.
Goodbye to Moscow and onward to St Pete's! W00t!
Greetings from Finland @ 4:38 pm
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