A Wonderful Weekend in Moscow - Russia

Winter in Moscow ?  Why not
The Russian capital has impressive museums, magnificent cathedrals and hordes of beautiful cafes
and restaurants to warm you back up again in style.

Thursday, Austrisn Airlines flight...... lands on time at Moscow Domodedovo Airport. It's usually
a good idea to have someone standing with a board with your name on it.  Many hotels and some
limousine services, such as GWheels, offer airport transfers; you should always try to use them if you can.  It's quite a long way into the centre of Moscow itself.  It's a good thing we've booked a hotel in
the city centre;  it will make sightseeing we've planned for the coming days all the simpler; decided
to spend the weekend at the Four Seasons Hotel, which is located right next to Red  Square and the
Kremlin.
As a result, we've still got some time this afternoon to get some first impressions of the capital.  It's
just a few moments' walk  to the Square; It's full of people, locals and tourists alike, strolling around
and taking selfies in front of the walls of the Kremlin, St Basil's Cathedral, Lenin's Mausoleum,
Kazan Cathedral ant the brightly -lit GUM department store.  It's particularly lovely here in the winter, in fact, when a vast section of Red Square is in fact, when a vast section of Red Square is
transformed into an ice rink, and is incredibly romantic.  We wander round awhile, take a look
inside GUM and drink a deliciously warming tea at Cafe' Bosco.
In the evening, we've reserved ourselves a table in a restaurant nearby. It's called Doctor Zhivago, and is located in the Hotel National.
You might be excused for thinking that any restaurant with a name like that would just be a tourist
trap.  But you'd be wrong. The chic restaurant is also very popular amongst muscovites, and specialises in outstanding Russian cuisine.

Friday:  Today we're heading for the beating heart of Russian power over the centuries: the Kremlin.                 This is where the Tzars once ruled,  and the State President now has his office .  Passing                       through the Trinity Tower, we enter the fortress.  We're particularly impressed by
             Cathedral Square, home, in a narrow circle , to the Cathedral of the Assumption, where the
             Tsars were once crowned, the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles, the Cathedral of the
             Archangel Michael, where the Tsars used to be buried - and we see the casket of Ivan the
             Terrible - and the Cathedral of the Annunciation , where the Tsars and Grand Dukes would                   attend church.  With their frescoes and icons, the buildings all leave a deep impression.
              The treasures of the Tsars and Grand Dukes are exhibited in the Armoury,  the world's
              largest treasure trove.  Visiting the Kremlin has taken up almost all of our day. Needing
              to take the weight off our feet for a while, we retire to the spa and pool in our hotel.
              By the evening, however, we're out and about again.  We stroll up Tverskaya, one of the
              magnificent streets lined by powerful blocks of houses, as far as Tverskaya Boulevard.
              There, we find one of the most richly traditional restaurants in the city, the Cafe' Pushkin.
              They say that no visit to Moscow is complete without dinner there, and the're not wrong.
              The restaurant extends over three floors, and you should definitely insist on a table on the
              second floor, the so-called 'Library', and the most beautiful part of the building, Cafe'
              Pushkin is the best place to get to know Russian cuisine in all its myriad variations.

Saturday:  Moscow has a huge number of excellent museums and exhibition halls to offer, and we
                  want to visit some of them today.  We begin at the Pushkin Museum, with its unique
                  collection of non  - Russian art, ranging from Rembrandt and El Greco, through Monet
                  and other impressionists to Van Gogh, Cezanne and Picasso.
                  The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is on the other side of Volkhonka Street. This
                  building shows you just how deceptive appearances can be sometimes.  The church, which
                  looks as if it has been there for centuries, was actually only built at the end of the 1990's
                  on the site of a swimming pool.
                  Despite such humble beginnings, it's one of Moscow's most impressive cathedrals.
                  We make our way along Volkhonka, cross the River Moskva using the Krymsky Bridge
                  and reach the legendary Gorky Park, where we visit the Garage art centre, which Dutch
                  star architect Rem Koolhaas recently built for art impresario Dasha Shukova,  partner
                  of oligarch Roman Abramovich. At the moment, there are works by Goya, Eisenstein
                  and Robert Longo on show here.
                  For dinner:  we've booked a table at a restaurant by the name of White Rabbit. If the
                  influential San Pellegrino Restaurant Ranking is to be believed. It's not wrong:
                  Vladmir Mukhin'scourageous and challenging interpretation of Russian cuisine amazes
                  us.  Something else.

Sunday:  We haven't got much time this morning. We've got two alternatives: church or Lenin?
                We visit Kazan Cathedral, on the edge of Red Square, and immerse ourselves deeply in the
                 world of the Orthodox Church. A visit to Lenin's Mausoleum, shortly afterwards is an
                 almost religious experience of a quite different kind. The column of visitors constantly
                 moves past the glass casket of the revered revolutionary and founder of the Soviet Union
                 An essential Moscow experience.
                 Finally, a taxi takes us to Domodedovo Airport where Austrian Airlines flight No.....
                 departs back to Vienna