Moscow via Dusseldorf (and Vienna)

When Amber and I first started to plan our Trans-Siberian trip, we intended to do the environmentally-friendly - and most interesting - thing, and take the train all the way from London to Beijing. Unfortunately, problems obtaining a Belarus transit visa meant that we eventually had to compromise our principles and fly to Moscow. However, the environmentalists will be pleased to hear that the non-religious version of divine retribution soon struck on behalf of the melting glaciers, as our journey was not quite as straightforward as it could have been. After our flight from London to Dusseldorf was delayed by more than an hour, we missed our connection and ended up redirected to Vienna. Which would have been fine, apart from the fact that our bags stayed in Dusseldorf and the airline staff weren't confident of it making it to Moscow any time soon....

Luckily the non-religious retributors had decided we'd learned out lesson, as our bags did turn up in Moscow before we left, and we could get on with the sight-seeing. We were lucky enough to be staying in Moscow with Tim's friend Nadya and her mother, both of whom were wonderfully hospitable and generous. Nadya showed us round the markets and even sneaked us into the school where she teaches English, to talk to some of her students. Her mother cooked us delicious traditional Russian food (even vegetarian food for me!) and made sure we got on the right train when we left Moscow for Vladimir.

Red Square was unfortunately closed during our time in Moscow, so we couldn't pay Lenin a visit or go into St Basil's Cathedral. However, we made up for it with visits to several museums, the State and Tretyakov Museums and by the time we left had almost mastered the Metro system. I knew I should have learned Cyrillic before I left.