June 2nd - High Fashion Circus

Nothing says getting to know Moscow like taking a nap on the grass outside the Kremlin for a few hours! After five flights taking us from Calgary to Toronto for a three day fam-jam, then to London and up to Scotland for a five day fam/kitten-jam and back to Heathrow for our flight to Moscow we were feeling jetlagged to the max when we arrived at 6am in the Russian capital. Once our bikes had been checked into Left Luggage we hit the Metro at rushhour to make our way to the Trendy Kitai Gorod sector of Moscow where our hostel was. Once out of the Metro and on the busy streets it became very apparent that I had missed the memo on the requirement for women to be in miniskirts and stilletos. Needless to say I am feeling very shabby in my flip flops and baggy AA tank. Ali and I managed to find our hostel after a few "fun" hours of searching. It is already becoming apparent that this country is not set up well for independent backpacker travel -made even more apparent when Ali was interviewed by a major Moscow newspaper as to why he was staying in a hostel in Moscow - the interviewer did not hide her disgust! After we checked into our 8 bed dorm room we hit the town in search of St. Basil's Cathedral - the main reason why we made a stop in Moscow before Irkutsk. The heat of the day was starting to do our heads in after pulling an all nighter, so once we saw the nice green grass outside the Kremlin we were sold. Hours later we were more prepared to take in the sights of the Red Square! Back to the hostel to sleep at 5:30pm.