After a slow start getting out of bed, we spend the rest of the morning packing our bags and getting our stuff organised. We will have to check out before we leave for the airport tonight, so we may as well have that all sorted out. We leave the hotel shortly after noon, go and check out email and then head over to GUM for lunch. We want something quick and easy.
After lunch we decide to go on a tour of the metro and some of the stations. We head down into the vast network once again at Ploshchad Revolyutsii, again taking line 3. We head out east and get off at the Kurskaya station at the circle line. After taking some pictures, we change to line 5 (the circle line). Here we head in a northerly direction getting off at numerous stops along the way.
At the Komsomolskaya station we see the florid stucco mouldings and glittering chandeliers. This station was named after the Communist Youth League members for all their time and efforts that were volunteered to build the metro.
Next is Prospekt Mira.
This is followed by Novoslobodskaya.
And then Belorusskaya.
We pass through a number of stations and the get off at Park Kultury. The theme at this station is sport and recreation and this is reflected in the numerous bas-reliefs. At this station we change to line 1 and head in a northerly direction.
We briefly stop at Kropotkinskaya before heading on our way.
We finally finish our journey at the Lubyanka station, where we re-emerge onto the streets of Moscow. It is amazing how the name of this station and the square located above it no longer strike fear into the hearts and minds of the citizens of the former Soviet Union.
From here we take the short walk back to the hotel and spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying the spa at the Park Hyatt. We spend some time in the banya and the steam room, washing away the last vestiges of the dust and mud and dirt from our journey across the largest country in the world.
We have to check out at 6 PM and we head out for some dinner before we have to leave for the airport. We decide to head back to Moo-Moo for a large meal before our overnight flight. We make a selection of a wide variety of Russian food (once again being amused by the marginal cost pricing structure with the food scales and portion sizes) and wash it down with some beer and mors.
Once back at the hotel a couple of hours later, we sit down in the hotel bar to wile away the next hour and half before we head to the airport. It is quite a scene in the bar with a wide spectrum of people. We have the group of Western business men in dark suits and ties, back from their day of meetings having a drink before retiring to their rooms. Next to them is the table with the three sexy ladies in skimpy outfits nursing their drinks. They are constantly on their cell phones, talking or checking for messages. Then, all of a sudden, one would get up and take the hotel elevator up to one of the rooms. Soon after that, a second one went up to a hotel room. About half an hour later, they came back down.
We also have the single woman with her bodyguard and attendant. He jumps at each command and takes good care of her. There is also the guy who looks like he is in the mafia with his numerous bodyguards scattered around the hotel lobby. He is enjoying a drink and a Cuban cigar. At one point he is joined by a strange looking man - he has a full, thick beard and large glasses and is wearing a long, heavy coat and hat. They kiss several times on the cheek and then sit down and have a long, intimate chat leaning towards each over the small table.
Just after 9 PM it is time for us to leave this interesting scene and catch our car to the airport. The kind staff at the hotel help us arrange the private car and carry our bags out. The car is an old Soviet model, but it is big enough for our luggage and it seems like it will carry us all the way to the airport. It takes us about one hour to make our way to Sheremetevo Airport.
We have to wait about fifteen minutes for the check-in counter to open and then, after passing through security, we check in our bags and get our boarding passes and then wait in the small gate lounge. We have over an hour of waiting to do and we use the time to take in some of the people passing through and waiting for their flights. We have the middle age business man who walked up to the bar and order two double shots of vodka or something like that. He gulped down the two shot glasses in short order and the interesting thing was the large amount of chocolate that he ate after each shot of booze. The interesting thing was watching him come back 15 minutes later and get another two glasses of vodka and consume them the same way, each one followed by a whole bar of chocolate.
We also had the elderly mafia type with his young, beautiful companion in a very provocative (read sluttish) outfit. He was taking a few pictures of her as they waited for their flight. He also bought her whatever she wanted at the small shop in the lounge. There were also plenty of families with young children. We were just hoping they would not end up next to us on the flight.
We board the flight shortly after midnight. The plane is an Ilushyin 96-300 with four engines and, in the cabin, nine seats across with two aisles. Once we have settled in to our seats we have a bit of a wait before we take off. For some reason, the flight is delayed and we leave an hour late. We pass on all the service and just try to get as much sleep as we can on this long flight. It is amazing - we will cross in one night the distance (covering seven time zones) it took us eight weeks to cross by train.