Sat25Jun16: Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour

As expected, the Saturday street traffic is much lighter than on a weekday, so it's a good day for a bus tour of Moscow.  We stroll down to the stop nearest our hotel, catch the morning's first bus at 10:40am, and do two circuits of Route #1 (Red) around the city centre.  Great views from the upper deck and good ventilation in the increasing daytime heat.

Down to the GUM store, turn left and - in addition to the Changing of the Guard at 11am - there's yet another military event in Red Square (ho hum!),

cross the bridge to the south bank of the Volga (they call it the Moscow River), past the British High Commission, re-cross the Volga and past the re-built Church of our Saviour, completing our circuit of the inner city and the Kremlin in about 60 minutes.

Back at the bus depot it's time for a break so we pose with a pink penquin and paint a mural;

then stroll across the Bridge of Love (complete with dozens of steel trees holding thousands of padlocks) and wedding parties having their photos taken.






The pedestrian route to the Tretyakov Gallery is lined with restaurants and snack shops, so we enjoy a sub & iced coffee with an expatriate Italian who owns a small shop and shares his bubbly personality with foreign tourists.  We share our experiences in Russia and explain the theory of travel; he recounts how his friends back in Milano have asked whether he can find enough to eat, let alone have enough food to sell in his shop.  We all share an espresso and a laugh!




Hop-On Hop-Off has two routes and we take Route #2 (Green) that follows upstream along the north shore of the Volga, tracing our CCK boat route from the riverbank.  Past the Army Staff Headquarters, the Olympic Park, crosses over to Moscow State University and the same viewpoint atop the Sparrow Hills for an overview of the city (deja view!), Kievskiy Station, then cuts across town to pass along the riverbank wall of the Kremlin and Red Square.

Two circuits of the Green line is enough for today, so we hop off at St. Basil's Cathedral and stroll back through Red Square to our hotel.  Supper at the Bakery & Burger restaurant, then back to the hotel for a couple of Euro2016 football matches to finish off the evening.