Moscow

Current location: Irkutsk, Russia.

I ended up spending four days in Moscow. On the second day I visited the Museum of the Armed Forces, where I spent an afternoon ogling at various infantry weapons, artillery pieces, tanks, fighter planes, choppers and even ICBM-platforms; and was invited to a dacha to watch football and bathe in a banya, and was given my very own tracksuit (in case you didn't know, Russians love their tracksuits).

Days three and four I spent walking around town, joining the tourist hordes in the Red Square, relaxing in the many parks, marvelling at the extravagant architecture and the many statues and monuments that dot the city (evidently quite a few of the artist and architects involved in erecting these memorials were suffering from different stages of megalomania) and generally just getting lost in the city.

The train to Irkutsk left at 0035 on Friday morning from Jaroslavskiy station, and my Trans-Siberian adventure was properly kicked into gear.

Victory Park and the Museum of the Great Patriotic War.

Detail from the huge obelisk above. St. George slaying a dragon marked with the swastika?

One of the Seven Sisters of Moscow.

 Authors note: Due to some technical difficulties, posting pictures is a bit of a problem at the moment, but when I get my gear working again I'll upload some more pictures for Your viewing pleasure.