Saturday 25 August – Muscling in on Moscow

After another long, largely sleepless journey (Sydney – Hong Kong – Frankfurt – Moscow) we arrived here mid-afternoon today, Saturday.  Our friend Jenny has worked wonders in finding this hotel for us (the only hotel we will stay at in Europe).  The President Hotel is a grand edifice and is so-named because, during the glory days of the Soviet Union, it was the hotel of choice for visiting heads of state and celebrities.  Guests over the decades have included Richard Nixon, Fidel Castro, Alfred Hitchcock, Sean Connery and Richard Gere – and now us.  Our spacious room overlooks Gorky Park, which was the title and crime scene of the famous crime novel by Martin Cruz Smith.  Our room also has a direct view of the Moscow River and the 98 metre-high statute of Peter the Great on a sailing ship, erected in 1997 to celebrate 300 years of the Russian Navy, which Peter established. 

After settling in and having a very welcome shower we went for a walk to the riverfront and through the park – the “Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure“ - checking out the dozens of statutes of all shapes and sizes, many of which honour the leaders of the revolutionary movement (Lenin, Stalin etc) but also including Chopin and Pinocchio, had a gelato and then wandered back to our hotel to meet up with Sue, Jen and Steve. We all meeting up again later for an early dinner and an early night.