In a bit of a rush! Moscow

We had to sort out mongolian visas in moscow. After finding the embassy the night before we set off for it in the morning. The plan was to get a 6 month visa. This seemed hard work, all the women kept saying was "NO VISA 6 MONTHS". So we settled for a 30 day visa which we could extend while there. After this, a light ride around the city was in need. We went to the red square and had a quick view of the kremlin and other sights. Big massive buildings everywhere you looked. All very nice indeed 

On the way back to the van we all got split up in the crazy traffic. Nobby was back first, followed by me   , then stew showed up a while later. (No direction at all). We set off to explore the golden circle at what we thought would be a decent time to miss the traffic. We were wrong!!! It was out of control people beeping, cutting inside you, outside you, driving down the hard shoulder no system at all. As we moved away from the city the traffic died down, so we stopped for supplies (vodka) and made are way to a lake to spend the night. We ended up being quite loose!! Big sal hit the 600000 mile mark on this journey. Go on you beauty!! 

The next morning we admired the sights around the lake and moved on. Every village
around the golden circle was littered with church's. All very grand places, something in between mosques and churches. We arrived at kostroma where we went to a banya. Basically a sauna hut. This was quality!! spend 10 minutes in the sauna and then jump in a plunge pool outside. We played heads or tails to see who put there face in front of steam. Not recommended at all!! We spent 2 hours in there, by this time refreshed and ready for a pint we moved on to the next village. A recommended bar from lonely planet was the destination "dudki bar". Nothing to special to be fair! 

After a short ride around the town the next day we made are way back to Moscow to collect our visas. Making sure not to hit the rush hours traffic again we stopped of at the same lake as before, had some grub, done some weights and set off. The skyline was unbelievable as we entered moscow. So we chilled admiring this before hitting the sack.

A day of sightseeing was on the agenda this morning. Waking up a bit late made us not see much apart from looking around town and seeing the red square. We heard the moscow state circus was one to see, so that night we attended. What a decision this was. Full of acrobatics, seals doing tricks, tigers, leopards and a clown that was actually quite funny. Bearing in mind we couldn't understand a word he was saying. We'll worth a visit! On the way home we stopped off at the red suare. Absoloutely unreal at night. With the circus still on our minds we tried some acrobatics ourself (see picture below) 

We took the metro back to the van. 3 different lines and 10 stops later we were back

Again trying to avoid traffic we set of for the Ural Mountains 1500km east of moscow. Before you know it stuck in traffic again. Does this place never sleep!! Our option was to drive through the night each taking a few hours kip in the back while someone else drives. This worked we'll and we are on route. Bring on the mountains 

Dunny