Carol's diary, Day 5 Moscow

Day 5; Heavy rain and we settle for diving into the nearest awning and through a door to find it's all done up like an English pub. Full English breakfast on the menu and the waitresses are all wearing minikilts. Under the awning the punters wrapped in pink fleecy blankets, are huddled together trying unsuccesfully to avoid the splashes, while the waiter runs a cautious brush under the awning to push the water out of the rapidly filling plastic. The rain eases and we walk down the large Arbat road to the Kremlin. The Kremlin is shut because of bomb threats in London we are told by a man hanging around the entrance. We decline his offer of a guided tour to the crown jewels and head down to the river. Past the glowing golden domes on the top of the churches inside the walls of the Kremlin, up to the clashing colours and patterns of Ivan the Terrible's cathedral, Sobar Vasiliya Blazhennogo, and into Red square. On one side, the Lenin Mausoleum and directly opposite across the square, the GUM Shopping mall, a monument to... well, shopping! The two symbols clashing as wildly as the cathedral. Every possible designer chain appears to be present in this huge, clean, glass palace. And it's been there since 1890, in one form or another. Well what did I expect?