We explore Moscow by trolleybus

2:45pm just had lunch. This morning I, dad, mum and two people we eat with (Bob and Beryl) went for a trolley bus ride. Mandy slept. We caught a number 2 after walking to shopping area (where book world is) in search of a bus stop. The one-rate fare of 4 kopecks is paid into a machine (other denominations can be put in to add up to 4 kopecks, but no larger coins can be used) a ticket is issued. We had to get change from a passenger. The driver was a woman, and she announced each stop by loudspeaker. Some people had blue tickets which they punched in a machine on the wall.

We got out at the terminus which was in housing area – all the blocks of apartments have shops on the ground floor. We went into the block to see if there was anything interesting but it was just a lobby with postboxes and lift. The shops were food, and a hardware store which sold everything from bottled gas, glass, through washboards and woodworking tools (including expensively priced electric drills) to wallpaper.

In another shop we bought a pack of cigarettes and a box of matches out of curiosity (16 kopecks). Their cheapness was due to the fact that they only had about two centimetres tobacco, at the rest being filter and a cardboard cylinder ‘holder’. We went round the back of a block of flats to find that snow was and clear and quite thick. Great blocks of flats surrounded a square of grass in which was a fenced off children’s play area. Dad took a photograph of them. It was quite chilly and was snowing lightly.

We made our way back to shopping area where we caught trolleybus back to hotel. Bob had to find change and had less kopecks than a lady could give us in exchange. Instead of accepting 10 pence piece to make a difference she preferred to end up short.

We alighted the trolleybus at the entrance to the park adjacent to the Kremlin. The tomb of the Unknown Soldier was near the entrance so we had a look at that. While we were there two brides and bridegrooms arrived to lay flowers on it.

11:25pm just returned from New Circus. A permanent circus. The act was great mostly acrobatics, juggling, clowns, but also elephants, horses, dogs. One piece the clowns did (the legendary Popov was amongst them) was to compare the weight of a bomb with a dove. The dove was heavier. A spectator next to us thought it was “blatant” propaganda.

This afternoon we (except mum who had a sleep) went to the beriozka at the Hotel Russia again to look at cameras. There was the one I mentioned before for around £6, a Zorki with range finder (full frame) for £11.33, and a Zenit B SLR for about £18 to £19. In the end I bought the Zorki 4K. Dad bought a Russian black fur hat.