One of my all time favorite games for the PC was called Flashback. For those of you who remember, it was one of the early games that had the smooth, fluid character motions in the game. The main character ran in a human fashion. I was addicted. Throw in the science fiction story line and it was a "geek's dream".

Anyhow, it has been resurrected on the Nintendo DS with the extensive homebrew scene going on now. I had some problems getting it to work, but I finally figured it out the other night.

Performance

Pretty good. The game itself runs quite smooth. The only thing that I do notice being slow are the cinematic scenes in the game.

I have also had it freeze once. I have played a dozen times, so we will have to wait and see if it becomes more frequent or not.

Sound works as well. You have music and sound effects.

My Hardware

I have a Nintendo DS Lite with a Supercard 3 and a Supercard Lite with microSD.

To Get It Running

This was a bit of a pain actually. The main page I used was found on Troy Davis' site. Here you will find a link for the latest binary.

You also need the game files from the DOS version of the game. How you get these is up to you. Find an old copy of the game from someone or go searching on the internet.

If you want sound, you need the audio files from the Amiga version of the game. This is even harder to find, but I did manage to find them on one website. I found them at this web site.. One of the files is called mod.flashback-ascenseur if you need to look for another site because the link I provided does not work.

Basically, you just need to do the following.

• Create a folder called data\flashback\Data on the root folder of your flash card. I do not think capitalization matters, but this is how mine looks, exactly.
• Copy all the data files from the Data folder of your DOS Flashback installation into the \data\flashback\Data folder on the flash card.
• Check to see if you have the files LOGOSSSI.CMD, LOGOSSSI.POL, MENU1SSI.CMD, and MENU1SSI.POL. If you do, rename them to drop the SSI portion off the end of each filename.
• Copy all the Amiga audio files into the \data\flashback\Data folder as well.
• Download the DLDI patch file and patcher if you don't already have them at the DLDI site.

  I personally downloaded the SuperCard Lite DLDI and Win32 GUI DLDI Patcher.

• Patch the REminiscenceDS.nds file with DLDI.
  • I started the Win32 Gui by unzipping the Win32 zip file I downloaded and double clicking the dlditool32.exe file inside. It opens a window.
  • I clicked the ... button to the right of the DLDI File field and selected the folder I saved my SuperCard Lite DLDI file from above. The picklist then shows the available DLDI's.
  • Select the SuperCard Lite(TransFlash MicroSD) option.
  • Click the ... button to the right of the Binaries field. Select the file REminiscenceDS.nds from the zip file you downloaded earlier and click Open.
  • Click the Patch button. The existing REminiscenceDS.nds file will be overwritten with a new one.
  The file should now be patched.

• Copy the file in to the root folder on the flash card.
• Boot it up.

Problems You Might Have Getting It To Run

cannot find logos.cmd

You need to make sure you renamed the logosssi.cmd and other files before you put them on the flash card.

cannot find menus1.cmd

You need to make sure you renamed the logosssi.cmd and other files before you put them on the flash card.

It freezes when I try to save.

I got this by using 0.23 of the REminiscence application. If you download the latest and patch it with DLDI, it should be fine.

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I recently read a review on John Chow's blog about a new site called PublisherSpot. This is a very cool site if you are looking to establish your website's revenue streams.

Basically, it is a big collection of reviews and ratings for ad networks and programs. The reviews are a bit sparse right now, but they will come. They even give a ranking for an ad network to let you know how good it is (in their opinion).

From my own experience and a lot of other website owners, it is in your best interest to have a number of different revenue sources. Often we only rely on one like PayPerPost or Google's Adsense program. There are too many opportunities to gain money to not use them. I am guilty myself of only having 4 different streams that I use on this site.

I think my next goal should be to add another source to this site that doesn't conflict with the first 4 and does not clutter up my site much more than it is now. In the meantime, check out PublisherSpot.

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It has been a while since I did the stock picks, so I think I'm going to get back into it. I'm in the process of developing another side of my website that caters to this sort of thing. I find that paper trading is difficult to keep up with. An organizational scheme and a bit of automation should help with it.

Anyhow, I was playing with the StockScores website again and came across Polar Resources Corporation. This is a stock by the symbol of PLR that trades on the TSX's Venture Exchange.

If you remember my articles on StockScores, then you know that it takes certain criteria to make a stock worth picking in their system. I'm still trying to see if I can paper trade (fake trade) using this system and get some sort of steady results.

PLR has a signal score of 98 and a sentiment score of 73 at the end of today. This is worthy of taking a look when it has these scores. Looking at the graph, you can see that it recently broke through to a new high price on unusually higher volume of trading and has been increasing consistently over the past 6 months.

PLR

If I bought into the stock today, I would pay $0.265/share. I would also say it is reasonable to expect support at $0.17. If it falls below this, it would be time to sell the stock, no questions asked.

So let's pretend we purchased the stock and I will recap in a week and a month where it has gone.

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St. Petersburg is an fascinating city to see when you are in Russia. It has as much history and architecture as Moscow. My wife and I visited this city for only a day this summer. It wasn't enough time, but we were able to see a lot in that short time regardless.

Our short stay was simply because of our time crunch. We were taking the Trans Siberian railway across Russia on our way to Mongolia and China. We had booked the cheapest flights we could find and our departure on the train meant we only had a few days to see both Moscow and St. Petersburg.

By the way, we also booked our trip through Travel To Russia. We contacted one of them and through email and Gmail chat had everything arranged. For our St. Petersburg portion they only booked our train tickets, but they provided us with a map and a walking tour we could do on our own. It suited our budget and what we wanted to do perfectly. They did have a variety of other options and will arrange whatever you want really.

Getting There

An overnight train is probably the best way to get there from Moscow if you are in a crunch for time (like we were). Update: In August 2007 there was a terrorist bomb planted under one of the bridges that derailed one of these trains. The trains leave at a number of different times from Leningradsky station in Moscow. We took the 12:00 (midnight) train. It arrives between 7 and 8 the next morning in St. Petersburg.

The train is pretty nice. 2nd class is a room with two bunk beds. They provide clean sheets, a bottle of water, some pre-packaged breakfast food, and there is plenty of room to store your luggage. Unless you are sharing with a party crowd (Russian or foreigners), you will manage to get a good sleep as the trains run smoothly.

When you arrive the next morning you will be at Moskovsky Station which is along Nevsky Prospekt, which is one of the main streets in St. Petersburg.

Language

Russia was one of the more difficult countries to travel in for the language. They do not need to cater to tourists as much as the developing world does so I felt there was a lot less desire for them to learn English

Their alphabet is cyrillic which means you can't even pronounce words when you see them. I definitely recommend getting some audio books (like the Pimsleur series from the library to learn a few words and then purchase a Lonely Planet or other guide book that contains the pronunciation guide for cyrillic characters and practice. Spell out your name, the word "internet", Lenin, toilet, restaurant, Moscow, and anything else you can think of. It is a great way to learn it.

Words like restaurant, internet, and toilet are pronounced the same as we do, but their are written in an alphabet we cannot read, so it is easy to not even notice them.

Money

The ruble. Nothing too special about it. It was trading about 25 to 1 when we went there. So it was easy to do the math. 100 rubles is around US$4.

Note: I was not able to exchange for rubles in Canada anywhere. Apparently a lot of banks and exchanges will not deal with it. It took American cash and did it while I was there. There are exchange places on many a street corner.

Where We Stayed

We didn't stay anywhere. We arrived in the morning on the overnight train from Moscow and we left that night on the overnight back to Moscow. We were well rested and had no problems getting the most out of our day.

Getting Around

I cannot give much advice here, because we walked the majority of it. If you have the energy you can walk from the train station to the main areas. You don't have to back track much either.

We did use the Metro at the very end of our day too. It was raining hard and we wanted to keep out of the rain. There are a couple stops along Nevsky Prospekt, including the one at Moskovsky station. There is also a station by the Peter & Paul Fortress if you don't feel like walking back across the river. It isn't on the same line as Moskovsky though (you have to switch on an overlapping station to the other line).

Nevsky Prospekt

This is a main street running through St. Petersburg. It runs right by the train station and continues until you get to the Hermitage and the river. Walking form the train station to the Hermitage will take you a little bit of time, but you will walk by a few sites and see lots of interesting buildings.

Along the way you will see or be one block from the following:

• Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan
• Anichkov Bridge
• Cathedral of Spilt Blood
• Hermitage
• Admirality
• St. Isaac's Cathedral

Cathedral of Spilt Blood

This is very cool. If St. Petersburg is your first stop in Russia, then this might be the first place you go. It is the site where Czar Alexander II was fatally wounded in an assassination attempt. No chairs inside either. The walls and ceilings are completely covered in murals. There is a marker on the exact spot the assassination attempt happened as well.

You will be charged around 300 rubles to go in, but if you have a student card...take it! It is a large discount and you can get this discount a lot of places in Russia. If you want to take pictures you have to pay as well. I think it is something like 50 rubles, but remember to get it when you walk in. It is a sticker that goes on the outside of your camera so you can't share. You actually pay inside the building too. I was confused as there is a booth outside, but we were directed inside to pay.

If you feel like some souvenirs, there are a few vendors just outside.

The Hermitage and Winter Palace

This is impressive. It is a massive square with the Hermitage sitting on the north side of it. This museum is absolutely huge! There is no other way to describe it. Even if you are not into museums, I would recommend going into this one at least. It is around 250 rubles too, but if you have a student card it is free. I think the first Thursday of the month is free for everyone too.

The square in the front is where Bloody Sunday happened and the Hermitage itself is also the Winter Palace where the royalty used to live before communism came.

We saw original art works by Picasso, Da Vinci, Cézanne, and others. There are sculptures, Asian art, artifacts, tapestries, and anything you can think of. There is even a giant "peacock clock" that actually works. It is hard to describe and you need to see it to understand.

We did it on our own and only spent a couple hours, but you could spend days here. There are tour guides lurking at the doors wanting to help you, but you can have cheaper group tours that run periodically throughout the day.

Check out the Hermitage Museum's official site.

Peter and Paul Fortress

This is on the other side of the Neva river. You can walk across or take a taxi. You will know the fortress by the giant gold spire rising out of it. A definite identifying symbol for this city.

The bodies of the czar's and their families have been buried here. There is also a cathedral in the center (the spire that you can see). There is no entrance fee and it is interesting to walk around.

Other Stuff

Admiralty

Another museum I believe, but we did not go in here. Just sat by the fountains outside for a bit and took a few photos.

St. Isaac's Cathedral

Another impressive cathedral. The front doors are huge with some serious carvings in them. If you pay to go in, you can get access to stairs that take you on the outside and quite high up the cathedral.

Mosque

Just to the north-east of the Peter & Paul Fortress is an interesting looking mosque. Close by is the metro as well. A good opportunity to see it if you want to get back across the river.

St. Petersburg Metro

The metro in St. Petersburg (and Moscow) is just cool. Classic looking sculptures and some stations even have big chandeliers. You ride escalators that descend for quite awhile to access these subterranean stations. You will want to have a good map and know where the stations come up in the different parts of the city though.

We took lots of photos, but we also heard you can get in trouble if the police or other security catch you taking them. I think it might be a money extortion thing, but you never know. Just be discrete.

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In July of 2007, my wife and I traveled for close to a month on a "Trans Siberian Railway" themed trip. It is a popular tourist route with some interesting sites along the way. It is also a quick way to get from Europe to the Far East.

I am only going to talk about how I did this trip. There are a lot of options along the way including the final destination/starting point if you are starting in the east.

What Is The Trans Siberian Railway?

The Trans Siberian is a railway that was built from Moscow in the west to Vladivostok in the east. It takes around 6 days of straight train riding (which you can do if you want to). It is a great way to get across Russia and see a lot of stuff along the way.

There are two options however. At the Russian city of Ulan Ude you can take the Trans Mongolian Railway which goes through Mongolia and on to Beijing, China. The second is to break off at Tarskaya, Russia and take the Trans Manchurian to go straight into China. You can stop at Harbin and some other Chinese cities before arriving in Beijing.

Definitely the most popular of all 3 is to the Trans Mongolian and Trans Siberian combination. Gets you into the two biggest cities along the lines and see 3 different countries and very different terrain. This is what we did as well.

Trans Siberian Railway

Getting There

Depends on what direction you are traveling. Your starting points will be Moscow, Beijing, or Vladivostok. You can start at other points along the way, but these are large centers. You will either fly in or arrive via some other means.

We met people who were transitioning from their Asian trip and heading on to Europe or vice versa.

The train stations in both cities are located fairly easily. Beijing Train Station is walking distance from Tiananmen Square and tourist territory and Moscow's train station is along the metro line only about 15 minutes from the Kremlin.

The Cost

This really varies. It depends on a few different things:

• The Class Of Cabin

  This is 1st or 2nd class. 1st class is a two person cabin and 2nd class is a 4 person cabin with 2 bunk beds. I did see other cabins with a chair and a bunk bed which I am assuming is first class as well. Pictured at right is a 2nd class cabin.

• The Season Of Travel

  Just like any tourist place, busy season is more expensive. If you travel in July/August, expect to pay a bit more.

• The Number Of Stops

  This is one of the biggest factors in my opinion. They don't like having to try and sell your ticket so there is added cost depending on how many times you stop. They seemed to do a good job of keeping the train full, but we did have a few places where we had the cabins to ourselves for a stretch.

I would say that a July ticket without any stops in 1st class will be around US$600. 2nd was of course cheaper, but the cost did go up as we added a number of stops.

How Do I Book It?

Pick up the Trans Siberian Railway Lonely Planet guide. This book is excellent and has a huge wealth of information.

There is a large number of online agencies that offer Trans Siberian bookings. Some even give you a lot of flexibility and options to pick from. The biggest thing I found is that you need to be aware of the time. How much time you will need at each stop and what the time is locally. The trains run on Moscow time to be consistent between time zones. MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT TIME THEY ARE STATING ON THE WEBSITE.

I ended up booking through a travel agency. They were very helpful in arranging it (they are getting a cut) and I would recommend it to most people. They understand the ins and outs and what is possible or not.

The company I used I am also going to recommend as they were a big part of making our trip a success, plus it eased a lot of my unease before I went. They had the option of paying by bank transfer, credit card, and even PayPal. I'm sure a lot of them are like this too. Anyhow, here is their contact info.

Travel To Russia
http://www.transib.net
Toll Free: 1-877-RUSSIA-9

They have a neat page where you can create your own tour using the web interface.

Also, in case you have not been reading this blog for long, I originally booked this trip with Intrepid Travel, but they did not get the minimum amount of people to sign up and canceled the tour on us. It turned out for the better as we were able to custom organize our trip (because we were forced to) and see some other stuff anyways. We did run into another Intrepid group on our train that had been on a different tour (longer one) and they said there trip was really enjoyable.

Get Your Paperwork In Order

This trip depends on a few things. We are Canadian, so this might not apply to you, but here we go nonetheless. These governments can be sticky so make sure everything is okay.

Bottom line is to go the country's embassy site for your country. They will have instructions on what you need to do.

• A valid passport with 6 months left before it expires.
• Chinese visa ($50)
• Mongolia visa ($80)
• Russian visa ($75). This required a letter of invitation from our tour agency in Russia that provided details of our trip. Basically, you need to book something before you can even "try" for your visa.
• Keep copies of your tickets and such. In Russia, you need to register if you are staying in a city for more than a few days. If a police officer stops you, you might need to show your train ticket stubs as proof of your arrival and departure days.

What Stops Are Interesting?

We say Moscow and Beijing because this is the start and end point. They are both very interesting and give yourself at least 2 days for each. You can easily do more if you want as well (especially Beijing if you want to do some shopping). Besides that, there are a number of stops along the railway. Every few hours you will stop in a small town or city. Some have interesting things to see. I will list our stops

Yekaterinburg

We also seen this listed as Ekaterinburg, so I don't know what the deal is. This is the 3rd largest city in Moscow at over a million people. The train station is relatively close to the main downtown street where there are a number of hotels and apartments.

Most notable in this city is the cathedral and cross marking the spot where the Romanov family, the last czar of Russia, were murdered by the Soviets in the early 1900's. There is also a dammed lake in the city, an Afghanistan war memorial, museums, symphony, and pedestrian street with lots of shopping and restaurants.

Close by is the Europe/Asia border marking. Around a $30 taxi ride if you want to do it on your own. It is kind of neat if you want to say you were there. They are building a more convenient one closer to town if you want to check it out in the future.

Irkutsk and Lake Baikal

This is the point you get off the train if you are going to see Lake Baikal. Irkutsk itself doesn't have much to see other than more churches and the river.

Lake Baikal is very interesting place to see. Absolutely beautiful with its low mountains and the huge lake. Apparently the largest lake by volume in the world, it even contains fresh water seals (which we didn't see unfortunately).

The main village on the lake is called Listvyanka. There are a number of hotels and "homestays" you can arrange through tour companies or on your own. You can reach it by water taxi, bus, taxi, or other arrangements from Irkutsk.

Cheryl and I went up to Bolshi Koti. It is a very small village about 20 minutes on the hovercraft from Listvyanka. Not even a 4 wheeled vehicle could be seen there. Very remote, but very relaxing. The boat ride was only around 5 bucks each way.

There are lots of other spots on the lake and things you can do. It is more of a tourist spot for Russians as well. You will definitely feel outnumbered as a foreigner. Olkhon Island was a popular destination for the backpacking crowd, but we never made it up there.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

This is a must see, no question about it. The landscape is entirely different and the culture is also a shock. Dry, desert-like mountains are encompassing the city. Half the people seem to live in the "ger" tents around the city.

Just outside of town is the Terelj National Park. Mountains, camels, horse back riding, and staying in a ger are all to be seen and done. We did a 2 day trip out here. You can also plan longer excursions out to the Gobi Desert if you want or go to the Khustai National Park instead of Terelj.

Other Stops

There are a lot of other stops, but these are the only ones I know about.

Other Resources

• Wikipedia Article on Trans Siberian Railway

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My wife and I had the privilege of seeing Moscow for a couple of days in July of 2007. It is a very interesting and a very large city. There is a lot of history going back through the royalty and the soviet government, fascinating architecture, and interesting cultural aspects.

It was unfortunate we only had a couple of days, but we packed them with as much as we possibly could factoring in cost of course.

Getting There

We flew into Sheremetyevo Terminal 2 on a SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) flight from Amsterdam, connecting in Stockholm, to Moscow. The ticket was a little over US$400. The airport is quite a distance from the downtown area, so plan on taking a taxi, public bus, or make arrangements with your tour agency.

You can also get there a number of other ways. Some people come on trains from other cities in Russia. These end up quite close to the downtown. The main stations are only about 15 minutes metro ride from the Kremlin and Red Square.

Using a Tour Agency or Doing It On Your Own

Up to you as always. We used a tour agency for our airport transfer into the city, train tickets in and out of Moscow, a place to stay, a city tour, and a Kremlin tour. We got ourselves to the train station and to our different tour starting points, and restaurants for meals.

If you are doing it on your own, I would recommend to pre-book as much as you can on the internet. Accommodation is not cheap in Moscow and is actually one of the more expensive places to visit in general. That being said, if you like to do a bit of reading on your own, you can definitely see most of the major sites without any help from anyone else.

One of the nice things about our Moscow experience was our tour guide, Svetlana. If you are looking for someone to give you a tour of the Kremlin and the city, we lucked out by having her on our trip. She has perfect English as she has a Masters in Linguistics from the university there and an excellent knowledge of Russian history (her husband is a professor of history at the university as well). If you are looking for your own guide, definitely contact her as an option. Here is her contact info:

Svetlana Krushelnitskaya
Guide-Interpreter (Russian, English, Danish)
Home Phone: (7 495) 733-37-00
Mobile Phone: 7-916-618-62-71
Email: krushel@mail.ru

The tour agency we used was quite good as well. Easy to contact, seemed to have a lot of knowledge, was accommodating to our budget (they said we could do St. Petersburg on our own and even provided us with a map and two page document for a walking tour), and seemed quite professional. We paid by bank transfer and they are affiliated to a company in San Francisco, USA, which might help ease any worries by North American travelers. They are actually the ones that hooked us up with our tour guide above. Here is there contact info:

Travel To Russia
http://www.transib.net
Toll Free: 1-877-RUSSIA-9

Getting Around

We walked, walked, and walked some more. We also took the Moscow metro which is absolutely fantastic and worth a trip once just to look at it. It can be a bit confusing so make sure you have a map that has both the cyrillic and english pronunciation on it. I have a link to the map at the bottom of this article. It is only around US$0.50 to ride the thing as well.

Cost

Okay, I have traveled in a number of countries in Asia, a few in Africa, a couple in South America, and even in the U.S. and Canada. Russia is definitely one of the more expensive countries to travel in. Accommodation, sit down meals, tours, and transportation will all cost a fair amount. The inflation in there country is very surprising, seeing as the people themselves have a hard time affording it. There is a definite gap between the rich and poor here.

That being said. We found that fast food restaurants could be very cheap. Pizza places can feed 2 people for under US$10, easily.

Where Did We Stay

Hostels can be found for around US$30/night, but they are a fair distance from the main areas. Hotels are reaching around US$300/night so our travel agency recommended apartments. They still aren't cheap, but you can get into them for around $150/night and up.

They booked us our apartment for us, but it can be booked along with others from this Apartments For Rent site too. Our exact suite was a suite along Old Arbat street. It was very clean and nice, included free international calling, washing machine, satellite television, internet via wi-fi, and more. For the price (around $180) you would expect this at home, but it is pretty good for Moscow. It is all you really need and it is only around a 15 minute walk to the Kremlin. If you don't know, Old Arbat street is a pedestrian only street with a lot of trendy stores and restaurants. The only down side is you don't get the daily cleaning service of a hotel, but it is twice a week if I remember right.

Eating

Restaurants can be found everywhere. Pick up a Lonely Planet guide and you will find a lot of restaurant listings you can try and find. On Old Arbat you will find a few. Everything from McDonald's to nice sit down restaurants. One that was recommended to us, but we didn't go to, was Moo Moo. It is spelled My My, which is cyrillic, but pronounced moo moo. Like a cow, because that is the theme of the restaurant.

Our favorite restaurant for Moscow was Mama Nina (Mama Hинa in cyrillic), a Georgian restaurant. The food was fantastic and we had a number of dishes. The total came to under US$30, which is cheap for that style of meal.

Red Square

This area is the biggest point for stuff to see. One side is St. Basil's, one side is the Kremlin, another is a mall, and there are more cathedrals on the other end.

Along the Kremlin wall is Lenin's Mausoleum. You can view his body at certain times of the day throughout the week. I wasn't able to go unfortunately, but if you pick up a guide book and check out the times, you can arrange it for yourself. It is free, but you should dress appropriately and you will have to check your camera.

Behind the mausoleum and along the wall is also the graves of former Soviet presidents. Not much to see, but interesting if you remember the history lessons for Russia.

St. Basil's

This is probably the most photographed cathedral in Russia. You will recognize its large onion shaped spires right away and it is very colorful. I didn't go inside, but you can if you want. It is located on the one end of Red Square.

Kremlin

The political center of the former world super power. Kremlin actually means "fortress" and so there are technically a lot of kremlins in Russia, but the one in Moscow actually houses the federal government buildings. I am not sure what the entrance fees cost because it was included in our tour, but I do know the lineups were long, so give yourself time when you go there.

Inside the Kremlin there is a palace that housed the royal family when they were visiting. The political buildings you can't even cross the street to see, but you can look at the nice yellow color of them from the outside.

Cathedral Square is one of the main things you actually see. There are 4 different cathedrals, one of which a number of Russian Orthodox religious leaders are buried.

Also in the Kremlin is the Armory. I found this interesting. Basically a big museum housing artifiacts from the royal family. There are carriages, wedding dresses, jewelery, diamond studded bibles, ornamental eggs, and a number of other items. Give yourself a couple hours to see it and this is where our guide really paid off, in my opinion.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

This is a neat looking church. Just south of the Kremlin, you can walk here in about 15 minutes. When you look at it, you will think you are looking at a cathedral that is hundreds of years old. The fact is, it is was demolished by the communists and was just finished being rebuilt in the 1990's.

We went inside during a "prayer session" and it was quite interesting. No seats and quite a few people. Definitely an all ages group. It seems with the fall of communism that there is a thirst for religion among the young generation.

The World War II Great Patriotic War Museum

I thought this was cool. You can see some Russian symbolism. There is a monument that is a giant pillar with an angel type figure on the top. At the bottom is a warrior having just cut off a dragon's head nad driven a spear into it. Called the Victory Monument, it represents the Russian army cutting off the head of the Nazi's.

There is a building housing a number of other art that is in the shape of a dam representing the Russian dam against the Nazi tide. Very cool. You can reach it on the metro.

Moscow Metro

At least go down into one station and look around. They have very cool artwork and long escalators that descend deep into the ground. Some stations have their very own "look" as well.

Bolshoi Theatre

This is actually being renovated right now, so we couldn't really see it that well from the outside. I think in 2008 you will be able to go back there for performances and what not. In the meantime they are doing performances at the theatre right beside the Bolshoi.

State Cemetary

This isn't really on most people's "must see" list, but our guide took us here anyways. It is kind of interesting. Yeltsin's grave it here along with Krushchev's. A number of famous Russians are buried here. What makes it interesting is the intricate gravestones that depict what the person represented in their life. It is like walking through an art gallery.

Panaromic View of the City

If you go up to where the University of Moscow is, you can get an excellent view of the city. There was a Russian "pancake" stand up there that was very delicious. Kind of like a rolled up crepe with a ton of different fillers you can put in it. The Olympic ski jump is up there as well.

Other Museums

There are more museums then you can count. I think it is a remnant of the communist government trying to keep everyone "employed". But if you are into that sort of thing, go at it.

Resources

• Moscow Metro Map - Russian and English
• Wikipedia Moscow Article

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