I'm going on a tour this summer to Poland, The Baltics,Finnland and Russia.3 days in each,4 days in St.Petersburg and 2 days in Moscow which I think is not enough but I could not take more time off.
Anyways, the tour offers on the 1st.day in Moscow after arriving from the airport and checking in a panoramic tour of the city,with visits the Red SQ.-the oustide of the St.Basil C.,the Gum and the metro tour as an optional, which I will take of course.
But on the 2nd.day they take us to the Kremlin and then we'll see the armory. no visits to the inside of the cathedrals neither the diamond fund-or the inside of the ST.Basil Cathedral. So,when I ask about
these visits they told me I had to do them on my own, which is okay! but I also mention to the tour rep.that I would like to see the novodevichy monastery in the afternoon with a private guide (to see if they could booked one for me) and they told me it would be impossible to see both in one day.,is this true, am I asking for the impossible? all the day tour companies on the web. have the novodevichy as a 3 hour tour, so why is it impossible?.
would it take me an entire day just to see the kremlin?. Of course I'm not planning to detail every single little thing inside the kremlin, but sure I would like to see the diamonds aswell as the cathedrals,would this take me more than 3-4 hours?
So, my last though is, I may drop the tour group on that day and book myself a day tour or guide with another company that will offer me the chance to see both.
what do you think?does anyone knows a comp. that I could get in touch and book these visits ahead of time?
if, I was to do on my own the inside visits to the diamond fund and the cathedarls , would I be on a long line to paid the entrance?
Please, help. I want to make the most of my short time in Moscow.
thanks.

Mile,
As far as a Kremlin tour goes ... it all depends.
Disclaimer: we went a couple of years ago and I speak Russian so my experience can be very different from yours.
The Kremlin tour can be extremely crowded especially in the summer. Keep in mind that you are not only competing with other foreign tourists but Russians as well. I would highly recommend going there in the morning and getting the tour in English which is offered at the entrance. Even though it costs a lot more the lines are smaller, you truly get treated differently.
The diamond fund is available only if you get the tour and at the end of it our guide told us to go "over there" and wait for them to open. You can't leave Kremlin and come back in. The fund hours are notoriously bad. (So bad in fact, that my mom who’s been to Moscow countless of times never was lucky enough to get in) It's basically open whenever they want to open it and let as many people as they want. They don't allow more than 8 people in the place. We got EXTREMELY lucky to visit it. I still can't believe that we got in. It was one of the most memorable experiences of the trip. If you have the chance to visit it, don't pass it up.
Also, don't be disappointed if Kremlin is closed. Anytime there is a terrorist attack, or an important state visitor they close it down. We were in Moscow for 5 days and for a couple of days that we were there it was closed. The Kremlin tour with visits to all the cathedrals and other major sites (including armory and diamond fund) took half a day.

Good luck!

Some advice: Place the name of your destination(s) in your post's title. Only then do people know if they can help you.

thanks, both! yes, I noticed after posting that I forgot the Moscow destination on the tittle , but it was too late.
and today is being impossible for me to log in ....
but I finnally did.

For somebody who was born and rased in Russia it is so funny to see people get so excited over going to those ever so boaring musems that they made you go to on your class trips! But I guess german would say the same thing about visiting the castles and french about Paris. Sorry, just couldn't help it.
Luda.

Cute! I know , what your talking about.
Is there any suggetions from your part on must see sights @ St.Petersburg and Moscow?
I would love to hear from you.
Thanks.

Well, same old stuff that everybody reccomends. For St. Pete - Hermitage, St. Isaak Cathedral, the Admiralty, Peterghoff,Pavlovsk, stroll thru the main drag Nevsky Prospect, do brunch in Hotel Evropa, get drunk with some russian friends. Do not go in a off season, I was just there in a mid of October and the weather was just dreadfull which is very usual, cold, wet and windy. My advice- go to CARABBEAN instead!
Luda

I have done the Caribbean already.
Maybe Africa next.
thanks.