dcmike

Welcome to Flyer Talk!

Mid-range in Moscow is, unfortunately, the problem zone. Hotels tend to be either super-lux and super-expensive or places you wouldn't really want to stay in. The middle market has been absent, but it is growing.

Try looking at the Park Inn Sadu:

http://www.parkinn.com/hotelsadu-moscow

Right across the river from the Kremlin, tends to be a little less expensive if you can catch a deal.

Marriott Courtyard City Center might also be an option:

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...w-city-center/

If you're not afraid to try the metro, the Marriott Courtyard Paveletskaya:

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...-paveletskaya/

or the Holiday Inn at Sokolniki:

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/ihg/hot...so/hoteldetail

As for what to do, definitely get a tour of the Kremlin Churches and Armory. If you like art, the Tretyakov is an amazing collection of Russian Art and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is great for European art (I like the collection of 19th and 20th century European and American art the best - http://www.arts-museum.ru/index.php?lang=en - if you're looking at the front of the main building, the modern collection is on the left - the main building hosts everything pre-19th century and the special exhibitions - the line is often insanely long to get into the main building, but you can get into the 19th and 20th century collections easily - and you get Kandinsky, Chagall, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Degas etc)

A river cruise is very nice - the boats leaving from the Radisson Royal are very nice - http://radisson-cruise.ru/index_en.php

The Novodevichiy Convent is a wonderful site to visit. If you're willing to venture a bit more far afield, try Sergeev Posad.

And, if you want to get a humongous dose of Soviet kitsch, you can't beat VDNKh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-Rus...ibition_Centre) and right next to VDNKh is the Cosmonautics Museum (http://www.moscow.info/museums/cosmo...al-museum.aspx)

Hope that helps!!