I'd say today was a pretty 'typical' touristy day -- or as typical as a touristy day can get in Moscow I suppose. I had a pretty difficult time waking up, but it was hard to resist the incredible breakfast buffet that they had downstairs. It was about the most extensive buffet I have ever seen -- even my dad who sees many more breakfast buffets than I do, said that it was the nicest he has ever seen. They had everything from made-to-order omelettes to little jars of fresh honey to smoked eel (which I didn't try) to delicious breads and pastries. It was all delicious.
We met our guide Viktoria in the lobby at around 8:50 and set off from there. Our first stop was at The Kremlin which was a little overwhelming. We first had to wait in line to buy tickets which was in itself a confusing situation -- Viktoria left us to wait in one line while she went to wait in another line although we were a little unclear as to why she did that since our line was clearly shorter. But it all worked out and we got tickets and went inside. It's a pretty impressive complex of churches and government buildings and an enormous Soviet structure that's now used for concerts. We had a lovely stroll in the gardens from which we could see Putin's new helicopter landing pads. How convenient. I think we went into 4 different cathedrals which were pretty different from any others we've seen -- much older and covered with depictions of the icons from the Russian Orthodox faith.
We met our guide Viktoria in the lobby at around 8:50 and set off from there. Our first stop was at The Kremlin which was a little overwhelming. We first had to wait in line to buy tickets which was in itself a confusing situation -- Viktoria left us to wait in one line while she went to wait in another line although we were a little unclear as to why she did that since our line was clearly shorter. But it all worked out and we got tickets and went inside. It's a pretty impressive complex of churches and government buildings and an enormous Soviet structure that's now used for concerts. We had a lovely stroll in the gardens from which we could see Putin's new helicopter landing pads. How convenient. I think we went into 4 different cathedrals which were pretty different from any others we've seen -- much older and covered with depictions of the icons from the Russian Orthodox faith.
Kremlin Gardens
Putin's Landing Pads
Old Palace in the Kremlin
From there, we made a pass through Red Square and headed into the Russian State Historical Museum. It started with artifacts from thousands of years ago and went up through the history of the 18th century or so -- interesting! After that, we took our first ride on the Moscow metro -- I think it's supposed to be pretty cool, but the stations we saw just seemed pretty ordinary. Hopefully we'll get to do a little more adventuring with the metro tomorrow.
Red Square
We had lunch at a nice Italian chain restaurant that Viktoria had recommended. We usually request places that aren't touristy and full of people and so that's where we ended up! I continued my "carbonara testing project" which proved to be very successful, and then for dessert, we split their homemade sour cream cake which was amazing. It seemed like it was about 8 crepes that were layered with a cheesecake-type filling. So so delicious. We then walked around the Cathedral of Christ Our Savior which gave us a nice view of the city and then after I made a makeshift skirt from my scarf (shorts were not allowed), we went inside. During Soviet times, the Cathedral was destroyed and a swimming pool was built in its place, so it was just in the last 20 years of so that it has been rebuilt -- opened again on the eve of the millennium. Crazy.
View of the Kremlin
Cathedral of Christ Our Savior
The afternoon was pretty much a drive out beyond the center of the city. We saw a lot of cool things that wouldn't have been possible to see without Viktoria or a car. She took us to the cemetery where Khrushchev and Yeltsin are both buried along with a bunch of other famous Russia people. Then we went up to Sparrow Hill which is right in front of the Moscow State University (in one of Stalin's Seven Sisters buildings). From there, we got a great view over the whole city. It being Saturday, all of these brides and wedding parties were up there taking pictures -- too funny. And all of the dresses were absolutely awful....
View of Monastery and Cemetery
Cemetery
View from Sparrow Hill
I was pretty beat at this point -- but we were nearing the end of our day. We started to head back towards the middle of the city and on the way we stopped at a place called Poklonnaya Hill which is a war memorial honoring World War II. Very peaceful and powerful. Then we headed back to our hotel seeing some other cool things along the way. Before settling in for the night, we made a quick pass through the Gulag Museum which is just across the street from our hotel. I think it could in some ways be equated to going to an old concentration camp in Germany or Poland -- definitely a good thing to do. It actually turned out to be mostly about the life of Leon Trotsky -- and since I knew nothing about him before, it was all quite interesting!
Poklonnaya Hill
Again
Very interesting and informative day! I think it's time for a little time in the hot tub!
A demain.
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