We met at 7am for our trip to Moscow. There were 21 of us, plus an escort from the ship (Todd), a Russia based guide (Alexander), and a local guide Ludmilla, our local guide in Moscow. We caught a 9:40am flight to Moscow, which is about 500 miles from St. Petersburg. The airline is a local airline called S7, using an airbus plane. The flight was fine. We drove into the city with our local guide talking about all the buildings we saw and positive aspects of Moscow. Our first stop was at Red Square, where we could see the Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral, and the GUM store.
These photo’s are of the Kremlin, which is a walled area with various buildings and a cathedral inside.
This is St. Basils, simply gorgeous.
Red Square turns out to be smaller than expected, but we may not have been able to really get a sense of its size because seating was erected for a big musical event and part of the area is undergoing renovation. From the side we were on, you had the St. Basils off to the left of you, the Kremlin in front of you (next three photos), the History Museum off to the right (third and fourth photos), and the GUM store behind you. Lenin’s tomb is next to the wall and used as a reviewing stand during military parades and other events. It is somewhat controversial now and during these events a huge Russian flad is draped over the monument to disguise the tomb.
The GUM store was the main government run store for years. It is now filled with upscale shops, the Rodeo Drive of Moscow. The first photo is a portion of the entrance (another building far to wide to photograph). When you go through this doorway you enter about the middle of the first of three glass covered atriums lined with stores. There were two levels of stores, and it looked like stores on the second level could be two floors if they would like. Each atrium was a couple of blocks long. It looks like a very ornate mall. What is interesting is that it was built way before the malls existed in the states. I wonder if this is where they got the idea?
From the store we took the Moscow Metro, the subway for a couple of blocks. The first photo is of the entrance lobby to the subway. The second is the escalator down into the subway, which is several hundred feet deep as it doubles as a bomb shelter. The third and fourth picture shows some of the dozens of statues on the platform of this station. Yes, the subway is all that you have heard about it, clean and bright and filled with art.
We reboarded the bus and continued to drive around the city, passing this building, which is the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (photo), which was formally known as the KGB. We then stopped at Gorky Park (2nd and 3rd photos). And than we took a boat ride, for some additional views of the Kremlin and the city.
We also visited a Nunnery. A number of the czars wives were sent here when the czar no longer wanted them around or when the czar was replaced. It is still in use today, and has 52 Nuns currently. The front wall of the chapel had this entire wall of icons. The cemetery next to the Nunnery is where all the famous Russians are buried, including this ballerina, and this comedian, whose beloved dog died shortly after he did. We saw the graves of Checkov and Yeltsin as well as Gorbachov’s wife who died a few years ago of leukemia after founding a leukemia hospital for children.
We ended our day with a delicious beef stroganoff meal at a private club. The meal was served with as vodka and red wine; as much as you would like. The main dinning room was very ornate, as you can see. We had a wonderful dinner with eight other guests at our table.
We had a fairly miserable Aeroflot flight back to St. Petersburg (the heat was on full blast and the AC did not seem to work). We arrived back at the ship at 1:30am, in time to catch a couple of hours sleep before our 8:45am trip to the Hermitage.
Moscow was a highlight of the trip, Ludmilla, our enthusiastic guide was so excited to show us her city and shared her knowledge freely with us. The entire Russian experience was fantastic, as was the vodka!!
No comments:
Post a Comment