russia

St. Basil's Cathedral - Red Square

We start our first day in Moscow in the Marriott's execute level lounge for breakfast.  Listening to the conversations, you'd never know you were out of the US.  Plenty of American and English speak going on here. 

We quickly located our guide Anna, in the hotel lobby.  She reminded us that we were in for a full day of walking Moscow, and grabbed umbrellas from the Concierge since the skies were gray and threatening rain.  As we walked down Trevorskya, the great street that leads to the Kremlin, Anna told us of a few historic places and buildings along the way. 

We approached the Kremlin very near Red Square and then made our way toward the entrance nearer the river and the Armory.  The city is very clean with flowers and shrubs along the streets, and around the water fountains that adorned the walkway around the Kremlin.

Once inside the Kremlin we learned that this was no longer a residence for any political figures, but only hosted meetings and conferences.  When asked about Presidents Puttan's residence, Anna explained that he lived at an undisclosed location, nothing like the American White House.  On a bit of a political comment, she also noted that Puttan was not generally liked among the country’s young or wealthy or the residents of the larger cities such as Moscow.  It sounded strangely familure of the US with the left versus right and Republican versus Democrat arguments. 

After showing us the grounds and several of the sites within the Kremlin, Anna took us to the Armory.  The Armory holds not only arms of Soviet and Russian history, but also from various armies and forces that invaded Russia.  In addition to the arms, there is a display of historic clothing, many from coronations of past kings and czars.  There is also a display of horse drawn coaches that in many cases were presented to the royalty by foreign royalty and dignitaries. 

After the Armory tour, Anna took us to a great luncheon at a local restaurant that is built nearly into the walls surrounding Red Square.  Formerly apartment like residences, the converted building was catacomb like, with 6 or 7 round roofed rooms.  From lunch, we made our way through the rain to the GUM, a huge galleria type store that makes up one side of Red Square.  We walked end to end, all the way from the beautiful red museum up to St. Basils.  Anna told us that during Stalin's rule, there had been a protest by the people when Stalin decided to destroy St. Basil's to make it easier to get the huge army gatherings onto Red Square.  Fortunately the people prevailed, since St. Basil's is a beautiful, amazing structure that now represents Moscow to so many.