St. Basil's Cathedral
I am here! It is great to finally make it. I have been waiting for this trip for quite a while and am glad it has happened.
I arrived yesterday and entered with the Visa without any problems, which was nice, and had my luggage really quick and was off to the city. After checking into the hotel and settling in, I made my way into the downtown. By the time I got to the Red Square it was dark, but that made it really cool. St. Basil's Cathedral was lit against a black sky which just looked awesome. I unfortunately did not have my camera at the time, but will get back at night again to take some pictures.
Today I went out with a tour guide to really make the most of the trip. She took me on the Metro to the Chinatown section and then walked to Red Square from there. Again, seeing St. Basil's come into sight was breathtaking. Once in the square we talked a lot about the history of the buildings, the Kremlin Wall and Lenin's Mausoleum. Next it was a walk inside St. Basil's. This was good on two accounts - first the building is really amazing, each of the 9 domes is actually the top of a chapel, second, it was freezing cold (14°F/-9°C) and being out of the wind was very nice.
From there we walked along the square to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the eternal flame. We were just in time to see a changing of the guard. Those guards are very limber, goose stepping as high as they do for as long as they do!
Next up was the Armory Museum inside the Kremlin. Here there are several Faberge eggs Tsar Nicholas ordered for his wife, plus a ton of gold, silver and pottery the Russian Empire acquired through the years. On the first floor is an exhibit of coronation dresses, religious vestments and carriages. In all it wasn't overwhelming, but that is probably because a lot of the national treasures were sold under Soviet Rule. It is said the Queen of England has a more valuable collection of Russian Heritage than The Kremlin has.
From here it was a very cold walk to The Cathedral of Christ the Redemeer. This is an amazing looking building with a horrible history. In the early 1900s it was torn down to wipe out buildings built to honor some previous rulers. Then for a period of time in the late 1900's it was an Olympic sized swimming pool! Fortunately, by 1997 President Yeltsin had had the Cathedral rebuilt based upon photographs to look exactly the same. They did a great job!
Here are some pics - I am sure I missed a lot of things, but in 5 hours, I feel like a covered a lot. I may try to get back into Red Square on Thursday when Lenin's Mausoleum is open to the public, we will see though...
High Stepping!
Christ the Redemeer
