Our Russian adventure started in Moscow. We flew Air France to Paris, then boarded Aeroflot for the 3 hour flight to Moscow. Steve thought he booked Air France all the way to Moscow; we only learned we were flying Aeroflot as we boarded the plane and noticed the different color of the fuselage. With some trepidation we buckled-up. Russia isn't known for air traffic safety. But the flight was easy and the service was good. We did find it odd that the passengers all clapped when the wheels touched down....
Moscow is a lovely city, though it did not benefit like St. Petersburg from having 200 years of Tsars building palaces, and imported Italian and French architects to design city streets and houses. However, its skyline has the 7 Sisters, plenty of gilded church domes, and of course it has Red Square and the Kremlin, plus many other attractions that make it one of Europe's great capital cities.
Moscow and its people have endured a lot over the years. The city's history seems to have an endless cycle of being built, conquered, burned, re-built, re-conquered, and re-burned - and a plague and purge or two to fill in between. We were warned the Russians seem cold to Westerners - who can blame them. But once we left immigration, we found Muscovites welcoming and doing their best to make us feel welcome. They succeeded.
We are sure Anna and Kate got tired of hearing Maria and Steve say "I can't believe we are here", but standing in front of Lenin's tomb in Red Square was simply incredible. Our hotel was only a 10 minute walk from Red Square. We weren't able to visit during our first day because it was closed due to a demonstration, so we walked to it at night and took in the sites in the darkness - simply spectacular. The next we visited again before our tour started and enjoyed it during the day.
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| Waiting to get access to the Kremlin. |
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| The girls from inside the Kremlin walls. |
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| Dormition Cathedral - where Tsars were crowned and burried up to Peter I. |
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| Cathedral of the Annunciation - former personal chapel of Russian Tsars. |
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| Tsar Bell is one big bell. 450K lbs - it broke after being casted and was never rung. |
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| Tsar Cannon - at 80K lbs much lighter than the bell. |
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| Anna in Cathedral Square inside the Kremlin. |
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| Maria on the Kremlin walls |
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| Kremlin Armory building. |
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| Kremlin Walls and cathedrals in background. |
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| Kremlin Armory |
The tour of the Kremlin, with its ancient city walls, armory and churches containing the tombs of Russian Tsars before Peter the Great was fantastic. Steve is reading War and Peace (still.....) and particularly enjoyed seeing the Tsar's cannon, which was featured during his reading that week.
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