We started our day enjoying the walk through Ploshchad Revolyutsii Metro where there are life size bronze statues. The picture below is a soldier with his dog... and it is tradition for people to rub the dog's nose as they walk by for goodluck! As we walked by EVERYONE who came close to the dog rubbed his nose or his foot! Hence the polished look.
We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guard at the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexandrovsky Gardens.
Very cool! I have seen pictures of them in the winter and look forward to seeing this again! Here you can also see the wall surrounding the Kremlin, and the yellow buildings inside it.
We then joined the line to see Lenin's Mausoleum. What an experience to see this. If you ever have the opportunity, don't pass it up... but as you go in to see his embalmed body, don't hesitate either. I did and the guard snapped his fingers causing both Stacy and I to jump. We quickly moved onto the exit! At that point it was hard not to laugh. So much for reverence for the dead. Again you can see the Kremlin wall and the yellow building behind, with the flag flying, is the former Senate building.
Below is the home of the State History Museum which has an enormous collection from the whole Russian Empire from the Stone Age on... a tour for another day.
The gate to the right is the Resurrection Gate and it has been reconstructed.
Next was GUM department store, another impressive building.
walking inside... wow.
Back to the other side of the square, the Spasskaya Tower (or Savior Tower) which leads into the Kremlin. It is the most impressive of the towers leading into the Kremlin with its red star atop and clock. Click here to read more about all the tours around the Kremlin.
Lastly, the famously known St Basil's Cathedral,
which officially is named Intercession Cathedral.
Very very fun ... I took so many pictures! I tried to just post a few that I thought were most interesting.... but this place was very fun to walk through!
Lovely frescoed walls and loads of nooks and crannies to explore!
...and such a beautiful sky I couldn't stop snapping the camera for that perfect shot...
From here, we made our way through the city noting other beautiful sites... and visited the Museum of Romanov... but at that point my brain was overloaded and I had taken sooo many pics I can't recall much of it. Here are just a few shots to finish the day.
Notice some cathedrals are not cared for as much as others...
see the tress growing out of the top of the one above?
1 comment:
Looks like great fun. Esp love to visit old churches
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