We met up with Miroslav and his family in central Moscow. It was fantastic to see them there!
We spent a whole day at the Kremlin, inspired by the magnificent buildings and art and jewelry and more. If you're ever in Moscow, the Kremlin, including the Armoury with its Faberge eggs, costumes and carriages is a must-see!
Given the terrorist activities in Russia over the past few weeks, there was tighter security than usual. The authorities had mandated that tourists could go into the Kremlin only with a guide - of course, in the Wild Wild West of Moscow, this originally meant that guides were changes $100 per person until a few weeks ago. Then, the authorities stepped in and stopped the price-gouging. So we ended up paying $15 per person as part of a group of 10 people.
Napoleon stopped here when he came to Moscow - his army camped in the Kremlin square and made the fatal mistake of staying into the winter - after a couple of months of starvation and sorrounded by the remnants of the Russian army, Napoleon's army beat a hasty retreat, leaving over 1500 canons behind and just taking the horses with them - our guide said that the horses were taken more as food (i.e. to be eaten along the way) as opposed to a means of transportation!
The central square at the Kremlin is the only square in Europe to have over three churches, each one lovelier than the next. The Church of Assumption (where the tsars were crowned), the Cathedral of Annuniciation (where the tsars prayed every day) and the Church of the Archangel Michael (where most of the tsars are buried). The square also has the Queens' Church were the queens went to pray. Apparently, until recently, the Eastern Orthodox Church separated men and women in churches.
The spires are traditional Easter Orthodox golden spires, topped with a cross. The spires are all gold-plated! Here, the cross is not just two beams but also include a smaller beam at the bottom, one side of which points up and the other side points down - this signifies the two other men who were also crucified - one repented before dying and the other did not which is why one side points up and the other points down. This cross also has a nameplate at the top with Jesus' name on it which is what the Romans had put on the cross apparently when crucifying Jesus.
The interiors of the churches have beautiful icons of various Christian figures, many of them focused on Mary as opposed to Jesus Christ. We saw a number of priests, in Eastern Orthodox Christian garb, leaving the Cathedral of Assumption - our guide said that they were re-dedicating an icon that had been found recently. Very interesting site - the priests have long flowing beards and everybody (men and women) have their heads covered in tall dark hats.
After a lunch break, we headed off to the Armoury which houses all the jewelry, arms, costumes and carriages of the tsars. We left the Armory completely bling-blinged! There is so much here that it's impossible to comprehend all the diamonds and gold - they also have a number of Faberge eggs. The carriages were fantastic - from Catherine the Great etc. We also saw the costumes which are massively embroidered.
Nearby to the Kremlin is Red Square and St. Basils. St. Basils is a fantastic site with 8 domes, all in techni-color. Each dome commemorates a victory of Ivan the Terrible (over the Mongols etc.) Seems like it's out of somebody's multi-color dream. Red Square was nice as well - we counted over 5 marriage parties with couples there to take their photos with St Basils as the background. Apparently, the reason they come here is to cement their relationship with the city. They also usually take pictures at other historic spots in Moscow.
We also went to GUM which is the state department store. Prior to 1991, this was where all the long lines used to be when food supplies ran low. Now, GUM is a gleaming mall with fantastic stores and cafe. There are endless rows of stores with all the big brands. A note on the Russian glitterati - the past decade has seen certiain Muscovites become very rich - according to a friend, Moscow has the highest number of billionaires in the world (40!). Consequently, there is a certain set of people who drive around in Mercedes 500 cars with very expensive clothes and accessories. These are the folks who're driving prices through the roof. Be ready for a very expensive stay in Moscow!
All over Moscow, we found street-stalls selling Matrushka dolls - dolls inside dolls etc. Very typical Moscow souvenir! In addition to traditional Russian matrushkas, some of the dolls feature Harry Potter and Vladimir Putin - one a wizard of magic the other a master-manipulator of public opinion.
-Dev
Keep bling-blinging us with your wonderful travelogues and photos
M
Posted by: Kamalini | Tuesday, September 14, 2004 at 08:35 PM