Tourist day

Flip video of our day

Today's destination is Red Square and the Kremlin. We had a tough time sleeping last night, with the time change and naps on and off throughout the various flights.  Both TZ and I woke up at 2am unable to go back to sleep for several hours.  Next thing we knew it was 10:30am and the hotel was running a fire drill test.  It was a loud wake up call, but we were glad to get up and start our day.

After a quick trip to Coffee Mania for some terribly bitter green tea and breakfast, we walked the 10 minutes to the Kremlin.  "Wow" is what I can say.  It is a really beautiful place to see.  It is majestic, colorful and inspiring.  These pictures don't do it justice.

As we entered Red Square by the Kilometer Zero site (the technical center of Moscow), this cathedral was first on our left.  It was a beautiful sunny day, although the morning started out chilly it cleared up by midday.

There were tons of tourists around, like us, and while one of us was embarrassed to ask others to take our picture, the other of us found it fun (guess who was who on this one!).  On this picture, a very nice Chinese woman took our picture and we took her's with her friend in kind.

Here is the back side of St Basils, still beautiful.

We left Red Square to find the entrance to the Kremlin.  We passed a changing of the guards procession at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  You can see the Russian style of marching, with their high kicks and knees straight.  The entrance to the Kremlin was right ahead.  We should have stopped for lunch at this point, but didn't unfortunately.  There was a lot to see in the Kremlin.

One of the first sights inside the Kremlin is the Tsar Cannon, and again we exchanged photography opportunities with a large group of Asian students.  The other student had the same camera as we did, so they got a good shot of us!

Most of the spots in the Kremlin are not allowed to be photographed, but the highlight was the tour of the Armoury.  We had a free audio guide that led us through seeing a selection of Faberge eggs, which were so intricately made.  We saw the Tsar crown, which every Tsar wore just once, during their coronation.  We also saw royal wear - the dresses worn by Catherine the Great, the robes of Peter the Great, and even what the royal horses wore.  We saw many pieces of jewelry and the jewels in royal tableware, like spoons and wine goblets, and other adorning the covers of religious texts.  There also were royal carriages and weaponry (which was TZ's favorite, of course).