Moscow, cont.

I still haven't been in the Kremlin yet. I wanted to get around and see different parts of the city. I started in Red Square, where I watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It happens every hour and always draws a crowd.



From there I walked down to see the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This was built in 1997 for Moscow's 850th birthday.



I didn't go in because I wasn't wearing shorts. This picture was taken from a footbridge over the Moscow River. Looking one way there's a nice view of Kremlin walls, with St Basil's on the right.



Looking the other way you can see yet another of the bizarre visual juxtapositions that fascinate me so much: On the left is an immense statue of Peter the Great. In the center is a tour boat. And on the right is a giant building for Megafon, a mobile phone company.



The church is built on the site of the site of another church of the same name that was leveled by Stalin. He planned on replacing it with a giant Palace of Soviets, featuring a 100-meter statue of Lenin. But it was never started. I'm sad the church was built, because I would have preferred to see what it replaced: the world's largest swimming pool.

Then I took the subway outside of town to walk up Sparrow Hill for what are supposedly the best views of the city. The views weren't so great, but you can see the stadiums and arenas they built for the 1980 Olympic games.



The hills are near the Moscow State University, so a lot of students go down to the river to hang out and sunbathe, as you can see in this picture taken from the metro station.

Self-portrait: Red Square

Red Square was open to pedestrian traffic and it was a gorgeous sunny day, so I took some more pix. Here is Lenin's tomb with the reflection of yours truly in the bottom lefthand corner. (I'm the one holding the camera.)



I haven't been in St Basil's yet, but my gosh, what a magnificent building.



Legend the Terrible has it that Ivan the Terrible liked it so much that he had the architects blinded so they could never build anything so beautiful again. I guess he figured, "Heck, they're already calling me 'the Terrible,' so why not."

Here's another picture of the square in which you can sense the scale of it.

First REAL post from Moscow

This is my first glimpse of Krasnaya Ploschad, or Red Square.

It was a bit eerie seeing it. Growing up I would usually only see pictures or footage from here when something bad was happening. I flashed back to images of military parades with high-stepping soldiers and ICBMs being wheeled through.

It was closed off today for some reason, which made it even more intimidating. At the far end is Pokrovsky Cathedral, better known as St Basil's. That's actually a misnomer, since St Basil's only refers to the northeastern chapel, which wasn't part of the original contruction. On the left is the Kremlin, with Lenin's Mausoleum in the center.

Here's a better picture.



I plan to go back and visit the Kremlin, and hopefully walk through Red Square, and get some better pictures.

The tomb is open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m., and is something you simply have to see while in Moscow. I can't say I enjoyed it, but I'm glad I went.

I have no pictures of it because, not only are pictures not allowed, you're not even allowed to take in a camera or celphone. You can't take in anything, as a matter of fact.

You may not speak. There are soldiers in every corner of every stairway, hall and room, and they will shush you if you do.

You may not wear shorts.

You may not put your hands in your pockets.

You must remove your hat.

It is free, however! This was the queue about 15 minutes before opening.



I was in and out in about 30 minutes, believe it or not. You're not allowed to linger around the tomb. You get about 20 seconds of viewing time before the soldiers move you along. It's very solemn and rather creepy.

Lenin's body is in a glass case, minus his brain, which was removed so Soviet scientists could study it and discover the root of his genius. They take him out from time to time and work their magic on him to make him presentable.

He is on display against his wishes and those of his widow. He wished to be buried in St Petersburg beside his mother. Boris Yeltsin tried to have him moved in the 1990s, but the political left (and tour operators) managed to block the move. Yeltsin was probably less interested in seeing Lenin's wishes fulfilled than removing the literal embodiment of communism from the Russian capital.

Across from the icon of communism is perhaps the ultimate symbol of capitalism, a luxury shopping mall called GUM (goom).



Here is Lenin's tomb in the background with GUM in the foreground. Is there a more jarring contradiction anywhere in the world?



My guide book says of the black market, "Once the sale of a pair of Levis in Moscow could cover your spending money for the entire trip but this is just not the case anymore." In fact, since I needed a pair of jeans, I decided to buy a pair here! I got a kick out of the irony of buying a pair of Levi's in Moscow on Red Square. (Don't ask the price.)

Afterwards I went with two guys from my hostel, Alex (Greece) and Francois (France) to the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, celebrating the Russian space program. It's on the right here, with some sort of tower and a hot-air balloon ride on the left. It's hard to believe it was built by the Soviets.



Inside you can have your picture taken in a replica of Yuri Gagarin's spacesuit. (He was the first man into space. The first woman in space was also Russian.) You can do this when it's open. It wasn't today. All renovations and construction is done here in the summer, even though it's tourist season, because they can't do it in the Russian winter. Paint and concrete won't dry properly when it's 20 below.