Moscow, day 2. Today, Red Square and the Kremlin!
We left the hotel and walked to Red Square. It's only just over 1km away, so it's an easy walk. Red Square (Кра́сная пло́щадь) is surrounded by significant buildings ...
The long south-east direction is dominated by the red walls of the Kremlin, with Lenin's Mausoleum slap-bang in the middle! We're going into part of the Kremlin today, but the Mausoleum — who in their right mind would want to visit the embalmed corpse of a dead tyrant? — but apparently quite a few do, as the queue for this was extraordinary!
To the north-west is the State Historical Museum, whose red outline echoes the towers of the Kremlin itself — we'll go into it another day.
The north-east is almost entirely occupied by the huge GUM Store, which today houses a collection of top-end retail stores, and which virtually out-Harrods Harrod's. This, too, we will schedule for a visit.
The south-east is occupied by the jewel in the crown — Saint Basil's Cathedral (more properly The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, собо́р Васи́лия Блаже́нного [Sobor Vasiliya Blazhennogo]), the most recognisable building in Moscow. Many people equate it with the Kremlin, but it sits outside the Kremlin walls. Definitely on our agenda for a proper visit!
Anyway, now for our visit to the Kremlin. After mis-queueing in the Mausoleum queue for about 20 minutes (should have checked our maps first!), we made our way round to the ticket office. Another queue, but not as bad as for the Mausoleum! We bought tickets for the Cathedral Square and for the Armoury, the main two parts open to the public. The Armoury has timed entry, and we weren't to get in there until after 2pm, so we made our way across the bridge from the Barbican near the ticket office and made our way behind the Kremlin walls. From there, the Cathedral square is just a short walk.
Cathedral Square is absolutely mind-blowing! It is surrounded by the Cathedral of the Dormition, the Cathedral of the Archangel, and the Cathedral of the Annunciation, as well as by the Palace of Facets, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe and the Church of the Twelve Apostles. The Ivan the Great Bell Tower towers over the whole square.
Round the back of the Cathedral of the Archangel you can find Tsar Kolokol (Царь–колокол, the Tsar Bell), the largest bell ever cast, weighing 201,924 kg, with a height of 6.14 metres and diameter of 6.6 metres and thickness of up to 61 cm. Made of bronze, the bell cracked during a fire after being completed and has never been in working order, suspended, or rung. The broken piece weighs 11,500 kilograms (25,400 lb).
We then left the Kremlin and went to go round to the Armoury. On the way we encountered a group of costumed people who encouraged us to have photos with them. Then they asked — nay, insisted — on being paid 5,000 roubles each. That's a little bit steep! Comes to about $450. Anyway, Warren refused, and started to play his ace — deleting the photos! They finally settled for 300 roubles total — about $7 and we left smiling! Before we got to the Armoury, we walked through the park below the Kremlin, and had a bite to eat.
Then we went into the Armoury. Fascinating place, with a reasonable collection of Fabergé Easter Eggs, and brilliant collections of coronation robes and other court dress going back to the 18th century and Catherine the Great, of armour and weapons, of European and Russian gold- and silver-smithing, and heaps more. No photos, however, as there is a photo ban in there!
Finally we left the Kremlin, walked out past the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and past the statue of possibly the best-known Russian soldier, Marshal Georgy Zhukov, who led the successful Russian defence against the Germans in World War II (known to the Soviets as The Great Patriotic War).
On the way back to the hotel for rest and recuperation before tomorrow, we noticed this set of Matryoshka dolls in a window. 5-piece sets run at about $20-40. 24-piece sets run between $1000 and $5000 or even more, depending on the quality of the painting!
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