Second Day in St. Petersburg (June 29): The Hermitage

The Hermitage

After a delicious hot breakfast at the hotel's restaurant, we walked the short distance to the Hermitage Museum to wait in a long line for tickets.  About 1/2 hour later, we were in the doors.  The place is so enormous that the crowds dispersed in all directions, and in most rooms it was not crowded at all.  In fact, in some, on the ground floor, I was on my own.  The Hermitage is housed in the Winter Palace and adjoining buildings.  The three stories are distinct in style.  The ground level or first floor has arched doorways and ceilings and lacks much ornamentation.  This was obviously not where the Romanov family and friends spent their time.  I assume it was used for some things as storage, cooking and workshops for craftsmen.  Likewise, the third floor was plain, obviously the former attic.  As exhibition space, the rooms were well-lit and large, but probably servants rather than czars spent time here.  The middle story is opulent beyond belief, with stunning long corridors, intimate rooms (although not small) and large halls, three well-lit by skylights.

The fabulous collection of art from ancient times through the 20th century is comprehensive, with many of the best pieces by Italian, German, Dutch and French masters.  Unique was an exhibition on the ground floor on ancient Eurasian cultures.  Here were things I had never seen anything like and information on a part of history of which I was totally unfamiliar.  The most significant were items made of wood, fur felt, leather, bronze and gold from the 5th and 4th century B.C., wonderfully preserved by the Siberian permafrost.  A room-size rug of deep pile with intricate and realistic designs was in excellent condition.  There were large coffins made of hollowed out tree trunks.  There was even a preserved body on which tattoos were visible.

The second story rooms, rivaling those at Versailles (and meant to do so), were more dazzling than any of the artifacts or artwork.  I took over 100 photos, and I was one of the ones being asked to leave when the museum closed at 6 p.m.  By then I was starved, because the only cafe in the entire complex was closed in the afternoon and my only choice for eating lunch would have been to leave the museum and then pay 400 rubles (about $12) again to get back in, which I was not willing to do.  (The expense of museums and cathedrals here really make me appreciate the Smithsonian and the free museums on London!)

The young Russian women love to pose for photos everywhere.  The cultural and historical buildings, parks and rooms serve as background only, with the women taking up most of the frame, I'm sure.  In one of the second floor rooms at the Hermitage, I was strolling around in awe of the grandeur and ornateness of the architectural details and the art work when I came across a young women sitting on the beautiful, shiny parquet floor in front of an enormous red malachite urn.  She had taken off her jacket to reveal her bare midriff and tattooed arms, wearing little more than a bra.  Posing with chest thrust out,head thrown back, and legs stretched out, she smiled while her female companion took her picture while a woman I presume was her mother looked on.  When the babushka who was the guard for the room spotted her, she scurried over, shocked, and scolded her severely, with fury leaping from her eyes. 

The kids had left the museum earlier; we had made no attempt to stick together.  Peter and I met outside, and returned to the hotel apartment to eat dinner and to rest our feet.  We only went again again a few hours later to buy a few groceries and a treat of ice cream.

Romanov Portrait Gallery

Perhaps a ballroom?

corner of the Malachite Room

Malachite Room

Music room

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gold based fluted blue marble column and ornate door

door handle

gold and white room with mezzanine and balconies

Ceiling detail

detail of a yellow, gold and white decorated room

room decorated in bold blue, white and gold

hall of marble statues

decorated passageway between two ornate rooms

garden outside the Hermitage

view of Palace Square from a Hermitage window

St. Petersburg: Day 1 (June 28)

We arrived by train in St. Petersburg as scheduled at 4:40 a.m., at sunrise.  A driver from our hotel, the Pushka Inn, was waiting for us with a comfortable van, and we had a quick ride to the hotel on the Moika Canal, within 5 minutes walking distance of Palace Square.  We left our luggage there and set out to find breakfast and explore.

Triumphal Arch

Not much was opened before 6 a.m. on that gray morning, but we found a coffee shop where we were able to get cheesecake and eclairs and tea and were not rushed to leave as there was very little clientele.  Our small breakfast cost 1500 or about $45 dollars.  Eating out, even at places labeled as inexpensive or moderately priced, is not cheap in Russia!

The Winter Palace

We went back out to Palace Square, where the 600-ton Alexander Column soars from the middle of the huge expanse.  It was erected by Czar Alexander II to celebrate the Russian victory over Napoleon.  On the river side of the plaza is the enormous, sea-foam green Winter Palace and adjacent buildings which make up the Hermitage Museum.  (It was nice to get photos of these places without throngs of tourists in the pictures!)  Opposite the Winter Palace is the General Staff Building, its ocher facade nearly half a mile long, with a concave section in the middle and the Triumphal Arch in the middle, leading to the city's main street, Nevsky Prospekt.  To the west of the Winter Palace is another huge building, the Admiralty, with a 61 meter golden spire topped by a weather vane shaped like a ship.  (We didn't need a weather vane to tell us that there was a strong, cool wind blowing in off the Baltic Sea.)  This spire represents the nexus of the city; the three main streets fan out from this point.  The building itself, like the Winter Palace, faces the square on one side and the wide Neva River on the other.  It still houses a naval academy.

St. Isaac's Cathedral with columns showing signs of damage from German bombing in WWII

Walking past the Admiralty, we reached yet another enormous building, St. Isaac's Cathedral, constructed in the mid-19th century.  The gold dome over the square-shaped main structure shines even on an overcast day.  We were amazed by the solid monolithic marble columns.  It was not yet open in the early morning, so we could not go in.

Peter the Great

Heading north toward the Neva, we got to Medny Vsadnik, or the Bronze Horseman, a large (what else?) statue of Peter the Great facing the river.  It was commissioned by Catherine the Great, and both their names are inscribed on the granite base shaped like a wave, in Cyrillic on one side and in Latin on the other.

Ornamentation on door of the Singer Building

Rain was threatening, but we continued on, heading into the city from the Neva on Nevsky Prospekt.  We came upon the famous old bookstore, Dom Knigi,.  It is housed in an Art Nouveau building with a glass dome, mosaics and ornate fixtures.  It once belonged to the Singer sewing company, and that name is still etched in the stone facade.

Colonnade, Kazan Cathedral

Across the street is the Kazan Cathedral behind a small park.  The cathedral is flanked by a large semi-circular colonnade.  Here, we, along with many others, found shelter from the rain which had started to pour.  After about 15 minutes, the rain stopped and we walked along the inside of the semi-circular row of Corinthian columns to find that the church had opened.  Opulence dazzled us inside:  cofferred ceilings studded with gold designs; a variety of colored marbles in the columns, pilasters and beautifully designed floor; rich, vibrant hues in icons, paintings and mosaics.  I walked around in awe about three times.

interior of Kazan Cathedral

Roman Catholic St. Catherine's church

We walked further along Nevsky Prospekt to Gostiny Dvor, a 19th-century shopping mall.  Since it was not yet 9 a.m., it was closed (opening at 10), so we headed toward the Ploshchad Isskustv, or the Square of the Arts, surrounded by many famous buildings housing museums, the Mussorgsky Theatre, the Operetta Theatre and the Philharmonic.  Passing by we could hear beautiful voices and delightful melodies from bassoons and other instruments as musicians practiced inside.  Before we reached it, however, we found the Roman Catholic Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria.  Not as opulent as the Roman Orthodox cathedrals, it was nonetheless beautiful.

We walked over to the Fontanka River (Fountain River), which derived its name from the fact that it supplies water for the many lovely fountains in Letny Sad (the Summer Gardens).  The bridge carrying Nevsky Prospect across the river is anchored by large equestrian statues on all four piers.

Catherine the Great

Next stop:  Ostrovsky Square.  We found that St. Petersburg is dotted with many squares and parks, and we enjoyed the classical symmetry and artistic design of the streets and boulevards and buildings.  It is a wonderful place to spend hours walking.  At Ostorvsky Square is the monument to Catherine the Great.  This bronze statue not only features her likeness, but surrounding her feet, images of some of her favorite people in various natural poses.

Perhaps the highlight of the morning (if the number of photos I shot is any indication!) was Tserkov Spasitelya Na Krovi (the Church of the Resurrection of Christ), better known as the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood.  This name derives from the fact that it was built over the site were Czar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881.  Although not a particularly old church, it is built in the medieval Russian style with bright, beveled domes topped by glistening gold Orthodox crosses.  The inside is even more unbelievably glorious than the outside.  The walls, pilasters and columns are covered with wonderful, colorful mosaics.  The doors to the altar contain icons framed in gold topped by a intricately carved wooden crown-shaped frame.  The floor is composed of blood red, green, black, gray, white and yellow marble laid in an intricate geometric pattern.  I probably could have wandered around for hours and hours.

Mosaic covered walls and columns of the Church of the Resurrection

Doorway to the altar, Church of the Resurrection

Matthew at the Stray Dog Cellar

Walking back outside, we found that the skies were clearing, with puffy white and gray clouds framing patches of blue sky.  It was 11:30 and we were hungry, so we walked a couple blocks to the Stray Dog Cellar off the Square of the Arts.  In the early 20th century, it was a cafe famous as a hang-out for artists, hosting poetry readings and one-act plays.  Apparently it still does so; we just don't stay up late enough!  Lunch was very good if (again) a bit pricey, and we enjoyed the ambiance.  The place is decorated with memorabilia and whimsical artistic renderings of dogs.

Church of the Resurrection

We walked past the Church of the Savior of the Spilled Blood to reach the open-air market across the canal, the Vernisazh.  By the church was a young man playing haunting music by tapping his fingertips on various parts of a metal instrument.

The usual matryoshka dolls, lacquered bowls and boxes, amber jewelry and kitsch were displayed in stall after stall of the market.  It makes for a colorful bazaar.  I was looking for amber and other gifts.  I had already improved by bargaining skills.  I stopped at each place with merchandise that attracted me but then moved on.  After surveying it all, I focused on the few vendors I liked with good prices.  One nice man had beautiful hand-designed Christmas tree ornaments, but the price was equivalent to $300, so I had to pass.  I approached a woman selling amber jewelry with my offer firmly set.  She didn't quite like it, but we quickly settled on a price for a few pieces only 100 rubles above my first offer. 

Finally, after eight hours of sight-seeing, it was 2 p.m. and time to check in to the hotel, which was only two blocks away.  We were greeted warmly.  The kids rode the tiny, slow two-person elevator to the top floor while Peter and I climbed the stone stairs, beating them to the fourth level.  Our apartment suite is lovely.  The only drawback is that we hear a lot of noise from people celebrating the White Nights as well as from the tour guides on the boats on the canals.  We think we can even hear partying from across the Neva.  However, we are tired enough to fall asleep despite the noise, and it does not wake us up.  We have a small kitchen, so we decided to bring in a few groceries and eat in.  (Later in the day, I picked up a lot of food for about 500 rubles--$15.  Much better than restaurant costs!  The produce section is quite small, with mostly root vegetables and a few salad items and about half dozen different kinds of fruit.)

Mikhailovsky Castle and the Moika Canal

We relaxed for a while.  Everyone else was feeling lazy, but I still was energized by the city, so I went out again to visit a few more places.  First, I went to Mikhailovsky Castle, a large, square-shaped structure situated on a block half-surrounded by two waterways, the Fontanka and the Moika Canal.  This coral-colored castle was built by Czar Paul I because he felt too vulnerable in the open structure of the Winter Palace.  (He was assassinated anyway.)  The courtyard is octagonal and has a small (maybe still larger than life, but small by Russian standards) statue of Paul I.  The entrance over a former moat is faced by a square, and the Mikhailovsky Sad (Garden) to the west is bordered by the long edifice of the Russian Museum to the south.

The garden is a wonderful, green place to stroll.  North of it is Marsovo Pole, and to the east of that, Letny Sad (the Summer Gardens).  This formal garden, with hedges creating maze-like pathways studded with fountains, is delightful and obviously a favorite with the locals.  Weddings were taking place here and there.  On the northeast corner is the small, two-story Summer Palace.  This classically designed space was created for Peter the Great as a place for his leisurely strolls. 

Petropavlovsk Fortress across the Neva

I then walked along the Neva, enjoying the vistas and the view of Petropavlovsk Fortress across the broad expanse of water.  Having asked the hotel staff for directions to a grocery store nearby, I headed a couple blocks inland and found the small supermarket, where I purchased milk, juice, tea, bread, butter and cheese.  Of course, I was a bit fatigued by this time and could not find my way back to the hotel, but the doorman at another hotel pointed me in the right direction.

We enjoyed our simple meal in our apartment and, even though it was well before sunset, went to bed and slept well.

Last Days in Moscow

Alexander Gardens

Tuesday morning, breakfast of cereal, yogurt, fruit, juice and bread was delivered to our rooms at 7:30 a.m.  We set off an hour later on a walking tour of some other neighborhoods in Moscow.  Walking south along the west Kremlin wall through the Alexander Gardens, we reached the Moscow River and crossed a bridge with colorful banners flying in order to reach Zamoskvarechye, the Land South of the Moscow River.  Passing through a small park with colorful flower gardens, we came upon the Vodootvodny Canal and its fountains.  A pedestrian bridge crossing the canal had metal trees spaced down the middle of the lane, each bedecked with hundreds of colorful padlocks (mostly red) painted or etched with the names of married couples who had come to the bridge on their wedding day.  Securing a padlock to a tree is supposed to ensure a lasting marriage. 

Padlock tree

Zamoskvarechye was first settled in the 13^th century, when envoys from the Mongol rulers camped there when they came to collect tribute from the Muscovites.  Later, Kremlin palace guards were housed in the area, followed by various guilds of craftsmen, who built houses and churches.  Wealthy merchants moved into the area in the19^th century.  The 20^th century saw the addition of factories among the historic buildings.  Now it has residential buildings, museums, cafes, shops and small businesses, and it is less frenetic than the area around Red Square.

At the western tip of the northernmost island of Zamoskvarechye is an enormous bronze statue of an 18^th century sailing ship, perhaps made to scale.  In front of the mast is Peter the Great. 

The Kremlin from a bridge over the Moscow River

We crossed the pedestrian bridge over the Moscow River leading directly to Christ the Saviour Cathedral.  From the middle of the bridge, there is a great view of the Kremlin.  When you are near the Kremlin, you can barely see any of the inside structures, but from the highest point on the bridge, the palaces and cathedrals can be seen above the red brick walls and crenellations. 

Christ the Savior Cathedral by the Moscow River

Christ the Saviour Cathedral is an imposing structure—the largest church in Moscow-- with the usual golden domes.  Sitting in the middle of a large plaza, designed in the style of Greek Orthodox churches with perfect symmetry, the church is adorned with bronze reliefs of religious scenes all along the white marble walls of the exterior.  This church was originally constructed in the 19^th century as a monument celebrating the victory over Napoleon, but the first building was demolished in the early 1930s by Stalin, to be replaced with a proposed Palace of the Soviets.  This was never built, so the largest indoor/outdoor swimming pool in the world was created on the site.  In 1994, the mayor of Moscow drained the pool and ordered a reconstruction of the original cathedral; this expensive project was finished in 1997.  It is striking from the outside, but truly awe-inspiring on the inside.  Unfortunately, the kids could not enter because they were wearing shorts.  (They weren’t too disappointed.)  There were many people circling the walls of the spacious and glowing interior, stopping to cross themselves with two fingers, utter brief prayers and kiss and touch their foreheads to the icons.  I have to wonder about how hygienic this practice is!  Thousands of people must come through each day. 

Katya being a kid

On our way to our next destination, Arbat Street--famous for its lively atmosphere, architecture, shops and cafes, and historical sites--we passed through a narrow park with a playground as well as art work and photographs on display.  Katya could not resist the see-saw!

Matthew was set on purchasing a fur hat, and I was looking for gifts for family members.  We stopped in a few shops to get an idea about prices.  Unfortunately, the beautiful amber jewelry was all outside my price range.  Most of the stores seemed to have the same merchandise.  Before we bought anything, we stopped at a café serving Russian food.  Katya and I had blinnies, while Matthew and Peter had soup.  We bought the kids Kinder-eggs (hollow chocolate eggs with toys inside, made in Germany) for dessert for nostalgic reasons.  When we went to Kazakhstan to adopt Katya, we would usually buy her one each day while we were out walking.  Cute and adorable and well mannered, she always insisted on dividing the chocolate three ways and sharing.  Now, she popped it into her mouth without any thought for others!

Feeling more energetic after some food, we began shopping in earnest.  The girls got separated unintentionally from the guys.  When Katya and I encountered them again, Matthew had bought a black rabbit fur hat and was quite excited about it.  It was hard for me to decide which store to enter.  Bargaining was part of the process, and I never feel comfortable with this.  I felt drawn into one store in particular.  We ended up buying several items and having a conversation with the clerk, who was pleased to be talking with people from America.  She has tried to get a green card three times.  I talked with her about student visas, which, as she is no longer in school, she did not realize she would be eligible for--if only she can support herself while in the States studying.  She was really excited to learn about this opportunity and gave us a couple small gifts in appreciation.

Katya on Arbat Street

We passed a number of buskers on Arbat Street playing various styles of music.  Two of them were playing instruments we did not recognize.  All of them were quite good. 

Back at the hotel, we rested.  Peter and Matthew were still recovering from jet lag, so they needed long naps.  After about three hours, we set out to find a place for dinner.  Peter was particularly interested in finding more Russian food.  Through Frommer’s guidebook, I found a couple possibilities, and we ended up at one only a few blocks from our hotel.  Fortunately, the entire cellar dining room was non-smoking.  The food was good if rather expensive, but high prices have been the norm.

It seems that many more Russians smoke than citizens of other countries we have visited or lived in.  Moreover, they simply drop their cigarette butts on the ground whenever they have finished, despite the fact that there are places for disposing of them on the sidewalks.  Finished the last cigarette in the pack?  Just toss the empty pack on the ground also!  Surely everyone does not do this, or the sidewalks would be filled with litter, but enough do that it is noticeable.  Also, Russians walk around drinking beer from bottles and cans.  Although most of them put the empty containers in trash cans, some people seem to feel it’s perfectly acceptable just to put them down on the sidewalk just after they have taken the last swig.  The litter, pervasiveness of public smoking and prevalence of street people and even beggars is particularly striking to me after having just visited Japan and South Korea, where smokers have designated areas both indoors and outdoors, litter (particularly in Japan) is non-existent, and street people are not seen at all in Japan and very rarely in Seoul (at least in the area we visited). 

Another glaring contrast is the attitudes and behaviors of the people of these countries.  Everyone we encountered in Japan and South Korea was respectful, courteous, willing to help and smiling.  While the staff in the hotel and in restaurants have been quite nice, this does not hold true of others whose job it is to serve the public.  Stern women act as guards in rooms in museums and are quick to admonish anyone who does not follow the correct route or who takes photos when not permitted.  At the metro station, when we asked for information in order to purchase tickets, the woman at the ticket counter acted like we were imposing on her to expect her to do her job.  She actually snarled at us!  When standing on the street, consulting maps and looking perplexed, no one ever stops to offer assistance to us.  Certainly, no one ever says, “Have a nice day!” 

But, back to the travelogue!  After dinner, Katya and I set off to visit a bookstore we had passed on the way to the restaurant.  We were relieved, I’m sorry to say, to leave Matthew with Peter.  He was still tired and somewhat grumpy.  Although we have all traveled a lot, I believe this is the first time he has been somewhere, other than when he was too young to read well, where he has not known the alphabet and has been unable to understand any written or spoken language.  He has found this quite disconcerting.  While I have no fluency either, it probably helps that I at least am familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet.  Katya is doing quite well at reading all the signs although she is making no attempt to speak in Russian.

GUM on Red Square at the beginning of a long twilight

The bookstore was already closed, so we walked a couple blocks to GUM, the former State Department Store of the Soviets.  This enormous building flanks the entire northeast side of Red Square.  The former socialist emporium is now a three-story shopping mall with three parallel arcades under a glass roof, a hotbed of capitalism and conspicuous consumption showcasing mostly international chains.  As the long twilight hours set in, the edifice was outlined in white lights, looking like a storybook palace. 

On Wednesday, our last day in Moscow, we slept in and rested in our rooms all morning until time to check out at noon.  The hotel staff stored our luggage.  We stopped at a small grocery store on our street and bought some snacks, which we ate on Red Square.  Then we caught the subway for Sportivnaya station (after some disorientation in finding the right platform) in the southwest part of Moscow in order to visit Novodevichy Convent and Cemetery.  Less crowded and less fashionable than downtown Moscow, the area near this UNESCO World Heritage Site seems more down-to-earth than the fact-paced atmosphere near Red Square, where most women seem to wear shoes with absurdly high heels (for sidewalks which are uneven or made of stones) and form-fitting short dresses and skirts. 

Church of the Transfiguration, Novodevichy Convent

The spires and domes of the churches of the convent rise above the trees, leading the way to the white-walled convent, where the wives and daughters and sisters of the nobility were sequestered as well as female foes of the likes of Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great.  Originally established in 1524, the complex grew to include churches, residences for the nuns and an orphanage.  The Kremlin provided generous funding for this accommodation for the women of the rulers, which allowed it to build many churches on the site as well as acquire a substantial amount of land and serfs. 

Some of the buildings are now museums.  One exhibition showed how churches throughout Russia were destroyed by manual labor during the Soviet era.  One room had icons that had been saved from these demolished structures.  The central building is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Smolensk (or Smolensky Cathedral), one of a few white structures among deep red brick buildings.  Like the other Russian Orthodox churches and cathedrals we have visited, it is lavishly decorated with gold, delicately detailed icons and frescoes in deep, vivid hues.  

Candlestick in the Assumption Church, Novodevichy Convent

Novodevichy Cemetery

Behind the convent is Novodevichy Cemetery, which has been considered Moscow’s most prestigious burial site since the 18^th century.  Each monument is distinctive, usually having a bust or a full, life-size figure of the deceased.  Sometimes there are sculptures representing their achievements.  Many planted flowers were blooming and many of the graves had bouquets of fresh flowers.  It was obvious that family and/or friends visit these graves regularly.  Writers, composers, cosmonauts, generals, and political leaders are buried here.  We saw the graves of Khrushchev and Boris Yeltsin, the latter having no likeness of the man but simply a tri-colored, flowing stone in the likeness of the Russian flag. 

We found a French bakery on the way back to the metro station and got some delicious treats, which we ate on a park bench before taking the subway back to Red Square.  We sat for a while by a large fountain in front of the Bolshoi Theatre to rest then visited a bookstore, where Peter purchased an English language book of Tolstoy stories.  We still had a few hours until our overnight train to St. Petersburg, so we went back to the hotel, sat in the lobby and read.  Lulled into a sense of abundance of time, we set out for dinner a bit late.  The receptionist at the hotel suggested a restaurant a few buildings away.  The Champagne Café is an elegant and somewhat expensive place, but we didn’t have time to search for anything else.  We ordered inexpensive meals and expensive bottled water (How I miss free water and free refills like we have in the States!), wolfed down our food when it came and sprinted back to the hotel, where our taxi should have been waiting for us at 7:45.  However, he didn’t show up until nearly 8:00.  Panic was beginning to set in, as our train was scheduled for 8:40, and we really had no idea just how long the ride to the station would be.  Then the taxi driver, in Russian, seemed to be saying that he could not take us because there was too much luggage.  The staff at the hotel helped out and we agreed to pay an additional couple hundred rubles for the luggage.  With bags on our laps, because only two would fit in the trunk, we headed off for Leningradsky Station.  The driver, realizing that we were running out of time, drove like a maniac, weaving in and out of lanes (not that many other drivers weren’t doing the same!), and we made it to the station in less than 20 minutes in heavy traffic, even though the hotel staff had said it was a 30 minute ride.  Luckily, we didn’t have any trouble locating the platform for our train, which we reached with 10 minutes to spare, even though there were only stairs (no escalators!) into the station, making managing rolling luggage a bit of a challenge. 

Matthew in a top berth, departing Moscow

After the adventure of getting to the train on time, we have now settled into our sleeping compartment for the night.  Matthew and Katya are in the top berths.  They fell asleep fairly early.  We have passed by small towns and large swaths of birch and conifer forest as well as one quite large lake.  We will arrive at St. Petersburg at 4:40 a.m., only 5 hours from now, so I need to get some sleep also.  Luckily, at the 60^th parallel, the sun will be rising just then.  Even now, at nearly midnight, the sky is not completely dark, with sunset occurring less than 30 minutes ago.

Moscow: First Full Day, June 25

Bolshoi Theatre

We all slept well our first night in Moscow, although the guys still needed more time and rest to recover from jet lag.  Breakfast was served in our rooms, as requested, at 7:30, and by 8:30 we were on the streets.  It was a lovely day, with the temperature in the low 70 degrees Farenheit (low 20s Celsius), sunny skies and no noticeable humidity--a welcome change from Japan and South Korea!  First, we went to look at the Bolshoi Theatre, with the horses above the pediment.  We walked along the boulevard and came to Lubyanka Square, faced by the former headquarters of the KGB (now occupied by the Russian equivalent).  A statue of the founder of the KGB used to stand in the square but was torn down in 1991.

Many of the boulevards are quite wide, and there are pedestrian underpasses at many intersections, some having small kiosks selling food and souvenirs.  I have to wonder how the persons working in them, mostly women, can abide spending so much time in a space where they only have room for a chair and no room to move about.

Churches of the Archangel Gabriel and of St. Theodore Stratilites

We walked along streets lined with shops and cafes, many of them displaying hookas in their windows, in Petrovka and the Ukrainian Quarter.  Every few blocks, there is a church.  One of the more stunning in exterior architecture, with its twisted golden onion domes, is the Church of the Archangel Gabriel, built in the early 18th century.  A church in European Gothic style is next to it, St. Theodore Stratilites.

At the end of the street with these churches is a park, an area which used to be called "Dirty Ponds" because refuse from the nearby meat markets ran into the pools in this area.  In the 19th century, the area was cleaned up and re-named Chistiye Prudy (Clean Ponds).  This is a pleasant place to stop by a fountain for a rest.

Katya by fountains at Clean Ponds

St. George's Church

Heading east into the old residential area known a Kitai-Gorod, with architecture from the 15th through 17th centuries.  The first striking building on Varvarka Street we saw was St. George's Church, showing two distinct styles as it was built in two different centuries, the 1500s and the 1700s.  Inside, it is hushed and icons are displayed on every wall.  An old woman was making her way around the church, stopping to cross herself, pray and kiss each one.

We had a bit of trouble finding the entrance, but our stop at the Museum of the Romanov Boyars was worth the effort.  The original structure was built in the 1500s.  Only the basement remains intact; the current floors above ground level were re-created in later centuries.  The walls are very thick and the windows are mostly small, so it is cool and dark inside.  The cellars hold the kitchen and the storage place for arms and treasure.  There are separate floors for women and men.  On the men's floor, we saw the dining room, the library and the study.  The latter two are quite small.  A large, green, ceramic-tiled stove served as the source of heat for them.  Each room has a "red" corner, the place where an icon was hung so that it is at a 45-degree angle (from the back) to each wall.

Romanov Boyer Museum

The next floor up is the women's quarters.  There was a common room which displayed mirrors, cosmetics, books, and other items.  Beside it is the "light" room, with ceilings, walls and floor made of wood in patterned designs.  At the top of the house and facing south with large windows, this is where the wife and the daughters of the boyars and a few selected maids would spend their days making thread, weaving and embroidering.  At that period of time, women were expected to be out of the way, modest and industrious.  The needlework on display was gorgeous.

We left this quaint museum and passed other churches as well as the Angliisky Podvorye (English Courtyard), a wooden-roofed building with white-washed walls, one of the oldest civilian structures in Moscow.  Ivan the Terrible granted this area to English merchants to foster trade in the 16th century.

St. Basil's Cathedral

This brought us back to Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral (also known as Khram Vasiliya Blazhennogo or Pokrovsky Sobor).  The church was built in the 16th century in honor of the victory over the Mongol Tatars in 1555.  There is not a single large sanctuary, but nine gloriously decorated chapels beneath the various colored exterior domes.  Although there is a design, it seems like a mixed-up maze.  Beneath the chapels are beautiful rooms and niches (which are structurally vital), displaying icons and fresco painting in floral and religious designs.  While we were there, a men's a capello choir sang briefly; their music was magnificent and complemented by the wonderful acoustics of the center chapel.

Interior, St. Basil's

Interior, St. Basil's

The family--not me!--was starting to weaken in enthusiasm, but we got re-vitalized by ice cream from a vendor in the lovely Alexander Gardens on the west side of the Kremlin, bought our tickets for entrance to the grounds and the cathedrals and entered through the Kutafiya Tower.  We crossed the Trinity Bridge and walked through the second gateway, the Trinity Tower, to enter the enormous enclosure of the Kremlin.  Although red brick walls surround the compound, inside the buildings are yellow ochre and white and pink for the most part.  We passed by the Arsenal, with cannon on display outside, and then came to the Tsar Cannon.  This enormous and ornately decorated piece of artillery has a 40-ton barrel.  Built in the late 16th century for firing stones, it has never been used.  Nearby is the Czar's Bell, from the 1730s, sitting on a granite plinth with a chunk knocked off the rim.  It is 20 feet high and 22 feet in diameter and weighs 200 tons.  Like the cannon, it was never used.  In fact, it cracked before it could be rung.  Visual impact was obviously more important than function.

The Annunciation Cathedral

A half dozen cathedrals surround Cathedral Square, all with domes gleaming in the summer sunshine.  The white-walled Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, built in 1505, contains the tombs of the Great Princes, local princes and the Tsars, beginning with Ivan I.  Directly across from this church is the Annunciation Cathedral, with many gold domes topped by large crosses and distinctive gables, korbel arches, thin windows and niches beneath them.  Matthew's energy had waned appreciably and his feet were sore; Katya had lost interest in religious structures and icons.  They sat in the plaza while Peter and I went into this second cathedral, the home church of the Great Moscow Princes and later the czars.  Built in 1482, this is where the czars were christened and married.  There used to be a connecting porch between this cathedral and the Grand Kremlin Palace.

Domes of the Terem Palace

Matthew and Katya decided to call it a day when we returned to the square, so Peter and I gave them directions to the hotel and continued visiting the cathedrals and grounds (and taking many photos!).  We were awed by the bright gold domes of the Terem Palace, the oldest structure in the Kremlin, between the Annunciation Cathedral and our next stop, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe of the Holy Virgin.  With narrow stained glass windows, an unusual feature in Russian architecture, this buildings now displays wooden figures and icons and church relics from the 15th through the beginning of the 20th century.  The actual interior of the church dates from the 17th century and has three naves.  It was built as the private church for the patriarchs of Moscow and Russia.

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The last building Peter and I visited was the Assumption Cathedral, another white structure topped by fat golden domes.  It was built in the late 15th century and features a large and bright.  This is where czars were crowned and patriarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church were inaugurated and buried.  The Patriarch's Seat is built into one of the pillars as is another for the czarina.

Looming over Cathedral Square is the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, which was built in stages over the 16th and 17th centuries.  Bells of various sizes can be seen in the multiple belfries.  Next to Cathedral Square are the Secret Gardens, with tree-lined walkways and formal flower gardens.  From the far side of it, we could look down the steep hill to where a moat used to exist inside the Kremlin wall.

By now, Peter and I were feeling fatigued, so we went back to the hotel for a nap and down time.  Luckily the hours of daylight are long here around the 55th parallel, with the sun rising before 5 a.m. and setting well after 10 p.m.  It was still dark at 11 p.m. when, later, Peter and I returned to the hotel.  We all went out about 8 p.m. for dinner at Okhotny Ryad shopping center, a three-story underground mall next to the northwest side of the Kremlin.  We were looking for Russian food, but the Muscovites seem to prefer food from other nations, so, quite hungry, we finally settled on Italian food from an American chain, Sbarro, on the third floor.  From there, we could walk out to the Alexander Gardens.  There was a long and meandering pool of water with colorful fish patterns lining the bottom and interspersed bronze statues representing scenes from Russian fairy tales and fables.  It was quite nice, despite the fact that the water was a bit murky.  This didn't stop two Russian guys from swimming in it in their underwear!

We strolled through the garden and separated from the kids again, who were tired and anxious to get back to the hotel.  Peter and I enjoyed walking around the area on a balmy evening.  We stopped at a classy looking hotel on the end of wide Tverskaya Street near Red Square to see the lobby.  (It's the Ritz-Carlton, we discovered, but it is just too classy to put its name on the outside, we guess.)  Everything inside was exquisitely designed and placed for optimal aesthetic appeal.  Luxury oozed from the walls.  After a couple minutes, we came out, passing the valets and bellhops again.  One of them stopped Peter to tell him that there are great views from the 12th floor open-air restaurant and oxygen bar, free to the public. This Miami-themed place had a large mural of Biscayne Bay (We recognized the bridges we passed under in Epicurus.) and up-scale patio furniture.  Although the night was warm, the staff supplied patrons with what looked like cashmere blankets if they felt chilly!

When we got back, Peter went to bed and I stayed up past midnight downloading and labeling the (over 100) photos I had taken that day.  Nevertheless, I was up at 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning, ready for another day of exploring.