State Museum of History in Red Square
The wall of the Kremlin from inside Red Square
Krasnaya Ploschet- Red Square in Russian
A random church a little bit past the entry arch in Red Square
The entry arches into Red Square
The double-headed eagle, symbol of both the old Romanov dynasty and of the newer Russian Federation
Statue outside the State Museum of History
The Romanov dynasty double-headed eagle atop the State Museum of History
G.U.M. (pronounced goom and stands for State Department Store) has tons of upscale stores
Another view of the State Museum of History
A couple on their wedding day in Red Square
A close-up shot of GUM (the upscale mall with Louis Vutton, Dior, Zara, Monsoon and a great chocolate shop!)
Lenin's mausoleum
One of the many guards in the mausoleum with the hammer and sickle faintly visible behind him
Yes the jackets are matching, but focus on Lenin's mausoleum!
Jaime in front of St. Basil's
Me in front of St. Basil's
The view of Red Square from inside St. Basil's. Straight across is the State Museum of History and to the right is G.U.M.
Statue in front of the cathedral
Clocktower in the Kremlin
Wishing well outside of St. Basil's. In the shadows in the bottom right you can see the coins people try to toss in the well.
Map of the cathedral
Some of the beautiful onion domes on St. Basil's
Fresco inside the cathedral
Chapel in the entryway of the cathderal
Beautifully decorated with an icon
Magnificent iconostasis
They even painted the ceiling and the little alcove above the chandelier!
Old bells from the belltower in the cathedral
A beautifully painted archway
Every inch was painted inside! I feel like this is how a cathedral designed by Willy Wonka would look like.
Gold ornamented paintings
The view of Red Square from inside St. Basil's
Look at all those people!
A saint and a king
Frescoes all the way up the wall!
Everything was painted! This is looking up at the ceiling in one of the many chapels that make up the cathedral.
Archway and wall with flowers
More of Willy Wonka's cathedral
This is the only bit of white in the entire part of the cathedral open to the public. And the only reason it is white is because this chapel was going for an authentic feel for its period.
You can see Jaime and me in the reflection of the window and a beautiful chapel on the other side of the window
More color everywhere!
Leaving the cathedral
Get your commemorative ruble here
Inside G.U.M. A performance of drummers and dancers had just finished.
More of G.U.M.
A cool ad featuring security cameras outside Louis Vuitton
Sneaking a shot of a Stalin impersonator over Jaime's shoulder
Closer to the Stalin impersonator
The front of the State Museum outside of Red Square
Trying to get the full shot of the museum with the towers on either side of the main building
A second marrying couple preparing to put flowers at the tomb of the unknown soldier
The tomb of the unknown soldier. Poignant memorial with an eternal flame coming out of a star and a metal sculpture of soldier's gear.
The unknown soldier died in Dec. 1941 helping to defend Moscow from the Nazi onslaught
Don't let the smile fool you. I was terrified up there.
In my defense, I was high up.
Real high
The wall and tower of the Kremlin
Cathedral of Christ the Savior
Christ the Savior and the entry tower of the Kremlin
Stalin ordered every tower to have a red star instead of the imperial double-headed eagle
Walking into the Kremlin
Sneaking a peek at Cathedral Square
The massive Tsar Cannon in the Kremlin weighs over 40 tons, was built in the 1580s and has never fired a shot.
Jaime with the Tsar Cannon
The Cathedral of the Assumption in Cathedral Sq of the Kremlin was the church where tsars were coronated and where Russian Orthodox Patriarchs were inaugrated and buried.
A shot of Cathedral Square. I think the golden domes look ever better against the cloudy sky.
Contrast between the gold and silver domes
Jaime and I in front of one of the cathedrals
Old and new- one of the many towers in the Kremlin with a red star at the top and another building outside of the Kremlin with a Mercedez-Benz logo.
The best impersonator of them all. Pretty much Putin himself.
More pictures of Red Square
Lenin again
More St. Basil's with a little bit of the wishing well to the bottom left
Tried to get a roll of bread in here, but it was way too expensive
Madagascar 2!
Entering the sculpture garden across the street from Gorky Park
Probably the coolest statue in the garden, made of both metal and wood, shows a man leaning before the guillotine.
The world of kindness against the sunset
Another cool statue. This time a mix of stone and wood
Another favorite- this one shows a young boy holding out a flower
Gorky park
Carousel outside of Gorky Park
The roller coaster Jaime and I rode. In the designer's defense, B in Russian is a V, so this can sort of be read Silver Mine.
This is a little hard to see, but it's a babushka running her port-a-potty business. Saw a lot of these through Moscow. Ranged from 10-20 rubles.
Leaving Gorky
Cathedral of Christ the Savior at night
Dancers at the Georgian restaurant
Ladies and gentlemen, Stalin on the drums!
More dancing
My entree at the Georgian restaurant. It was chicken, potatoes and onions served in a sizzling, oily sauce. The drinks were a delicious mix of fruits and berries called fmors.
Liz's chicken stew
Megan's pillar of mixed meats.
They brought out an accordion player along with the lamb kebab at a neighboring table
A blurry picture of a statue of the other Communist theorist, Engels.
Megan, Jaime, Liz and I posing in a car outside of the circus
Little slice of home, stained glass window dedicated to Yaroslavl, in a Moscow metro station
Why not throw a gun in there with the relief of a forest in the metro?
Statue in the metro
Stumbled in on this fake Kremlin city outside of the swap meet at Ismalovsky Park
More shots of the strange, wooden kremlin which reminded me of Dulock from the movie Shrek
A view of Ismalovsky Park on Sunday afternoon while it is still getting warmed up. Each little stand was operated by a different seller who spoke almost perfect English.
Another picture of Ismalovsky Park warming up
The seller was really mad at me for taking this picture, but how could I help it? He was selling rifles!
Monument above the Museum of Cosmonautics. At the top is a rocket ship.
Jaime in front of the statue of the pioneer of the Soviet space program, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Closer look at the rocket atop the monument
Statue in front of the monument
Jaime posing in front of hometown hero (Yaroslavl native) Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. We went to her museum in Yaroslavl on an earlier cultural trip.
A beautiful relief dedicated to Soviet achievements in space
A relief on the opposite side with Lenin pointing the way forward
Entering VDNKh (the All-Russian Exhibition Center) one sees a triumphant statue of a Soviet couple triumphantly holding up their sheaf of wheat.
The All-Russian Exhibition Center was built to show off the triumph to modern socialism, with the surrounding park oozing Soviet propaganda. It is now a regular old mall. When we there, the speakers in the park were blasting Nickelback. I don't think Lenin would have approved.
Close-up statue of Lenin outside of VDNKh
Soyuz Sovietskikh (Union of Soviet)
Sotzalisticheskikh Respublik (Socialist Republics)
The back of the statue of Lenin looking over the park
Another shot of the Museum of Cosmonautics from futher away
In the Museum of Contemporary History, I snuck a picture of this awesome picture of Lenin speaking
Another cool propaganda painting of Soviet workers holding up the hammer and sickle
An absolutely massive hammer and sickle between two sheaths of wheat in the Museum of Contemporary History
Very funny old map in the museum, one of the few things in English- The World According to Ronald Reagan
Australia is marked Kangaroos, proposed Palestinian Homeland is somewhere in the ocean NE of the USSR and Poland is surrounded by “Our Missiles” and “Their [The USSR's] Missiles”
Grenada is our airport and Cuba is a Soviet Colony
Colonel Sanders has made it out to Moscow!
But for some reason, he is only the secondary logo for KFC Russia
Jaime snapped a picture of me on the subway wearing a fur hat bought at Ismalovsky Park. It was soooo cold that day.
Metro art
More amazing art in the metro station
Now back in Yaroslavl, I took a picture of Jaime under a graffitied “Mockba” (Moscow in Russian) on our walk home from the train station.
