Komsomolskaya underground metro station on the Koltsevaya Line
Dates visited: August 4, 2012 – August 9, 2012
I visited Moscow primarily for the churches with those colorful bulbous domes. What I remember it for is (1) the most fashionably-dressed women I’ve ever seen, (2) really long escalators running deep underground to metro stations, and (3) getting stared at by several Muscovites on multiple occasions which I think that after eliminating all factors such as having a booger stuck to my nose, or having my fly open, or wearing a Pussy Riot t-shirt, I can safely attribute to me having a brown skin.
Of all our travels so far, Moscow seemed the most detached from the English language. Thankfully, they have good maps so we could find our way around, but finding someone who could understand English was quite a task. However, I just loved seeing the road names and street signs written in Cyrillic script; it gave me a feeling of having traveled really really far!
We spent 2-3 hours just traveling on the Moscow Metro as Moscow has some of the most beautifully decorated metro stations. Among the best ones are Teatral’naya, Komsomolskaya, Novoslobodskaya, Belorusskaya, Kropotkinskaya, Arbatskaya and Mayakovskaya. We also saw Nikulin’s Circus for a Russian circus experience and we came away impressed and entertained. I absolutely loved the architecture of the 1532-built white-colored Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye and wasn’t the least bit surprised to find out later that it was a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Another interesting attraction was Lenin’s Mausoleum where they display the embalmed body of Lenin. You have to be absolutely silent as you enter the mausoleum with guards watching you at every corner. The guards thought I was taking too much time staring at Lenin’s body so they tried to catch my attention by snapping their fingers (remember, no talking!) and motioned me to move along!
We spent most of our time at Red Square and Kremlin which together have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At the Red Square, my biggest excitement was seeing the Saint Basil’s Cathedral. The colored onion-shaped domes shone in the sun and my eyes sparkled with joy as I realized I was standing in one of the most famous squares in the world—a square that is used for military parades as well as high-profile concerts (Paul McCartney and Shakira have performed here). While the Kremlin has many popular attractions such as the Kremlin Armory museum, Ivan the Great Bell Tower, and Tsar Cannon, my personal favorites were the stunning gold-domed Church of the Deposition of the Robe and the Cathedral of the Assumption.
-
- The Bolshoi Theatre… …hosting ballet and opera performances since 1825
-
- Saint Basil’s Cathedral (original name: The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed) in Red Square… …the singlemost reason for me to visit Russia. I am glad that unlike the Kazan Cathedral (see next photo), communist leader Stalin was not successful in razing this church (now a museum) to the ground in 1936.
-
- Kazan Cathedral (aka Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan) in Red Square… …originally consecrated in 1636, destroyed by communist leader Stalin in 1936 and then rebuilt in 1993
-
- Tsar Cannon in the Kremlin… … largest bombard by caliber in the world
-
- Statue of Marshal Georgy Zhukov … …served in the Red Army during World War II
-
- Watching the Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoi Boulevard (aka Nikulin’s Circus)
-
- Statue of Yuri Nikulin… …a well-known Soviet and Russian actor and clown
-
- Mayakovskaya underground metro station on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line
-
- The State Historical Museum seen from Red Square
-
- Mural inside Komsomolskaya Station
-
- The spectacularly beautiful Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye… …built in 1532 to celebrate the birth of the prince who was to become Tsar Ivan IV (‘the Terrible’). This church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
-
- One of the entrances to GUM (Glavnyi Universalnyi Magazin), a shopping mall in Kitai-gorod, facing Red Square
-
- Glass roof (by Vladimir Shukhov) inside GUM (Glavnyi Universalnyi Magazin), a shopping mall facing Red Square
-
- Novoslobodskaya underground metro station on the Koltsevaya Line
-
- Night time view of Saint Basil’s Cathedral (original name: The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed) in Red Square
-
- Church of our Lady of Kazan in Kolomenskoye
-
- View of Red Square from St. Basil’s Cathedral… …the sculpture in the foreground is Monument to Minin and Pozharsky (they were instrumental in putting an end to the Time of Troubles in 1612)
-
- The Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Kremlin… …consecrated in 1479
-
- Entrance to Gorky Park… …named after Maxim Gorky, the famous Russian and Soviet writer
-
- Gorky Park… …used to be an amusement park until 2011 after which it was transformed into an eco-friendly recreational zone
-
- The magnificent Church of the Ascension (left) and the Church and Bell tower of St. George in Kolomenskoye
-
- The Spasskaya Tower—built in 1941, this gate is one of the entrances to enter the Kremlin
-
- Saint Basil’s Cathedral… …designed in the shape of a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky
-
- Colorful exterior of Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square
-
- Cathedral of Christ the Saviour… …consecrated in 1883, destroyed by communist leader Stalin in 1931 and then rebuilt in 2000
-
- Hanging around in Mooscow
-
- Resurrection Gate (aka Iberian Gate)… …demolished in 1931 to make room for heavy military vehicles driving through Red Square during military parades and rebuilt in 1994-1996
-
- Peter the Great Statue… …a 98-metre-high monument to Peter the Great… …eighth tallest statue in the world, but also ranked in the list of world’s ugliest statues!
-
- The Moscow Kremlin (aka Kremlin) viewed from a boat ride on the Moscow River
-
- The Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin… …consecrated in 1479
-
- Northern door of the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin
-
- Sculpture by Matvey Manizer inside Ploshchad Revolyutsii underground metro station on Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line
-
- Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building… …seen from a boat tour on Moscow River
-
- Statue of Marshal Georgy Zhukov and the State Historical Museum seen from Manezhnaya Square
-
- Ivan the Great Bell Tower, with Assumption Belfry on the left inside the Kremlin
-
- Tsar Bell in the Kremlin… …largest bell in the world; this bronze bell broke during metal casting and has never been rung
-
- Door of the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin
-
- Gilded onion domes of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Kremlin
-
- The little blue chapel in front of Resurrection Gate (aka Iberian Gate)… …demolished in 1931 to make room for heavy military vehicles driving through Red Square during military parades and rebuilt in 1994-1996
-
- Sculpture by Matvey Manizer inside Ploshchad Revolyutsii underground metro station… …people rub the dog’s nose for good luck