We visit Red Square and more.....

Previous page - Visiting the Kremlin

 

Lunch in Moscow

We had originally intended to eat our packed lunch in the Kremlin grounds somewhere but we were not allowed to bring our rucksacks into the place with us. So once we had retrieved our bags we set off looking for somewhere to eat.

Alexander Park is nearby and has lots of shady trees so we stopped there. It is a very popular place on a warm summers day so all the limited seating was already taken. There is masses of lawn but you are not permitted to walk or sit on it which is a pity. We parked our bottoms on a metal fence along a shady boulevard. Out came the thermos, sandwiches (packed by Lucia) and fruit. It was very much appreciated and was finished off with an ice cream each (of course). I think I've eaten more ice cream on this holiday than I've eaten in the last 5 years at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then walked around the Alexander Park area looking at the wonderful fountains. Featured above are the bronze horse statues sculpted by Zurab Tsereteli in 1996. There used to be masses of old fountains in Moscow but in the 1930's Stalin had almost all of them destroyed in his "reconstruction of Moscow".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Resurrection Arch was built in the early 1990's. It is an exact replica of the original structure, which stood on this site from 1680 to the early 1930's. Through the arch and you are in Red Square.

To our surprise, the pavers in the square are not red. The square is called Krasnaya Ploshchad in Russian. Krasnaya means "beautiful" but apparently it also meant "red" in language of days gone by. I think that is the story anyway.......

 

Red Square, Moscow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next to the Kremlin, Red Square is probably the most popular and famous area in Moscow for tourists. There is lots to see. The most colourful would be Saint Basil's Cathedral which is truly outstanding to look at. Lenin's Mausoleum is also in Red Square but unfortunately is was closed the day we were there. It is the final resting place of the embalmed body of Vladimir Lenin. The preservation of Lenin's body is very interesting and there is a web page here that will fascinate you, see Lenin's Mausoluem. The Mausoleum is only open between 10 a.m and 1 p.m.

We wandered on down to the end of the Square where we looked at St Basil's Cathedral.

There are toilets in a separate area just to the right of cathedral. You go down some steps to enter them and they were reasonably maintained.

There were major earth works going on behind the cathedral.

We had heard about the Gum (pronounced "goom") Store so we had a look inside. It was a huge place but different to what we had imagined.

 

Inside the Gum store

We thought it was a store that would have sold items for reasonable prices - a shop for the "average person" but it was just the opposite. It is a collection of shops and those we saw were all from the high end of the market. All the famous brand names had their own shops. Plenty of assistants in them but no customers looking to buy. And no wonder as the prices were very high. It was beautifully decorated inside with elegant furnishings such as plants and fountains.

We also saw a large building under restoration and the whole of the outside of the building was covered in an enormous sheet of plastic that had an image on it of what the building would look like when it was finished. It was an innovative way to disguise what would have been an ugly masss of scaffolding etc.

 

Next page - Christ the Saviour area

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