Red Square/Kremlin Tour with Jen Meyers

Hello Adventure readers! After two relaxing days, we decided we'd better get out and cause some trouble. Due to our lack of hot water, (STILL--two weeks today!) yesterday we just went over to Susan's to shower and then just hung out at our apartment talking. We did make a trip to the grocery store, but it was a nice low key day. Today we went and registered Jen's visa. Apparently, you have to register all guests within three days of arrival or there could be problems with subsequent trips to Russia. If any of you know Jen Meyers, she'll be back! Then we went on a 3 hour walking tour of the Kremlin and Red Square. Everyone is SO going to want me on their Trivial Pursuit team!


The Kremlin. Until this tour, I thought "The Kremlin" was a building where the President had his meetings. Wrong! Kremlin isn't a name, it's a noun that means fortress. A little village within Moscow surrounded by walls. There are seven churches within the walls, and we learned about three of them. One of the churches was used specifically for baptism, one for coronation, and one for burial of the czars (all the emperors are buried in St. Petersburg).

The picture above is Red Square. Red Square is actually the fourth name! It's also been Great Mart Square, Fire Square, Trinity Square, and finally.........Red Square. In Soviet times, it was the place where people came to gossip, be seen, and shop. It has also been the site of battles, coups, festivals, processions, public executions, and burials.

St. Basil's Cathedral was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible in commemoration of the capture of the city of Kazan. It was completed in 1561. According to legend, Ivan was so impressed with the architect that he had him blinded so he could not design anything so exquisite again. The nine churches that make up the cathedral are topped by ornately and twisted colorful domes. Each church is named after a patron saint's day.

The picture above is of Jen standing facing the chapel leading into Red Square. They say you are to stand in the center and throw a coin over your shoulder. There is a catch! One shoulder is good luck and one is bad. Russians think everything "left" is bad, That's why they wear their wedding bands on their right hand! We are hoping we remembered correctly and threw it over the good (right) shoulder. The people behind were just standing there waiting for people to do the toss so they could take the coins. They were getting irritated because we were tossing pennies and dimes instead of Russian money.

We walked around for 7 hours and our feet were killing us--but it was a great day! Tomorrow we plan on lunching with a friend and then a Moscow City Bus Tour.