Red Square

Well the hotel website was correct.  This is the view from the restaurant as we had breakfast this morning.  Highly recommend staying here.

Walked to the Kremlin after breakfast.  Beautiful city!  Typical of any large city on a busy Monday morning.  People bustling off to work.

Outside of Kremlin after we purchased tickets to see the Armoury and Cathedrals.  We were advised to arrive at the ticket office by 9:30AM, which proved to be helpful in avoiding the large crowds.

The Armoury has to be one of the most interesting museums I have ever seen.  The carriage room was incredibly fascinating.  The carriages were lined up chronologically, from the 16th century to the 18th century.  These carriages were used by Ivan the Terrible to Catherine the Great.  We've visited museums in the states showing the evolution of the automobile, motorcycle, boats (Adirondack), airplanes.  We have also seen small carriages before, BUT these Russian carriages are enormous and ornate and unlike anything I've ever seen.  It took 23 horses to pull one of the carriages alone.

The Armoury also houses a huge collection of icons and all kinds of gifts from foreign ambassadors.  It also houses more diamonds, pearls, rubies, etc. than you can imagine and two of the world's largest emeralds! We would have included photos if it had been permitted to take them.

Additionally, Sarah loved seeing the wedding crown of Pushkin and his bride.  There were gowns worn by women including Catherine the Great coronation gown and Peter the Great's boots (which by the way would totally be stylish for women today).

Inside the Kremlin looking out over the city

After we left the Armoury we walked around the Kremlin grounds and visited 3 of the 5 cathedrals in Cathedral Square.

Backdrop - Kremlin wall and palace

Here are some of our favorite photos from inside the Kremlin - unfortunately we still weren't allowed to take any photos in the buildings themselves.

The Archangel Cathedral - 1508

Cathedral Square 

Door of the Archangel Cathedral

We're not sure which one this is - but we liked the towers.

 

The Dormition Cathedral

The Bell Tower

 

Tsar Bell - largest in the world, weighs 2,000 tons

Tsar Cannon - glad I'm not the guy who had to load it

Exiting the Kremlin

  

Looking back

After the Kremlin we headed back to GUM (that fancy shopping mall) for a quick lunch and then off to the Moscow Conservatory to buy tickets for a concert tomorrow night (Sarah used her Russian language skills to purchase our tickets -- pretty impressive). On a side note - Sarah is continually being asked by Russians for directions.  Apparently she looks Russian, can say hello pretty convincingly, but when they start asking their question with excitement very quickly in Russian they see the deer in the headlights face and realize she has no clue what they are asking. (Still better than Mom who has trouble understanding English said with a Russian accent).

We decided to walk over to an old Russian Street (every building is historic) to see the city and buy souvenirs. We needed Dave the negotiator :)

Finished the evening with great traditional Russian food.

Red Square at night - Cpokonoe Noch