Moscow’s Diamonds Are Forever

Posted on Posted in Travel Tagged with , , ,

From Ekaterinburg we had a 24-hour train ride to Moscow.

I loved Moscow.  It’s a wonderful city to visit and has one of the most beautiful city centres of any city I’ve been to.  Red Square is a great location and is home to St. Basil’s Cathedral, one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve seen.

IMG_9969

IMG_0001

Lenin and the last Czar still hang around Red Square.

IMG_9896


And Marshal Zhukov still keeps watch.

IMG_0010


The square is also home to the Kremlin.  Several Russian cities have kremlins, the word means fortress.  The Russian princes and then Czars lived inside the fortress, and later the Russian presidents had their offices there.  I remember pre-Gorbachev Soviet years, so it was a strange experience to wander through the territory of the cold war enemy.

IMG_0016


Inside the Moscow Kremlin there is a square with several beautiful golden domed churches packed with golden icons and frescoes.

IMG_0042


The Kremlin Armoury is a museum containing a lot of the treasures of the Czars.  There are floors full of imperial carriages, weapons, armor, icons, Faberge eggs, crowns, and book covers covered in precious stones.  The Kremlin Diamond Fund is one of the 3 most valuable collections of diamonds and jewels in the world (along with the British Crown Jewels and the Shah’s Collection).

Moscow also has one of the oldest and grandest metros in the world.  Many of the stations have murals and chandeliers and are tourist attractions themselves.

I also visited Moscow’s oldest banya (Russian bathhouse).  It’s a big sauna with separate areas for men and women.  They have birch leaves that you can whip yourself with in the steam room and afterwards you go for a dip in cold water.

There is also a collection of old communist statues at one of the parks in Moscow.

IMG_9953

For some strange reason, this song was on one of the very few records I owned as a kid.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDnLIYd0hZY


Have fun,
Aidan

Foreigners in Moscow claim that, according to a Soviet statistic, there are only three brassieres for every five Russian women. In view of current Western women’s fashion trends, they may be abreast of the times.
– B. Michael Frolic.



4 Comments on “Moscow’s Diamonds Are Forever”

  2. Interesting song.

    I never heard it before.

    Did you see Russians demonstrating against the republic for a true democracy?

    How does one get by in Russia with only English?

  3. Hadn’t thought about it before, but yes the song came out around the time of the Moscow Olympics.

  4. The song was quite popular briefly when I was a kid.
    I didn’t see any demonstrations when I was in Russia.
    Travelling in Russia is the same as in most countries where you speak the language. Usually people in hotels speak a bit of English and you can simplify things. E.g when I wanted to buy a train ticket, I wrote it down.
    The main thing is to be able to read Cyrillic. I learned the basics before I left. If you can’t do that, you won’t be able to read subway station names and street signs, which makes it difficult to get around.