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What is the first thing we wanted to see in Moscow?

By October 23, 2016 No Comments
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Today we arrived in Moscow via the overnight train, Red Arrow. As I said on Thursday, this ride was fabulous and we were bummed to have slept most of the way. We are really looking forward to the seven days we will spend on the Trans-Siberian train after such a great experience, but those are tales for a later time.

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Looking up in one of the chapels where you can see the ceiling of one of the spires.

Now that we have arrived in the 800-year-old capital of Russia, the first order of business was to locate our hotel and drop off our bags. In order to do that I needed to get me, my dad, and our bags through the Moscow metro system. I knew exactly which line to take and the station to get off at, BUT I had the English spelling of the station. This is not helpful at all since the Russians have several different letters, so if you are ever here make sure you find out the Russian spelling of the train stations and metro stops you want. Just a helpful little tid bit. 🙂

After dropping off our bags (too early to check in though) I asked dad if he wanted to wander around for a while and he said sure. Of course I knew exactly where I was taking us, but I want to surprise him as we walked along the Moscow River and turned the corner to see the Kremlin (Tuesday’s blog), Red Square (Saturday’s blog), and St Basil Cathedral. I am sure you are as mystified about these as we were, so make sure you come back to read about them (or LIKE me on Facebook so you don’t miss them).

Even though it was crowded we choose to see the St Basil Cathedral, because as dad said it probably is the most famous and photographed building in Russia. This church was built in 1555 under the order of Ivan the Terrible because he wanted to celebrate two of his victories. It is one of the most striking churches I have ever seen and I can understand why it is so well known. In the center of the church you will see the tallest steeple and it is cone shaped. Around this you will find 8 onion shaped steeples, which are uniquely Russian. Or is it nine? It is so hard to keep track :). All of these have different patterns and bright colors that you would expect to clash with each other, but instead bring the whole structure together in an eye pleasing, photogenic ensemble.

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The church is broken up into many different chapels, so the interior seems small.

I highly recommend you go inside the church, but be warned it is not nearly as inspiring. You see each steeple is a separate little chapel, which really breaks up the church and makes it feel small compared to how big it really is. One thing I found interesting is that while you can look up, all the way to the top of the steeple, you can’t see the onion shape on the inside. Not a big deal, just something I noticed.

Once we finished taking in this unique church it was time to check into the hotel, so we walked back. I guess I must have worn my dad out in St Petersburg (last week’s blogs), because he ended up sleeping all afternoon and through the night. This was good because it gave me time to catch up on work and blogs and got him rested for all the stuff I have planned the next couple days before our epic train ride.

I hope you will come back every day as I continue to talk about Moscow this week, Vladimir and Suzdal next week, and the Trans-Siberian train after that. Once again don’t forget you can always LIKE me on Facebook, FOLLOW me on Instagram, and at some point I will make my signature travel videos of all these places on YouTube, so you can SUBSCRIBE to me there as well.

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What do you think of all those colors?

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