Good Evening Peter the Great

After this experience we went to the other side of the Kremlin to begin our tour of the historic cathedrals and museums inside its walls (and we all secretly hope to see something related to the Russian government or security services).

Once they had sorted out a bit of an annoying mix-up involving our tour guides we entered into the Kremlin’s arsenal.  It is no longer used to store weapons, instead it houses many State treasures including the crowns of the Tsars, and an impressive collection of royal carriages and sleds form over time.  It also hosted exhibits on Russian clothing, household goods, state gifts and one of the largest collections of Faberge eggs in the world.

Moving on from the museum, we went to tour the oldest cathedrals in the city which have remained unchanged for centuries.  They were nice, but having seen some many Russian Orthodox churches in the last 2 months, a church has to be very impressive to get my attention now.

We also where able to see the world’s largest bell the Tsar Bell and one of the largest cannons, the Tsar Cannon.  Both of these items, though originally intended to function in their normal roles, have not.  It gives rise to saying sometimes used to comment of the effectiveness of the Russian government: “the Kremlin is home to the bell that never rang and the cannon which never fired!”  One final thing of note I saw in the Kremlin where the piles of cannons captured from Napoleon’s army and proudly displayed ever since.

Formerly Napoleon's 

We had the rest of the day to explore and we made it to several interesting places in the city, but first we ate lunch in an Indian restaurant in an underground mall.  Not something you do every day!   Our main objective was to go to the Tretyakov Gallery, the best museum of Russian art in the world.  On our way there we stopped many times along our walk to see the city including a very pretty walk along and over the Moscow River.  The gallery lived up to its reputation, and in fact its internal construction and its legacy as a public art museum backed by the estate of a very wealthy man reminded me a lot of the Getty in LA.

After that we walked to Gorky Park, a famous park in the city and saw more monuments along the way including the internationally ridiculed 94 meter tall statue of Peter the Great.  And with that our exploring of the city was done.  Al that remained was to get dinner, hang out and swap Moscow adventure stories with other people in the group and prepare to depart. 

St. George Slaying the Dragon of Nuclear Weapons,
A gift to Russia from the UN

And it was then that I made my final preparations and tried to contain my building excitement, I was to meet Mom in Strasburg the next day! 

Goodnight Peter!