Kremlin (Moscow ~ Russia)

September 2019

We arrived in Moscow from St Petersburg by flight and decided to get to our accommodation (on the opposite side of Moscow) by public transport. The first part AeroExpress train was fine. Getting across Moscow using the Metro, with all of our luggage at 5:00pm (serious rush hour) was a bit stressful - came close to losing track of each other a couple of times.

Got really lucky with our accommodation as we splurged and booked an apartment for NZD 120 per night. Really nice little place and within 200m of a metro stop. One thing we have found when traveling in eastern Europe is that in terms of places to stay small apartments are about as prevelant as hotels and quite often cheaper (and usually have washing machines).

Our first day was a trip to the Kremlin and within in it the Armoury museum. Kremlin literally translates as fortress within a city which would explain the massive walls around it and serious number of canons. The public are pretty much free to wander through large chunks and the area's they aren't are guarded by scary men in body armour carrying automatic weapons (didn't think taking photos of them was a good idea).

Within the grounds of the Kremlin are multiple palaces and cathedral. All seriously over the top. However they are nothing compared to the exhibits in the Armoury museum. Included in the displays are the gifts given to Russia from foreign countries - and clearly there is an unofficial competition to give the most grandiose gift.

Silver work embedded with gems and the biggest emerald I have ever seen. Exquisite Fabergé Eggs - each of which contained tiny surprises. Not allowed to take photos so have resorted to "acquiring" some off the internet.

Next to the Kremlin is the Red Square and the tomb of Lenin (more about this in a later post ) and at the southern end is one of the most recognisable buildings ever - St Basil's Cathedral.

Lunch that day was at the massive Gum shopping centre on the opposite side of Red Square. Quite ironic as Gum is the embodiment of capitalism. In a throwback to the old days the restaurant of choice in Gum is Stolovaya 57. Stolovaya type restaurants are like old style canteens/school cafeterias. Cheap as chips.

From Red Square it was a pleasant walk along the river bank to Bolotnya Square to check out a sculpture called "Children are the Victims of Adult Vices". Each vice is incredibly detailed and when installed there were some concerns as it sits opposite a children's playground.

Deep under Moscow are various bunkers built to act as bolt holes for the government in event of an attack. Initially these bunkers were only about 20m deep, but with the invention of nuclear weapons 20m was found to be to shallow and a new set needed to be constructed - at least 42m deep.

About 20 have been decommissioned and 2 are open to the public - we visited bBunker 73. Quite fascinating to visit as a reasonable amount of equipment and documents are still present. Seems like the Soviet government mindset was point of view that any document is secret unless otherwise stated.