Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Moscow, day two
Kremlin in the morning
In the morning I went on a bus tour of the city. I saw the same things, more or less, as I had seen last night with Nadi and Julia. The difference is that these places look more beautiful at night.
GUM, a huge department store near the Kremlin
I had lunch at the Okhotny Ryad underground shopping mall. There are two major restaurants here: McDonald's and Sbarro. I chose Italian. The food selection at this Sbarro exceeded any other Sbarro I had been to, but for a price. One slice of pizza, a small side salad, potatoes, fruit, and a bottle of water came to $12. There were lots of Muscovites. For the price they were paying, it made me think that this wasn't just fast food, it was a place to be.
Red Square
Lenin's tomb
After lunch I went on a tour of the Kremlin. There were only two hours to walk around it and see the Armory, a state museum, but surprisingly this time was sufficient. (It helped that we zipped through all the sights with barely any time to stop and savor them.) The Armory is worth seeing for its collection of imperial artifacts. It has a special room called the Diamond Fund, but I didn't have time to go inside. At 6 P.M. the tour ended, and I noticed a large crowd outside the Kremlin gates, which were waiting for a concert inside the fortress. In retrospect, it would have been nice to tour the Kremlin without a guide, so that I could have taken my time, but my guide said that independent tourists are not allowed.
The Tsar Bell, largest in the world. The broken piece weighs 11 tons!
Upon leaving the Kremlin I went to Red Square for the sole purpose of having my picture taken in front of St. Basil's Cathedral. I asked three different people to assist me. The first two took mediocre photos; the third was very serious about taking his own pictures, so he looked perfect for the part. It took him five tries, though, before I finally got the picture I wanted.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
High society
I met Nadi and her classmates for dinner, again at FAQ Cafe. Nadi had to do some studying tonight, so I stayed lowkey and hung out in her neighborhood. (She lives off of a busy street called Leningradskiy Prospekt.) I saw some interesting things: women wearing the latest fashions getting into rusty Ladas, the ubiquitous Soviet-era brand of taxis; Asians walking on the street holding open beer bottles. Nadi's neighborhood is very safe. I saw quite a few women and children walking alone after dark.
King of the hill
