Red Square, Karen and the elusive Kremlin !!!

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So today started off raining and a bit miserable. However it was warm, so umbrella in hand off I went to visit Catherine's Cathedral. The outside is beautifully decorated with white stone carvings and huge golden domes on top. Inside was beautiful with gold everywhere, paintings on the walls, etc.

The nice thing for me was the quiet atmosphere and that it was full of "real Russians". Ladies with scarves covering their heads, old ladies shuffling alone kissing the paintings, yes kissing the paintings of Jesus, everyone constantly crossing themselves, and the cutest of all was seeing little girls with their little scarves on their heads saying mass with such dignity and sincerity. There was a choir of women singing that was so beautiful that it sent tingles down my spine. I lit a candle for my dad and said hello to him.

Then out into bright sunshine !!! its like that here in Moscow, very changeable. I walked again to Red Square (bout 30 mins) and surprise surprise this time it was open !!!! So in I skipped, and walked all around it, I decided not to queue for an hour and a half to see Lenins body laying in state, as I've seen hundreds of dead bodies and one more wouldn't impress me much !!!!.

Red Square is massive, with lots of churches and cathedrals as you would imagine, but I was not expecting to see a shopping mall the size of Harrodds in there !! its called the GUM store ( I know !!) but I didn't go inside even though the guide books say to do so, its a bit like dead bodies again, been there, done that, didn't want another T-Shirt.

THEN I saw St Basils Cathedral with its domes all different colours and designs ....... now THAT was worth seeing, it really really is amazing, inside and out. It was commissioned by Ivor the Terrible in 1550 and legend has it that he had the architects blinded so they couldn't build anything as beautiful again. My my he was a rascal, although I suppose the clue's in the name. However according to my guide book its only a legend and extremely unlikely it's true. Anyway there are 9 different chapels inside all leading in and out of one another, bit of a maze you might say. After about 45 mins I was getting too hot and decided to leave.

I wanted to go inside the Kremlin, but could I find the entrance ? .... could I heck !!! honest- a-god it was ridiculous, the wall goes on forever in a triangle, and I just couldn't find anywhere to buy a ticket to get in !!! I asked numerous people including guides but to no avail, so I decided to save my sanity and go home. Another long long walk past numerous stalls selling the usual souvenir stuff that despite being tatt is so addictive to look at.

When I got back to the hostel the little girl who is the only member of staff any good asked me what I had been up to and I told her, she is so keen to learn English its adorable . Anyway I asked her if she could see about getting me a ticket to see the Moscow state circus. She said there was a show in 30 mins and non tomorrow, so I said no I wouldn't have time. She said yes i would, and told me what metro to get, to cut a long story short, she came with me and we had a great time. she hadn't been to the circus since she was a child. The show was really good with fab tight walkers and acrobats, The tight walker walked the rope going up at an angle of 45 degrees WITH a girl standing on his head !!!! honestly standing on his head !!!!
They did have chimps, camels and tigers that I wasn't that keen on watching (animal welfare and all that).

Then I decided to go and see Red Square at night as someone said it was all lit up and lovely. So I arrived at about 10pm and waited until 11pm when it got dark and I wasn't disappointed. The first thing you see is the GUM store all lit up with thousands of Christmas white lights all around it, like something the Americans wound do. The other Cathedrals all looked gorgeous as it was a clear royal blue sky, as a back drop to them all illuminated.

By this time it was gone midnight so I had missed the last Metro, so Shanks's pony for me, a taxi driver asked if I wanted a lift and I said no I was walking and he gave me directions for walking, I was a tad dubious thinking he could be playing the "I'll teach you a lesson about not getting a taxi" trick, but no, his directions were spot on and I got back about 1am, then zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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