The Kremlin (a fortress inside a city)

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Following our strict instructions to be ready for a 9.50am pickup to meet our booking for The Kremlin tour, Maria took the seven of us on a walk through the Kremlin grounds that together with Red Square, cover 27.7 hectares. After giving us the rundown on the rules, most of us needed to leave several items in the van - no sharp objects of any description, liquids or creams other than water and nothing that could cause any form of suspicion would get through the security checks. Yes checks, we went through several as we wandered about but we all breezed through causing mother hen Maria to comment on how proud she was. Loads of guards about as you would expect but they were unobtrusive so long as you behaved, loud whistle blowing ensued if you stepped off the designated path, with demands to remove photos completely from cameras (ie hand over the data cards for destruction), if you took a photo in the well marked 'no photography' areas, we were very careful to follow the rules. With thousands of tourists about (6 million Chinese tourists alone last year), it was surprisingly orderly, with everything in pristine condition. No rubbish or rubbish bins again for security, and certainly no graffiti here. The historic wealth of the Orthodox Church is mind boggling, especially since a massive restoration programme is still underway post the Stalin and communist years of religious abolition. Our tour of the Armoury Museum and it's historic collection of costumes, silver and arms among the vast treasure trove of exhibits and the cathedral was stunning, with the jaw dropper at the end, the royal carriage collection that dates from 16th to 18th centuries. The most ornate from the time of the extravagant Elizabeth, Empress of Russia from 1741 to 1762. However her extravagances resulted in many of the grand buildings and their contents that we got to explore, including The Winter Palace that was to become her place of death. Empress Elizabeth was a great mover and shaker, supporting the development of the University of Moscow, the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg cited as two examples of her forward thinking. Even today she is considered to be one of the more popular Russian monarchs as she fought archaic Prussian policies, with the notable success of not one person being executed during her reign.

No photos of the carriages as a strictly enforced no photo area, but worth checking out photos of them on Wikipedia. The tour finished at 2pm and being intrepid Moscow travelers now, we got into our own mischief for the rest of the day without getting lost once - purely due to Karen's innate sense of direction as Tim and Chris have none, frequently causing Karen to 'politely ignore' our suggestions (read as laugh her head off) on which way to go.

Paying 500 rubles each ($NZ13) we went inside the smaller of the ten churches (the only one not turned into a museum and the last to be added in 1588) that form the famous and very colourful Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat - more commonly known as the Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed; named after a very popular Muscovite 'holy fool' who was burned on the site causing the cathedral to be now referred to as 'St Basil's'. Built on Tsar Ivan IV orders (Ivan the Terrible) who habitually instructed a new church be build to mark each battle victory during his 16th century reign, St Basil's depicts the flames of a bonfire reaching to the sky. Sitting just outside the Kremlin, it suffered a checkered history including more recently being confiscated from the Russian Orthodox community during the anti-thiest campaign under Stalin. Notably it has not been handed back to the Orthodox community, remaining the property of the Russian Federation. We happened to time our visit to coincide with a performance by the Doros Singers in one of the superbly acoustic chambers, five male singers from a larger group who were singing to promote sale of their CD's - no music but what voices!

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Photos

The most spectacular of them all - St Basil's
So cool it deserves a second appearance and we got to tour it today

Tim waiting for his beer, Red Square
St Basils in background

The infamous Kremlin wall
So much history has taken place here, some of it positive but much of it barbaric

Tsar canon cast 1586, fired only once to test it
Although 'experts' say dimensions wrong and not capable of firing.

Tsar Bell, the largest bell in the world cast 1733-1735
Too heavy to move, never rung, fractured when water used to fight fire in the building housing it,

The White House
Built to look large and grand as a sign of the owners wealth, but the original owner not so wealthy as only one floor - not the three it tries to be.

Cathedral of the Annunciation built 1489
Originally the personal chapel of the Muscovite Tsars and we got to tour inside it!

Terem Palace, 1636
Once home to the Tsars - not open to the public as official residence of the president of Russia, although he doesn't usually live in it.

Need the right look and size for this job
Compulsory 12 month conscription for all 18-27 yr old males but only the elite get the sentry job that requires a decidedly Aryan look!