Inside the Kremlin

Of all the past experiences that took place this week, our group excursion to Kremlin on Wednesday was by far the most interesting thing I've done here yet.  Being allowed to be led through the Kremlin is like being allowed to tour a Washington D.C. that is guarded by impregnable walls.  Surrounded by twenty Kremlin towers, the connecting walls were built between 1485 and 1495 and five of the tallest towers have the Russian ruby star at their peak.  The Kremlin itself was neglected until 1773 when Catherine the Great decided to make the official residence of Russian rulers.  Napoleon also took the Kremlin for his own when he unwisely invaded in 1812.  Since then, Moscow has done many repairs and renovations to the fortress and, although there is still some going on now, it is a fantastic mix of modern and historic architecture.

Once inside the Kremlin, you automatically see the modern-looking Grand Kremlin Palace to your right and the Arsenal to your left.  The Arsenal has 900 or so cannons surrounding its base which were taken from Napoleon's Grand Army during his retreat from the city.  Nearby stand two huge medieval wonders:  the Tsar Bell, the world's largest bell and the pride of Russia, and the Tsar Cannon, a 39 ton cannon that fires 1 ton cannon balls.  While the bell was never rung, as it cracked during its making, the cannon was fired at least once and I would hate to see who was on the receiving end of the blast.

Once past all the military equipment, there are many amazing churches in Cathedral Square.  Having been fortunate enough to have seen the Vatican last year, I would say that these churches all together are as remarkable, if not more so, than Rome's churches.  The architecture is beautiful and most were actually built by Italian architects, which explains why they could surpass the churches in Italy.  The golden domes on top of Cathedrals also brighten the Square and cast a peaceful light on the area.  The fresco inside the Church of the Deposition of the Robe was actually much more impressive to me than the Sistine Chapel within the Vatican.  The entire inside of the Church is covered in detailed drawings of Church stories.  One such story our tour guide pointed out was Judas's descension into Hell.  It was a very interesting place.

We also got to tour the Armory which now holds all of Moscow's prized possessions, such as royal robes, carriages, embassy gifts, and jewels.  It was overwhelming how many diamonds and gold were used to create Russian thrones or crowns.  After our tour of the Kremlin, our group split up and a few of us blindly made our way to Old Arbat, which is a famous pedestrian street that was made in the 15th century.  Many famous Russians, such as Alexander Pushkin, lived on this street at one point in time.  After we finally broke down and ate Wendy's... we made our way up to another one of Moscow's remarkable Seven Sister buildings and tried to find a metro.  Having no idea where to go, we made our way up a different street and wandered through an embassy row, where we saw the Canadian, Jamaican, Dutch, and Finnish embassies.  After finally utilizing our Russian and asking an old couple for directions, we were back on the Metro and on our way home.   

Another interesting excursion that a few of us decided to take was to the Novodevichy Cemetery.  Buried there are world famous Russians such as Chekhov, Gogol, Petrovsky, Ulanova, Krushchev, and Yeltsin.  It was extremely fascinating to see how large and magnificent their tombstones were.  Most army generals, it seems, wanted to be buried under a full statue of themselves with their military decorations present.  At Chekhov's grave, many people had left pens there which I thought was neat.  I actually haven't seen many famous American graves in my life (Ben Franklin and Arlington Cemetery are the only ones which comes to mind) and it was just neat that so many important Russians are buried here.

One more rather interesting experience I will share is that several of us decided to go to Patriarch Ponds in the Presnensky District of Moscow.  It is an upper class residential area that has a large pond near its center, and we went to go check it out.  By the pond is a statue of Ivan Krylov, and my friend Kelly and I decided to pose on the statue for a picture.  While I was on top of it, this drunk, rambling Russian man came up to us and started directing Kelly to get on top of the statue.  All we knew how to say between laughs was "Net, spiceba" (No thank you) and could not understand what all he was saying.  He then started to shove Kelly up there awkwardly so, once we were in his desired place, we took another photo.  The man then started to follow us around the pond so we hurried to a different section of the park.  It was definitely one of the more awkward/funny things that has happened to me in a while.

This upcoming week holds a big moment for me.  On Wednesday night at midnight here, the final Harry Potter movie will premiere, effectively ending my childhood.  In all seriousness, I have to see that movie (preferably in English, but I'll take what I can get).  After the movie, with thirteen years of Harry Potter finally aside, I can focus on my adult life which currently entails learning the Russian language.  I hope everyone back home enjoys the movie as much as I will, and I hope Harry stays in your hearts forever.  I wish I could say I am kidding, but I'm not.  I'll write again on here sometime next week!  Thanks for reading!