scubacruiserx2

 Several other photos of note before we leave Moscow .

  Lubyanka . Former home of the KGB ( Now the FSB ) was and is still a prison . It was said that you can see Siberia from the roof of this building .

Uncle Joe in all his glory . 

His daughter moved to , married and lived in the USA . His wife wasn't so lucky . She " Committed suicide " .

 And the founder of Moscow , a Prince from Kiev , Ukraine .

 Returning to Moscow we will finish our tour of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior . We walked out on the bridge crossing the Moscow River for a better view .

The view of the Kremlin and the church inside of the Kremlin

 There were thousands of people inside and coming out and in the Cathedral when we went inside .

I believe that the rebuilt church could hold 9,000 people standing up for hours for worship . It was going on and so we could look but not photograph . 

 The first church was looted and demolished by Stalin in December of 1931 .

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin chose the prominent site of the cathedral as the proposed site for a monument to socialism known as the Palace of the Soviets. It was to have modernistic, buttressed tiers to support a gigantic statue of Lenin perched on top of a dome with his arm raised in the air.

 Photo and text from Wikipedia

  The building was never built because Germany attacked Russia . After the war and with Gorbachev 's Perestroika ( Restructuring ) the Cathedral was rebuilt with funds raised from over a million citizens ( Including a large donation by Mc Donald's ) . It only took 6 years to rebuild instead the of 40 for the first one .

 The construction of the pool on a site of the destroyed cultural heritage caused a negative reaction of the Moscow public. The history of the site's Cathedral, the unbuilt Palace of the Soviets, and the Moskva Pool was commonly summarized with the ironic expression "First there was a church, then rubbish, and now shame" (Russian: Сперва был храм, потом — хлам, а теперь — срам., romanized: Sperva byl khram, potom – khlam, a teper' – sram.)

 The new interior dome . Photo and previous text Wikipedia

  After our visit to Moscow we took the Metro to an pretty church in Saint Petersburg called Chesme  .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesme_Church

As we were there we saw a group of children from the public school being bussed to the church for a field trip . Can you imagine that happening in our public schools ?

The graves behind it were decorated for Victory Day .

 Inside of the church was a service with the priest sprinkling incense in front of the icons .

In my Bible reading this morning it says about Israel , " But the more they  were called , the more they went away from me . They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to images . "

 Is this a violation of the second commandment ? 

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

 Our favorite church in Moscow is the Cathedral of Christ the Savior 

 The original church was build to honor Christ the Savior by Alexander I  "to signify Our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the doom that overshadowed Her" when attacked by Napoleon in 1812 . The current church is the second to stand on this site. The authentic church, built during the 19th century, took more than 40 years to build, and was the scene of the 1882 world premiere of the 1812 Overture by Tchiakovsky . Wikipedia 

  We surfaced and began a walking tour with the building on the 100 Ruble note - the Bolshoi Ballet Theatre founded in 1776 , the year of of the USS's independence . Bolshoi means big or large and the note is worth 1 US Dollar .

 We loved the way that the fountain in the front formed a water curtain .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolshoi_Ballet

 Visiting here reminded me of a song from when i was in High School called Pretty Ballerina by the Left Banke.

 The last station that we visited was Belorusskaya a station with panels in the ceiling that pictured  everyday peaceful life in the USSR .

It's in the last panel that we see ( or don't see that counts ) . Originally there was a picture of Uncle Joe Stalin that was removed under the de - Stalinization program of removing him from history .

 De-Stalinization (Russian: десталинизация, romanized: destalinizatsiya) comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the thaw brought about by ascension of Nikita Khrushchev to power,^[1] and his 1956 secret speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", which denounced Stalin's cult of personality and the Stalinist political system.

Monuments to Stalin were removed, his name was removed from places, buildings, and the state anthem, and his body was removed from the Lenin Mausoleum (from 1953 to 1961 known as Lenin and Stalin Mausoleum) and buried.  Wikipedia

  The last mosaic known as “Embroiderers,” originally included a portrait of Stalin, but during the de-Stalinization period it was replaced with the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (hammer and sickle).

  The large mosaic in the previous station suffered a similar fate when the image of Stalin was replaced by a dove of Peace .

 At this end end the station was a mosaic that says "Peace Throughout the World." It is the Novoslobodskaya Station .

Looking back from the train platform and waiting for a train at the platform

  We went down in the Metro at Ploshchad Revolyutsii ( Revolution Square ) .

 Rubbing this dogs nose is said to bring good luck and that's why it is discolored .

 The last photo is Lyudimila Mykhailivna Pavlichenko (12 July 1916 – 10 October 1974 was a Soviet sniper. She shot German soldiers in World War 2. She was one of the top military snipers of all time, and is credited with 309 kills.^[1] She was the most successful female sniper in history. Wikipedia

 She toured the US during WW II to try to convince us to open a second front from the West against Germany before D-day .

 Our next stop was the Moscow Armory to see it's collection of Fabege Eggs . There was a long line to get in and our guide could not go with us past the book shop . We found the Eggs and took a photo until we were told no photos . We did buy a book at the book shop so we took photos from the book and found a video on line .

  Our guide had promised us a special changing of the guard but we must first enter the Kremlin in the rain . Notice that we are wearing our Russian camouflage , i.e. Black .

Behind this photo of the Calvary you can see the Tzar Cannon which has the largest caliber bombards in the world .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Cannon

The Tzar Bell is the largest Bell in the world .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bell

  The fountains of the Alexander Gardens

Near our hotel was the Four Seasons Hotel ( was the Hotel Moskva formerly ) is on the label of Stolichnaya Vodka .

On 4/15/2024 at 6:53 AM, ziggyuk said:

 

All good thanks, funny enough we just got back from a cruise yesterday, you reminded me to update my signature.
We have done two short weekend cruises with MSC since we met in January 😂
They were both on the same ship and both to Hamburg, it's great for a weekends entertainment, we are 20min from the port and flew straight home ready for work on Monday.

The next big one is NCL Jewel LA to Tampa, Panama Canal in November.
Pass on my best wishes to Pat for a quick recovery.

  20 min to the port is great . We're 75 to Ft. Lauderdale . We are doing better with Pat and we caught the Rocky the Racoon . We were trying to meet you guys in Tampa but our Thanksgiving with the family begins on that day . We did the Canal both ways so if you might like some tips on most of the places we may be able to help if you would like . Here's the East to West review :

  We had some free time before meeting our guide so we went for a quick walk across the street .

There is a 3 story mall beneath these domes across from hotel called Okhotniy Ryad .

The center dome has a map of the world when seen from the mall underground .

Not my video

 After popping up I was near the State Historical Museum and the Resurrection Gate that leads to Red Square .

Red Square wasn't open yet

But the Kazan Cathedral was

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazan_Cathedral,_Moscow

Returning to the Hotel for breakfast

 I was awake before my wife and breakfast and took my camera for a walk .

I found a colorful underpass to cross the busy street to Red Square under the street .

The State Historical Museum and the Resurrection Gate that leads to Red Square

 Breakfast at the National

  The buffet

The Chef

The dining room

The plate

The View of Red Square

  We met Michael and Anna while waiting in a long line to board a cruise in South America . We were behind them and they were speaking in Russian and I started a conversation with them in Russia . They were very surprised that we could speak Russian . We had a nice cruise with them and they invited us to meet if we went back to Moscow .

 Dinner was next at another Ukrainian  Restaurant with strolling musicians this time .

We walked them to their Metro station and said goodbye before walking back past the Kremlin , which we would explore in the morning , to our hotel .

1 hour ago, ziggyuk said:

 

You say that and it's what I expect but not my experience.
I booked on a double points promotion, then did a paid (not bid) upgrade when there was a treble point promo on, I hoped to get the treble points but would have been happy with the original double points.

 

When I got back home from my cruise, I was awarded 1 point per night. I spoke to my PCC who spoke to Florida and the message came back that it was the upgrade that caused it and no further explanation. To this date it irritates me and I still don't know why. My PCC claims he tried and tried to get the points but was told there was nothing that could be done.

 

I actually suspect he did not apply the promo to my booking when he upgraded me because he has always been evasive about the reasons for the lack of points.
Either way, it shows you have to be on the ball, then check and check again when doing these things

 Well hello Tony and Antony . We hope that you are well and enjoying life . Any cruises planned ? We have had a busy Spring with some racoons in the roof , meeting our new in laws and a case of identity theft . What a pain ! Additionally , Pat was in the hospital last week. If you would like to chat please use our scubacruiserx2 @gmail.com account .

  @F19810 We will bounce this question off of our TA here in Florida who is pretty up on these things and return with an answer if she can be of any help .

  Our friends called for us early and we found out from them that the

State Historical Museum was open for free and that they we having  a tribute to WW II , so went there first before dinner .

There is a statue of General Zhukov a hero of WW II and WW I In front 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Zhukov

 It was mostly Soviet propaganda WW II posters that I got a kick out of .

There were some American thinks as well like a Tommy Gun . Here's a photo from Wikipedia showing the ornate building inside 

  After this our guide took us to check in our hotel before we met our friends for dinner . It was directly across the street from Red Square .

It has a very long and storied history and was the most that we had paid for a hotel room up to that point , but we bit the bullet and paid it . It included a BIG breakfast .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_National,_Moscow

 It had doormen open the doors for us , a first for us . Pat checking in and our guide in the foreground .

The sitting room 

The Common area

Our bed room

 Inside of GUM  ( pronounced goom in English )

Extreme close up . A DSLR is considered a sign of wealth in Russia . Most people have cell phones but can't afford cameras .

 What we see from left to right in the last photo is :

The Kremlin ( Fortress in a city) 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kremlin

 Lenin's Mausoleum

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin's_Mausoleum

 We found this photo on line even though photography is forbidden

AFP/AFP/AFP/Getty Images

 The State Historical Museum is the large red building which we would visit later that evening with our cruise friends from Moscow 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Historical_Museum

 The Resurrection Gate and Chapel

Destroyed in 1931 by the Soviet regime, the Gate and the Chapel were rebuilt in the 1990s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberian_Gate_and_Chapel

 And GUM Department store which we visited next is 800 ' long .

GUM (Russian: ГУМ, pronounced [gum], an abbreviation of Russian: Главный универсальный магазин, romanized: Glavnyy universalnyy magazin, lit. 'Main Universal Store')

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUM_(department_store)

 We were at # 37 on this  map of the Kremlin so we decided to walk to the right of this map and see Red Square .

  Nothing says Moscow more than Red square and nothing says Red Square than Saint Basil's Cathedral . A Babushka sweeping the street . The stands were for the Victory Day Parade in Red Square .

The Red building on the right is where Lenin is entombed and you can see his preserved body , creepy to us but there was a big line to see him . The roof of the tomb is where the President and other high ranking people watch the parade .

Minin and Pozharsky statue outside 

While it is beautiful outside it's rather plain on the inside .

It had began to rain and we took this photo from the front looking back across Red Square with some places annotated in black if you enlarge the photo by clicking on it .

 The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is in the Alexander Garden 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Garden

 In the upper part of the garden is a grotto using rocks from when Napolean invaded Moscow and the Russians set fire to Moscow in a Scorched Earth policy that they also did in WW II when Germany invaded . When the French Grande Armee invaded Russia they had 

 685,000 men that constituted the initial invasion force . But only 93,000 survived to leave Russia .

In front of the Grotto is a obelisk celebrating 300 years of the Romanov rule .

Lunch was at a Ukrainian place

  We popped up from the Moscow Metro like 3 groundhogs on February 2nd . We were there in time for the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier near the Kremlin wall .

The video

It reminded me of when I was on a drill team in the Navy in 1973 . But our team carried the 50 state's flags and I carried a sword .