DAY 7 - Kremlin

DAY 7 -

Last night Mark and I decided if he was feeling okay today we would head into Red Square again with the kids to give Sarah some peace and let her rest.  We knew which station to get off, so it would really be quite easy for us to manage.
 
So after waking up this morning and Mark giving the okay, he took his medication and we made sure Toby's sores were covered up and headed off on our own.  Today we set off to visit inside the big red walls of the Kremlin - the official residence of the President.  Mark did a fabulous job communicating to the metro ticket seller to get ourselves a metro card of our own, then we were on our way.



Entry to Kremlin

As it was an overcast day, pretty lights were still on everywhere.  We wandered down Alexander's Gardens to the ticket booth, through the necessary security measures and entered (30 minutes later).  Wow! There are 3 palaces and 20 towers which are not open to the public, apart from walking through the entry tower.  There are also 5 amazing cathedrals and bell tower all in the one area known as Cathedral Square which were open to the public.  As we headed to the square we passed the large Tsar Cannon (weighing 40 tonnes) with cannon balls that looked like they would plonk out of the cannon and on to the ground no matter how much power was behind them.

I took many, many, many photos of these cathedrals and at different angles but unfortunately we were not allowed to take photographs inside these beautiful, elaborate, old buildings. Again, ceilings, walls, domes were all painted inside and the doors were very decorative.  The

Annunciation Cathedral

Annunciation Cathedral was the private church of the Russian grand Princes and Tsars.  The Archangel Cathedral is the burial church of many Princes and the first Tsars of Russia - the tombs gave this cathedral a very somber feel but was still amazing at the same time.  The Belfry attached to the bell tower has been made into a museum, but the public were unable to climb the many steps to the bell tower today, apparently the views are spectacular.


Archangel's Cathedral

Assumption Cathedral

Bell Tower & Belfry

We past the Tsar Bell (weighing 200 tonnes - is this the biggest bell ever?) and wandered the Secret Gardens, admiring the views.  Making our way back we noticed a number of very official looking cars with blocked out windows arriving and extra guards arriving too. We pondered over what important meeting was to be held with President Putin today but not for too long as we felt a bit intimidated by all the security, not to mention, cold and hungry by this stage.  Poor Mark needed a rest too, trying not to cough his lungs up.

After lunch and refreshments we walked again past the cute Christmas market stalls down another lane so that I could take some photos of the Bolshoi Theatre, it too has been decked out with Christmas lights. We have put on our "to-do" list to come back to Moscow at night time to see the lights at their best.

Bolshoi Theatre