Moscow

Ben and I really enjoyed Moscow. It is a big city but the majority of the touristy stuff is near Red Square. We stayed in a hotel just across the street from Red Square so it was easy to walk everywhere. We were in Moscow for three days that was plenty of time to see everything on our list. Our first full day we toured the Kremlin. We got tickets to see The Armory as well as all the churches and grounds. The Armory is a must do and was absolutely incredible. You can't take any pictures though, so you will just have to go and see for yourself. The Armory houses armor, but also faberge eggs, carriages, Catherine The Great's Coronation regalia, thrones, porcelain, and much much more. The rest of the Kremlin grounds contain many government buildings (that you can't go in), and five Russian Orthodox churches. The Kremlin was the original head quarter of the Russian Orthodox church and the buildings date back to the 12 century. 

The wall of The Kremlin

This is the Czar Cannon. It is really big. It was made in 1586 as a symbol of power. It has never been used. 

The Czar Bell is the largest bell in the world but it cracked during the casting and has never been hung or rung, so it is also the largest broken bell in the world. 

You can see the tippy tops of all five churches.

St. Basil's Cathedral. An icon of Russia. This church is quite impressive. We walked by it several times every day and it is fun to just look at it. The inside is quite a different story, it is made of a dozen or so small churches with a lot of fresco work. 

GUM is just opposite The Kremlin and is a massive shopping centre. It runs the entire length of Red Square and was initially a communist supply depot. At night it is lit up like Harrods and is quite stunning. 

In middle of Red Square is Lenin's mausoleum. It is only open certain hours so if you want to go check the hours. It is free, and we only waited in line for about 10 minutes. They are guards everywhere, one of them motioned to Ben to take off his hat and another guard snapped his fingers at me to get me to take my hands out of my pockets. They keep you moving but you can get a good look at Lenin. He really looks like a wax figure of himself but it is impressive how decent his remains have held up for almost 90 or so years. 

Opposite St. Basil's Cathedral is this building. It houses a Russian History museum but we didn't go in. It is a really beautiful building though. 

And that was our few days in Moscow! We enjoyed our days there but if we went back to Russia we would go to St. Petersburg.