National Unity day holiday and an overdose of culture.....

Inside the Kremlin walls - Kremlin Palace ahead.

Well what a busy weekend we have had! Thursday was national unity day and so everyone has Thursday and Friday off so that they can go away for a long weekend. The Friday isn't actually a holiday and so everyone has to work next Saturday to make the work back...go figure. So we planned a very busy few days and boy, we haven't stopped. On Thursday we attempted to see Lenin for the 80th time but yet again our plans were scuppered by Religious parades in Red Square for Unity day and so we just had a walk around and then ended up in TGI Fridays having hamburgers and beer...how did that happen?! We have tried to see Lenin so many times but every time something happens - I don't think the old crusty wants us there. Anyway, we had a good walk around the back streets and came across this fabulous door - 

Door we found in a back street

This was actually a door to a restaurant but what it was in the past, I have no idea.  Rather special though. It was raining which was a bit grotty although Arthur enjoyed the puddles - 

As you can see, Arthur will follow anyone for a balloon...

On the Friday Graeme and I ventured to the Armoury in the Kremlin. You can buy tickets for all the different parts that you want to see but we were just interested in this area although it meant we couldn't walk around the whole of the inside of the Kremlin. Whilst we were in the queue for the Armoury, Putin drove past in a massive cascade of cars with the prime ministers flag on the front of his car. It's amazing because cars drive ahead and stop all the traffic along the roads he needs to drive down so that he can drive through the Moscow traffic as if it wasn't there....lucky Putin - not even the Queen gets that treatment. Anyway, we can now say that we have been within 5 metres of Putin - well, it's a little bit exciting...okay, not exciting at all. 

So, The Armoury - AMAZING! Sadly you are not allowed to take photos - although I sneaked one - 

Horse in Armour in Background

It was extremely interesting and I don't think I have ever seen so many jewels - the first section is a display of Religious artefacts and then the largest collection of Silver in the world - there were plates and tea sets used by Catherine the Great, a dinner service given to the Tsars from Napoleon depicting scenes from Olympus, Armour used by the Tsars, presents given to the Tsars from ambassadors around the world - I particularly liked the presents from the British (not biased) which included a set of silver snow leopards which the audio guide said were unrivalled for their beauty. Seeing as we're all struggling a little in Britain, maybe we should ask for them back and melt them down to pay off the deficit...can you take back such presents? Maybe I'll ask next time i'm in. There was also a large selection of guns and swords laden with diamonds and rubies. Even the blankets for the horses were made out of golden thread with ivory saddles. There was a collection of thrones, the throne of Ivan the Terrible was made out of Ivory and there was a throne there given to a Tsar from the Armenians that had 900 diamonds on alone and that doesn't include the sapphires and emeralds. There was a room full of carriages which were magnificent - one was a wooden sleigh that carried one of the Tsars daughters from St. Petersburg to Moscow in three days in the middle of winter - it had something like 30 horses pulling it - incredible! There was a fabulous collection of clothing from different centuries. There were also coronation gowns and crowns - there was one crown that was only used for the coronations and was supposed to represent the seat of all Russian power - it was about 600 years old and was edged in fur with beautiful jewels around the rim and on the top. There were also some dresses of Catherine the Great - one was her coronation gown and boy, the lady was obviously a bit of a heffer cause all her dresses were huge...Peter the Great's boots were massive too - he must have been a bloody giant. Anyway, it was a feast of aristocratic indulgence and was extremely interesting. Graeme and I both commented on the fact that it's no surprise that the Russian working man revolted if the aristocracy were prancing around in all these jewels in golden carriages on Ivory thrones... although I'm a right wing royalist so really I'm in the corner of the Tsars and not the collective.

Today we visited the opposite of Royalty, The all Russia Exhibition centre (VDNKh) created by Stalin in 1937 to display Communism's achievements in Science, agriculture, industry and technology. There was an All-Union agricultural exhibition held here in 1939 that was supposed to have been in 1937 but Stalin had killed most of the participants and so it was two years late....I don't think he really thought that one through.

The main entrance

The Triumphal Soviet Arch

It was such a weird place as it was there to celebrate communism and there were these beautiful buildings and pavilions which when you entered were just crammed full of cheap and nasty shops and stalls - selling anything from cameras to shoelaces - I think Stalin must be turning in his grave - which is not such a bad thing!

House of The Peoples of Russia

Another statue of Lenin...

I took some photos of the inside of the building to show how tacky it is. Supposedly it used to have an illuminated map of the USSR and dioramas of Lenin's home town but now just cheap mobiles...

You can just see the original walls

Cheap stalls under beautiful architecture

It seems so sad that a beautiful building like this has been completely destroyed with tat. All a very odd mixture and experience. 

Fountain of the Friendship of Peoples

There are sixteen golden statues of maidens dressed in the national costumes of the Soviet republics. The state funding stopped for the VDNKh in 1990 and so this is why it is so run down. 

Former Coal Industry Pavilion

Pavilion dedicated to Culture

Yes that is me with my red bobble hat in front of the Stone Flower Fountain

I took a video to show how weird it was to walk around a place where the original message had been lost to the power of capitalism - maybe it is the ultimate retaliation against Stalin and all that he did to his people - 

Ukrainian Pavilion

A Vostok Rocket outside the Space Pavilion

People walking on the wing of a passenger liner...er no thanks.

After we strolled around the park we went back to The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics which sits opposite the entrance to the park.

Space Obelisk

This monument consists of a rocket blasting 100m in the air with a tail of energy made of titanium. 

The museum was brilliant and filled with fantastic things from real moon buggies to a replica of the MIR space station. In the whole museum Arthur found a radiator on the wall the most exciting part....in fact he screamed when we tried to remove him from it - even real life rockets couldn't compare with a normal boring everyday radiator...marvellous. 

I've signed Alice up for the next moon landing.....

Check out that pure rocket....

Another rocket....

I have decided that retro soviet space gear is the way forward - 

Nice tracksuit...

I want one...

Not a good career option for someone with claustrophobia ....

They had a replica of the MIR space station or part of it - 

The toilet..beware of yellow hose....

Food storage

Steering wheel area.....?

So my lovely friends, I have been to many places this weekend from Royal crowns to Communist monuments to the moon and back.....and now i'm laying on the sofa with a glass of wine listening to my husband snore....exhaustion has hit the Ogilvies.....