From Russia with Love 3.1

A gift shop on Arbat, 10 minutes away from the hotel.

We walked ALL OVER central Moscow today, and did the tourist thing.

Took pictures of a few churches, trudged over a couple of bridges, gawked at countless statues, and walked past the Kremlin and crawled back through Arbat.

And now! Its time for an exciting holiday slide show!

*poke* STOP THAT YAWNING! I can see you!

We set off from our hotel at about 11:30am, after yet another fantastic caviar breakfast.















"...In the 1950s and 1960s a free-thinking, often anti-establishment movement developed in Russia combining poetry and song. Bulat Okudzhva, a veteran of World War II military service, was one of the best known of these performers, known as Bards.
Arbat street in Moscow was the center of this popular and sometimes controversial art form. This statue stands near 43 Arbat St., Bulat's residence.
Bulat Okudzhava, 1924-1997, was one of the founders of the Russian genre known as Author's Song- poetry set to music..." Guide book.

"...Moo-Moo (identified by the plastic cows outside) is a trattoria-style lunch for pocket-money prices, the food your Russian babushka would have fed you. Of the several branches, the one on Arbat at number 45 is handy..." Guide book.

Street shot along Arbat.

Random GOLD statue along old Arbat. Will find out more.


Random baby blue building (either the Museum of Private Collections or Pushkin Museum) a little after Arbat, on the way to Cathedral of Christ he Savior. Yes, that gold one, in the distance. Obviously, will find out more.


Cathedral of Christ the Savior from across the bridge.

Panel on left side of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Church door!
































Panel on right side of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

"This statue, measuring 90 feet high, has been a source of controversy since construction started on it in 1996. Most Muscovites agree that the statue ... is not only an eyesore but also has no place in Moscow since Peter the Great was the one who moved the capital of Russia from Moscow to St. Petersburg." - Fodors Moscow. The statue cost $20 million to build.




(NEXT! Strange padlocks locked along the side of the bridge. Very strange indeed. Will find out more.)