I am SO NOT a happy camper.

St George's Day

This cake was given to us for an event held today.

If you look carefully, you can see where the lance exits the cute dragon's torso.

The cake was delicious, too.

St George's Day on h2g2.

YouTube: Moritaka Chisato - The Stress

From Russia with Love 3.7

Kalashnikov Vodka.
The picture's not very clear, as I had to sneakily take it with my phone camera.

Of course, I got caught, and got yelled at by the store's staff. Bleah.

Anyway, Kalashnikov vodka, in a glass bottle shaped like a machine gun.

1 litre, for approx 7500 rubles.

Apparantly this is Slavyanskaya.

Looks like Smirnoff to me.

*shrug* Oh well.

Approx 155 rubles for 0.75L.

From Russia with Love 3.7

I think its going to be COLD tonight!
1 degree Celcius!!

Brrr!

Brrr!

Brrr!

In other news, I tried 4 new beers tonight.


I liked Bernard the best!

Yum!

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.)

From Russia with Love 3.2

(Previous post, exciting shots of statues all along Arbat.)









HOW WEIRD IS THIS?

Padlocks with little messages scribed on them locked all along the railing along the sides of the bridge.

Will find out more.




Shot of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior from over the bridge. You can see the Gothic MFA building in the far far distance. If you remember, the MFA is opposite the hotel I am staying in. Oh yes, we have walked _that_ far.


Along the river bank towards the Kremlin.

A buildng under renovation, with fake windows and a fake partial doorway painted on a tarp covering the work-in-progress.

Cute.





Yet another shot of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, still from across the bridge, but further up the river bank of the Moskva River.









A theatre? A cinema? Along the river bank. Will find out more.





High walls surround the Kremlin. This is one of them. Notice the flag right on front of one the exits in the wall. Will find out more.









(NEXT! The Kremlin! At least, the walls of.)

From Russia with Love 3.3

(Previously, strange padlocks, a GOLD church, and a painted tarp.)

A strange building opposite the high walls of the Kremlin.

Will find out more.

A single cell block, apparently prisoners are put in there for the public to ridicule.

A long time ago.

Will find out more.

More of the high walls along the Kremlin.

High walls again.

A little alcove / cave thing along the side of the wall. Will find out more.

(Next! An Eternal Flame!)

From Russia with Love 3.4

(Previously, the walls of the Kremlin!)

Walls, walls, walls.

Apparently, the area where the hotel is. In russian.

The Flame! Will find out more.

A close up of the flame. Will find out more.

Some information about the flame. *nodnod*

Very important information.

Will find out more.


Random old building, leading to somewhere IMPORTANT!

Will find out more.

Aww, a wedding contingent.

Bridemaids do have the worst dresses.

Oooh, something important is up ahead! Could it be Lenin's tomb?

Will find out more.

It IS Lenin's tomb.

Except its closed.

Will find out more.


(NEXT! Some old buildings, a mall and a cake-frosted church.)

From Russia with Love 3.5

(Previously, a flame and a wedding entourage!)

Another old building.

Looks like snow on the spire, huh?

Will find out more.




























Another building.

Will find out more.





























Another building.

Will find out more.




Repairing cobblestone street.

Check out the tool used to drive in the stone.






























The CAKE-FROSTING church!! Cathedral of Vasily the blissful)

Will find out more.




























A shopping mall!!

Apparently an important mall.

Will find out more.


The inside of the mall.

Very nice.






























A display of no-frills food products in the atrium of the mall.

I do not know why.

Will find out.
















(Next! A map, some old buildings, a library and the end.)