A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 79 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Pretty funny with a Krispy Kreme in Moscow. Great photos of Red Square and the city so far and seems like an amazing place as we'll find out from the rest of your day there!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Pretty funny with a Krispy Kreme in Moscow. Great photos of Red Square and the city so far and seems like an amazing place as we'll find out from the rest of your day there!
It was an amazing city. I just wish the Kremlin hadn't been closed and we could've explored that, but we can always return one day...
Sunday 12 June – part six: can we have a restroom stop?
Our tour guide told us about GUM, which is actually a shopping centre along this street. It's in a beautiful old building...
Our guide told us that when she was a child, and of course Russia was still under Communist rule, she'd come here with her mother to buy things, as everything was very cheaply priced. That's no longer the case, judging by all the Western designer names I could see in the window. For a period though, this wasn't a shopping centre, as Stalin once used it as offices.
We got to the end of the road, which was as far as we could go, with Red Square closed off for a parade later, as we understood it. This gave us our best vantage point, and while it was disappointing we couldn't walk around it, at least we could still see it.
Red Square's name has nothing to do with Communism, which is what I'd always thought. Red apparently means beautiful - you really do learn something every day. Originally, it had a market here, but apparently the wooden stalls burnt down so often that it was easier just to get rid of them. It's about 500 metres long and has been used over the years for public announcements and executions. Nice!
The pyramid structure you may be able to see in some of these shots is in fact Lenin's Mausoleum. His body was embalmed against his wishes and was placed into this building. In the Communist era, people would flock to the mausoleum, but not so much these days.
The Kazan Cathedral is also here, which is a replica of the original one demolished in 1936. That church had stood on the site for almost 300 years, which must be a record for Moscow, given its history on fires. This was only rebuilt in the early 1990s and it would be the first example we'd see today of amazing restoration work in the city.
Once we were all done with photos, which may have taken a little while we headed inside GUM. Originally, this had lines and lines of market stalls, and this explains why there are still references to lines in there today. At first I thought they were talking about Metro lines!
When we got in there, Stephanie asked if we could have a restroom stop, but our guide was very reluctant, saying it would add 15 minutes on. We couldn't see how, so we insisted, and headed off to the toilets. However, our guide started walking off another way, and we caught up with her and pointed out we were following the signs to the toilets. She didn't seem to be very pleased about this, but I'm sorry, following the signs always makes sense to me. We got there in the end, although we had to climb to the top of the mall. She at least then did bring us back down Ok.
As you can see, this is a massive shopping centre, and we all commented on how similar it is to malls in both America and the UK. None of us could quite believe it, but I guess that's the extent of the changes that have taken place over here over the last quarter of a century.
We met up with Phylis and Mark, who'd opted out of our additional restroom stop by the fountain, which is apparently a well known meeting spot in Moscow. They pointed out that we could get some more photos of Red Square here, so guess what we all did?
We then literally did a whistle stop tour through the rest of GUM, with all of us feeling that at times, we were being frog marched a bit. Gone was the more relaxed feel to yesterday's tour, today we really seemed to be on a mission, although we did our best to slow things down, and to go at a pace that suited all of us, as it was our day after all.
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Three updates!! Lots to see.
Sorry the train ride was boring... and without cows.
Krispy Kreme in Moscow and not one in Honolulu (closest one is on Maui)... life is not fair. 8 days till I can have a Krispy Kreme again (and I get a free one in Sept since its my Birthday month - does Mark know about that?)
Beautiful photos of Moscow's buildings - and your right about the theatre - it must be cursed. Red means beautiful. Ok learned something. I always assumed it had to do with the red revolution of oct 1917 (thank you "Hunt for Red October"
Wow, GUM has changed dramatically!! Not the outside, that was as beautiful, but the types of shops inside?! Wow. I guess there is a lot more money floating around now. I remember my host family telling me that it used to be there were lines everywhere, but nothing to buy (in the peak of Communist times) and now (in the mid 90's) there were things to buy, but no one could afford to shop. Seems like that might be even harder now for the average Russian. I'm sure they aren't buying a lot at Van Cleef & Arpel, Ferragamo, etc.
Your guide doesn't seem so great - denying bathroom breaks?! Ouch!
When I was there the lines to walk past Lenin were still quite long. Much as they are in Beijing to walk by Mao.
Interesting about the color/word Red. I thought the same as you did! I wonder how many people come to see Lenin's mausoleum these days.
I find it funny that part of your tour is to walk through a mall. It's a beautiful building for sure, but still kind of ironic to say "we went to Moscow.... and walked through a mall." Seems more like a traditional American thing to do, not necessarily Russian! I noticed the sun was shining though while you were inside.
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Sorry the train ride was boring... and without cows.
Krispy Kreme in Moscow and not one in Honolulu (closest one is on Maui)... life is not fair.
I remember that from our day trip to Maui. On the way back, we were like "why is the overhead compartment just crammed with Krispy Kremes?" They are missing a trick not having one in Honolulu!
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8 days till I can have a Krispy Kreme again (and I get a free one in Sept since its my Birthday month - does Mark know about that?)
I don't think he does... hmmm... I'll keep that in mind..
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Beautiful photos of Moscow's buildings - and your right about the theatre - it must be cursed. Red means beautiful. Ok learned something. I always assumed it had to do with the red revolution of oct 1917 (thank you "Hunt for Red October"
Wow, GUM has changed dramatically!! Not the outside, that was as beautiful, but the types of shops inside?! Wow. I guess there is a lot more money floating around now.
Seems to be...
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I remember my host family telling me that it used to be there were lines everywhere, but nothing to buy (in the peak of Communist times) and now (in the mid 90's) there were things to buy, but no one could afford to shop. Seems like that might be even harder now for the average Russian. I'm sure they aren't buying a lot at Van Cleef & Arpel, Ferragamo, etc.
I guess not, but then again, that's no difference to the west...
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Your guide doesn't seem so great - denying bathroom breaks?! Ouch!
When I was there the lines to walk past Lenin were still quite long. Much as they are in Beijing to walk by Mao.
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Interesting about the color/word Red. I thought the same as you did! I wonder how many people come to see Lenin's mausoleum these days.
I'm curious to know. If we go back, I guess we'll find out...
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I find it funny that part of your tour is to walk through a mall. It's a beautiful building for sure, but still kind of ironic to say "we went to Moscow.... and walked through a mall." Seems more like a traditional American thing to do, not necessarily Russian!
I know, but maybe because it's still new to them, they want to show it off?
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I noticed the sun was shining though while you were inside.
Sshh... you'll find out why I say that in due course...
More great photos of Moscow! Quite interesting where the Red Square name came from as I was thinking like you did. The GUM is very much like the malls in the states.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Sunday 12 June – part seven: what a beautiful sight!
When we emerged from GUM, we saw a truly beautiful sight, and one I'd been longing to see in Moscow. I did think with all the closures, we might not see this, so I was delighted to find out this wasn't the case after all.
This is St. Basil's Cathedral, or to give it its official title the Cathedral of the Intercession. I know which I think is more catchy. It was completed in 1561 to mark the capture of Kazan almost a decade earlier, and wow, what a way to mark it!
We all took photos there for ages, of the church on its own, of each group in front or, in one case, with our guide taking a photo of all of us. We really had gelled as a group, which was so nice, especially given we'd spoken to a couple this morning before leaving the ship who were in a group of 10, and apparently none of them were really talking.
We got a view of the Kremlin as well….
Eventually, the threatening clouds that you can see in some of these shots decided they were going to let rip, and the rain started. Fortunately, once again, we were able to duck under cover, and a few minutes later, our minivan turned up to rescue us from the rain.
The next section of the tour was in the minivan, and on a sunny day, it would've been lovely, with some superb views of the Kremlin. As it was now tipping down, this is what we got instead - such a shame.
However, none of us could really wrap our heads around how big it was. We'd seen it during the World Athletics Championships that were held here in 2013, if I remember right, and the marathon ran along here, but even with them explaining exactly how long it was, it just doesn't sink in until you see it for yourself.
Our next visit was to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which was also rebuilt in the mid 1990s. It was blown up in the 1930s on Stalin's orders, which seems such a shame, but then again, I guess they found religion threatening. Apparently the renovation was extremely controversial, as it wasn't supposed to be funded by any public money, but in the end, it's rumoured the public purse did put in and to the tune of about $200 million. Once we got inside, I could see why...
Now sadly I can't show you any photos of the interior, as they've decided that photos are not allowed in here. They are so strict you have to put your camera in a bag to enter, which was a bit of a problem, given that we'd left our rucksacks on the minivan, and there was no way my big camera was going to fit in my tiny purse, so I ended up putting it into my guide's bag instead. I have to say I watched her bag like a hawk the whole time we were in there, as I didn't want anyone to take a shine to my camera and make off with it. It may have given me some trouble in recent months, but I still love it...
The interior is truly amazing. Our guide told us they worked night and day on the project to get it done, and in a way, I found it heartening that today we can recreate some of the amazing strcutures from hundreds of years ago. That's one of the main reasons I love to visit churches, as I admire how they managed to build them all those hundreds of years ago with the limited resources we have, and I always look at them and think "we could never do that today, never mind back then".
Thankfully, Google is available to help at times like this…
Well, from here on in, we're on vacation! That means updates on this trip report will either be sporadic or non-existent. If I get a chance, I will add some more updates, but generally, don't expect this to get rolling again until we're home in early October.
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Great photos of Red Square and the city so far and seems like an amazing place as we'll find out from the rest of your day there! 
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For a period though, this wasn't a shopping centre, as Stalin once used it as offices. 
we headed inside GUM. Originally, this had lines and lines of market stalls, and this explains why there are still references to lines in there today. At first I thought they were talking about Metro lines! 
We got there in the end, although we had to climb to the top of the mall. She at least then did bring us back down Ok. 
It's a beautiful building for sure, but still kind of ironic to say "we went to Moscow.... and walked through a mall." 
Seems more like a traditional American thing to do, not necessarily Russian! I noticed the sun was shining though while you were inside.
Apparently the renovation was extremely controversial, as it wasn't supposed to be funded by any public money, but in the end, it's rumoured the public purse did put in and to the tune of about $200 million. 
That means updates on this trip report will either be sporadic or non-existent. If I get a chance, I will add some more updates, but generally, don't expect this to get rolling again until we're home in early October. 
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