scubacruiserx2

 At this end end the station was a mosaic that says "Peace Throughout the World." It is the Novoslobodskaya Station .

Looking back from the train platform and waiting for a train at the platform

  We went down in the Metro at Ploshchad Revolyutsii ( Revolution Square ) .

 Rubbing this dogs nose is said to bring good luck and that's why it is discolored .

 The last photo is Lyudimila Mykhailivna Pavlichenko (12 July 1916 – 10 October 1974 was a Soviet sniper. She shot German soldiers in World War 2. She was one of the top military snipers of all time, and is credited with 309 kills.^[1] She was the most successful female sniper in history. Wikipedia

 She toured the US during WW II to try to convince us to open a second front from the West against Germany before D-day .

 Our next stop was the Moscow Armory to see it's collection of Fabege Eggs . There was a long line to get in and our guide could not go with us past the book shop . We found the Eggs and took a photo until we were told no photos . We did buy a book at the book shop so we took photos from the book and found a video on line .

  Our guide had promised us a special changing of the guard but we must first enter the Kremlin in the rain . Notice that we are wearing our Russian camouflage , i.e. Black .

Behind this photo of the Calvary you can see the Tzar Cannon which has the largest caliber bombards in the world .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Cannon

The Tzar Bell is the largest Bell in the world .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bell

  The fountains of the Alexander Gardens

Near our hotel was the Four Seasons Hotel ( was the Hotel Moskva formerly ) is on the label of Stolichnaya Vodka .

On 4/15/2024 at 6:53 AM, ziggyuk said:

 

All good thanks, funny enough we just got back from a cruise yesterday, you reminded me to update my signature.
We have done two short weekend cruises with MSC since we met in January 😂
They were both on the same ship and both to Hamburg, it's great for a weekends entertainment, we are 20min from the port and flew straight home ready for work on Monday.

The next big one is NCL Jewel LA to Tampa, Panama Canal in November.
Pass on my best wishes to Pat for a quick recovery.

  20 min to the port is great . We're 75 to Ft. Lauderdale . We are doing better with Pat and we caught the Rocky the Racoon . We were trying to meet you guys in Tampa but our Thanksgiving with the family begins on that day . We did the Canal both ways so if you might like some tips on most of the places we may be able to help if you would like . Here's the East to West review :

  We had some free time before meeting our guide so we went for a quick walk across the street .

There is a 3 story mall beneath these domes across from hotel called Okhotniy Ryad .

The center dome has a map of the world when seen from the mall underground .

Not my video

 After popping up I was near the State Historical Museum and the Resurrection Gate that leads to Red Square .

Red Square wasn't open yet

But the Kazan Cathedral was

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazan_Cathedral,_Moscow

Returning to the Hotel for breakfast

 I was awake before my wife and breakfast and took my camera for a walk .

I found a colorful underpass to cross the busy street to Red Square under the street .

The State Historical Museum and the Resurrection Gate that leads to Red Square

 Breakfast at the National

  The buffet

The Chef

The dining room

The plate

The View of Red Square

  We met Michael and Anna while waiting in a long line to board a cruise in South America . We were behind them and they were speaking in Russian and I started a conversation with them in Russia . They were very surprised that we could speak Russian . We had a nice cruise with them and they invited us to meet if we went back to Moscow .

 Dinner was next at another Ukrainian  Restaurant with strolling musicians this time .

We walked them to their Metro station and said goodbye before walking back past the Kremlin , which we would explore in the morning , to our hotel .

1 hour ago, ziggyuk said:

 

You say that and it's what I expect but not my experience.
I booked on a double points promotion, then did a paid (not bid) upgrade when there was a treble point promo on, I hoped to get the treble points but would have been happy with the original double points.

 

When I got back home from my cruise, I was awarded 1 point per night. I spoke to my PCC who spoke to Florida and the message came back that it was the upgrade that caused it and no further explanation. To this date it irritates me and I still don't know why. My PCC claims he tried and tried to get the points but was told there was nothing that could be done.

 

I actually suspect he did not apply the promo to my booking when he upgraded me because he has always been evasive about the reasons for the lack of points.
Either way, it shows you have to be on the ball, then check and check again when doing these things

 Well hello Tony and Antony . We hope that you are well and enjoying life . Any cruises planned ? We have had a busy Spring with some racoons in the roof , meeting our new in laws and a case of identity theft . What a pain ! Additionally , Pat was in the hospital last week. If you would like to chat please use our scubacruiserx2 @gmail.com account .

  @F19810 We will bounce this question off of our TA here in Florida who is pretty up on these things and return with an answer if she can be of any help .

  Our friends called for us early and we found out from them that the

State Historical Museum was open for free and that they we having  a tribute to WW II , so went there first before dinner .

There is a statue of General Zhukov a hero of WW II and WW I In front 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Zhukov

 It was mostly Soviet propaganda WW II posters that I got a kick out of .

There were some American thinks as well like a Tommy Gun . Here's a photo from Wikipedia showing the ornate building inside 

  After this our guide took us to check in our hotel before we met our friends for dinner . It was directly across the street from Red Square .

It has a very long and storied history and was the most that we had paid for a hotel room up to that point , but we bit the bullet and paid it . It included a BIG breakfast .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_National,_Moscow

 It had doormen open the doors for us , a first for us . Pat checking in and our guide in the foreground .

The sitting room 

The Common area

Our bed room

 Inside of GUM  ( pronounced goom in English )

Extreme close up . A DSLR is considered a sign of wealth in Russia . Most people have cell phones but can't afford cameras .

 What we see from left to right in the last photo is :

The Kremlin ( Fortress in a city) 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kremlin

 Lenin's Mausoleum

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin's_Mausoleum

 We found this photo on line even though photography is forbidden

AFP/AFP/AFP/Getty Images

 The State Historical Museum is the large red building which we would visit later that evening with our cruise friends from Moscow 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Historical_Museum

 The Resurrection Gate and Chapel

Destroyed in 1931 by the Soviet regime, the Gate and the Chapel were rebuilt in the 1990s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberian_Gate_and_Chapel

 And GUM Department store which we visited next is 800 ' long .

GUM (Russian: ГУМ, pronounced [gum], an abbreviation of Russian: Главный универсальный магазин, romanized: Glavnyy universalnyy magazin, lit. 'Main Universal Store')

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUM_(department_store)

 We were at # 37 on this  map of the Kremlin so we decided to walk to the right of this map and see Red Square .

  Nothing says Moscow more than Red square and nothing says Red Square than Saint Basil's Cathedral . A Babushka sweeping the street . The stands were for the Victory Day Parade in Red Square .

The Red building on the right is where Lenin is entombed and you can see his preserved body , creepy to us but there was a big line to see him . The roof of the tomb is where the President and other high ranking people watch the parade .

Minin and Pozharsky statue outside 

While it is beautiful outside it's rather plain on the inside .

It had began to rain and we took this photo from the front looking back across Red Square with some places annotated in black if you enlarge the photo by clicking on it .

 The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is in the Alexander Garden 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Garden

 In the upper part of the garden is a grotto using rocks from when Napolean invaded Moscow and the Russians set fire to Moscow in a Scorched Earth policy that they also did in WW II when Germany invaded . When the French Grande Armee invaded Russia they had 

 685,000 men that constituted the initial invasion force . But only 93,000 survived to leave Russia .

In front of the Grotto is a obelisk celebrating 300 years of the Romanov rule .

Lunch was at a Ukrainian place

  We popped up from the Moscow Metro like 3 groundhogs on February 2nd . We were there in time for the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier near the Kremlin wall .

The video

It reminded me of when I was on a drill team in the Navy in 1973 . But our team carried the 50 state's flags and I carried a sword .

 The Kiyevskaya Station shows mosaics of life in the Ukraine and is near to the train station to the Ukraine .

All of the photos are ours except the panel at the end of the hall from Wikipedia

 A map of Moscow from above 

Komsomolskaya Station is one of the busiest is near 3 rail stations including Leningrad ( Saint Petersburg )  It has mosaics of victories on the ceilings .

1292 Alexander Nevsky leading Russian orthodox vs Roman Catholics

1612 Minin and Pozharsky vs Poland attacking Moscow . Their statute is in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral in Red Square

1945 Soviet Union troops at the Reichstag building in Berlin

 Bust of Lenin under the Coat of Arms of the Soviet Union

 This is the Saint Petersburg Metro map that we are familiar with and we rode to the train station with 5 lines .

 And this is the Moscow Metro map with 15 lines . We hired a guide from Tours by Locals to meet us at the train station and the first thing that we saw was some of the Metro Stations . Maps from Wikipedia

 In order to get to Moscow we would be riding the Sapsan high speed train . It was quicker , cheaper and more convenient than flying and having to go thru 2 airports . We just took the Metro to the train station and showed our Passports when boarding the train as we had pre purchased the tickets online .

 The Sapsan , Russian for Peregrine Falcon , could fly us at 150 mph nonstop to Moscow in 3 hours and change . Since we were in First Class it included a meal .

 There is so much to see and do in Saint Petersburg that we would not recommend going to Moscow if you are visiting on a cruise ship .

But we were staying there and we had an invitation from a couple that we had met on a cruise in South America . Anyone who knows Scubacruiserx2 , knows that we like Al Stewart . His song that we remember and listened to as we were traveling there is called Roads to Moscow . This is a video that we shot of him in the Royal Albert Hall a week after visiting Moscow . The Song is about the German invasion of Russian after the secret signing of a non aggression pact .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov–Ribbentrop_Pact

Here's an explanation of the song and the lyrics . Al revealed that the song was based on the life of Russian  Nobel Prize winning writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn . 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roads_to_Moscow

 These are friends Yuri and Nellie who we met for lunch after our morning in Smolny . Behind them are a number of icons from their families used to have to hide buried so the Communists would not destroy or confiscate them .

 We found that we much more in common than our differences . Yuri is an artist who paints and makes porcelain objects like eggs seen over his shoulder and like Pat , was a swimmer in collage . Nellie was a scientist which I love especially Anatomy and Physiology and loves to cook . They introduced us to a friend of theirs who was an actress on the many stages in Saint Petersburg  .

 The meal was prepared by Nellie who refused to allow us to do dishes as their guests and Yuri was the toastmaster with wine for everybody and Vodka , usually for the men and always a a cold shot followed with a bite of food after the drink .

  We asked if we could return their hospitality by taking them out for dinner and we're glad that they chose Georgian Cuisine . The Georgian love of family and friends is one of the reasons why the supra (tablecloth) is so important in Georgia. Supra is offered spontaneously to relatives, friends or guests. Every supra has its tamada (toastmaster), who gives the toast and entertains the guests . Wikipedia

  Dinner was here

Khinkali you bite the dumpling and slurp the juice and meat

Adjarian Kachapuri - Cheese bread with egg and a pat of butter

 Nellie painted this bottle that sits on the mantle of the fireplace