Russia in a flash

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I was able to get into Russia on a transit visa. While the transit visa was nice because it was easier to get (or in my case, the only possible option), it still had one problem - it was designed for people who were just traveling through Russia (in transit, as it were), so it didn't really accommodate much sight-seeing.

Luckily for me, the transit visa is designed to accommodate slow people, so I had three full days from when I arrived in Moscow (including the day I arrived) to get out of the country. I took that as a challenge to see how much of Russia I could hit in that time.

I arrived in Moscow at 2:30 PM, and somehow managed to take the metro to the Kremlin, despite not being able to read Cyrillic, and not even knowing where I initially was. Good times. I did a super-quick tour of the Kremlin and its many cathedrals, then wandered over to the Red Square, where I discovered my new favorite building, St Basil's Cathedral (see below for picture). It has these incredible multi-colored onion domes, and is just plain awesome looking. After taking about a million photos of St Basil's I moved on, and explored the Red Square a bit more before heading back to the train station to catch the night train to St Petersburg (total time in Moscow - 7 1/2 hours).

The next morning I arrived in St Petersburg, and spent the next two days wandering around, seeing as much as I could. I discovered another awesome building very similar to St Basil's, the tongue-twistery "Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood? (translation: Church of Jesus Christ on the Spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated) - this building became my new favorite. Or perhaps second favorite - not sure which I preferred. If you do get to St Petersburg, definitely go inside - the entire church is covered in mosaics about the life of Jesus, and they're absolutely incredible.

When I wasn't making excuses to wander by the Church of the Savior on Spilled blood (no, I'm not joking - I wandered by several times a day - it's such a cool building, I never got tired of it), I checked out the rest of the city. Besides just generally enjoying the architecture, statues, and churches, I especially enjoyed the Hermitage (a massive museum with a little bit of everything, from Mummies to Picasso), and the Museum of Russian Political History, a chilling but fascinating look at the hardships of the Communist era.

After two days I was exhausted, but pleased with how much I'd seen in a short time. I then had 4 hours to rest while I was in transit to Budapest, and would then repeat the process for the new city!

the Ivan the Great belltower (in the Kremlin)

The Tsar cannon. I don't believe it was ever fired, but it is rather intimidating

Saint Basil's Cathedral (Moscow) - love the architecture

Stalin - one angry looking dude

another amazing building - the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (St Petersburg)

me and the church

one of the many paintings by super-famous artists in the Hermitage. Bonus points if you can identify the artist, 'cause I forget . . . update: the painting is "Child With a Whip" by Renoir - congrats to Mark Mixer for winning the Hermitage trivia challenge

even the floors in the Hermitage are works of art

raspberry crumble and quiche - the breakfast of champions

painting of Emperor Nicolas II in the Museum of Russian Political History. What makes this painting so interesting is the slashes in the painting made by soldiers' bayonets when they stormed the winter palace in 1917

another entry in the Museum of Russian Political History: propaganda poster of the happy Soviet family