Travelin' Fullers Blog: Third and final day in Moscow.

Another beautiful day - not as warm and NO RAIN! We started off a little later today, and our first stop was an Armenian Chirch. The Armenian church is a totally different style of architecture. It is a relatively recent construction.

We then proceeded to the Armed Forces Museum and had a guided tour of the most important artifacts, particularly relating to WWII , or as the Russians call it, The Great Patriotic War. They make a distinction in the name, because for them the war started on July 22, 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. WWII began two years earlier for Europe when Germany and the Soviet Union had coordinated attacks on Poland. The Soviet Union suffered greatly in the early days of the war. They were not prepared for war. It is estimated that more than 27 million people lost their lives. Some of the museums most prized possessions are the Victory Banner and all the front banners and the captured Nazi ones. These were used during the great victory parade in Red Square in 1945.

After the military museum, we were off to Christ the Redeemer Church. It is a magnificent cathedral rebuilt in the 1990's. The original cathedral took over 46 years to build and was completed in May 1883. It is the the tallest Orthodox Church in the world. It was originally built to commemorate Russia's victory over Napolean. It was torn down on the the orders of Stalin in the 1930's. Stalin intended to build a new government house (Duma) on the site. It took one year to clear the site after its destruction. They dug very deep down after the structure was demolished. But, the government house was never built. The war interrupted their plans. After the war, the largest swimming pool in the world was constructed on the site to fill up the hole! They also planted gardens. When the old Soviet Union was demolished in the 90's and the church came back in power, it took only 10 years (instead of 40) to recreate the original church in every detail. It was reopened in 1990.

Our next stop was the Novodevichy Convent. It was constructed in the 16th century. It is behind a wall and is a very pastoral scene, with ancient trees and old tombs. Behind the nunnery is a famous cemetery where all the rich and famous are buried. There are graves dating back to the 1500's and graves that are recent. Boris Yeltsin, Chekov, famous Bolshoi dance masters, entertainers and Staislavsky are all buried in the cemetery behind the nunnery. Today there are still about 30 nuns residing there in the nunnery grounds. This particular nunnery is one of the oldest and most beautiful fortified religious institutions that ring the city.

Last, but not least, we attended the premier performance of the opera, The Damnation of Faust, in the newly renovated Bolshoi Theater just across from our hotel. It was a very stialized rendition. The theater is lovely. You sit in individual wooden chairs designed, I'm convinced, to keep you from falling asleep during a performance. Thank goodness the seat cushions were padded since the wooden backs were not entirely comfortable. The Opera was in French (they had Russian subtitles which didn't help us), but they had a book that we purchased that contained an English synopsis. Once you understood the story, you could actually follow along fairly well. The singing and ballet dancing were beautiful I must admit. It was an interesting and entertaining evening.

We left early this morning with fond memories of our tours in Moscow. I had a totally different perception of what I thought Moscow would be. It was very much like a Fabrege Egg with surprises inside! We thoroughly enjoyed our time spent getting to better understand the history and current personality of the people. The entire city seems to be under construction! Almost every major road has lanes closed and people working 24/7. They are digging up asphalt sidewalks and replacing them with granite everywhere. The mayor said it was better to suffer greatly for one year then to be inconvenienced for 10 years. I'm not sure residents would agree! Of course it looks to me like it may still be several years before they finish. Certainly it won't be completed before winter comes. I can't imagine how they will do snow removal!!

We arrived in Copenhagen on time. We were reminded upon landing that not everything always goes the way it's planned. We were to supposed to have a car meet us to take us to the hotel but the car service was no where to be found, even though we waited for an hour. Our 24 hour phone number when dialed said it was not a working number. Oh well, no big deal, taxi line was short and efficient. The next hiccup was when we arrived at our hotel to find that the AC for the entire hotel is broken --on one of the hottest days of the summer! Normally, non functional AC wouldn't be a big issue, but today it was. Our room had sun load all afternoon and by the time we got in, it was 90'! Fortunately, we have a broken window, which allows us to open it wide and if we leave the door slightly ajar it creates a nice draft. The room began to cool down rapidly. Thankfully it's cooling off into the low 70's tonight so we'll be fine! Besides, they're discounting the room, Bill has his hot water kettle for tea and the mini bar is no charge!

We met up with the other two couples we're traveling with and the laughter has begun! Had an interesting dinner in a very pretty restaurant. However, I'll be glad to check in to the ship tomorrow at noon!

By the way, accolades for our guide in Moscow, Marina. She imparted a great deal of interesting information. I'm sorry I can't remember all of it!

Dome of the Christ the Redeemer Church after it was rebuilt and finished in 2000. This is the church that was originally built by Peter the Great to commemorate the defeat of Napolean.

The Armenian church. You can see how different the architecture is

Tribute outside the military museum to the submarine Kursk, that went down in 2000 and all perished. The Soviets kept it a secret for many years because it was a nuclear powered sub.

Outside the museum.

The fallen eagle was taken from Hitlers headquarters - a proud Russian possession. Behind is the Victory Parade in Red Square where German prisoners were paraded in defeat.

There were four glass cases of these German Iron crosses.

Outside the military museum.

The Church of Christ the Redeemer--- one of the largest and most important.

It was a day for wedding photos! We saw at least 5 brides doing photos!

Christ the Redeemer church taken from the back side on the bridge.

So the story behind this is it's Peter the Great and it commemorates the founding of the Russian navy. HOWEVER ---The rest of the story.. It seems the sculptor originally intended it to be Christopher Columbus. However, Spain didn't want to pay for it. He tried to sell it to the Americans and we said no. He changed the head to Peter the Great and sold it to Russia where it resides on the banks of the Moscow River.

The scenic and pastoral nunnery built in the 16th century.

A centuries old tombstone on the nunnery grounds.

Most people are buried because cremation is frowned upon in the Russian Orthodox Church. However, people of all faiths are buried here. The key is to be someone important.