Красная площадь

So, on to the more exciting stuff from last week - the excursions.

Now, as a student in the GRINT program, I am able to take part in various excursions put on by the program, be it a show of some kind or just a walk to an interesting part of Moscow. Our first excursion was of the latter variety - we were to take the metro for the first time and walk to the one place that just about everyone has heard of: Красная площадь. (That's the Red Square for those playing at home)

So, we got together to meet up with our student coordinator, Lena, at which point we set off for the metro. I arrived later than the other people who were there, so I hadn't yet seen the metro, nor how to get there. It's really easy to get to the metro "the long way." Basically, you leave MosGU, turn left, walk straight for about 12 minutes, turn right, cross the street, and walk straight again for about 8 minutes and voila you're at the metro.

I bought a 60-use metro pass and we were on our way. The metro is confusing the first time through, but it is actually very simple to use once you get the hang of it. Basically, you just look at the signs pointing to each side of the metro - one will be heading towards the center and one will be heading away - and you look for your next stop/transfer. Anyway, we make our way to Охотный ряд (ohotniy ryat) and walk outside.

First impression - IT'S REALLY FREAKING COLD! Seems like every time you leave the metro, it feels about 10 degrees colder than when you went in. Anyway, we looked around a bit near the metro station (we weren't yet in the actual Red Square).

We saw a couple of big Christmas trees (ёлки/yolkee)

We saw a cool statue near the actual entrance to the Red Square:

Of course, we could see one of the corners of the Kremlin:

Hell, we even saw SpongeBob and Donkey on the way to the Red Square:

Those little kiosks sell fake soviet hats and other Russian trinkets
for the tourist to buy (I would imagine at quite inflated prices)

Finally, we reached the actual entrance to the Red Square, and let's just say, it gives you a pretty good idea of the kind of stuff you're going to see once you get in:

Yeah, this is just the entrance.

So we goo through the gates, and we see the Red Square in all of its glory. Trust me, this place lives up to its billing. We could see St. Basils (you know, THAT building. The one EVERYONE thinks of when they think of Russia?) in the distance, but first we got a good look at the closer buildings, like...

...a church...

...an ice cream place/skating rink...

...and oh yeah, the Kremlin.

We continued walking and we just kept getting closer and closer to that granddaddy of touristy buildings - St. Basil's Cathedral. I don't think I need to say much more.



Yeah, that was a cool day.