Moscow - Day II

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On Sunday morning we started the day by walking to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It was initially built in the mid-19th century, but was later destroyed by the Soviets in 1931 by order of Stalin to build a monument on the site with a giant statue of Lenin. Following the fall of Communism, however, the Russian Orthodox Church was granted permission by the Soviet government to rebuild the cathedral on the original sight.

The inside of the cathedral was very impressive, with a massive dome and beautiful paintings on the walls. Pictures weren’t allowed, though, so you’ll have to take my word for it…or this painting from 1883, which I think is fairly representative.

Behind the cathedral there was a bridge across the Moskva River, which offered some nice views including one of the Kremlin.

We then walked to some additional cathedrals / monasteries. They all had unique architecture and were interesting to explore on the inside. As can be seen from some of the pictures, we finally got some sun and it actually felt a bit like (my perception of) Spring.

For lunch we did something that I hadn’t done in probably a decade: ate at a McDonalds. We were really hungry, though, and wanted to get food fast, so we decided to go for it once we saw the familiar golden arches (though the Cyrillic spelling of the name wasn’t immediately obvious). And I figured that if I was going to eat in the most American of fast food establishments, it might as well be in the former heart of communism…