Quickly Now...

Quick update:
-Launch scrubbed (bummer!) so I took today (Weds) off. It was my first day off since arriving in Moscow.
-Woke up at 0630, back to sleep until 0741. Lolly-gagged until 930 when I was finally out the door to sightsee solo.
-Navigated the streets and subways of MOCKBA by myself, successfully, with no wrong turns. Yay!
-First stop: Victory Park (Metro: Park Pobodi). Walked around the grounds for a long while amazed by the humongous monuments. Didn't do the museum for time's sake. Amazing place!
-Second stop: Pushkin Museum of Private Collections (Metro: Kropotkinskaya). The most impressionist artist's work I have ever seen! An amazing collection of Manet, Monet, Degas, Picasso, Renoir, Dali, Matisse, and more! So many artists, so many works from each. Phenomenal! My favorite was an Odilon Redon, titled "Rebirth (Spring)" - check it out sometime!
-Third stop: Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Metro: Kropotkinskaya). I must admit I enjoyed the private collections better, but there were some outstanding pieces in this museum! I saw at least three mummies (and even a jaw and toe!) and other artifacts (so MANY) dating from up to the 30th century B.C. (i think)!! The sheer volume of their collection of truly OLD artifacts is dumbfounding!
-Fourth stop: Kremlin State Armory (Metro: Borovitskaya). Actually I got off a metro stop too early I think and couldn't quite figure out how to cross the vast ocean of road that lay before me. So I backtracked and used a perehod (under-street crosswalk thingie) and popped up right next to the Kremlin. At some point I'll take a tour of the rest of the inner-Kremlin grounds, but today was for the State Armory only (no time!). A-mazing! Jewels upon gold upon jewels upon magnificence. There were crowns and thrones and armor and weaponry and carriages and outfits and...well, you can google it too :) It was a very interesting place! Plus, it came with a free self-guided audio tour which was awesome. *Note: I also stopped outside the Kremlin and read a book in the warm sun today for about 30 minutes while I was waiting for my Armory tour to begin. What a lovely thought...sigh.
-Fifth stop: Red Square (Metro: Kitai Gorod). I have been here before a couple times (a few years ago and the other day), but today I thought I'd stop by on my own without pressure to leave on someone else's time - PLUS the weather was super gorgeous today, so it was worth it to hang out for a while. I took some pix of St. Basil's Cathedral (going to try to get in there before I leave if possible), Lenin's Tomb, the Kremlin walls and the State Historical Museum. They are preparing for a huge parade/celebration in September on the square, so there was construction/scaffolding and work going on all around.

After Red Square it was time to head home. Got back to the hotel (after only slightly getting lost in the next street over from my hotel) at 1800, ate some leftover spaghetti carbonara, cherry tomatoes, cheese wedges and ice cream. Mmmmm. Now I'm watching "The Life Aquatic (with Steve Zissou)" and am going to bed. Pix to come, so hold on to your hats!



Back to work tomorrow and hopefully for the shuttle launch on Friday. Today was a good day.
-Jaime out.