Today I went with a new coworker here (Pooja) to visit the inner-sanctum of the Kremlin walls - the cathedrals. These buildings are enormous, old and beautiful! In one of the cathedrals were so many tombs/stone caskets, it was outrageous! All were set up on the floor with protective metal and glass shrouds on them, inscribed with the names and dates of each Tsar or important person contained within - some I saw were dated in the 14th century. Inside the Kremlin compound were also the largest cannon and bell ever made. Neither were ever used in practice, but there they were, glorious and proud for all the tourists and Kremlin-ites to see.
After that tour, we decided to get into the line to see Lenin's tomb - the inside! The tomb is only open on select days from 10a-1p, so we were fortunate to be there at the right day and time. The do not allow you to bring in any cameras, cell phones or bags - you go through a metal detector, they search your purse (if you havven't checked it in the baggage room) and then you can go in. What is interesting about Lenin's Tomb is that 1. it's a really quick sight-see if you have the chance (like 30 mins total from line to tomb to out) and 2. they don't actually let you stop and look at his person (see #1). Pooja and I walked into the tomb from the bright sunshine and headed down into the black marble or granite walled bowels of the tomb. As our eyes adjusted to the very VERY dark staircase, we were met by a Militsia (police) guy about every 15 feet pointing you in the right direction or not moving at all. The place was crawling with military protection men. The walls of the tomb are completely unadorned with inscriptions, plaque, images or any other decoration. Black walls and a few lights. Very somber. The whole room is dedicated to one thing only: Lenin's body encased in a large glass box. Lenin rests in the center of a decent-sized room, on a platform surrounded by a 15 foot "buffer zone". We climbed the stairs to the right of the platform and I stopped to get a good look. At that moment, one of the military men snapped his fingers 3 times and gestured for me to keep moving. "Oh!" I exclaimed...and continued to walk really slowly around the tomb. Lenin looks...dead. But intact. I don't believe the conspiracy theory that it's just a wax figure of Lenin laying there - his dead ears looked too creepy and wrinkly to be fake in my opinion...but you never know.
We left there after 3 minutes of actually being in the mausoleum and headed across Red Square to the GUM ("goom") - a high-end mall. We did some quick window-shopping and ended up buying a pastry and mystery fresh-squeezed juice from the fancy grocery store inside. Pooja got a flaky chocolate pastry and i got one with apples and almonds on top. Mmmmm. Her juice was yellow (grapefruit, we found out) and mine was bright purple (beet, i discovered). My beet juice (last picture) wasn't too bad actually, but needless to say it didn't sit very well in my tummy. I felt nauseus for the next couple of hours. Oops!
I feel much better now, all recouped. Headed to bed now, tomorrow we're going to wander around Stary Arbat, a new bridge and maybe something else...
Stay tuned!
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