May 6, 2008 - Around The World, Day 11 - Moscow

Our last breakfast in Moscow is at our hotel.
What a location!

We start with a subway ride out to Kolomenskoye, once the summer home of Tsars like Peter the Great, now basically inside the city limits.
I forgot how gorgeous the flowers were everywhere, especially Kolomenskoye.

An orchard, but since they weren't fruiting, I couldn't tell what they were.
(Our guide wasn't terribly familiar with Kolomenskoye, which was fine by us as we were fairly rushed this last day.)

Honey farm - Jill's favorite.
And yes, it was active. They were buzzing all around, no doubt loving the surrounding orchard.

The heart of the museum-park is Ascension Church (1535).

It was built to commemorate the birth of Ivan the Terrible.

Church of Our Lady of Kazan (1660s)

After touring Kolomenskoye, Olga suggests we have a traditional treat. I can't pronouce it, but it is basically sweat cream crepes, where the cream is cooked into more of a caramel flavor and consistency - some of the best crepes ever!

OK, I admit, it isn't the most flattering picture of Olga.
I just wanted to show how steep and long the escalators are in the Moscow metro.
Also, notice everyone - I mean EVERYONE - stands on the right. Only walkers on the left. No signs (that we saw) say to do this; it is just engrained or physically enforced. Very few people walked, however, due to how long the escalators were...
The escalators also go about twice as fast as US escalators, which was actually a little intimidating for me and Jill when exiting...

There were non-graffitied ads along the escalators down into the subways, but once you get there, there are no ads - only museum pieces.
Each station is different.
This one has large mosaics across the tracks.
This is Avtozavodskaye...

...as you can clearly see by this sign.
"Avtozavodskay"
(the 'e' would be the English spelling of te Russian word)
There will be a few of these. I suggest trying to pronounce them, looking at both the Russian and English spellings.

Another station - cool ceilings.

This one was my favorite, I think. As I recall, Olga said there were over 60 distinct statues. That was a very odd thing to say when there were 4 copies of this dude alone. If I remember correctly, there were 80 statues by my math (4 rows of 20 each). Just odd, but then again, Russian guides are really bad at estimating quantities (and heights).

Cool mosiac near the exit of one station.

This one was neat, too. Reminds me of Schonbrun or something.
Notice the lady at the end...

She started waddling away as I walked closer and took the picture.
The hammer and sickle were all over the place. I was surprised they hadn't taken them down.

Now this is a cool ceiling mosaic... Ivan, maybe?

Very cool ceiling mosaic of Red Square!

What would you call the opposite of Lady Liberty?
I only say this because she (she? there is some Madonna-like cone stuff going on under that robe) is standing in front of Lenin's tomb and Savior's Tower. A real lady would be standing in front of the ritzy shops of GUM.

Komsomolbskaye

More modern, art deco, perhaps.

I like the fake stained glass windows.
Well, they're real stained glass - just fake windows.

I like this one, too.

Belor-roosskaye. (roll the 'r')

Another modern looking station, but inside those lights are unique mosaics.

This one is a zeppelin over Savior's Tower, but most had something flying in the picture.

Goth-looking iron roses.

Chechovskaye.
(Hack up the second 'ch' like you're mad at someone.)