Day 3- Tuesday...Kremlin

Well today we ventured out further to the Kremlin and Red Square. This is the oldest part of Moscow.  The wall and some of the existing structures date back to as early as 1485.  We got there too early, as it opened at 10, but we wondered around (freezing our bums off) until we found McDonald's to warm up...our second one of the morning :). We then walked through the underground mall and then headed over to the Kremlin.  WOW, amazing, incredible, there is just NO words to describe the beauty we saw today.  We first stopped in the Armoury Chamber museum.  We had an interesting experience getting in, got yelled at by a Russian woman, finally got our blue shoes covers on and entered into absolute greatness!  This museum is a must see if you are in Moscow. The jewels, gold, silver, wow I can't even descibe how beautiful the items were. I wish I could have taken pics!! There were the most incredible guns, swords, and weapons on display, as well as a full room of carriages that were just AMAZING! Best money spent hands down! When we left the Armoury, we walked into a blizzard! Ok not really but the snow was really coming down!  We then made our way to the Cathedral Square. Incredibly beautiful architecture! We unfortunately didn't make it to see St. Basil's.  We couldn't find it and we where cold and tired. Plus we have all day tomorrow as well to get out and explore.  So enjoy the pics! There's a lot!!

Not sure what this building is, but it looked important. Looked like a police station or court building of sorts, lots of police or military personnel outside.

Can't find a place to park?  Why not the sidewalk? We see this everywhere!!

McDonald's anyone? :)

Not easy to order!

The Kremlin wall

Pretty horse statues

Fountain

More horses! Well, the same ones really...

Pretty buildings

In front of the Kremlin

Huge, gorgeous building behind me

One of the Kremlin towers

Another incredible building

One of the Kremlin entrances

More of the wall

Need your trees trimmed?  Just cut the tops off them! They are like this throughout the city.

Very cool door in the wall 

 This seriously looked like a jail cell in the middle of the park, had bars on the windows, strange

 Very large tree

Incredibly cool rock wall

 Monument listing the names of 33 “Cities of Military Glory”

 Closeup of the rock wall

 Stairs

 Caleb liked this statue in the fountain (currently with out water)

Changing of the guard 

Tomb of the unknown soldier.  This is a memorial to the Soviet soldiers that died in WWII. Tomb contains ashes of an unknown soldier killed in 1941's Battle for Moscow. There is an eternal flame, inside contains a bronze star, and on the granite stone reads "Your name is unknown, your deeds are immortal"

 To the right of the tomb, lining the walkway are dark red porphyry blocks with incapsulated soils from hero cities, Leningrad, Kiev, Stalingrad, Odessa, Sevastopol, Minsk, Kerch, Novorossiysk, Tula and Brest, Murmansk and Smolensk (thanks Wikipedia!) ; )

LOVE this building! I believe its the State History Museum.

 And the funky orange one behind it is pretty as well

And now pics from within the Kremlin...

The Annunciation Cathedral

1484

Home church of the Great Moscow Princes and later the Russian Tsars

The Archangel Cathedral

1505

This the burial place of the Great Princes, local princes, and Tsars 

The Bell Tower of Ivan the Great

16th-17th century

Entrance to the Archangel Cathedral 

The Assumption Cathedral

1475

Place where the Russian Tsars and Emperors were crowned, was also the country's central place of worship.

 The Church of the deposition of the Robe of the Holy Virgin

1484

The church served as the private chapel of the Patriarch of Moscow, but during the mid-17th century it was taken over by the Russian royal family

The front of the Arsenal, it's the former armoury.

You can see the cannon's out front.