July 20 - Moscow

It's our last full day in Russia and we are feeling blue. It seems as if we've just arrived in the city and now it's time to go. Back to the van this morning at 9:00 for a short ride to the Kremlin. Today our guide has tickets for us to enter the walls and visit the cathedrals located inside. First we visit the Assumption Cathedral which was used as a stable in 1812! Now all of its frescoes have been restored. This church is one of my favorites! After visiting three more cathedrals we see the Tsar Bell. It is the largest bell in the world weighing 202 tons! Unfortunately it broke in the foundry during a fire. We run back to our awaiting van in the pouring rain. It has been raining since we arrived yesterday. Now we ride to the State Tretyakov Gallery which has the world's best collection of Russian icons. After lunch our group splits up because most members are heading to the airport for their flights home. We walk back to our hotel happy to finally be on our own! Tonight we are off to the Bolshoi Theatre for a German opera Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose). It's a magnificent theatre renovated recently. The performance lasts for about 4 hours with two intermissions. What a lovely way to spend our final evening in Moscow!