We woke up late - our alarm didn't go off, as Jer's pilot was still set to Sweden time. We only woke up because the front desk called at 9:40 am to tell us that our train tickets had been delivered.
After a quick breakfast of Swedish candy bars and tea, we headed to the Kremlin to get tickets. We stood in line, and when we got to the head of the line, were told that there were no more tickets to the Armory (which Jess really wanted to see). We got tickets to the Kremlin grounds instead, but there were tears.
As Jess tried hard to buck up, we crossed Red Square, admiring the Kremlin wall, St. Basil's, the State Historical Museum and GUM. As we were hungry, we went into GUM and, after admiring its cute fountain, went up to the second floor and found a cafe. Jer had a cold salmon sandwich and tea, Jess had a hot ham and cheese sandwich and Fanta. Both were good, particularly for mall food.
Refreshed, we headed to St. Basil's. We had expected it to be like a Western church with a main nave and side chapels, but instead it felt like a collection of tiny chapels clustered together. They were beautifully and lavishly painted and gilded, each with its own style and decor. We were lucky enough to come upon three men singing hymns in one chapel, and their rich baritones made it feel like a church, rather than the museum it has become.
After leaving St. Basil's, we headed back to the Kremlin ticket office and discovered that the Audio Guide ticket booth would have a few more Armory tickets on sale in a half-hour, albeit at a higher price (since it included the audio guide rental). To kill time, we wandered through the Alexander Garden, marveling at all the wedding parties having their pictures taken by the Kremlin. We saw brides wearing everything from pouffy white confections to colored ones, including one in shimmering blue and another in white with peach accents and a peach train.
Jer got back in line at the Audio Guide ticket booth and emerged victorious, Armory tickets in hand. Since their timed entry wasn't for another 90 minutes, we decided to use our tickets for the Kremlin grounds. There are a surprising number of buildings within the Kremlin walls, including several churches, various palaces, a bell tower and a not-too-ugly modern office building. Jer was quite taken with the Tsar Cannon, a giant cannon that was never fired, which rests near the Tsar Bell, a massive bell that broke without ever being rung. We wandered over to the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. Sadly, we weren't allowed to climb to the top, but we did get to see the Cartier exhibit on the main floor. Jess was particularly taken with one of the diamond tiaras, while Jer liked the mystery clocks (whose hands appear to be suspended on the face). We both liked the animal-inspired jewelry, like the tiger eyeglasses and the snake necklace.
We wandered the Kremlin grounds a bit more before joining the swarms of tour groups in line for the Armory. The audio guides were unnecessary, as there were so many English-language tour guides passing by that we learned about the exhibits that way. We accidentally started our tour in the middle, in the ceremonial dress chamber, which had dresses with both impressively small waists (such as the silver brocade court gown) and impressively large waists (such as Catherine the Great's coronation gown). We then got back on track, viewing Russian religious items (the bejeweled Gospels were particularly notable). In the display of Russian arms and armor, the full coat of horse plate mail, including ear covers, was a highlight, plus there were several really nice maces and big guns). The saddle collection includes the Turkish-inspired tack used by Catherine the Great for the parade commemorating her victory over the Ottomans; a tour guide remarked that an American tourist had wished to have been Catherine's horse, simply to have had the pleasure of wearing the horse's lovely tiara! The thrones and crowns were pretty - we were especially taken with the fur-trimmed crowns. The carriages and sledges were incredibly ornate, though we liked the simpler and smaller children's versions a bit better.
Though we liked everything we saw, the highlight of the Armory's collection is its Fabergé exhibit. It contains 10 eggs, as well as various other objets d'art (such as a dandelion made with real fluff attached to diamond-ended pins and an enamel pansy whose petals open to display tiny photos). The centerpiece of the egg collection is the Trans-Siberian Railway Egg, which holds an incredibly-detailed model train with a platinum engine with a ruby headlamp and several golden rail cars. Our favorite, though, was the Memory of Azov Egg, a gold and green enamel egg containing an incredibly intricate model ship. We also liked the egg-shaped clock, which has one fixed hand (in the shape of Cupid's bow) and rotating numbers indicating the hour and minutes. There was the Steel Military Egg, WWI-era egg made of steel and gold without jewels, which contained a miniature portrait of the tsar and his son on the battlefield, and which was sent back to the tsarina. Other eggs included two of rock crystal, one with a model ship and another with a model of the Alexander Palace, the royal family's favorite residence. There was another egg containing portraits of various members of the imperial family. Yet another was empty, its surprise having been lost at some point! As Jess was extremely excited about the Fabergé eggs, we studied the display case three times, learning different facts from the various guides we heard!
As the Kremlin grounds had closed, we set off to see the Cathedral of Christ the Savior up close, since Jer had been admiring it from afar. We did finally get there after some misadventures (including circumnavigating one block by the Kremlin which does not have a single crosswalk or underground walkway to the other side. The church was beautiful up close, its white walls topped with huge gold domes.
Since we were running late, we tried to take the subway to Café Pushkin, the only nice restaurant Jess visited on her trip for work in March. We got a bit lost, but eventually located the restaurant and were seated immediately. While not exactly providing service with a smile, the staff was responsive and our food arrived quickly. We decided that this was Jess's birthday dinner (observed), and she had her favorite - meat pelmeni (small Russian dumplings), along with a house dessert of sponge cake with almond cream, caramel sauce and "exotic spicery". Jer had Georgian mutton pasties (fried dough pockets) served with a tangy tomato sauce in a hollowed out tomato, with pistachio crême brulée topped with cherries. To drink, Jess had mors, and we both had the house-blend tea. Everything was fabulous!
We left the restaurant in good time and went back to the Holiday Inn Suschevsky to get our bags. We then headed straight for the Leningradsky train station to catch the Grand Express train to St. Petersburg. It's a good thing we had plenty of time, as there are three stations at the same metro and we couldn't find ours. Finally, an English-speaking Russian woman got directions for us and led us there - we would never have found it ourselves!
The Grand Express was very swanky, with little snack boxes, a TV, climate controls, reading lamps, garment bags, luggage lockers, electronic door locks and all sorts of other little touches. We were too tired to appreciate them, so we got ready for bed right away.