Moscow Sightseeing Trip: The First of Many

 Welcome to Красная площадь!

And yes, that's made out of ice.

This morning the group of American, French, and Russian students took a trip around Moscow, hitting some of the main sights and stalking a wedding party. It was an enjoyable and informative day, although a bit cold for walking around when you are not quite used to the temperature yet. I now feel a little better about getting around in the snowy, slippery conditions after seeing some of our Russian classmates sliding around on the stone stairs and walkways as well. We spent about an hour walking around Красная площадь (pronounced Krásnaya plóshchad'), or the Red Square. In the past, I have had several Americans tell me how much smaller it is than they expected and I was initially impressed by its size. While the Red Square is not huge by any means, I was expecting a something that left more of a 'postage stamp' impression.

Красная площадь

It was really interesting to get to see these buildings that have graced the covers of every Russia guidebook and textbook reference to a country that is so wide and varied that it crosses 9 time zones (formerly 11, until 2009). We saw St. Basil's cathedral (which I never realized was a part of Красная площадь), GUM (Russia's famous department store), an awesome clock, the former KGB headquarters now the home of the FSB, the Moscow River, and various other sights that I can't remember at the moment.
 

Some of the group

 

View of the Moscow River. There were people cross-country skiing on the river  when we passed by on Wednesday.

Really cool world clock that rotates to show the current time in each time zone.

 

St. George's Cathedral (I think)