What makes the Cathedral eye-catching and iconic are its 9 unique and colorful onion domes. These domes represent the 9 chapels within the Cathedral itself. While the exterior is unique and colorfully chaotic, the interior was a bit dull in my eyes. Perhaps it was seeing the outside and then going inside, but how many of you have ever seen a photo of the interior of St. Basils? Now, don’t get me wrong, the interior is interesting in its own way. I find most things that are over 400 years old somewhat fascinating, but it pales in comparison to the exterior.
Where was this photo taken?
This photo feels very much like an early weekend morning (in this case a Sunday) with only a few people out and the sun trying its hardest to rise above even the lowest of buildings. The shimmer and glisten of the water on the streets would usually tell you that it rained the previous night – but in this case, the water is from Moscow’s street cleaners.
So, why on earth did I title this “Early Morning Shopping in Red Square”? Well, the building on the far-left is the Glavnyi Universalnyi Magazin or GUM (pronounced ‘goom’). It means “Main Universal Store” and is a high-end shopping mall that acts as one of the borders to Red Square. Although we did not go inside, its facade is beautiful.
I suppose what I really like about these domes is that they are unique and of course beautiful to look at. Other than in Russia, I have never seen this architectural style.
Where else does this architecture exist?
), I nabbed this photo of The Kremlin (AbsoluteVisit #50).
In fact, its not even the entire Kremlin. What you see along the river bank is part of The Kremlin wall with its many towers followed by a lush green garden. Behind that you see the armory and several of the Cathedrals including Ivan the Greats Bell Tower (the tallest golden topped tower).
Also in this photo, you can see ‘New Moscow’, a cluster of sky-scrapers in the far left of the photo. This section of the city is very far away so don’t be fooled by the photo – those are real sky scrapers!
Speaking of trips, Will and I are always looking for exciting travel destinations. If you have been to a particularly amazing place that you think we absolutely (pun intended) need to check out, please share your travel experience with us so we can make plans to check it out!
Our walk led us down the Moscow River where we found several bridges that we were able to walk across and get great views of the Kremlin brightly lit up at night. Here is my favorite picture that I was able to take from the bridges. You can even see the top of AbsoluteVisit #45 – St Basils Cathedral.
Inside the stations it often felt like Brad and I were on a top secret mission as we were consistently badgered by subway police. I can’t say that I blame them as setting up multiple tripods in the midst of an extremely busy subway station is probably not the safest.
At any rate, Brad and I were able to capture the scene quite well which brings us to today’s photo. I called this ‘The Subway State Room’ as it looks much more like a Palace State Room than a subway! The station includes incredible carved mosaic boarders, intricate mosaics and royalty sized chandeliers.
After pulling our second all-nighter in 3 days, our first stop was Red Square where among several other epically proportioned buildings sits AbsoluteVisit #45, St. Basil’s Cathedral. What makes the Cathedral special is the extremely unique architecture of its onion domes topped with vibrant colors making the tops seem to float on its otherwise dull brick base.
Today’s photo shows off not only St. Basil’s itself, but also Brad in full photography mode. I am shooting this on a tripod while Brad has both his tripod and a second camera with a different lens in use. With a total of 4 camera’s in action, it was one of the ways we turned this 36 hours into an amazing photography adventure.
We’re off to go tour the Kremlin in a few minutes. Having a blast!
