• While being bussed from the airport to downtown Moscow, we made a stop at Sparrow Hills so we could see a panoramic view of the city.

• Luzhniki Stadium (formerly Lenin Stadium) was the chief venue for the 1980 Summer Olympics.

• Ski jump

• The top of the ski jump

• This is the main building of Moscow State University which is located on Sparrow Hills.

• Moscow State University

• Moscow State University

• Trinity Church on Sparrow Hills

• Novodevichy Convent, sometimes translated New Maidens' Monastery, has remained virtually intact since the 17th century.

• Novodevichy Convent

• Novodevichy Convent

• Novodevichy Convent

• Novodevichy Convent

• Novodevichy Convent

• Novodevichy Convent

• Mariana, one of our guides in Moscow

• This sculpture by Nancy Schon is based on the American children's story 'Make Way for Ducklings' and was a gift presented to the children of the Soviet Union by Mrs. Barbara Bush in 1991.

• We visited the Novodevichy Cemetery, the national cemetery of Russia, in Moscow. The grave stones were very diverse and many were beautiful sculptures, modern and classic.

• The grave of Boris Yeltsin

• The graves of Nikita Khrushchev and members of his family

• The grave of Anton Chekhov

• Godanov Restaurant, our first dinner in Moscow. What did they serve? Beef Stroganoff in a bread bowl!

• Godanov Restaurant entry

• Inside Godanov Restaurant

• The Arsenal at the Kremlin from outside the Kremlin wall. We learned that 'kremlin' is the Russian word for fortress. Thus, most Russian cities have a 'kremlin'. This is, of course, the famous one.

• The Arsenal and the Arsenal Tower of the Kremlin

• Another version of the double-headed eagle symbol. This one is located on the outside of the Kremlin.

• Trinity Tower

• Commandant's Tower

• Borovitskaya Tower

• Water Tower

• The Grand Kremlin Palace

• The Grand Kremlin Palace detail

• The Cathedral of the Annunciation

• The Cathedral of the Annunciation

• The Cathedral of the Annunciation

• Church of the Deposition of the Robe

• Cathedral of the Assumption

• Cathedral of the Assumption

• Cathedral of the Assumption

• Cathedral of the Assumption

• Cathedral of the Assumption

• Ivan the Great Bell Tower

• Ivan the Great Bell Tower

• Tsar Bell - It broke as it was cooling following casting. Of course, it was never rung.

• Tsar Bell

• Tsar Bell

• Tsar Cannon - It was never fired.

• Lamppost in the Kremlin

• Supreme Soviet, now the quarters of the President of Russia. The Senate building is on the far left.

• Supreme Soviet, now the quarters of the President of Russia. This part of the Kremlin was off limits to visitors.

• The Senate building, on the left. Lenin had his study and private apartment on the third floor of this building. Later it housed Stalin's study and conference hall.

• The Kremlin Palace of Congresses was commissioned by Khruschev and was built in 1959-61. It is six stories tall, but three of them are underground so that it does not dominate the historic Kremlin.

• The Kremlin Palace of Congresses and the Trinity Gate and Tower

• Trinity Tower

• The Arsenal

• The Arsenal

• Poteshny Palace

• The original Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was ordered destroyed by Stalin after the death of Lenin. This reconstruction was completed in the 1990s and reportedly was paid for with donations by ordinary citizens.

• Cathedral of Christ the Saviour domes

• Cathedral of Christ the Saviour detail

• Cathedral of Christ the Saviour detail

• Cathedral of Christ the Saviour detail

• Lamppost at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

• It's a disease. Even the Nike swoosh.

• Food booths near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

• Artist's Gallery Restaurant, our lunch stop. It is also a gallery of sculpture by Zurab Tsereteli, a well known eighty-something year old sculptor in Moscow. Photos of some of the sculptures follows.

• Interior of the dining room of the restaurant.

• A sculpture of Nicholas II, Alexandra, and their five children.

• Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin

• A self-portrait of the sculptor, Zurab Tsereteli

• Adam and Eve inside a large, walk-in, apple. The depictions on the walls are, shall we say, explicit.

• Adam and Eve inside a large, walk-in, apple.

• A monumental (300 feet high) sculpture of Peter the Great on a sailing ship by Zurab Tsereteli. Supposedly it started out to be Columbus for the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America in 1992, but politics changed the head.

• Peter the Great statue by Zurab Tsereteli

• Peter the Great statue by Zurab Tsereteli

• Vladimir S. Lemport, A. Einstein and N. Bohr - 1970. This is one of many sculptures located at the Fallen Heroes sculpture park. The park is so named because it also contains a number of sculptures of people (for example, Lenin) that were removed from their original locations and stored away during less politically accepting times.

• A 'drive-on' photo of a thoroughfare in Moscow that has seven lanes - in each direction!

• Ludmilla, one of our guides in Moscow

• We took a short ride on the Moscow Metro so we could see several of the stations. The trains and stations were clean (no graffitti!) and each station was done with a unique art/design theme. Some photos follow.

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• On board a Metro train

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• On board a Metro train

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• Moscow Metro

• This park was between our hotel and the Red Square and Kremlin

• This park was between our hotel and the Red Square and Kremlin

• In the park next to the Red Square and Kremlin

• A view toward Red Square and the Kremlin with St. Basil's Cathedral in the background

• St. Basil's Cathedral from the park

• The Kremlin from the park

• The Voskresensky (Resurrection) Gate entrance to Red Square

• A young girl watching a kite just outside the Voskresensky (Resurrection) Gate

• Looking from Red Square back toward the Voskresensky (Resurrection) Gate

• Red Square and the Kremlin

• The Kremlin and Lenin's Tomb

• Saviour's Tower and Lenin's Tomb. That is the Supreme Soviet within the Kremlin in the background.

• Lenin's tomb and Senate Tower and Dome

• Lenin's tomb and Senate Tower and Dome

• Spasskaya (Saviour's) Tower

• Spasskaya (Saviour's) Tower

• Spasskaya (Saviour's) Tower

• Nikolskaya (St. Nicholas) Tower

• Nikolskaya (St. Nicholas) Tower

• St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square, Moscow

• St. Basil's Cathedral domes

• St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square, Moscow

• St. Basil's Cathedral

• St. Basil's Cathedral domes

• St. Basil's Cathedral domes

• St. Basil's Cathedral domes

• St. Basil's Cathedral domes

• St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square, Moscow. This view is from the south, just outside of Red Square.

• St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square, Moscow. This view is from the south, just outside of Red Square.

• St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square, Moscow. This view is from the south, just outside of Red Square.

• St. Basil's Cathedral domes

• Red Square, Moscow. The platform in the right foreground was used by Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great for executions of political dissidents. These tsars were known to watch the executions from a platform on the square side of the Saviour's Tower.

• Saviour's Tower and the lower platform on the right from which Ivan and Peter watched executions

• The 'GUM' (pronounced goom), an upscale shopping mall.

• The GUM (that is how it is spelled in cyrillic)

• The GUM (that is how it is spelled in cyrillic)

• Inside GUM

• Inside GUM

• Inside GUM

• Inside GUM

• St. Basil's Cathedral, Lenin's Tomb, and the Kremlin at night

• A tower at the Kremlin at night. In 1935 a red star replaced the double-headed eagle on each of the towers.

• GUM at night

• On Red Square

• Pronouncing the cyrillic phonetically, those letters between the two golden arches are pronounced 'McDonalds'

• A drive-by photo of a monument to the Conquerors of Space at Russia's Cosmonautics Museum

• The National Hotel, our home in Moscow. It was just north of Red Square and the Kremlin.

• Entrance to the National Hotel

• National Hotel in English

• National Hotel in Russian

• Stairway and ceiling in the National Hotel

• Stair railing detail

• Lenin worked and lived in this room in the National Hotel in March 1918

• The stairway to our room on floor '4 1/2'

• Kathryn & Doug Collins stayed in this room in the National Hotel in September 2010

• Kathryn & Doug Collins stayed in this room in the National Hotel in September 2010

• Doug & Kathryn on Red Square in Moscow