Moscow - Part 3

There were two holidays this past Sunday in Moscow.  Easter & May Day (similar to our Labor Day).  Easter isn't widely celebrated in Russia, but May Day has lots of parades that end in Red Square.  I decided this would be a good day to go to art museum.  There was a line to get in, but it moved fairly quickly.  The cost was only $8 & featured only Russian artists.  All of the paintings included an English translation with information about the artist.  It was a nice museum & I spent just over two hours there.

Russian icon painting

I did another walking tour with same company (Moscow Free Tours) that focused on Communism in Russia.  There was a different guide for this tour, but she was very good also.  It was only me & a couple from Ireland.  We started at the former KGB headquarters & covered a lot of ground in 2 hours including the first McDonalds in Russia which served 30,000 people the first day.

After eating at another Russian cafeteria style place nearby, I headed back to the hotel.

I think the plaque basically says Lennin spent time at this hotel.

Lennon, Marx, and Engells.

I didn't have much planned for my last full day in Moscow.  I did another run in Gorky park & my leg was still a little sore, but felt OK.  I then headed over to Sparrow Hills which overlooks the city & the Olympic stadium.  It was a beautiful day to be outside & there were lots of families at the park.  Moscow State University was nearby & I took a few photos of one of the Seven Sister buildings (aka Stalin Skyscraper).  Apparently Stalin was inspired by the Empire State Building & wanted to try to build some similar buildings in Moscow.

I also took another walk in Red Square & ate at 2 Georgian restaurants, one for lunch & another for dinner.  I have to catch an early train to St. Petersburg in the morning.  It is a high speed train called the Sapsan train that will get me there in 4 hours.

Putin impersonator in Red Square

I enjoyed my visit to Moscow.  The weather was great, it was in the mid 50s-low 70s during my visit. The city was very clean, subway system easy to use, & although the average Russian speaks little or no English, most of the people that deal with tourists can speak at least some English.  Here are few more photos of Moscow.