MOSCOW

I visited the beautiful Russian capital back in 1983 during a stop-over from Milan to Beijing to visit China, a long five-week group trip whose flight was carried out with the Russian company Aeroflot which dropped us off in Moscow and gave us a hotel near the airport for one night and then we had the whole next day available to visit the city before leaving for Beijing. First of all, as soon as we entered our room we heard a knock on the door, it was the maids with packs of rubles in their hands who wanted to give us in exchange for clothes of any kind, but we had already sent our suitcases to Beijing and therefore we had to refuse. Arriving by bus in the center of the capital we immediately went to see the splendid Red Square where there were some Russians who wanted to sell us boxes of caviar or exchange dollars for rubles in black, but I had preferred to exchange around thirty dollars at the very expensive official exchange rate to avoid problems since I knew that sometimes among the exchange operators there were policemen in civilian clothes who would then take you to jail and then you feel like it! There were long lines to visit Lenin's mausoleum which is located in the square so we waived entry. Instead, we visited the beautiful Orthodox church of San Basilio with its round domes. I was surprised by the small interior of the rooms but by the beauty of the altars and icons. There is another huge red building on the square which is the State Museum of the History of Russia and then the Gum department store, a building with many internal galleries which sold various typical Russian products, but which are very expensive at the official exchange rate. Matryoshkas, fur hats, typical Russian shawls and above all amber necklaces, today there are the most luxurious boutiques of European designers. There is another huge red building on the square which is the State Museum of the History of Russia and then the Gum department store, a building with many internal galleries which sold various typical Russian products, but which are very expensive at the official exchange rate. Matryoshkas, fur hats, typical Russian shawls and above all amber necklaces, today there are the most luxurious boutiques of European designers. Then we entered the fortified citadel of the Kremlin which, in addition to being the president's residence, also contains various other historic buildings, some of which can be visited: the Armory, now a museum of royal treasures, 4,000 art objects, a large collection of royal carriages, crowns and costumes of tsarinas the cathedral square with three different cathedrals (that of the Annunciation which was reserved for the tsars, that of the Dormition where the tsars were crowned and that of the Archangel Michael where various tsars and princes are buried), the bell of the Tsar, the largest in the world weighing 216 tons and with a diameter of 6.6 meters, a piece broke off during a fire, it has never been hoisted or played, it was built by a niece of the Tsar Ivan the Terrible and the tsar-puska cannon, 5.5 meters long and weighing 38 tons, Then there is the Diamond Fund, the most beautiful and richest jewelery collection in Russia, including very renowned pieces. The Patriarch's Palace. the Church of the 12 Apostles and the bell tower of Ivan the Terrible. In Moscow you can see various other things including the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the beautiful and large Gorki park, the rich Tetryakov gallery, the Moscow Metro with some beautiful stations such as art galleries and of course the Bolshoi theater perhaps second in the world after La Scala in Milan and the Cosmonautics museum. Behind the walls of the Kremlin there is the tomb of the unknown soldier where the young, tall and beautiful Russian married couples (she in the white dress), come to place a bouquet of flowers as per Russian tradition. After 40 years, Moscow has certainly changed a lot, the shops are full of everything like in the West, new districts have been created and the business center has futuristic skyscrapers. There are luxury restaurants and elegant cafes, Russians no longer go around with their shopping bags looking for something to buy but are elegant and live like everywhere else, despite the embargo. A very beautiful city to absolutely visit. src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_iPiwWwhoMlKnFMuLIzoXLcRaqa9RWc72w0BGWfVf8-Ig6U1oN0_g-vlxMkizY2Rof1Gvcfi-E6wV7y1zYRf0y9tSlWKX0YFL0Tyst2gyRoG3Vn6255NGT2BF1ONz4c1zS4tMxH-kTEjyQjz8lP2mi6RxKiJAJ3WOvmHIwuajj9mqimNZNPYU/s400/main-qimg-1c7966082e8859a6a3fbcd8127680554.jpg"/>