Day 10: Alexandrov Kremlin:

Absolutely throwing it down this morning and we all got really wet just going across to the restaurant for breakfast. Everyone was ready to leave at 9.30am but the coach wouldn't start. Whist the driver was sorting out the problem everyone came back to my lodge. I put the kettle on to make some tea  but before it  had brewed the coach was sorted and we were off on our way to Moscow. I took a few photos through the windows of the coach just to show the typical wooden houses seen along the way.

We were stopping off in Alexandrovskaya to visit the Alexandrov Kremlin. One of the many things  I didn't know, but felt I should have known, was that a kremlin is a fortress not a building as I had assumed. The town was busier than I expected.

I spotted this building with an interesting weather vane.

The Alexandrov Kremlin was built 500 years ago for Vasily III, the father of Ivan the Terrible.It was second only to the Kremlin in Moscow in size and beauty. It consisted of six churches, convent,  and almshouses.

I had taken this photo inside one of the churches before I was told no photography was allowed.

 It was here that Ivan the terrible lived and married his third and fifth wives.


















Ivan the terrible's bedroom which was only used on the wedding night.

These are the medieval cellars of the 16th cent

There is also a museum  there with many royal artefacts.

In another building there were rooms from the 17th and 18th centuries. The  guide orchestrated role play of how a match maker would introduce a potential suitor which caused great amusement within the group.

We finished the tour in a 19th century room and were served tea and gingerbread cake.

 

After lunch in a local restaurant we settled ourselves back on the coach for the two hour drive to Moscow with the weather deteriorating the closer we got..

It was late afternoon by the time we arrived in Moscow. We were staying in the Vega (Beta) hotel, one of a group of five identical hotels built for the Moscow Olympics known as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. The Russians wanted all foreign visitors to the Games to stay in one place. According to our guide all the rooms were bugged. The hotels have all been refurbished since then most recently for last year's Football World cup. I had a large room on the 25th floor with a fridge and tea making facilities.

 As I would be staying here for four nights I was delighted with my room.  As soon as we had viewed our rooms we met up with Svetlana in the huge but very busy reception area for an orientation walk. It was pouring down and cold. I was pleased to see that the metro was very near as well as numerous cafes and shops.