Day 2 out on the square (the red one). We were first in line for tickets to the Armoury and Kremlin – even managed to get a friendly response using my extremely limited Russian. The ‘Summer Snow’ (poplar seeds) are falling thick across the city – freaky.

The Armoury and Diamond Exchange were beyod what we expected. We saw the Fabregè egg collection (they only have 10 of the original 57 – the rest are lost or in private/other collections). Also the Russian ‘Crown Jewels’ along with halls of precious jewels, masses of diamonds, platinum, gold and silver. Sorry Mom. No photos allowed at all. It seems that they decorated EVERYTHING with limitless supplies of shiny expensive stuff.

We spent the rest of the morning walking aroud the various cathederals ( x lots) and attrations (the Tsars canon and Bell) in the Kremlin. After the awe of the Armoury it was pretty dull.

Following a quick lunch in the massive shopping mall (located underground next to Red Square) we visited the Russian History Museum. Barely an English info board in sight made it boring and confusing. V and I were both falling asleep on our sore feet (Museum fatigue is setting in).

In the evening we went back out to take some night photos. Walked past the Balshoi (busy being renovated) and got a few shots of St. Basils and Red Square beautifully lit. Outside the Kremlin the locals were ignoring the ‘keep off the grass’ signs in the park – during the day I guess the guards chase them off because it was empty. Another budget cut maybe – the guards who watch over the ‘Unknown Soldier’ all day with an hourly changing ceremony knock off at 5 !

– Posted from my iPhone