Dancing with the Tsars

Earlier this month the travel gods took me to Moscow. Actually Turkish Airways flight #1415 from Istanbul deposited me at Sheremetyevo International Airport where my Russian host plucked me out of the invading hordes.

Everyone is going to Moscow. The Russians are now free to travel as are the many citizens of the former Soviet Republics. The city is one big construction site as people rush to get jobs or – for the monied class – invest while the investing is good.

An article in the Moscow Times revealed that a British syndicate was about to invest 2 billion euros in an upscale St. Petersburg’s project because it was cheaper than what it would have cost in Moscow. Whew.

There are tall construction cranes around the Kremlin area which, of course, is the heart of Moscow. Here the Russian Tsars ~ and the newer incarnations ~ have ruled for centuries including the fabled House of Romanov. The Kremlin itself is a hodgepodge of museums, armories, cathedrals, a medieval fortress and a modern glass and concrete conference hall. All this a true maze of architecture and certainly an amazing experience to walk around the former nexus of communist power.

Below the Kremlin Walls, the bunched onion domes of St. Basil Cathedral is a dramatic exclamation point to the whole area. It is a beautiful structure with swirling colors and red brick towers.

Close your eyes and go back a few hundred years and you could be Dancing with the Tsars.