More Culture...Moscow River Cruise

A couple weeks ago we officially entered the season of "White Nights" in Moscow, where the sun is up and shining by 5 am and doesn't set till well after 10 pm. These long days, combined with a lull in Scott's travel schedule, have afforded us the chance to do not just one, but two cultural activities in Moscow in one week! Yay us!

We chose to go on a dinner cruise along the Moscow River, a very popular activity during the long summer nights. The Moscow River winds in and around much of the city so it's a great way to see a lot of stuff from a unique (water-based) vantage point. 

The cruise took off from the very large and very old and very historic Hotel Ukraina (now called the Radisson Royal Hotel but everyone knows it also as Ukraina). That in and of itself is a destination. The hotel is seriously massive and really dominates the skyline - it was the tallest hotel in the world from 1957 (when it was built) until a Westin opened in Atlanta in 1976. It is one of Moscow's famous "Seven Sisters" Stalin-era buildings and has the corresponding "wedding cake" structure by which they are all easily recognized.

Hotel Ukraina

Inside the hotel they have a cool diorama of the Kremlin and surrounding area from 1977. There's an audio guide with headphones so you can learn a bit about the different buildings and their significance. The diorama is built on a 1:75 scale with all sorts of neat, realistic details and kind of reminds me of something you'd see on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. :)

Mr. Rogers...

...and "Moscow: Capital of the USSR" diorama with Kremlin churches and a clear shot of the red brick wall that (still) surrounds all the Kremlin buildings. See what I mean about Mr. Rogers?

Another shot of the diorama with a view of Saint Basil's Cathedral. Again....is it me or is this so totally Mr. Rogers!?

After checking out the diorama, we left the hotel and set off to find out boat.

My cute hubs, ready to get cruisin'.

Off we go! View from our boat looking at another river cruiser (there were probably 10 boats that shoved off around the same time as us). Behind the boat is a "Gasprom"  building. Gasprom is one of the major Russian oil companies.

People hanging out by the river since it was such nice night.

Old Soviet space shuttle.

Peter the Great statue

A couple shots of the churches inside the Kremlin walls.

Just as we got closer to the churches and buildings inside the Kremlin walls, the sun started setting. Nice job, Captain!

Kremlin government building (with red wall in the foreground).

Grand Finale: Church of Christ the Savior with the sun setting behind. This church is not inside the Kremlin walls, but it was on the route back to the hotel docks.

Yep, that's us! One last pre-baby date night.