The Reddest Square in the World (Mother Russia Part II)

Site of numerous military parades showing the world just how many guns, soldiers and missles the former Soviet Union had, the Red Square now has less of a military aura to it. The soldiers have been reduced in numbers, limited to the few guarding the Kremlin and those visiting Comrade Lenin’s final resting place. Pris and I had kind of bungled our way into the Red Square. We first saw the walls of the Kremlin through a side street and headed straight for it but as it turned out the Moskva River came between us and the Red Square so we headed off to the nearest bridge to get to it. It really doesn’t matter how you get to the Red Square, your first sight of it is always leaves you feeling that it’s a bit empty in the middle. Squares throughout the world are usually adorned with fountains, columns, or statues in the middle, but the Red Square is exactly that, an empty cobble stone square (more like a rectangle actually) with nothing in the middle. What surrounds it however, more than makes up for what’s missing. On the east side, is the Kremlin the seat of Power for the whole Russian Federation. On its west side lies the former state owned GUM department store but which has since been transformed into a very capitalistic collection of brand name stores housed inside the beautifully lit up façade. Not sure if it’s still state owned but it sure is pretty inside. I imagine twenty years ago, people lining up outside to buy a pair of socks. On its north side is the National Historical Museum and the reconstructed Resurrection gate. Undoubtedly, the most recognized structure on the Red Square, and one used as a backdrop for oh so many news feeds transmitted from Russia, is St. Basil’s Church. Your eyes are immediately drawn to it’s colorful twirly top and onion shaped domes and you kind of zone out the rest of the square. So mesmerizing is the church that I totally passed by the modern square blocks that houses Lenin on my first visit to the square, apologies Comrade Lenin. Oh yes, you must make more than one visit to the square, once during daytime and once at night when everything is lit up. It's like you've been to two different places.

The Square itself is filled with tourists like ourselves. Every now and then you have some old folk bringing flowers to the heroes of the Soviet Union (Stalin included) buried behind Lenin’s Mausoleum. And although there is the spattering of Japanese and Chinese tourists, the majority seems to be Russians themselves, visiting the capital from whatever federation state they come from. More than once, while carrying my camera gear with me I’ve been approached by them saying “skolka, skolka?” (how much?) and I had to explain to them that I myself was a tourist much like them (and not some Luneta photographer).

I forgot to mention, the "Red" in Red Square has nothing to do with the communist history of the country, rather it is tied to the word "krasnaya" which apart from meaning red, also means "beautiful" and beautiful it is. . . . . red. . . . not so much.