Sun26Jun16: ... Sunday we went to more churches...

For breakfast I tried an apple & caramel pliny (a.k.a. crepe roll), Kathy stuck to her 'tried and true' ham & cheese pliny; there's just no end to our daring spirit when it comes to clearing the cobwebs out of our addled brains in the early morning hours.
Down into the Metro and a subway ride out to Novodevichiy,

 a fortified religious institution near the Olympic Park and noteworthy as the burial site of very important Russian artists, military officers, writers, government officials, musicians, and not-so-revered politicians, etc.  Since the cemetery is closed for a funeral until 1pm we tour through the convent section, originally founded in 1524 but with subsequent construction of churches and buildings inside the walls.

This cemetery contains a collection of very large and ostentatious headstones, busts carved on a stone  column, embedded photographs, a bronze pet dog, etc.  Well known figures such as Nikita Kruschev,

and Boris Yeltsin (whose headstone is a large concrete Russian flag),

the musical composer Prokofiev who wrote "Peter and the Wolf",

Josef Stalin's second wife (and you don't want to know what happened to his first wife),

 and a large red heart at the gravesite of a famous Russian cardiologist.














 

Down into the Metro and return to Moscow centre for lunch at Mr. Pit (who serves pita sandwiches),

 and then a tour of the huge Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.






Looks like a good time to use the second day of our pass on the Hop-on Hop-off Bus, so we grab a ride that is going around Route #2 Green, also getting a farewell view of Gorkiy Park and taking the long way 'round to Red Square.


 Moscow temperature today is 30C, sunny, and the stones of Red Square are radiant and hot.  We take the interior tour of St. Basil's Cathedral, a collection of small chapels and rooms on two levels, but not nearly as striking as the multi-coloured exterior.

Now 5:15pm and time to walk back home, up the slight grade to Ulitsa Ulinka and Ulitsa Maroseyka, into the Old Moscow Mini-Hotel where we catch the last 15 minutes of the Euro2016 match between France and Ireland.  A shorter day but still enough distance for Kathy's feet to let her know they've had enough exercise.
Supper at the Deli, then home for more Euro2016 matches in the evening.