[ Aug.2017 ] After visiting the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin in Moscow, most of our tour members went continued on
for the optional tour to see the treasures in the Armory, but we did not join them and had a free time.
We went out of the Kremlin and walked on and on seeing the Russian State Library on our right to find the huge statue of Vladimir the Great which was completed only last year.
Building this statue was controversial.
Vladimir the Great was a hero of the 10th century who made Russia a Christian country and it is said that President Putin, whose first name is also Vladimir, built this statue to inflame people’s patriotism.
After looking it up, we went back the same way and headed for Red Square from the other side of the Kremlin.
The weather was nice and the colour contrast between the blue sky and the red wall of Kremlin and the red building of the History Museum was very nice.
I noticed some remaining Soviet signs of the Hammer and Sickle, which was surprising because it has been more than 25 years since Soviet Union collapsed.
Unfortunately, Red Square was closed because they were holding an event similar to a Tattoo.
Apparently they use Red Square for various events nowadays almost everyday, so you can rarely see the view of the vast space with St. Basil Cathedral at one end which I saw in my previous visits.
So we detoured and came out on one side entrance of GUM, the huge shopping mall.
Then we had to hurry back to the meeting place.
On the way back we walked inside the Alexander Garden beside the Kremlin.
At one point, someone called out to me, asking “Are you Japanese?” in Japanese.
He was a young man called Kirill who is learning the Japanese language in a university and wanted to have some conversation with me to improve his skill.
Unfortunately we did not have time before our meeting time, so I could not talk with him much.
I hope he is doing well.
And I realised afterwards that he recognised me as a Japanese among so many Chinese tourists, which somewhat made me relieved.
