scenes from Moscow

Over the weekend Megan an I went to Moscow. Overnight trains there and back, a couple nights with acquaintances of hers, some sight-seeing and souvenir-buying, and many complaints at the cold and earliness of the sunset. Proof we were there:
Disappointing Novodevichy Monastery/Cemetery:
cool tree:
graffiti:
river at night. You can see a ski-jump to the right of one of the Moscow State U buildings:
Lenin Mausoleum. We saw Lenin's body. Not something I will soon forget. We waited in line, checked our bags, went through a metal detector, were hustled through the room, yelled at to keep hands out of pockets, and then dumped outside on the other side to look at the graves of the rest of the Soviet leaders. Lenin looked waxy and fake. I'm so glad we got to see him!
The sun rises on St. Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square:
and on the Kremlin:
this stray dog was striking the most ridiculously regal pose outside St Basil's that I had to take a picture. He stayed still for at least three:
looking SO happy to see St. Basil's:
tomb of the Unknown Soldier:
poorly-photographed tribute to the Odessa ancestors:
one of the several cool cathedrals inside the Kremlin walls:
Red Square, considerably busier at 1pm than at 9 am:
Vyatcheslav Borisovich. He sells birch-bark souvenirs and was an unexpected mine of ancient Slavic history, folklore and etymology. Fascinating. He kept talking and talking, I kept saying "uh-huh" and Megan kept freezing and not understanding. One of the best half-hours in Moscow:
then we came back to the apartment and couldn't get in. Waiting for many minutes in the snow: