A Brief Stop at Red Square

On the way to the second airport, our driver stopped off at Red Square to let us look around a little (we had a 9 hour layover… there was plenty of time). I find it really hard to believe that the world has changed so much in my lifetime. In high school, my idea of red square was time magazine photos of military parades complete with missiles and tanks. I never imagined that I be standing there 20 years later. Now, it’s full of tourists and cameras. St. Basil’s Cathedral is every bit as impressive as you always hear. We also saw Lenin’s tomb, but we didn’t have time to tour either of these… maybe on trip #2. My impression is that in Moscow, the free market economy has taken root more than I had guessed. There is also A LOT of new building. Construction cranes are everywhere. There is a mix of Soviet era ugly concrete apartment buildings along with very elaborate new apartment buildings. Much of Moscow you could easily confuse with a U.S. City (signs printed in Cyrillic aside).