A Visit to Moscow

Two weeks ago today, St. Basil's Cathedral turned 450 years old.  This beautiful monument to medieval Russia and Tsar Ivan the Terrible is a Russian Orthodox church built at Ivan's behest to celebrate a military victory.  It's really quite a breathtaking and unique structure and no matter how many times I've visited Red Square, I cannot stop myself from taking a bunch of pictures of it.

                                                               Here's a photo I took of St. Basil's on our trip last fall. 
                                                              It was the first time we've been to Red Square at night.

This summer, some of the kids and staff from the orphanage had a chance to travel to Moscow to visit St. Basil's and see other sites.  They got to see a ballet at the Bolshoi Theater, visit some animals at the zoo, tour the city by boat along the Moscow River, and eat at a fancy restaurant.  Not to mention the train ride from Kirov to Moscow, which is really a lot more fun than it sounds.  When I heard about the trip the kids took to Moscow I was so happy for them and felt very grateful for the great staff of caregivers at the orphanage. 

Here's a photo of the kids in Red Square this summer.

In the background is one of the walls of the Kremlin.

I would be remiss if I didn't make another plug for writing letters to the kids.  I can't emphasize enough just how important these letters are and how very, very easy it is to do.  Let us know if you'd like a transatlantic pen pal.  And we're still trying to raise money to buy gifts for the orphanage graduates.  See previous posts for details.