MAY 9th is Victory Day...World War II ....Also this year the Russian Orothodox Easter was on May 1st, so the entire country was in festive attire.
May 9, 1974 - USA - Judiciary Committee opened public hearings to recommend the impeachment of President Nixon.
THE KREMLIN (fortified stronghold) 
The apex of Russian political power and once the centre of the Orthodox Church, the kernel not only of Moscow but of the whole country. It's from here tsars, communist dictators and modern-day presidents have done their best and worst for Russia. Inside these walls is the seat of 800 years of artistic accomplishment,religious ceremony and political power. 
History - built in 1147 and was once a wooden fort. When the city became the capital of Medieval Russia in the 1320's , the Kremlin served as the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church and the seat of the prince.
The ambition of Ivan III (the Great) was to build a capital that would equal the fallen Constantinople in grandeur,power, achievements and architecure. In an effort to build the "third Rome" he brought from Italy stonemasons and architects, who build new walls,three great cathedrals and other structures. Most of the present day buildings date from this period. 
The fortress was captured by Napoleon who inflicted serious damage before making his retreat in 1812. The citadel wouldn't be breached again until the Bolsheviks stormed the place in November 1917.
Assumption Cathedral 
Focal church of prerevolutionary Russia and the burial place of most of the heads of the Russian Orthodox Church from the 1320's to 1700. 
A 1660 fresco of the Virgin Mary faces Sobornaya pl, above the door once used for royal processions.
The Tsar Bell- world's biggest bell. A 202 ton bell that has never rung. It was cast in the 1730's for Empress Ivanovna. It was cooling off in the foundry casting pit in 1737 when it came into contact with water, causing an 11 ton chunk to break off.
Tsar Cannon - 40 ton cannon. It was cast in 1586. No shot has ever sullied it 89cm bore- certainly not the cannonballs beside it which are too big for this cannon.
TRETYAKOV GALLERY
Designed by Russian - revivalist artist Viktor Vasnetsov to resemble an exotic boyar castle, the gallery houses the world's biggest collection of Russian icons and prerevolutionary Russian art. 
The Peredvizhniki (Wanderers) movement was founded here. 
CATHEDRAL OF CHRIST THE SAVIOUR
Dominating the skyline along the Prechistenskaya, the large Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was completed in 1997, in time to celebrate Moscow's 850 birthday.
The cathedral sits on the site of an earlier and similar church of the same name built to celebrate Russia's victory over Napoleon. Stalin destroyed the original in 1931 during his orgy of explosive secularism. His Palace of high Soviets never got off the ground. For 30 years the cathedral had the world's largest swimming pool!!
Also, this is the Cathedral where "Pussy Riot" was arrested and imprisioned for a year for illegally perfoming inside.
GORKY PARK
Culture and liesure in all shapes and forms. Designed by avant-garde architect Konstantin Melnikov as a piece of Communist utopia in the 1920's, these days it highlights the "enlightened" transformation Moscow has done in the recent past.
The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art plays the flagship role in the park. The brainchild of Moscow art fairy Darya Zhukova, the girlfriend of Roman Abramovich, is one of the hottest modern art venues in the capital.
MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY in SPARROW HILLS
Moscow State University - one of the "seven sisters" that Stalin had built during the 1949-1953 era..four years of hard labor by convicts. It is 36 stories high and 33kms of corridors. The area that surrounds is Sparrow Hills. The University has 50,000 students and boasts 40 different degrees.
Stalin's 7 sisters- the foundations for seven large skyscrapers were laid in 1947 to mark Moscow's 800th anniversary. Stalin had decided that Moscow suffered from a 'skyscraper gap' when compared with the USA. 
One of the main architects,Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky, had worked in New York during the skyscraper boom of the 1930's. Fortunately he had been released from the Gulag in time to help!!!
Foreign Affairs Ministry;Hilton Moscow; Katelnicheskya apartment block; Kudrinskaya apartment block; Moscow State University; Radisson Royal; and Transport Ministry.
The first public park in Moscow sits along the Kremlin's western wall. The Neglinnaya River runs through the present garden with dams and mills along its banks. The garden was formed in 1821.
PETER THE GREAT
Peter the I , known as "Peter the Great" for his commanding frame (6'6") and equally commanding victory over the Swedes, dragged Russia kicking and screaming into mondern Europe. He spent much of his youth travelling in Europe. He ordered boyers to shave their beards, imported European advisers and craftspeople, and rationalised state administration. He founded the College of Mathematics and Navigation. He was installed as tsar in 1682 and ruled with his half-sister Sofia Alekseyevna.
PARK ALONG THE MOSCOW RIVER
VICTORY SYMBOL.......
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