Russia Adventure; The Kremlin (Outside)

Anya, our lovely tour guide, told me my new favorite useless fact: during wartime, enemy planes did not have accurate maps of much of Russia, and only had really terrible maps of Moscow. So, in order to confuse anyone who found their way to the capitol, windows were painted on the outside of the Kremlin, "to make it look like a house."

 Here's a view of the Kremlin from the river. To be fair, a lot of buildings in Moscow are very opulent, but I still can't imagine being in a bomber and flying over and going "nope, there's windows on that, definitely not the Kremlin." 

 That red tower on the corner was built so that lookouts could see and shoot any unfriendly ships attempting to incur on the Moscow waterway.

 The red wall that demarcates the Kremlin, and is where the windows were apparently painted.

 "nope, that's nothing important, no need to destroy it."

 There were several orthodox churches within the walls of the Kremlin- my favorite was the Annunciation Cathedral. Sadly, no photos were allowed in most places inside, especially not inside the cathedrals, so this is pretty much the best I have to give you. Sorry ;-;

 Ah yes, I see the windows. No, this large red wall cannot possibly contain anything of significance, it most definitely is simply a dwelling.

Really.
Best strategy ever. Well done, tactician who suggested this.

  One of my favorite things about Moscow is that the historical places are not set aside or anything- people drive to work around the Kremlin. Street fairs are held in the Red Square. 

 Look how fed up this guy looks with my touristy picture-taking. I giggle every time I see this picture. I'm sorry, random Muscovite, I am so sorry.

 Look how adorable! It was like a race with these little animals on wheels and you made them go forward by putting your feet in these stirrups and pushing back and forth like a seesaw. The little kids doing it were so cute and excited.

I think that's enough for now, I'll put up more later.