Saint Basil's Cathedral In Moscow
Have you ever been somewhere and gotten emotional? Seen something while you are traveling that made you stop in your tracks and just take it in? That is how I was when I saw Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow which is in The Red Square.
First of all, I never in a million years thought that I would travel to Russia. My mom was in Russia in the 60’s and she has told me stories about The Red Square, the Moscow metro, and how it was for her to travel around Moscow as a Black woman. I have heard about Moscow all my life and have always wanted to visit, but I just thought it was one of those places I would only read about and never get to experience.
So when this trip became reality, one of the things I was most excited about seeing was Saint Basil’s Cathedral. I didn’t realize how excited I was until I started walking towards it. You have to go through an arch to get to The Red Square and as I was walking towards the arch my heart was beating faster and faster. I was so excited. Then I saw Saint Basil’s Cathedral from far away and my eyes started to tear.
As I walked through the arch the tears started falling down my cheek and I was a bit embarrassed cause I know I must have looked ridiculous but I was so happy. Just knowing that my mom had walked in this square so many years ago and that I was able to travel to this place after hearing about it all my life and to now be standing in direct line of this majestic building that has mesmerized me my whole life was overwhelming.
And sometimes you have built up this expectation in your head about how great you think something will be then when you see it you think, “Is that it?” That’s how I felt about The Mona Lisa (I’ll tell you about that later) but I was not disappointed at all with Saint Basil’s Cathedral. It was as beautiful as I thought it was going to be and I couldn’t stare at it enough. I walked around it, stood in front of it, and just stared. It is one of the most beautiful structures I have ever seen.
We spent four days in Moscow and everyday I made sure to go and look at Saint Basil’s Cathedral. In fact, on the way to the airport we asked the taxi driver if we could drive around it one last time and thankfully he agreed.
The pic below is of us as we jumped out, had the taxi driver snap the pic and then we headed to the airport. I have never seen architecture like this before, and I still can’t believe that I was able to see something so beautiful in person. It met all my expectations and I’m still thrilled that I was able to see it.
