Moscow Old and New

Fall found my husband and I cruising between Moscow and St. Petersburg on a Viking River Cruise. It was a real adventure and a learning experience for all of us as Russia isn't what we imagined it would be. The photo above demonstrates that beautifully. Much of Moscow looks like the foreground with brick buildings that are sand colored; however, the new Moscow looms in the distance with buildings that look straight out of the future. Skyscrapers were pretty much nonexistent for many years because the Tzars did not allow any building to be built higher than their palaces. The first more modern buildings came about after Stalin traveled to the United States and saw the Empire State Building. He came back and ordered architects to build something similar in the city of Moscow. As a result, there are seven buildings spread across Moscow that have a similar tower to the one below, which was our Raddison Hotel, that are now known as the Seven Sisters. It was Stalin's way of updating the city.

Can you see the resemblance to the Empire State Building?