Pat Black picked us up at the Moscow Airport.  After a 90 minute ride, we settled into his apartment and slept for a few hours.  After a quick dinner from Cathy (thanks Cathy!) we jumped on the metro and headed to Red Square.  Wow.  Red Square.  Who would have thought?

As we stared at St Basil’s Cathedral (left),Pat gave us some history.  Evidently St Basil’s was built by Ivan the Terrible.  Ivan had it designed and built by a foreign designer/architect.  When the building was completed, Ivan found that the building was beautiful and wanted to make sure that the designed would never build anything as beautiful again.  So he had his eyes gouged out. 

This land is filled with a rich and brutal history. 

Less that 24 hours on the ground.  More later.

Reality check.  Last night.  9:00 PM.

Scot:  How long is the flight from New York to Moscow?

Steph:  12 1/2  hours.

Scot:  Excuse me?

That’s longer than any flight we had last Summer. Dang.  Time to grab a book and download some video to the iPod.