Moscow is the New York City of Russia. It's a busy, hustle-bustle business center. While rubles, dollars and euros make the city go round, there are a number of sights worth slowing down for, and many of them can be found in or around the Kremlin and Red Square.

Most major Russian cities with a history have kremlins, or fortresses, but the Kremlin in Moscow is the granddaddy of them all. The Kremlin is a self-contained refuge - an entire city within a city. Inside, one can find signs of Soviet Russia within an Imperial setting. At the heart of the Kremlin is Cathedral Square, and at its core is the Cathedral of the Assumption. The grand cathedral is surrounded by smaller cathedrals, palaces and towers. And, seeming a bit out of place in the Imperial setting, there is a statue of Lenin. The Senate, a building commissioned by Catherine the Great, was the location of Lenin's office and is now the official home of the President, but I didn't see Putin during my visit.

The Tsar Cannon and Bell are also located within the Kremlin. The cannon, built under the reign of Ivan the Terrible's son Fydor in the late 1500s, weighs 40 tons and has a barrel larger than five meters. The bell is the largest in the world - 200 tons. So large, in fact, that it has never been successfully rung. A small scrap of the bell, weighing in at 11 tons, is displayed next to it.

Paint the Town Red

Probably tourists... but the Beatles' White Album tune stuck in my head as we crossed the Red Square, taking in the Assumption church with its sun-lit golden domes, Lenin's sealed mausoleum and the rounded platform where Ivan the Terrible the had countless Russians decapitated.

The highlight of Red Square, and of Moscow, is the very symbol of Russia: the rich onion-domed St. Basil's Cathedral. Although I've been to the cathedral more times than I've flown into Russia, I had never before been admitted. It was always closed for renovations during my visits. Ivan the Terrible was looking down on me this day; I was allowed to enter the cluster of nine sanctuaries the tsar had commissioned... before he had the architects' eyes burnt out to ensure the cathedral remain one of a kind.

As with Red Square, I was surprised to find that the interior of one of the world's most recognizable churches was not larger. The brick interior was decorated with beautiful, ancient icons, and you could see all the way up into the insides of the domes. Compact as the self-guided tour was, it was like venturing through the old temples of a past civilization. In fact, that's just what it was.

Armenian Appetizers in the Alley

Russian beer has certainly evolved. When I first visited in 1994, I remember only a couple brands of pivo. Now, there are too many to remember, and most brands have a variety of marks, distinguished by their numbers. I highly recommend Baltica 4, 6 and 9 and Makari 10 and 12. And, like most good pivos, they can be found anywhere in Russia for about 50 cents a bottle.

But Russian beer isn't the only thing that has changed since 1994. Russia is not the nation I found when I first visited as a student. Still reforming itself from socialism to capitalism, much has changed: from the number of cars, to the number of businesses, to the number of the 'new Russians' - the newly rich businesspeople. There's even a new sort of joke in Russia to illustrate the mentality of those who have become rich off of Russia's new market.

"How much did you pay for that tie," asks one 'new Russian'.

"I got it for $100," is the proud answer.

"Then you were cheated," comes the smug response. "I bought the same tie for $200."

New Russians are more common, but they still aren't the average Russian. New Russians, the business of quick deals, and the fact that a tenured professor or practiced doctor can make much more money selling vodka on the street corner than they can practicing their skill - these are subjects for a different article. We're here to have fun. So we buy another round of pivo at the kiosk and pop the bottle cap off on a nearby fence of wrought iron.

Apartment Living

In this apartment (and in most others I have visited) we enjoyed my favorite Russian passtime - sitting around a table and talking, with the exceptional accents induced by good food and drink. Often such meetings also include playing guitar, singing folk songs and dancing. But tonight, conversation carried the time... with the crutch of vodka, beer and cognac.