Happy Birthday St. Basil's!

Today is the anniversary of St. Basil's Cathedral. It is 450 years old this year!

St. Basil's, Tourists and Construction

I learned something interesting about its name. In English it is usually called "St. Basil's", but in Russian it is called "Собор Василия Блаженного" - "Saint Vasili's Cathedral."

"Василия" is the possessive form of the Russian name "Василий" - "Vasili" (which has a short, informal form "Вася" - "Vasya.") The character "В" in Russian actually sounds like "V" in English, a hard English "B" sound in Russian is made by the character "Б."

So the Cathedral can be called "St. Basil's" or "St. Vasili's." :-)

Red Square

I also couldn't help myself -- I had to take a quick flight around the square.

Meeeeee!

Yours,
Michael TheMonkey