Moscow In the spring
of 2004 we
traveled to Moscow, Russia. Nancy's brother Dale
was
working at the US embassy there so we wanted to take advantage of the
built in tour guide.
Red square is in the center of Moscow. From this vantage
point
you see GUM, the state department store, on the right with the big red
banner. Saint Basil's Cathedral is in the center and the
Kremlin
is on the left.
My picture of Red Square was selected to be used on the masthead of the mendeleyev journal. It is an online source of information about the life, art, culture, language and music of Russia. Here is link to their Soup page (chosen because I like their soups). Ones you may try include Borsch (борщ), Schi (Щи), Uha (Уха),
and Okroshka (Oкрошка).
This is us in front of
st. Basil's
just to prove we really were there. GUM is
basically a mall
with about 1000 independent trendy shops.
One of the entrances to
the
Kremlin. Inside we saw the Tsar's cannon. It has
never been
fired probably because no one can figure out how to load one of those
cannon balls. The Tsar's bell was never rung. It
cracked
when it was cooled too fast when it was poured. Why did it
cool
to fast? Because the workers poured water on it to put out
the
fire from the hot metal hitting the wooden form. We were a
bit
surprised to find several cathedrals inside the Kremlin walls.
Midnight in Moscow,
pictures not the
Kenny Ball recording. The Russian White House is the home to their
parliament. Victory Park fountains. Novodevichy
Convent.
Novodevichy Convent
where Tsars sent
their wives to keep them out of trouble or when they wanted a new one.
The
Cathedral of Christ the
Savior was built to celebrate Russia's victory over Napoleon's army in
the Great
Patriotic War of 1812. In1931 Stalin had it destroyed and a
swimming pool was put in its place. In 1995 construction was
begun on the present cathedral with the highest cross being put in
place in 1996.
A few of the other churches
we saw in
Moscow.
A memorial to a famous
russian clown
in the cemetery next to Novodevichy. Many famous
people are
buried here including Chekhov, Eisenstein, Gogol, Khrushchev,
Kropotkin, Mayakovsky, Prokofiev, Stanislavsky and Shostakovich.
The Moscow Metro is an
amazing
place. Every station has it's own unique art and
architecture. The trains run every 90 seconds during rush
hour
and every couple of minutes during the rest of the day. It is easy to
use if you can read the station names or plan your trip and count
stops. We managed one trip unescorted by Dale or Lucy and
didn't
have a problem. The walls and floors are a geology
museum.
Many of the stations were outfitted with heavy doors during the cold
war to provide fallout shelters in the case of an American atomic
attack. With stations as much as 300 feet deep direct
radiation
wouldn't have been a problem.
We visited Gorky Park in
the
rain. Guards at the entrance weren't going to let us in even
though we could see that there were people walking through.
Lucy
talked with (read bribed) them and we got to look around.
Across
the street is the graveyard of statues where many monuments from
earlier times have been stored.
The entrance to the
Moscow Zoo just
down the street from the American Embassy and one of the kids that was
visiting.
Detski Mir (Children's
World) is the
largest children's store in Russia. The store wasn't at all
busy
and the sales people were very helpful.
.
Lucy wanted to show us
her
apartment. We encouraged her to give us a musical performance
and
she obliged. She is very good.
Would you believe these
are garages
for cars.
The natural history
museum looked
like it hadn't changed in 50 years except for the accumulation of
dust. They did have the largest display of butterflies I have
ever seen.
It took some doing to
find the Folk
Art Museum. Many of the roads in Moscow change names as you
go
from one block to the next so pay careful attention to your
map.
However many street names are being replaced by ones that don't remind
people of the Soviet era so your map won't list the name on the street
sign. Good luck. Once at the museum we
saw displays
of many forms of folk art. This woman was working
on bobbin
lace to pass the time not as an exhibit. In galleries on
other
floors were matryoshka dolls and glass art.
The Verdinha main gate (I probably don't have
that
spelled right). The Friendship of the Peoples fountain has
statues of
16 girls in national dress - one from each of the Soviet
republics. The park is also known as the Exhibition
of the Achievements of the People's Economy or VDNKh. There
are
pavilions to show the products and features of each of the Soviet
Republics and others to display various industries and
achievements. Now nearly all of the displays have been
replaced
with little kiosks selling souvenirs, electronics, household goods,
clothing, or things you may need in your dacha. There was
even a
display of little dacha cabins that could be purchased as a kit to be
assembled for your vacation home.
Yes, it is a
McDonalds. Signs
like this helped me to learn more of the Russian alphabet.
The Bolshoi
theater. We
attended and opera there mostly so we could see the interior.
Young couples often go
to a park
overlooking Moscow to get their wedding pictures taken.
Izmailovsky is a huge
flea market and
place to get souvenirs and almost anything else you can
carry.
Just outside the gate a russian bear and trainer perform.
Inside
we had shashlik form one of the stands and purchased matryoshka dolls
from this vendor. Note the Yankees hat.
