May 16 – Moscow, Russia. This morning at 10:30AM we have a walking tour of the subways and a pedestrian street with a local guide. Breakfast was served in the Veranda Restaurant and I have never seen such a variety of food. There were even fancy pastry deserts that you never see at breakfast. They also had a omelet bar that would make eggs if you didn't want the serve-yourself scrambled. A great selection, we're off to a good start.
Our guide was early but some of our fellow travelers were late so we didn't get off to a timely start. The walk to the Kievskaya Metro station was almost a mile. This station was the first to be completed during the Nikita Kruschev era. Nikita was from the Kiev so it was named for his home city. From there our guide took us to some of the oldest and most beautiful Metro stations you'll ever see. We entered at the station closest, about 2/3 of a mile, to the hotel, the Kievskaya Station, actually КИЕВСКАЯ in Cyrillic. In other words, just because you know how to pronounce something, you won't necessarily be able to recognize it in print. This station is somewhat historic. It was the first station completed after Stalin was no longer in office. The current leader, Nikita Khrushchev was born in Kiev and he had it named after his birth city. That means this station was finished sometime in the 1950s. It has large, very beautiful mosaics depicting scenes from the history of the Russian Revolution.
We also visited the Novoslobodskaya Station. Designed by Alexey Dushkin it has 32 stained glass panels depicting professions of the Soviet State. Because Russia had no real stained glass tradition, the panels were made in Latvia. Komsomolskaya Station has large mosaics on the ceiling. The one of Lenin giving a speech in front of the Kremlin wall was very patriotic, if not a great picture. Revolutionary Square (Not the real Russian name but this one I could translate) Station has large sculptures in the corner of each archway leading to the trains. In the center there are Russian soldiers on alert for the invading hoards of Capitalists that surely will want to take Mother Russia. Going out from there are statues of various workers. When the Mayor of Moscow saw them he said they didn't look happy enough to be good communist workers and had the sculptor sent to Siberia. When Stalin saw the station he thought the demeanor of the statues was perfect for a serious worker of the state and had the sculptor brought back from Siberia. Don't know if that guy knew how lucky he was.
We left the Metro at the Smolenskaya Station to walk down Old Arbat a long, wide pedestrian only avenue with shops and restaurants. There are Russian cafes of course but they also had a pub called the The Postmeister (the sign is a large German postman with a huge stein of beer), Hard Rock Café, Moscow, and just to cover all the bases McDonald's and Subway
There are items of historical interest as well. The 18th Century home in which Alexander Pushkin, considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet, lived while in Moscow. In 1820 he was banished from here because his writings had taken a very radical tone. He also wrote novels and plays. In the mid-1820s he wrote Boris Godunov, his best play while living in semi-confinement on his mother's estate but could not get approval to publish it until five years later. In fact, the uncensored play was first produced in 2007. I guess things were tough for radicals in Russia at the time. The Tsars did not tolerate dissent easily.
In 1831 he married 18-year-old Natalya Goncharova. They were only married for 6 years but she had 4 children. A rumor of an affair with her brother-in-law, Georges d'Anthès, provoked a duel between the two. Both were wounded but Pushkin's spleen had been pierced and he died two years later. It has been proposed that Natalya became the mistress of Tsar Nicholas I after that before being married to one of his generals.
Just across the street from the house is a bronze statue of the couple. If it's at all accurate she was a tall (taller than Pushkin anyway) slender, wasp-waisted beauty. I guess Jimmy Soul's "If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life" was right in Pushkin's case. If you don't know the song, Google the title and read the lyrics. They're a riot.
While walking we passed the same group of young ladies at least three times. The last time I saw them they had formed a semi-circle around a pan flute player and were listening to his excellent music.
Just down the street is a theater where the opera Turandot was first staged in Moscow. They've erected a gilded statue of her in front of it. It's actually a fountain by Alexander Bourganov a national artist of Russia.
At that time our walking tour ended and Diana and I didn't want to go back to the hotel but were going to try to get to Red Square to see the inside of St. Basil's Church. To make the best use of our touring time we decided, as we sometimes do, to eat at McDonald's. I tell you, worldwide there's no restaurant chain of any kind busier than Micky D's. Almost every one we've been in outside the USA is much busier than they are at home.
Having eaten and rested a bit we headed off to tackle the Metro on our own. I'm usually very good with subways because I can read a map but the system here is unique in their use of signs. Of course being in Cyrillic doesn't help. The most confusing part is that above the tracks, opposite the platform, they list the stops for all the trains that you can connect to. Most subways just list the stops of the line that runs on that track. It's a bit tricky to know exactly which train you are seeing and which direction it's going. But after you get the hang of what's going on it's really very easy to use. A ride is 30 rubles. As long as you stay underground and transfer underground you never have to pay again. If you go above ground you have to pay to get back in, again 30 rubles. Since that's just about $1 even it's a good deal. Taxis are very expensive here and traffic is so bad you can take an hour to make a 10 minute trip as certain times of the day. I have to say that traffic is never really good. Thank heaven that 9 of the 12 million residents use the Metro.
We eventually got ourselves sorted out and arrived at the Revolutionary Plaza station, went a long way up to get out, probably 100 meters or so and walked the 2 blocks to Red Square. Where I learned something new. St. Basil's Cathedral is not a single church. It's actually 9 churches. Each tower has a church inside it. Normally you'd think of the others as chapels but they are not. They share a foundation but are only connected by walkways and passages; each is a stand-alone church. I know this is overkill but the churches are (starting in the front and going clockwise) The Church of Saints Cyprian and Justina, The Church of St. Basil the Blessed, The Church of the Three Patriarchs of Constantinople, The Church of the Holy Trinity, The Church of Alexander of Svir, The Church of St. Nicholas Velikoretsky, The Church of St. Varlaam of Khutyn, The Church of the Entry into Jerusalem, The Church of St. Gregory of Armenia and in the center tower The Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin.
So, if you want to say that you've visited 8 churches on your stay in Moscow you can get it done in just a few minutes by paying 250 rubles and running around the passages between the towers. Seriously, it's a fantastic place. The iconography is absolutely beautiful. Needless to say they are all Russian Orthodox churches.
Repeat of the Italics Warning: If you just want travel stuff do not read anything I put in italics. If you remember my warning I write this journal for myself. It's pretty much stream of consciousness and written narrative style because that's the only way I know how to write that doesn't sound like technical writing. When I get a bug in my ear and want to vent or when I find something interesting that I want to record that I don't think will be of interest to anyone else or might be offensive to some who have a more politically correct bent than I do, I write in italics. A word to the wise….
Religiosity Note: I'm pretty well versed in Roman Catholic traditions and symbolism but I have a lot to learn about Russian Orthodox beliefs in specific and Eastern theology in general. I know the split in the early Church when the Eastern Church separated from the Roman was somewhat complex. The lightning rod for the discussion has always purported to be about universal papal supremacy and that was certainly part of the issue. The underlying issue was had a more theological basis. The Roman Church decided to alter the Nicene Creed to say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son rather than just the Father. A large part of the church objected to that saying that both the Son and the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father. The rejection was partly based on the fact that the work of the original 7 ecumenical counsels was being overridden but also on the fact that as a matter of belief they disagreed with the character of the Holy Spirit. Not sure how the Romans reached their conclusion that a change was needed. Jesus himself said that when he was gone "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate (Comforter-KJV) to help you and be with you forever." Seems pretty clear to me. But then what do I know, my mind hasn't been trained by years in a cemetery…er I mean seminary.
The sun was not good for pictures of Red Square in general so I'll save that for out next visit. But I did get a nice shot of the GUM department store's front façade. Inside there will have to wait too. We headed back to the metro and the 3 stops to the station nearest our hotel. When we got back we met someone who had returned just after the walking tour and his pedometer showed that he had walked 4 miles. I figure we tacked on at least 3-4 more going to St. Basil's and walking around Red Square. Quite enough for one day. Have I mentioned it's very warm here, in the 80s. I wasn't expecting that.
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