June 7 – Moscow Canal & Moscow, Russia. Today we are joining the ship's city tour of Moscow and the evening Folk Orchestra performance. It's the same orchestra we saw on the 19th but this time I'll have enough time to comment on it more.
Last night Diana left the veranda door open and some mosquitos came in. I quickly transitioned into 'The Mosquito Hunter'. I turned on the lights above the desk where I was typing and one by one they showed up to a certain death. I killed five in about 20 minutes thereby earning the status of ace. Before they were all rounded up I had killed 7 and was hoping to become a double-ace but my supply of targets was exhausted.
We cruised on the Moscow Canal during the morning hours. Just as well because it was raining off and on. We arrived in Moscow at about 11AM and immediately departed on our city tour. On the way into town we passes the small but ornate Petrovsky Palace. Built in 1775 for Catherine II (the Great) as the last stopover place where she could rest up and get ready to enter Moscow. It's inside the city now but was just outside it in Catherine's time.
We drove around the city looking at the same sights as last time including the stop at Sparrow Hill for the city overlook. When we were driving down the embankment of the Kremlin we came to a park where the city has constructed some wire frame trees for people to attach locks of love onto. There were about six limos with bridal parties in the park. I assume they had attached their locks and were taking some photos.
Here's the Russian take on the Locks of Love. When you swear your love for each other you fasten the lock in some public place near water and then throw the key into the water, preferably a river. If someone wants to back out of the relationship they have to dive into the river, find the key and then open the lock. Good luck with that is all I can say. One of the lock trees had a huge padlock hanging down from the lowest branch. There are 22 of these 'trees' lining the embankment across from the park.
I was trying to take some pictures of some of the brides. One had a female photographer that I paused for when walking down the side walk so as not to intrude on the shot she was taking. She thanked me as I passed. Since she was shooting from the direction I was now walking I turned to see if I could get a good shot from that angle. I was about 10 feet past her when I looked back. She said something to the girls and then stepped aside. The girls all turned toward me and gave me a big smile, including the photographer. It's a pretty good picture. One of the bride's friends, a red-head in a very tight and short mini gave me the full pose. I'm telling you these Russians are friendly.
Another first, I saw my first mullet wedding dress. Actually it's sort of a reverse mullet. You know the mullet haircut, short in the front and long in the back. As Jeff Foxworthy says, "Business in the front and party in the back!" Well this wedding dress looked very traditional from the back, long white and flowing but in the front it was a mini-skirt. Party in the front and business in the back.
We also encountered brides at the Sparrow Hill Overlook. They were posing for a group of camera wielding Japanese tourists. About 40 of them were shooting away like it was a runway fashion show while the girls posed and smiled. Friendly is almost an understatement.
Then it was back to the Pobedy Metro station for the 4 stop ride to the Revolutionary Plaza station and up to Theater Square. Right on Theater Square there's a green line stop that will take us directly to the ship. The ship is located at the end of the green line so you just ride until you have to get off, almost 12 miles. That's probably what we'll do tomorrow, ride in and out on the Metro.
When we got to Red Square not only were they building a larger stage but the entire square was blocked off. You couldn't even walk around the perimeter. Even the sidewalk in front of the GUM Department store was closed. Since we've been on the square at least 3 times before we headed to the side entrance of GUM, up to the 3rd floor for a WC break and then down to the second to have a coffee in the café. I had a latte and a slice of ground cherry cheesecake. (If you don't know what a ground cherry is, Google it. If you've never tasted one, you're missing out. Cross a citrusy tomato with a pineapple and that's the taste. Delicious. They grew wild on my grandmother's farm and when we found a plant it was time to eat.) Diana had a juice mix drink and some ice cream. Both were very good.
We rejoined our group and walked to the bus. While driving to the concert we ate the box 'dinner' the ship gave us when we left. It had a sandwich, apple, banana, juice box (apple in my case), granola bar and a chocolate wafer bar like a Twix. This type of bar seems to be very popular here.
The Classical Fold Orchestra is one of the highlights of the trip. I have no reservations whatsoever about seeing them again. They are all advanced students at the conservatory. They are all graduates and the conductor is one of the professors. He has access to the best musicians that come to the school and it's the best in Moscow.
They not only play folk music but classical as well. On the classical pieces the small dormas take the role of violins and the larger dormas sub for the violas. A dorma is a stringed instrument with a round half-globe body. The cello and bass parts are played by balalaika section. There are several sizes but the two used here appear to be the alto or tenor size (prima is the second smallest and most common for solo work but wouldn't be in the right musical range for the part these are asked to play) and the contrabass, that's really huge and subs for the bass or contra-bass in a regular orchestra. The two bayan (Russian accordion like instruments) take the brass and horn lines. The harp and other strings are covered by the guslis (harp or zither type instruments) both large and small. There's also a flute and oboe plus lots of percussion. An opera singer accompanied them on two numbers. The gusli player had a solo and the dorma and balalaika first and second chairs played duets. The two percussionists had a duel on the xylophone. Lots of humor and very good music.
Another evening of culture. Soon I won't recognize myself.
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