Have you ever seen Sheldon and Leonard on The Big Bang Theory play three-dimensional chess? Well, I feel like a live figure in a three-dimensional chess game when I go into the Moscow subway. You have to go down or up so many different levels and you have to walk long, long ways underground if you are at a station where more than one line meets and you have to transfer. Notice in the last picture of the previous blog that there are some metal barricades. These are to keep the crowds going up and down the escalators separated. Now imagine that a couple hundred people are getting off the train and all want to go up or down that single escalator. It’s like you’re being funneled into a cattle chute and you can only go with the flow (literally) and step on the escalator when you get pushed there with the rest of the crowd. This is not for the claustrophobic. The population of Moscow has just grown so much and it’s not like you can rebuild a subway station every couple of years. And today there were a lot of police hanging around in the subway because of the big holiday coming up. It happens to be the 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution on Monday, even if they now call it Unity Day.
So, after eating a good breakfast again, I headed for the subway. I wanted to see a building that was supposedly built like a ship and is being restored, then I thought I’d jog over to checkhov’s house before heading up to the Jewish Center. I had a hard time finding the building. It turns out that Moscow addresses also mean the places could be in the back courtyard of the building in front of it. This was the case today for just about everything I visited today. So what I do is ask two or three different people where the place is. If two people out of three give me a similar answer, that’s the direction I go in.
It turns out that this “ship” is right next to the American Embassy. With all its buildings, the complex takes up must of the block. I asked one of the guards there about the “ship” and I understood where I had to go. Unfortunately, they were really doing a lot of renovation on it and it didn’t look much like a ship to me at all. So I moved on up the street towards Chekhov, but ran into Dostoevsky before that. Man, I think there’s a museum for Russian authors on every damn corner! So I figure, OK, you’ve read Dostoevsky too. Stop in there. Would have been great, except that it was 11 am and the place didn’t open until noon. Nope, ain’t doing that.
I headed back to the subway and rode to the stop from which I could walk to the Jewish Center. This was well out of the center of town and appeared to be in a Jewish neighborhood. I first went to the the Jewish Community Center which was guarded by two policemen with machine guns. One of them told me it was the wrong place but would only tell me, “One more.”when I stopped a little further and asked a lady, she sent me through a back alley, but I found it. It is an entire complex with all sorts of meeting rooms and this great museum and tolerance center, as it is called.
The museum helped me understand why Russia had had such a large Jewish population. (Russian conquests of other countries with large Jewish populations). It was a very interesting account and a great exhibit. Lenin came off pretty good. The had one positive quote from him about Judaism. But you will not find anyone here who says something negative about Lenin. And I swear, in one of the old historical news clips, I’m sure I saw Leon Trotsky. He was a revolutionary along with Lenin and had to escape the country because he and Stalin disagreed . Stalin had him murdered while he was living in Mexico in1940.
But Stalin was mentioned several times in this exhibit and he did not come out looking good. They did not even attempt to hide his anti-Semitism. In general, the man is not talked about here, but in this case, he was such an integral part of the Jews’history in Russia, they couldn’t avoid it.
After spending about two hours there, I took the subway in the other direction to the Trekiakov Art Gallery. What a wonderful collection of Russian paintings and icons. I’m always so amazed at how someone can just take different colors and make it look like something.
I spent three hour there before I took the subway home. The same street musicians were belting out tunes at the corner, but there was no drunk breakdancing. I stopped at the Italian place for a nice meal of cannelloni and tomato juice. (Did I already mention that tomato juice is a big item on menus here?)
So, tomorrow I fly out. On the way to the train station to go to the airport, I’ll make a quick stop at the mosque.
Sonia’s already got us booked up for a soccer game on Sunday. Monday’s a holiday so I don’t have to be crack to school until Tuesday. Hooray!
Friday, November 3, 2017
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Toast in Moscow, part 2
I’ve decided that the only thing I don’t like about the hotel room is that the duvet feels as heavy as one of those lead coverings you have to wear when you are getting x-rayed. But I certainly can’t complain about the breakfast. I had American scrambled eggs, German cold cuts and French crepes. And TOAST, real toast. I can’t believe how much I miss toast. It just tasted so good. I really dove in and enjoyed everything. Them I went over to the subway station and rode downtown, heading right for Red Square.
Since a big holiday is coming up on Monday, they were putting up the reviewing stands where all the government officials will review the parade. It used to be the big communist holiday but they kept the holiday and just changed the name to Unity Day.
People were already forming a line to something and when I asked what the line was for, the told me they were waiting to get into Lenin’s Mausoleum. He is still revered and respected here, but you’ll never hear stalin mentioned anywhere.
Since I wasn’t interested in Lenin, I walked around to Czar Alexander Garden and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I came back onto RedSquare and visited the Historical Museum. Then I walked to the other end of the Square and went into St. basil’s Cathedral. That’s the one with all the colorful towers in the pictures. It’s amazing. It’s actually 4 churches all built on to each other at different periods. It’s a series of mazes and icons. Holy crow, just walls and walls of icons, one more beautiful than the next.
Then I went into GUM, the very famous department stores which borders Red Square. It is more than 120 years old, and looks like a 3-story mall in a mansion. Dior, Gucci, you name it. You just can’t afford it. And there were ice cream vendors in every hallway and people were standing in line to buy it.
I left the store and turned in the direction away fro m Red Square but realized it wouldn’t get me to my subway station so I reversed. But the police weren’t letting anyone back onto Red Square, I presume because of the holiday parade preparations. So I turned around again and kept walking. I was glad I did because I found a great little restaurant that served cabbage rolls. I’ve been trying to get some since I’ve been here. These were great, with a little sauerkraut with them. For dessert I had “pigeon milk”, a sponge cake layered with cream and topped with chocolate. Boy, was I glad I couldn’t back to Red Square. I never would have found the restaurant otherwise.
After lunch I headed for the Museum Of Moscow history. There are A number of building and you can choose how many you want to visit and pay accordingly. On my way there, I accidentally got off the subway one stop too soon. When I walked out of the station, I was staring at on of the most imposing cathedrals I’ve ever seen. I took a few minutes to take some pictures, then got back on the subway to get to the right place.
The part I enjoyed the most was an exhibit of pictures of Moscow taken between 1917 and 1923. There were juxtaposed with pictures taken from the same spot in the last few years. It was amazing to see what had survived and what had been destroyed. Some of the recent “contrast” pictures were even cameras on the street relaying actual pictures to a computer screen placed next to the picture from 1917. Very creative.
There was a nice young employee there who spoke English. I asked here if she could show me on my tourist map where the Jewish Museum was. She laughed and said she didn’t really know how to read paper maps so she pulled out her phone and googled it. Now I at least know where I am headed tomorrow.
By this time it was already 6 and I was getting pooped. So I headed home. Next to the MacDonald’s at my subway station some street musicians were playing. The singer was doing some Eagles stuff and the group was very good. There was one drunk there trying to breakdance to the whole thing. It wasn’t quite working out for him.
So now I’m in for the night. I watched a little of Russia Today. Boy, they are doing their best to convince the viewers that Russia didn’t interfere in the US elections. And they are certainly having an effect on some people. Several acquaintances have told me how scared they are of Hillary Clinton. It’s all very surreal.
Tomorrow I’m going to hit a few more museums. I want to see on of the art gallerys and the Jewish museum in particular.
Since a big holiday is coming up on Monday, they were putting up the reviewing stands where all the government officials will review the parade. It used to be the big communist holiday but they kept the holiday and just changed the name to Unity Day.
People were already forming a line to something and when I asked what the line was for, the told me they were waiting to get into Lenin’s Mausoleum. He is still revered and respected here, but you’ll never hear stalin mentioned anywhere.
Since I wasn’t interested in Lenin, I walked around to Czar Alexander Garden and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I came back onto RedSquare and visited the Historical Museum. Then I walked to the other end of the Square and went into St. basil’s Cathedral. That’s the one with all the colorful towers in the pictures. It’s amazing. It’s actually 4 churches all built on to each other at different periods. It’s a series of mazes and icons. Holy crow, just walls and walls of icons, one more beautiful than the next.
Then I went into GUM, the very famous department stores which borders Red Square. It is more than 120 years old, and looks like a 3-story mall in a mansion. Dior, Gucci, you name it. You just can’t afford it. And there were ice cream vendors in every hallway and people were standing in line to buy it.
I left the store and turned in the direction away fro m Red Square but realized it wouldn’t get me to my subway station so I reversed. But the police weren’t letting anyone back onto Red Square, I presume because of the holiday parade preparations. So I turned around again and kept walking. I was glad I did because I found a great little restaurant that served cabbage rolls. I’ve been trying to get some since I’ve been here. These were great, with a little sauerkraut with them. For dessert I had “pigeon milk”, a sponge cake layered with cream and topped with chocolate. Boy, was I glad I couldn’t back to Red Square. I never would have found the restaurant otherwise.
After lunch I headed for the Museum Of Moscow history. There are A number of building and you can choose how many you want to visit and pay accordingly. On my way there, I accidentally got off the subway one stop too soon. When I walked out of the station, I was staring at on of the most imposing cathedrals I’ve ever seen. I took a few minutes to take some pictures, then got back on the subway to get to the right place.
The part I enjoyed the most was an exhibit of pictures of Moscow taken between 1917 and 1923. There were juxtaposed with pictures taken from the same spot in the last few years. It was amazing to see what had survived and what had been destroyed. Some of the recent “contrast” pictures were even cameras on the street relaying actual pictures to a computer screen placed next to the picture from 1917. Very creative.
There was a nice young employee there who spoke English. I asked here if she could show me on my tourist map where the Jewish Museum was. She laughed and said she didn’t really know how to read paper maps so she pulled out her phone and googled it. Now I at least know where I am headed tomorrow.
By this time it was already 6 and I was getting pooped. So I headed home. Next to the MacDonald’s at my subway station some street musicians were playing. The singer was doing some Eagles stuff and the group was very good. There was one drunk there trying to breakdance to the whole thing. It wasn’t quite working out for him.
So now I’m in for the night. I watched a little of Russia Today. Boy, they are doing their best to convince the viewers that Russia didn’t interfere in the US elections. And they are certainly having an effect on some people. Several acquaintances have told me how scared they are of Hillary Clinton. It’s all very surreal.
Tomorrow I’m going to hit a few more museums. I want to see on of the art gallerys and the Jewish museum in particular.
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Welcome to Moscow, part 2.
The escalators in the Moscow subway are just as steep and endless as I remember them from 50 years ago. But let me start at the beginning. This morning I tried to call the hotel to ask about it’s shuttle service from the airport. They refused to speak to me about it. They said that, since I had booked a package deal through Expedia, I would have to make any further arrangements through Expedia. Screw that. I had already looked into the express train from the airport and had printed out a map of the subway system to know what transfers I would have to make. It worked out great. The trick is to memorize the name of the last station of the line of the direction you have to go in so that you get on the train in the right direction.
The subway stations are beautiful. I remember being impressed all those years ago. But the number of people could give you a panic attack. At one point we were literally moving at a crawl for about 500 feet until we got to the escalators. You couldn’t move left or right or back. It was really weird. since I’m so short, I couldn’t even see where I was going and just had to follow the jacket in front of me.
It wasn’t a long walk to the hotel but I missed the entrance because I should have walked under an arch into a courtyard. I wouldn’t have figured that out if a lady on the street hadn’t explained it to me. After I checked in, I went to an Italian restaurant around the corner. I thought it was going to be a little hole in the wall, but it was really big and had a piano player. It wasn’t a great pizza, but I am full. The crust wasn’t baked enough for me.
The hotel room is small and not bad, as you can see from the pictures. I’m close to a subway station and not too far from Red Square. I’ll get a multi-entrance subway ticket tomorrow and see what I can see.
Damn, this TV station is trying hard to convince the viewers that Russia did not influence the election in last November.
The subway stations are beautiful. I remember being impressed all those years ago. But the number of people could give you a panic attack. At one point we were literally moving at a crawl for about 500 feet until we got to the escalators. You couldn’t move left or right or back. It was really weird. since I’m so short, I couldn’t even see where I was going and just had to follow the jacket in front of me.
It wasn’t a long walk to the hotel but I missed the entrance because I should have walked under an arch into a courtyard. I wouldn’t have figured that out if a lady on the street hadn’t explained it to me. After I checked in, I went to an Italian restaurant around the corner. I thought it was going to be a little hole in the wall, but it was really big and had a piano player. It wasn’t a great pizza, but I am full. The crust wasn’t baked enough for me.
The hotel room is small and not bad, as you can see from the pictures. I’m close to a subway station and not too far from Red Square. I’ll get a multi-entrance subway ticket tomorrow and see what I can see.
Damn, this TV station is trying hard to convince the viewers that Russia did not influence the election in last November.
Welcome to Moscow.
My hotel room in the Hotel de Paris in Moscow. Note the TV! It even has an English language station called Russia Today. Pretty interesting point of view. Sounds like the Russian version of Fox News to me.
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