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Today was another long day of walking. I am going to be disappointed if I don’t come home a few pounds lighter given the increased amount of exercise that I am getting and what SEEMS like a decreased amount of food (although not necessarily calories I suppose). I was on my own for the first of two days today and I thought that I would just go walking. I had a good map, and a general plan, but I just decided to go wherever my feet took me and not worry if I got lost for a little while (and at one point I was)!
From my hotel I walked down to the river and a giant sculpture park that sits on a large swath of land along the river. It has to be hundreds of acres of sculpture. When you first enter the park from my side, it is devoted to what I would call “modern” sculpture done in stone. Nice, but not my thing. What struck me the most about this however is the lack of “maintenance” in the park grounds. I have heard Russians comment before on the American obsession with the perfect lawn, and I will
admit that we over do it at times. However, there is obsession and there is simple maintenance, and the caretakers at this sculpture park don’t understand either. The grass on the grounds was probably 6-12 inches deep, covered with weeds (particularly dandelions), and there was little sense of order to the patches of grass and walkways. To be fair, spring has only recently arrived in Moscow (both the tulips and Lilacs are out in full force) and perhaps the Russians are just slow at doing the first mowing of the spring.
Anyway, about halfway back in the park there was a distinct change in the type of sculpture. Rather than “modern stone” there was a lot of older style cast metal sculptures of Soviet Leaders and tributes to the working class. It was very clear before I ever found the official name in the guidebook that this was the collection of old Soviet era sculptures which have been removed over time from public squares and buildings. It had a cemetery feel to it, and I later discovered that the official title of this park was “Graveyard of Fallen Monuments” You can look down row after row of busts and
full blown statues of Lenin, Stalin, Engels, Marx, former KGB directors etc. Actually, given my comment the other day about growing up fearing Soviet Russia, it was interesting to see so much of that history concentrated in one kind of small space.
Just behind the “Graveyard” sits a HUMONGOUS sculpture actually out in the river. I will post a picture or two, but I really don’t think you can get a feel for the size of this thing just from the pictures. This thing is colossal. It is a large ship rising from the water with HUGE masts towering into the sky and a gigantic figure looking off the bow of the ship into the future. That figure is Peter the Great. However, the interesting rumor regarding this sculpture is that it was originally started as a gift for Spain in honor of Christopher Columbus but that they turned it down so the sculptor replaced the head and turned it into Peter the Great. Now the Moscovites will deny that rumor (when one of my colleagues asked about it earlier in the week he was given VERY dirty looks that he might even suggest such a thing) but the
clothing on this man seem more like 1492 than 1797.
From there I wondered over to the Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer. This is a relatively new church in Moscow and has an interesting history. Evidently the original church was built between 1839 and 1883 to celebrate the victory over Napoleon. However, Stalin had it blown up in 1931 and had planned a large “Palace of Soviets” on the site. The ground was too unstable and it never happened (although a swimming pool sat there for years). It was rebuilt from 1994-1997 and major work was still going on today. You are allowed into a basement “museum” and chapel but not the church itself. It is quite a beautiful blend of traditional orthodox church and iconography with modern styling.
From there, I wandered up a park down the middle of a long Boulevard and worked my way to Arbat Prospekt (street) which used to be a suburb/artist colony in Moscow, although now lies well within what most would still consider Moscow proper. Roughly six blocks have been turned into a pedestrian mall and it is filled with souvenir stands and shops, as well as artists who will paint
The Kremlin
As seen from one of the main bridges across the Moscow River. your picture on site or from a photo (actually, I wouldn’t have minded having one of them do the girl from the photo in my wallet given the price, but I worry about getting it home undamaged). About halfway down the street I entered and area set aside for some kind of children’s festival that was evidently just starting (several of the stages were still finishing getting set up). There were probably a dozen stages set up in 3-4 blocks, each with a kid friendly show going on as I walked by (which is interesting that all 12 stages were active (even those still finishing set up)). I saw shows that were perhaps local kids tv characters(?), magicians, puppets, and several that were involving kids in singing/dancing performances. I enjoyed watching the kids watch the shows more than the shows themselves (although the puppetry show was excellent).
Finally, I had a long walk home via Gorky Park. Again, another place I had heard of but knew nothing about. Originally opened in 1928 as the Park of Culture and Rest, this lies along the Moscow river on the opposite side of the road from the sculpture park I mentioned earlier,
and stretches for 300 acres in the other direction. You pay a small fee to get into the park but then can walk along gardens, man-made lakes with paddle boats, and several amusement park areas - some active, and some rusting away. It was fun to walk around, but not a great place to get dinner as there aren’t any English translations of the food choices at any of the booths and the food is too far away from the cash register to fall back on the “point and grunt” method of ordering.
I had noticed earlier in the day several groups of high school aged students walking together wearing sashes across their chests. There clearly is SOMETHING going on today because there were hundreds of these kids in Gorky Park late afternoon/early evening when I was there. These are mixed gender groups, so it isn’t the county fair queens, although they could be something like homecoming court. The sashes of each group are all slightly different, but follow a basic pattern. They are either red, white, blue, or some combination of stripes of these three colors. Then they all contain writing on them that appears to indicate a
Gorky Park
Notice at least two different types of sashes on kids in this picture city or region or school or something, and with the year 2007 written on it. The groups of kids seemed to be no larger than a dozen, although that may be because the larger groups had wondered off in smaller groups. Because of the color scheme it makes it seem something vaguely political, although nothing these kids were doing came off as political. In fact, they were very much a group of 16 year olds on holiday together. Many were dressed quite well - boys in shirts and slacks if not coat and tie, girls in dresses, and sometimes identical, “costumed” dresses like traditional peasant dresses. Of course as soon as I say that, there would be a group in jeans and t-shirts under their sashes.
So, with blisters on my feet from too many days of long walks, I sign off for the night.
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MoscowMom
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kids in park
All those kids you saw were high school seniors making the obligatory pilgrimages around the main city sites, posing for pictures. Kids from all around the region are bussed into Moscow to do this--the city is overrun with with seniors for the whole last week of May. It's quite odd seeing them in their black apron/white shirt dresses--and sexy high heels! Gotta love all those huge bows in the hair, too!