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The first thing to say about Moscow is that the architecture is a constant source of entertainment for me. I spent the first 3 days I was here either in my hotel, in the office, or in the car in between. I’m kinda glad that the office and hotel were a ways apart (20 mins in the morning, 1-1.5 hrs in the evening). The drive was excellent for looking at all the beautiful buildings, green spaces, people walking, drivers being insane, and more. I had a great driver named Andrey who spoke excellent English and told me about some of the things I was seeing: US Embassy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Moscow River, the arch that was built when the Russians defeated Napoleon (similar to the Arc de Triomphe), government buildings (White House? White something), and much more. Since the Russian alphabet is completely different, he also taught me how to spot some important things - like Pectobah for Restaurant and Kobe for Café. These are just approximations of course because I don’t have the Cyrillic alphabet on my Mac. But at least I know how to find a restaurant and a cup of coffee, which are important things in my
mind, especially when on vacation. Andrey also tried to teach me a few phrases, which I promptly forgot. Things are so hard to say in Russian. He told me I needed to loosen up, “as if I’d had a couple cocktails” and I would speak better Russian. Haha. I tried my best, but it is so different that my mind apparently couldn’t retain the lessons. I have one word down: Spaciba, or Thank You. And if I had to pick one, that one has been helpful. Of course every now and then, I seem to throw out a Gracias, much to Dave’s amusement now that he is here. But hey, I was in Argentina one week ago, so cut me a break!
So Dave arrived yesterday, the day I finished training for work. It was very fun to come back to the hotel after work and find my husband had made his way and the hotel had let him in our room. We are staying at the Hilton Leningradskaya. It is a gorgeous hotel - in one of the Seven Sister buildings. The Seven Sisters were buildings built in the Stalin era because Moscow didn’t have any skyscrapers back
then, and it was Stalin’s mission to build some skyscrapers. Now don’t mistake - these aren’t skyscrapers like in New York or Chicago. These are really ornate buildings with spires at the top - they have a much older feel…not like a modern skyscraper. I’ve got plenty of pics of these. And I think it is cool that we are staying in one of them. Now, they are apartment buildings, a hotel (ours), Moscow State University, and I don’t know what else. We wandered around on foot last night - it was great to get out of a car! I have no idea what area we were walking in, but it was Friday after work, and we saw lots of people just hanging. Many beers are consumed on the streets (clearly no anti-open container laws here), people just enjoying the summer and the weekend. Walking in the parks, sitting on benches, skateboarding kids. It has been really sunny all week (until Saturday of course - our first real day to sight-see), and I’m sure the Russians are soaking in the sun, trying to forget how damn cold winter must be here.
We had a traditional Russian meal last night
- Dave had lamb ribs and I had chicken shish kabobs, we had Russian beer and each had a delicious salad to start with radishes and a mustard dressing. It was an excellent dinner. We only passed the restaurant about 7 times trying to find it. We were told it was called ‘At the Mill.’ And I guess it is. Except that there are no signs in English. So the Russian doesn’t exactly translate easily. So we passed it and passed it until we finally realized…this must be it. There was definitely a mill theme with a little river with fish flowing through the restaurant, big mill wheels, and even a chicken/rooster/thing (not sure) inside. Really great food. We strolled home around 10:30 in the daylight (sun doesn’t set until after 11p!).
Saturday we slept in big-time. Housekeeping woke us up around 11a. Dave was fighting jetlag and I was just fighting exhaustion after little sleep all week. That felt great! We finally made it out on our day’s adventure sometime around 1p, and went straight for the subway. We’ve heard great things and it is a great subway. NOTHING is in English. So it is like looking at
a picture (the Cyrillic words) and memorizing them, so you make sure you get on/off at the right stop. A little crazy, but we did just fine. We didn’t see any subway chandeliers that I’ve read about, but it was pretty cool down there nonetheless. We headed to the Red Square area. Found a little pedestrian street off of Tverskaya Street and had a nice lunch at Gusto to start the day. After feeling refreshed, we headed to tackle Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Gum mall, Lenin’s tomb, the Kremlin, Cathedral of the Annunciation, Archangel Cathedral, Alexandrovsky Gardens, and on and on. I definitely don’t know what all the beautiful buildings and cathedrals we saw were, but everything is absolutely gorgeous. My grandma said she liked all the onion domes best in Moscow, and I have to agree. There’s something really striking about them. Inside St. Basil’s was very cool - there was a 5-person male choir that was singing, and a ton of little nooks and crannies with the most gorgeous gold, paintings, brickwork, archways, woodwork, etc. A very cool experience. We walked a TON. Eventually figured out how to get inside the Kremlin (well, the parts they
let you in, which is mostly outside and some of the cathedrals). Walked some more. It was pretty damn cold today if you ask me, windy, cloudy, and some spitting rain. But hey, it’s Moscow! So we carried on. It was a great day of walking, sightseeing, enjoying exploring a very different city.
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Mary Greene
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update
This is Grandma speaking. When I was there in the early 70's, Moscow was still Communist. I would love to see what has changed. One thing I recall (a negative) was that the Gum mall had so little merchandise and so few clothes that the dresses were displayed flat against the wall, side by side. On the positive side, the subways were beautiful beyond belief. We were permitted in the Kremlin too, but only in certain areas. We were very carefully shepherded everywhere. The hotel (tourist hotel) had a woman stationed on every floor, like a guard. One day, I left my room and got on the elevator. Realizing I'd forgotten my camera, I went right back up. When I got off the elevator the "guard" was entering my room. We were told they searched them everytime we weren't around. One day I tried to give a woman some things we had brought as gifts, but she refused with a "nyet." It was nylon hose. I think she was afraid to be seen taking them. I just left them in my seat when I got off the subway. I hope someone enjoyed them.