Dosvedanya Moskva

5/31 955pm

As I’m saying goodbye to Moscow (quite literally, I’m on the plane), I want to put down in writing what I did and some of my thoughts on the city and post Communist FSU.

I arrived on back on Monday, it seems like ages ago. After 18 hours though, I had “mastered” Cyrillic enough to ride the metro and not get lost as well as read all street signs. Monday was a pretty laid back day. I wandered around Red Square, visited St. Basil’s, wandered around outside of the Kremlin (noting all the American chains located outside of the walls), and just generally was amazed at the sheer number of people who ride the metro.


That's me standing on Red Square in front of St. Basil's














Tuesday I spent my morning on a self-made walking tour (as I already mentioned in a previous blog) through Arbat and Kropotenskaya. I was particularly noting the architecture. There were a few nice buildings, but here’s what struck me: cities are generally layers of different time periods, a palimpsest if you will (oh, and you will). But in Moscow, there are so many layers missing. So many time periods of architecture and character completely wiped out by the city planners as they razed churches and bourgeois housing (see a book by Tang on Preserving the World’s Great Cities or something like that). Anyhow, the point is, I felt it while I was walking through the city on Tuesday – and other days as well. It’s grey and it’s concrete. Oh yeah, and for the urban planners out there among you, the blocks are all super blocks and it drove me mad!

Tuesday afternoon I took a guided tour through the Kremlin. Some highlights I saw were the parliament building/soviet congress, a giant cannon and cannonballs, the towers/gates, and the armoury. The Armory is generally considered the highlight of the Kremlin as it contains loads of gifts to the country from other countries, royal clothing and coaches, Faberge eggs, etc. But generally I felt it was a bit overkill. Every dress my guide pointed out had at least 140,000 pearls (slightly exaggerated, but there was one there with that many). After my tour I took the time to just sit on the grass outside of the Kremlin and people watch. It was yet another ridiculously hot day and muscovites were each out doing the next in terms of their dress (or sometimes lack thereof). That night after dinner, I had drinks back on Arbat street with Yonatan, Miriam, and some of her journalist friends. Good times. I had my one and only vodka that night. Apparently, it was in semi-poor form because vodka is a winter drink. It’s like wearing white shoes after Labor Day. Russian Style.

Wednesday was a bit of a slow day. For starters I had to make a trip to the doctor (American) to get some meds for a tick bite. I figured, better to take care of it in Moscow then wait until the desert in Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan. But in the morning I went to Chistie Prudy (clean pond), which did not live up to it’s name. But it’s a hot spot for strolling along the ring circle and I wanted to check out some of Moscow’s other park areas (it has a lot).

In the afternoon I went to the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum (which has a special exhibit on Modigliany and great Impressionist art work) only to find that the building was closed early. So I went next door to the Museum of Private Collections, which is supposed to be fabulous. I was amazed that they too had a great impressionist collection. Anyhow, I really enjoyed the Museum. Later on in the afternoon I walked past Christ the Saviour Church which was rebuilt in the last decade after being razed by the Communists. It’s a bit large and out of place. And apparently somewhat controversial. But it was from near the Church that I saw the most hideous thing in all of Moscow. A giant (and I do mean giant) bronze statue of Peter the Great* on a ship. Why the asterisk? First, Peter the Great hated Moscow and moved the capital to St. Petersberg, so it’s a bit odd to have a statue of him in Moscow. But also because this sculptor (conveniently the favorite sculptor of Moscow’s mayor) made a statue/sculpture of Christopher Columbus which was rejected by five US cities who thought it too ugly. Check out the picture and I think you’ll see Peter looks a lot of Christopher.


















I crossed over the Moscow river, saw Gorky Park, and then took a walk around the wildest place in Moscow: The Sculpture Garden. The Sculpture Garden became the receptacle for all of the Soviet statues that no one wanted to see around anymore. It features luminaries such as Lenin, Stalin, Dzehinsky (sp?) of Cheka/KGB notoriety, and many others. I can understand why Muscovites didn’t want these statues staring at them. Check out my size compared to this giant USSR statue!

















Then on Wednesday night I went to dinner with Yonatan and Nadya at the Independent Lubavitch Restaurant, which was on a beautiful rooftop. Dinner was certainly enlivened by the Mountain Jews dancing and singing for some party they were having. After dinner I met up with Miriam and crew at the Hermitage Gardens for a beer.

Today, Thursday, was my last day in Moscow and I had a great time. I went to Arbat Street again to pick up a CCCP t-shirt. Mission Accomplished. I then metroed over to the Pushkin Museum, saw the special exhibit and searched in vain for the Impressionist rooms. I asked at the information desk and they informed me that they had moved next door to the building formerly the Private Collections Museum. So, on one hand, I had already seen what I wanted, but that meant I had to go to the Private Collections Museum as well. It moved to the other side of the Pushkin. It was amazing! It was my favorite museum in Moscow. I saw some great painting that were part of Sergei Solovyov’s collection, the two that I liked the best were Duel (Repin) and Christ by Kineret Lake (Polenov?).

After the museums, I wandered over to a new neighborhood (for me) in the historic part of Moscow. I had borscht. At this vegan restaurant. It was really good. I debated striking this last part from the record, but I still think I’ll limit my borscht intake to Russia and pretend not to like it in the US. After lunch, I wandered over to the Choral Synagogue, the only synagogue that functioned during the Communist Era.

One last note on Moscow. Moscow is a city of dichotomies. Rich and Poor. Old and Young. Healthy and Unhealthy. Clean and Dirty. And for now they all seem to coexist. The older generations of Muscovites seem to just get by. The city is expensive and only basic goods like metro, boozes, and smokes come at cheap prices (and those are increasing annually). But to partake in the New Moscow money is needed and suffice it to say that pension money is not enough. Young people are at least a good foot taller and much healthier looking. It’s the older generation that looks broken.

And that, my friends, was Moscow. Now I can sit back and enjoy my S7 flight to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. I’M GOING TO TURKMENISTAN!

ps-this blog has been sent from Ashgabat with dial-up internet. each picture took 11 minutes to upload. fortunately, 1 minute of internet use is 500 Manat, or 10cents at the official rate and 2 cents on the black market.