Trips

Wed., 9/23/15 – Moscow
        Today we got on a minibus (a 12 passenger van) and drove around Moscow in the morning. We stopped and got out of the bus to look at the Smolny convent and park.  The convent was closed for 40 or more years but it was reopened in 1991 and now has 32 nuns.  The lake at the park outside the convent is referred to as “Swan Lake” because Tchaikovsky was inspired to write the ballet music near this park.  In 1991 Barbara Bush presented the children of Moscow with statues of a mother duck and ducklings reminiscent of “Make way for ducklings,” a children’s storybook.  These bronze ducks are set along the side of the lake.  From the park we looked across at the skyscrapers of the future financial district in the distance. 

Kremlin from across the river	Skyscrapers
	Our next stop was at the Novodevichy Cemetery with 267 tombs of rich or famous Russians.  Nicolai gave us a Russian history lesson as he walked us to several graves and told us about the person buried there although some of the people were unfamiliar to me.  Boris Yeltsin’s grave has a headstone like a waving white, blue, and red Russian flag.  Many Russians do not love Yeltsin.  The wife of Gorbachev (Raisa) is there and there is room for him.  She was the first First Lady to be visable to citizens and foreigners and accompanied Mikhail at state functions.  Tupolev made Russian airplanes; Gleb Kotelnikov was the inventor of knapsack parachutes.  Khrushchev is buried here and is also not a Russian favorite.  He and Kennedy conflicted over the Cuban missile crisis and he visited the US and returned to Russia with the idea to plant corn in the country instead of wheat and rye.  Corn will not grow in this environment and many people starved as a result of his directive.  Khrushchev’s son still lives in Florida.  The graves of opera singers, writers, and actors were pointed out to us.  Several graves had orange and black ribbons, which are symbols of pro-Russian military.  I saw one grave with a volleyball etched on it!
Novodevichy Cemetery	Yeltsin Memorial
Grave of Andrey Tupolev - aircraft designer	Grave of Nikita Khrushchev
Grave of opera singer Feodor Chaliapin	The next stop was at the panorama viewpoint in front of Moscow State University.  The university building is one of the seven “Stalin Skyscrapers” that are monumental and were to show the world how talented communist workers were.  From the viewpoint we looked down on the 1980 Olympic Stadium, which is being prepared for the 2018 World Cup Soccer.  We watched two men practicing ski jumping.  They supposedly are landing on sand.  1980 Olympic Stadium
Moscow State University	Moscow skyline
Ski jump	After lunch we met the group at in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – the remains are of a soldier killed in 1941 in the first Russian battle of WWII – and waited for the 1 PM changing of the guard.  Right on time, three soldiers goose-stepped to the tomb and smartly changed positions.  The precision was perfect.  The guards stand still and only move their eyes for one hour.         We regrouped and entered the Kremlin for the standard tour.  We entered the Kremlin (fortress) walls through the Trinity Gate and walked past the Peter the Great arsenal that is now the barracks for the Presidential Regiment. We looked at the large (second largest in the world) cannon (Tsar cannon) built in 1584 to scare intruders away.  Next to it is the Tsar Bell.          Next we entered the Cathedral Square with three churches: Cathedral of the Assumption (or Dormition), built in the 13th c. and where the crowning of the tsars ceremonies took place; the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, where the tombs of tsars up to Peter the Great are located (there are 60 tombs of tsars and male relatives); and the Cathedral of the Annunciation, which was the private church of the tsars and only holds 25 people.  The fourth building is the Ivan the Great Bell Tower.  We went inside the two large churches (no photos).
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier	Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Peter the Great Arsenal	Tsar Cannon
Tsar Bell	Ivan the Great Belltower
Cathedral of the Archangel (foreground) and Cathedral of the Annunciation	Church of the Nativity
Our day was not over.  Migle and Nicholai took us on a ride around the city on the metro/subway.  It is a large system with 197 stations on 11 lines and a new station further out is opened nearly every year.  Ten million people ride the metro everyday and trains run every 45 to 70 seconds!  We stopped and looked at some of the elaborate stations.  One station had mosaics on the walls and ceiling of Ukrainian folk festivities.  There was a similar station for Belarus with mosaics of industrial workers.  Another celebrated the youth department of the Communist Party with happy children in uniforms.  We stopped to look at seven stations.  All were used as bomb shelters in WWII.
Moscow Subway	You better know where you are going!
Moscow Subway	Moscow Subway
Moscow Subway	Moscow Subway
Dinner was “on our own” so we went across the street to an Italian Pectopah (restaurant in Russian) and had a Margarita pizza and a pasta dish with a pumpkin and ricotta cheese sauce.  It was unique but very good.	Italian Pectopah
Hotel Metropol	Hotel Metropol
Hotel Metropol	Hotel Metropol - breakfast harpist
Hotel Metropol - breakfast buffet

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