Photos from Moscow

This is going to be a very long post. You have been warned.

As you probably know, I took the train to Moscow and back last weekend. The ride there was not very enjoyable - an eight hour ride in uncomfortable seats, with a drunk wandering up and down the aisle. The ride back was better, mostly because we got to have beds. (Best idea ever!) Either way, though, I have now travelled by train. +30 XP.

I could tell you lots and lots about what happened - getting lost with a Russian bus driver who spoke no English; the Moscow ILP teachers' ridiculously lavish apartment building; the confusing metro station; getting my picture with "Lenin" and "Stalin"; partnering up with a group of retired Canadians - but then we'd never get to the pictures. So I'll just have to tell you about all that other stuff in person, I guess. Or maybe you can read my Travel Log when I get back.

For now, heeeeeeeere's Moscow!

The Metro stations in Moscow are simply beautiful.
Stopping at each one is like going through a museum of art.

It should be noted, however, that while Moscow's Metro is very beautiful,
it is also very confusing. St. Petersburg is much more user-friendly.

This is a photo of the aforementioned getting-lost-on-a-bus.
The bus driver was not angry with us, fortunately. He found us hilarious.
He actually called his bus driver friends over to peer at us through the window and laugh.
Yeah, not the most dignified moment of my life.

We found a tiny bit of nature while we were there.
Doesn't the landscape kind of look like Southern Utah?
It made me homesick.

This is a sculpture/memorial that stands outside the Museum of the Great Patriotic War.
For those of us who aren't Russian, that translates to World War II.
A great big World War II museum!
(I can think of a few young men who should be violently jealous by now.)

"Get a picture of me next to the tank!" I squealed, delighted.
Clarie raised an eyebrow at me, then impatiently took a quick snapshot.
Then she dragged me away, before I could start climbing up on top of it.

(Edit: I have been informed that this is not a tank. Looking at it now, that seems kind of obvious. But I just saw a big green gun on wheels and thought 'TANK,' so...Whatever. It's still cool.)

The Museum was amazing. They have tons of relics from the war,
old uniforms, flags, weapons, photographs, etc.
WWII is a much bigger deal to them, because 3/4s of it was fought on USSR territory.
Nazi Germany lost approx. 2 million people in the war.
Russia lost 20 million.

And now, for my favorite part of the entire trip: The Hall of Sorrow.
It's a huge hall memorializing the soldiers who were killed,
but specifically dedicated to the women who lost husbands, sons, and brothers.
It is the single most beautiful thing I've ever seen in a museum,
and my camera just doesn't do it justice. However, I'll share what I can.

This is the hall. Along both sides, at intervals, are pedestals holding books of names,
listing soldiers who were killed. But the real magnificence of the hall is
what is dangling from the ceiling.

From the ceiling are hung thousands of delicate chains, some holding sparkling gems.
They shimmer in the light, creating the illusion that the entire hall is lit by a mist of tears.
It is breathtaking. I had to stand there for fifteen minutes before I could even think to move again.

At the center of the hall, the tears all gather around one sculpture.
A woman, weeping over a dead soldier.

This is the price of war.

But, there was still more of the musuem to see.
For those of you who can't read the Cyrillic name plate at the base of this bust,
this is a statue of Stalin.

The picture isn't sideways; the flag is. Sorry about that.
Time for your neck exercises! Everyone, stretch!

Here are some of the photographs I was telling you about.
They're really hard to see through my camera, I'm sure.
But let me tell you, they were awesome.

Here are a few more.

These photos were neat, but the most incredible stuff I saw in the musuem I didn't take pictures of.
They had a lot of relics and photographs from the Holocaust.
I saw pictures from concentration camps; clothes, toys, and worse from death camps.
It was very emotional, very sacred.
Too sacred to take pictures. I'm sorry.

Along the center of one of the huge staircases in this building, they have this piece.
I think it's a beautiful tribute. The whole museum has a way of really making you feel the presence
of those lost soldiers. Not quite like ghosts; just haunting memories. As if they line the hallways,
straightbacked and proud. "This is what we did," they seem to say. "We did this for you.
"We do not regret it;
you must not forget it."

I absolutely love this picture.

Priest's robes from the wartime.

Women in the Russian military. (USSR military; whatever.)

Comics and newpaper clippings

Don't you wish you could read Russian? Me too!

I don't know what this says.
But does it remind anyone else of the Title of Liberty?

They needed warm uniforms. As I now know from experience, Russia is cold!

Just a glimpse of the museum. There was way too much to see, and we didn't get to stay nearly as long as I would have liked. The other girls wanted to go shopping. (*extremely irritated face*)

(Seriously! Shopping?!)

Goodbye, my lovely museum. I will keep you in my heart forever.

 Then, we went to Arbat street, where we found a cow:

WHAT?!
You'd better believe it. There's a delightful Russian restaurant called My-My
(in Russia, that's pronouned "Moo-Moo")
and they are smart enough to build life-sized cows to attract people to their tables.
It works very well.

Finally, on Saturday we made it to Red Square.
"A fitting cemetary for our country," Oleg (my host father) told me.
I stared at him, confused.
"Is a joke," he prodded.
I laughed weakly. He shook his head, giving up on me.

This is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. That flame is eternal, but the guards are not.
We got to watch a changing of the guard while we were there. It was so cool!
(P.S. Russians march differently than Americans. I thought they were going to pull a muscle.)

Me on Red Square

This is Lenin's Tomb! We didn't get to go inside and see Lenin's wax-coated body, though.
The line was too long, and we were only in Moscow for two days.
But a couple girls in our group did "plank" on the ground in front of it.
That picture is priceless, purely for the faces of the Russians looking on in bewilderment.

And now, for the building I'd been waiting this whole trip to see,
St. Basil's Cathedral!

This building is from the 15th and 16th centuries. I got to go inside,  but you had to pay to take pictures.
One girl in our group took them for all of us, but I don't have any of them on here.
Needless to say, it is a cathedral - beautiful, ancient, and very pleasant for singing in.

So even though the Museum was my favorite part, the entire trip to Moscow -
2670 roubles, 16 hours train ride, getting lost and haggard and sick -
all of that was worth it just to see this cathedral.
What an incredible place!

Alive and well, this is Jessica Grosland, signing off.
Thanks for reading!