May 6, 2012

We had a very nice thunderstorm last night (Saturday) but have awakened to a beautiful Sunday morning.

About 10 days ago we left the office a couple of hours early and went to Kolomenskoe Park, a beautiful place.  We saw a restored Tsar's wooden palace and some beautiful churches.  The park is enormous. They have tried to gather in one place some of Russia's historic wooden structures.


Yesterday, 5/5, we went to Izmaylova, the biggest congregation or rinnock's in Moscow.  We were looking for gifts for two of our comrades who are leaving us shortly.  Marina Kharlamova, our Liahona coordinator, was our hostess and guide.  It was wonderful to have her along to teach us what to look for and which shops she preferred.


(By the way the Cinco de Mayo did not register over here.  I wonder why?  I have been looking forward to it.)


We then separated on the Metro, and she went home and we went on to Arbat Street to see the real goods.  The history there is that waaaay back (1300? 1400?) this was the commercial center of Moscow.  It is now a place one goes to spend lots of rubles.


I uploaded a movie clip to YouTube. It is about 10 days old and if of a little rock and roll group entertaining passengers boarding a ship for a Russian river cruise.  You might find it interesting. The car parked on the ramp is a Russian version of a Lincoln Continental, just guessing.  If Nathanael did not like my suggestion for his favorite car on the last posting I am sure he will want one of these.  Here is the link.


http://youtu.be/iup6oqKRA7Q

Every other song at the hype-fest was a classic 50's era American tune.  The chanteuse was pretty good, I thought.  She's not Chuck Berry but what do you expect on a Moscow river bank?

We are on our way to the river/canal.  "Someone" said that Stalin had the canal dug by prisoners.  I'll have to look it up.  I have shown you pictures of this 1930's style building in the background, but that was winter.  We are now standing where the ice skaters operate when the snow flies and the temps are cold.

There are a reasonable number of signs in English.  Parkhouse is a restaurant (pectopah,) but we could not find it. 

A bride and her entourage are coming to take pictures, smoke, drink and have a good time   One bride's maid always has the banner across her chest, the girl in the orange dress.  We assume she is the maid of honor, but what do we know?

The girls getting ready to pose of a picture.

This is where the term 'meat wagon' comes from.

I promise.  This will be the last of these pictures I will foist on you.

I think we have shown you pictures of the amusement park that is just a hundred meters from the back of our apartment building.  These children are inside balls on a little pond.  They looked like they were having a great time.

The start of our walk through the large park.  This is the recreation of a wooden palace.  It was impressive, especially the complex roof structures.

This is in the interior grounds of the palace.  A mom is taking a picture of her young 'un.

A child's Ferris Wheel.

The north facing side of the palace.  It would take someone like Andy to be able to keep the construction straight on something like these roofs.

We walked north from the palace toward the next Metro stop.  The path at this point parallels the river.  That is a mountain biker about half way down the hill.  the picture does not do the slope of the hill justice.  It was quite steep.  It takes a real  man to put his front wheel over the edge of that hill.

We are nearing one of the two or three churches on our route and have come to the graveyard.  Someone is tending these things pretty carefully.  The dirt had been recently touched up.

(Quick, Ben, what is the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery?)

Here is the upper structure of the church.  Some grey clouds had moved in and so you don't get the contrast in colors that would make this a more impressive picture.

A 'closer-up' of the church.

A non closer-up of the church.

The group is half way down this stairway that takes us down (and then up from) a steam bed that we needed to cross to continue our walk.

These spiked heels are typical for many of the Muscovite women.  We continue to be amazed that they can walk on dirt paths, stairs, snow, ice, mud, etc, w/o seeming to take a deep breath.

She is with the guy behind her.  There is quite a contrast in their style sense.  He does have a nice man-purse.

Another church near the north end of the park.  I believe that the signs said it's original structure dates from about 1700.  The Tsar's log palace was once attached to this church.

Four of our Russian friends singing the Day of Victory anthem.  May 9 is the day they celebrate the end of WW II.  I think that is the day they captured Berlin.  The Russians suffered terribly in the great war.  They may have had 20,000,000 civilian and military casualties.

One of the guys in the office, not pictured, stated rather sharply that "Americans think they won WW II, but it was us who won the war."  He may have a point.  I don't think they celebrate D Day.

Left to right are Evgenia, Olga, Marina, Alexander.

On Saturday, a work day for our Russian friends because they then take off from Sunday through Wednesday, Marina took us to Izmaylova.  The nearest Metro station is "Partisanskaya" and this statue memorializes some of the brave partisans. 

Marina and Marlene are on their way to Disneyland, or Izmaylova, in the distance.

The words at the bottom of this sign say, "Izmailova Fortress", Kremlin being the word for fortress.

There were several large hotels in the area.  Don't know why.

The excitement is palpable.

Here we are!  The deal is that this is the place to buy the good stuff w/o having to pay the good prices.  They have every kind of Russian thing a guy or girl might want.  It was really kind of fun, even for me.

If you are a purist you don't want those shiny Matryoshka dolls.  Those are for the tourists.  You want the ones with the old-style figures w/o the veneer.  Don't ever get caught buying one of Obama or Putin.  That's trashy.

These were very nice.  Lovely and delicate painting with perfect fits and clearly Russian scenes.  They were, however about $ 150 if I made the conversion correctly.

Inside the market.  It was a warren of shops and small streets.

Ben, this reminded me of the ghost town we rode through on the way out of Death Valley.

We are in the Metro again, headed toward Arbat Street.  This is a monument to a young girl,  Zoe, executed by the Germans.

We have just exited the Metro and are looking for McDonald's which we found right behind Marlene.  But, then we saw a sign for "Wendy's" and decided to get out of our comfort zone and try some local cuisine.

The babe is by a statue of Pushkin and his wife, Pushkina.

He died at 36 in a duel with his brother-in-law whom he thought was making the moves on his wife.

Arbat Steet, where all the swells hang out.

Jimi Page pa Ruskie.

The babe again.  She is everywhere.

The double classic was pretty good.

R u reading Russian yet?  B = V.  E = E, almost. H = N. Strange character = D. U = E this time.
C = S.
Therefore: Vende's.  (No W's are available.)