The weather here lately has been pretty icky. Every day, the temps hover around freezing, and nearly every day, there's some kind of precipitation. Therefore, a cycle has begun of snow- which piles up- then turns to rain- which melts the piles- then freezes at night so everything's slick- next day it rains more and melts off the ice- then it starts to snow again- repeat. It's all annoying, and gross. I've been wearing my giant snow boots, not because it's that cold, but because I can tuck my pants into them to prevent them from getting slopped all over. I'm also wearing my giant parka, not because it's that cold, but because it's at least waterproof. Everything I read about the weather before moving here said that it would snow November 1st and you wouldn't see the ground again until March. Instead, it's just warm enough to make me rue having spent $300 on a parka instead of on rain gear. Yes, I know it's only November and the sun's still peeking over the horizon and all, but according to locals, this is pretty much winter. Yeesh.
I've decided to use this wintery sloppiness as a spring board to reminisce about a cleaner city and a warmer time. No, not Finland; Moscow. Jonathan and I spent a few days in Moscow a couple months ago. We'd heard a lot about how it's such a nasty big city compared to St. Petersburg. Lots of traffic, terrible air quality, you're bound to get mugged on a daily basis, etc. It IS the biggest city in Europe, after all, at 10.4 million within the city limits alone. Thus, we went with some apprehension, but figured we should see it and decide for ourselves.
Um, I'm not sure what everyone's talking about. Yes, we were only there for a few days, but we found it to be a very nice city. Being the capital and all, it has dramatically more money than St. Petersburg, and it shows. (Okay, most of the money is mob money, and they also have the distinct advantage of not having had the snot bombed out of them for 3 straight years during WWII, but still.) Such a clean city compared to St. Petersburg. So many more trees. Parks that aren't full of drunks at 9:00 AM. Fresh air. What a concept.
All that money does have the disadvantage of NOT Passing The Savings On To You. It definitely earns its recent ranking as the Most Expensive City in the World. Bargains were pretty hard to find there. Among the most ridiculously expensive things I saw: about a cup of raspberries at an upscale, Dean & Deluca type grocery store sold for 1600 rubles. That's about SIXTY DOLLARS, people. Granted I think even your average Moscovite would find that appalling, but still, you can imagine me standing in this grocery store aisle giggling to myself about the SIXTY DOLLAR raspberries.
Anyway, lest I digress further, now I'll let the pictures do the talking.
This is the State Historical Musuem of Russia, which makes up one end of Red Square. It faces away from the square itself.
Here's me in Red Square.
You can see the museum in the back. To the left is the Kremlin, and to the right, G.U.M. Department store (essentially a mall). In that picture, I'm facing...
St. Basil's Cathedral, probably the most famous Russian landmark.
Here's the inside of St. Basil's. This place was built in 1561. Dang.
Here's a view of the Kremlin from inside St. Basil's. In front of the Kremlin is Stalin's mausoleum.
Again, across the square from the Kremlin is G.U.M. (pronounced "goom"), which stands for "Gosudarstvennyi Universalnyi Magazin," or, State Department Store. Many cities refer to their main department store as their "GUM," but Moscow's is the most famous. It was built from 1890-1893. Here's the inside.
(By the way, I totally couldn't afford anything in there.)
Along another wall of the Kremlin (the south side, I think) is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with its eternal flame:
Across a small street from there is Alexander Garden, which has wonderfully manicured lawns and fountains and all kinds of fabulousness. It also has a mounted patrol to keep people in check (perhaps to prevent the type of drunkenness and littering that is ever-present in St. Petersburg?).
Next we move on to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which is one of the biggest churches in the world. This place is HUUUUGE. Note the tiny people on the bridge.
Speaking of huge things, looking down the Moscow river from the church, you'll see the enormous sculpture of Peter the Great that was installed not very long ago. Apparently it's the third tallest sculpture in the world.
Look the other way from the bridge and you'll look back at the Kremlin.
The Cathedral of Christ the savior has an interesting story. Originally built from 1839 to 1883, it was the site of the premier of Tchiakovsky's 1812 overture. Now, a little back story- when Stalin was in power, several skyscrapers were built in Moscow, known as the "Seven Sisters." They were some of the tallest buildings in the world at the time. Here's one, in the background of this photo:
The plan was to build an "Eighth Sister," known as the "Palace of the Soviets," which would have been the tallest building the world at the time, surpassing the Empire State Building. Here's a sketch for the original plans. Creepy with that giant Stalin statue on top, eh?
So. In 1931 Stalin demolished the original Cathedral of Christ the Savior, intending to replace it with this ginormous building. Unfortunately, the huge hole in the ground was plagued by flooding from the river, then they ran out of money, then war started and Stalin went crazy etc etc etc. During the communist era, the hole was turned into a giant public swimming pool. Finally, when Soviet rule ended in 1990, it was decided to rebuild the cathedral. Construction started in 1994 and it was christened in 2000.
Whew. After all that, I'd say it's time for a break. Let's make this giant blog about this giant city and its giant contents a two-parter, eh?
