from Russia with Love

Month: November 2009

Київ Day 2 – 20 Nov 2009 (Киев/Kiev/Kyiv)

Unfortunately, we got a late start (around noon) because we were all out cold for the whole night and morning. But at least we felt well rested for the long day. The weather was a bit eerie with fog steadily dropping as the day progressed.

Sofia’s Cathedrals were first on our list.

Once inside, we decided to visit the museum before entering the main cathedral. There was also a bakery and a living quarters building.

An amber museum. Apparently they made amber here at this religious site once upon a time.

Then we entered the cathedral.

Looking down from the second floor balcony.

Walking around the right side of the balcony to catch a different angle.

It was now time to climb the bell tower.

From the first level of the tower I looked back into the grounds and got Sofia’s Cathedral.

Turning to the right, this yellow building that bordered a side of the square looked quite stately.

Now looking down from the 2nd level back into the grounds. For some reason, looking back at this photo on my computer gives me vertigo.

A little more to the left we see the amber museum.

Now the 3rd level. Vandals destroyed some of the protective caging, or maybe it was so one could take better photos.

Down the street we see Mykhail’s Cathedral. This section of the street was the main drag in the 18th century.

The group of 5 down in the bottom right is our group minus me. They didn’t want to go up the tower. At least we got to take photos of each other.

There was one more set of stairs leading up to the dome level but it was blocked off and I didn’t feel like risking arrest.

I didn’t notice I was holding the camera upside down for this shot and it screws up my sense of vertical when I view it. Makes me imagine I’ve just swung over the railing and am going to shoot myself down through the middle—except my feet seem to still be on the ground.

All those stairs, 176-180 in all. I lost count because I descended faster than I could count. The lowest level in this photo is actually the first level above the ground.

Bells! It couldn’t be a proper bell tower without these. Three men were setting up a Carillon to the right of these bells, like the one in the Berkeley Campanili.

After rejoining the rest of the group they wanted to grab something to eat. Clearly, they did not visit the grocery store the previous night to buy breakfast for each morning. Muesli with yogurt and a double-decker egg & cheese sandwich (3 slices bread 2 eggs) is my daily breakfast of choice while here. Plus the banana for consumption approximately 2.5-3 hours after breakfast, and then the poppyseed bun or blackberry roll (as was the case today) for consumption approximately 2 hours after the banana. We cannot forget the small sips of water…

Anyway, going inside Мистер Снек (phonetically Mister Snack) was rewarding in itself as I saw this:

Avatar! The first advertisement I’ve seen over here. There have been none yet in Russia and it worries me.

I grabbed a small sandwich and postponed my banana consumption for later, namely because the sandwich was called “Smiley” sandwich and the Smiley emoticon is some favorite symbol of Kyiv. It was mentioned a lot and we saw it on the walls of different places.

Afterward we split up and the group I was in went to the Golden Gate, which was very similar to the one in Vladimir, but it lacked a corny diorama. But the interesting history made up for it.

The Golden Gate and plaza in front. Oh, that cat is made out of plastic forks. I have no idea why.

We learned that it was built to be the main ceremonial entrance to Kyiv in 1037, during Grand Prince Yaroslav’s rule. It also served as a fortification tower. In the 18th century, to preserve the gate from further dilapidation, it was completely covered with earth. In the 19th century it was uncovered and strengthened to preserve it as a monument.

The actual gate part.

Archer holes. Luckily no invaders were shooting at us from below as we were unarmed and Chris was preoccupied with his camera.

Then we walked down what was supposedly a street that had been preserved in 19th century architecture and left alone by Soviet rule.

I can’t tell if these chimeras are holding the window up or hanging from it.

This was probably the most interesting thing we saw. So we cut the walk short and headed back to the metro.

The national opera house. We were lucky enough to walk past it as we headed to the metro to get to the Lavra.

Upon exiting the metro car at Dnipro station, we were greeted by this foggy view over the Dnieper River.

I guess we can complain about some Americans not being patriotic. After all, some of us don’t paint our cars, or our subways, red white & blue.

We then proceeded to walk down the right side of this street to arrive at the Kyevo-Pechers’ka Lavra so our morbid fascination with seeing dead priests could be satiated.

The Ukrainians are really friendly. While we were double checking our map on the street level of the station a random man walked up to us and asked if we needed any help. He then gave us excellent directions to the Lavra.

Our turn off for the Lavra brought us back a couple centuries in the past.

We made it. Inside the lower Lavra area we wondered how large this monastery center was.

In 1051 Reverend Anthony settled in this area and dug himself a cave. Foods and liquids were brought to him and he resided inside the cave for 40 years. As more people visited him he wanted more seclusion and dug himself another set of caves on the adjacent hill. Eventually, these caves grew into tunnels and served as a burial spot for priests and other religious persons for over 700 years, with Anthony being buried there first. We were allowed to go inside and see their tombs.

The entrance to the tombs.

We descended with candles in hand, the only light inside the tunnels. The bodies were horizontal and in glass cases with clothes on and their heads covered with a cloth. Some hands were exposed and they were totally black with what could have been skin still on the skeleton. The tourist part was rather short so I suggested we venture back and walk through the “for prayers” only section. It was indeed much longer and after a while I realized it was all basically the same deal. Except in this section, people would cross themselves and bend over to kiss the cases, yuck. Apparently, some priest guided Natalie back to the main entrance saying she wasn’t allowed in the prayer section, but then Chris met up with her and together they walked back through to the exit. No one bugged me though. We sort of split up in the small maze of tunnels. I let my imagination roam free and for a few moments I had some fun walking down an empty black corridor with my candle flickering, threatening to die. But there were too many people for any real fun to be had; I wasn’t able to lose my sense of direction and engender a claustrophobic or lost feeling—not that I would want to be shoved into a pitch black box and sent on a train across Sibera or anything like that.

We then decided to walk to the upper parts of the Lavra and see how large this place was.

I got me a lamp shot. Not enough fog though. Anyway, this is what I call the midsection of the Lavra.

These amazing buttresses separated the outer and inner walls of the upper Lavra.

We turned a corner and BAM! This magnificent cathedral was all we could see, its domes challenging the fog’s descent.

It even had a bell tower that seemed to diminish the one at Sofia’s earlier. But that could have been an effect of the fog. I was convinced this place wouldn’t look half as amazing without this fog; but I really like fog.

The other side of the cathedral. Actually, it consisted of many different, entirely separate rooms. We couldn’t figure out how to get inside the main worship room (it was probably the center door but no one else was entering so we didn’t press our luck. I ducked into the leftmost room to follow other people, who were dressed nicely, doing the same.

A wedding! The bride dressed in white is standing in the center. I pretended like I was part of the party and snapped this photo after seeing the hired photographers doing the same. I don’t think I blended in that well though; I think they probably just didn’t care.

Another shot of the bell tower. I loved the fog. It made this whole place look really awesome. Plus there was a slight mist which only increased the awesomeness.

This bell is as tall as I am, and more than twice as wide.

On the side of the huge cathedral stood another churchlike building. I love the windows. If I build a palace, it’s going to have windows like these.

Anyway, the rest of the doors on the main cathedral led to one room exhibitions. We decided to enter one. It seemed to be a memorial of the priests and displayed their pictures and garments.

Nice hat. I guess it pays well to be a priest in the Ukraine.

Or maybe not. It looks like they take the hats after death for museum purposes.

Tired, and all museumed out for the day, we headed back towards the main part of town.

After walking all the way back to Kreshatik we decided to walk along its sidewalk for a bit before heading to an inexpensive cafe. While this is the sidewalk it doubles as a parking lot for cars. Yes, I was almost hit by this suv, but it was going pretty slow.

The dinner was good and cheap. It was about half the price as the equivalent cafeteria style restaurant in Moscow. The name of the restaurant here in Kyiv is pronounced “Puhzzahta Hahta.” In Moscow, the equivalent is called Mu-Mu.

Feeling very full we walked back to the hostel to get a good night’s sleep for our exciting journey arranged for the morning.

2009-11-28
Київ Day 1 – 19 Nov 2009 (Киев/Kiev/Kyiv)

About three weeks ago we decided to go to Kyiv, one week later. But then Chris accidently bought the tickets for the following week and so we had to wait. But on the night of Wednesday 18th of November 2009, we boarded a Russian train and tried to sleep our way to Kyiv.

The Moscow Kievskaya train station. Moscow has individual train stations for each major city to which it sends trains.

The inside of the Kievskaya station (Kievskaya is adjective form of Kiev). Yes, that is a hammer & sickle on the center of the back wall.

It was difficult to sleep as we passed through 2 border controls which took about 30 minutes each and occurred around 2 am and 5 am. So I didn’t get much sleep.

I’m awake in the middle of the night on a train in the middle of nowhere. But at least there’s snow!

Kyiv! We made it! By the way, the word starting with a “Y” on the right of that billboard spells “Ukraine.” The ї = и (Russian) = i (Roman)

My built-up excitement fueled my adrenaline which powered me through the day.

Let me just say before any further that Kyiv is most definitely, most certainly, without a doubt, 100%, hands down, my favorite of favorite places that we have visited here. It is beautiful. But more than that, it’s comfortable to walk around and explore. Moscow is too big to do this, and so while I am oriented in Moscow by the metro system, I have no idea how to get from one place to another by walking. In Kyiv, one can walk all over the central part of the city and walk down Kreshatik (great street) and not feel overwhelmed like in Moscow. The streets are a more manageable size and so seem more comfortable to walk alongside (you can see what’s on the other side).

On a side note, (that had nothing to do with how much I liked the city whatsoever–maybe a little), the women are gorgeous. We were all stunned. The entire time. Everywhere we looked. I’m not saying Russian women aren’t pretty, just that, wow. And guess what, one can buy one and bring her home, as was advertised all over our tourist guide map. This is actually quite sad and while I read that the government in Belarus is trying to shut this industry down, I haven’t researched yet if Ukraine is doing the same. It’s possible they have, because all of the internet sites attached to the ads didn’t work (it was a little outdated), which is a good thing (of course we tried the websites, we were laughing about how absurd the whole thing was and didn’t believe that the ads were actually real).

On a more serious note, there’s one major difference between the women in Moscow and those in Kyiv: use of high heels. In Moscow, every girl, woman, female toddler (not really), wears high heels all the time. It has gotten to the point where it seems absurd. And most of the population look quite fake, ungenuine, and uncomfortable. In Kyiv, it did not seem as mandatory of a cultural rule. And so their women seemed more natural and comfortable, because they dressed more by choice.

Alright, moving on…some of our travel buddies were hungry so after dropping our stuff off at the hostel, some of us dropped into a Coffee House to fuel-up. I came prepared with breakfast on the train: yogurt, cereal, poppyseed bun. But I got a sandwich and a strawberry shake so I wouldn’t be hungry later.

My sister would be ashamed of me leaving this unfinished strawberry smoothie and whipped cream. But the milk here is weird. They put odd preservatives in it that make it taste funny (terrible) to me.

Then we went to see the city.

The National Music Hall, for performances.

A treble clef on the patio out front.

And turning around…

Independence square. Our hostel was about 400 ft down the road in the top right of this photo.

Now I’m standing on top of the bridge area looking back at the Music Hall. Cool Clock eh?

Roof of the main mall in Kyiv. All of their malls are underground. Usually, they are underneath main intersections and continue underneath the adjoining streets.

Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square)

Ukraine Hotel. It was on the left of the panorama.

Then we headed out the other side of the square and up the hill. Esther in Moscow told us that we miss half the city by not going into the courtyards of apartment complexes alongside the road so we decided to start venturing into them and chose our first.

Inside of a courtyard, apartment area.

It wasn’t that exciting, but in a simple way it was pleasing.

The top of the street opened up to Mykhailivs’ka square. It’s kinda fun imitating statues.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the other side of the square.

And those who oppose the current government:

Communists! We dared not get any closer as we didn’t want to get hurt.

We then headed towards the river to look out over the hill.

This is a cable train that we could take to get down and up the hill. We didn’t take it but it looked fun.

I think here it was sealed that this was my favorite city thus far.

Overlooking the Dnieper River

And the panorama of the entire view.

We turned around and walked back toward Mykhail’s Cathedral. It looked very pretty amidst the trees.

We then walked through the park back toward our hostel and found this giant arch which lights up in rainbow colors at night.

The entrance to our hostel.

The hostel is 4 windows up. The room where I slept is the window with the satellite next to it. I slept on the top bunk just to the right of the window.

After visiting the hostel and picking up the rest of our group who had decided to nap we went out again to see the city. This is the southern side of the park from earlier with another bridge over the Dnieper.

Kyiv has beaches!

A cool entrance to what above reads “Antiquary.”

The most racist thing we’ve seen. A Jewish restaurant with a Jewish statue counting his money. And something about a bear.

After getting sort of lost in the part of Kyiv that was visible in the panorama overlooking the Dnieper (the part close to the river), we headed toward the hill-range and found this church on the way.

This is Andreevsky Street. It has been preserved in an 18th century time period and was wonderful to walk up. It totally transported us back in time.

It had this cool statue too that made for fun photos. It reads the dudes name below.

Farther up the road an incredible old bus sat.

Someone over here has good taste in brands.

Almost to the top. Along the sides of this road paintings and other souvenirs were for sale.

Finally, at the top:

Andreevsky Spusk. Unfortunately, the government had let it dilapidate too much before they decided to restore it so we were unable to go inside as it is being renovated.

Plus, blue skies. This day was the first time many of us had seen the sun in about a month. To tell the truth I hadn’t really noticed until this day. I guess I just forgot about it and so it didn’t bother me. Then we headed over to this big cathedral that stuck out over the top of the city. Actually, it was a bell tower for the cathedral.

Days are short now. This is about 4:30 pm and is a preview of Sophie’s Cathedral. We visit it tomorrow.

I realized I hadn’t taken any photos of police yet in Moscow. Some drive cars like this with a little different color scheme. The car is a Lada, Russian made.

Finally, we decided to head home. But on the way:

The other side of St. Mykhail’s at night.

This globe stood in Independence Square and while we missed it during daytime, we couldn’t miss it at night once illuminated. Some teenagers were hanging out to the left of it. Most of the young folk seemed to loiter around the squares and sidewalks of Kreshatik Street. It made for a very friendly atmosphere.

After getting rather filling pizzas for $3 a piece we walked 20 more ft to the turn in for our hostel for an early night as all of us were wiped.

2009-11-26
Red Square & Rachmaninoff Nov. 11-14

This week began with a boom. Literally. Apparently on Monday, Dian was sitting in class and heard ‘gunshots.’ At the end of the day, he and the rest of the students who had class were walking home and noticed this car on fire, or what was left of it, sitting on the side of the road:

Aren’t CRV’s supposed to be safe?

Check out that paint job. Paint styling like this is not uncommon in Moscow.

So as of today (Nov 21) this car is still there, but with a cover over it. We have no idea what happened but it’s somewhat interesting.

On Saturday, Tanya & I decided to go see the Diamond Fund and so after my morning run we headed out. As we were exiting the student hostel area, we got caught in the middle of a camera crew setting up there equipment to film a scene:

And they even put fake snow down, and all over the tree. They had a cart system for the camera to go through the tunnel on the right.

But we eventually made it to the center, and inside the Kremlin walls.

A little preview of the Kremlin.

This is all we got to see of the Kremlin. And since our tickets were for 2pm we decided to walk around Red Square and the outside walls to kill the time before our Diamond Fund time.

So much brick for the Kremlin walls.

Thankfully, the Red Square was open. It has been closed every time we try to come here. (Lenin’s tomb is in the center)

St. Basil’s on the left, and one of the Kremlin Wall Towers on the right.

Lenin’s tomb. We didn’t go in to see the body this time, but next weekend I hope to go in and see his pink face. (Apparently he has a pink hue to him)

St. Basil’s up close.

Since we had more time, we dropped into St. Basil’s to check it out. There are about 9 separate towers/rooms of worship.

The first room of worship inside Basil’s.

One of the walls in another room.

Looking upward in the same hall.

Looking to the right while sitting in the same hall.

And finally, to the left showing the door we came in. This was the biggest and tallest hall.

So two Friday’s ago, while we were chillin’ at the IUM, and Lenny was thinking about selling his Oakley gloves to me because they were too big for him, Adeel leaned over and said, “Yeah, Caleb that would be a good idea. Oakley is like Oakland & Berkeley put together so it would be perfect for you.” I had never thought of that before. But it turns out Oakley isn’t from the Bay Area so it would have been a bad idea. Plus, I wear Smith, because…

…even when life moves too fast to capture, you can count on Smith to stay fresh, in focus.

It was now time for our Diamond Fund appointment so we headed back over to the inner Kremlin area. The inside was particularly dark and unfortunately the tour was in Russian. But I was with Tanya so she translated for me; plus, they gave me an information sheet for each exhibit. My favorites were the Platinum with diamonds brooch and a gold and emerald corsage. But everything was pretty amazing. Catherine the Great’s Scepter was pretty incredible. She took the old Russian Scepter and stuck a fat diamond on it that some dude got her from western Europe as a gift. Most of these treasures were declared property of the state by Peter the Great and so have been passed down to each generation. Now they sit in the museum for us to gawk at. But they were impressive. Especially the large pieces of gold (36.2 kg) and platinum (7kg). Check out the wiki page for more information as I was not allowed to take any photos and I forgot to bring the information sheet with me: Diamond Fund. Then we headed back to the outer walls of the Kremlin and decided to walk around before heading home.

The trees outside the Kremlin walls are rather pretty.

I called Lenny to help us decide if we were going straight back to the dorm or if we were going to stop at Kievskaya to shop for food supplies.

Later that night Bill came into my room and reminded me of a Rachmaninoff concert that we had been invited to. I completely forgot and sped to get ready. Rachmaninoff’s third concerto was going to be performed by one of the best orchestras in Russia. So we took the metro to the outer parts of Moscow, near the State University actually, and got out to walk to the hall.

This is how we cross the street in Moscow and other cities in the former Soviet Union countries. Underground passage ways.

The program for the evening.

This was a huge surprise. Not only were we going to get to see the Rach 3, but Brahms’s 4th Symphony was being performed as well. Stoked!

The orchestra appeared.

And then the pianist came out. She was very good but unfortunately very quiet, and so didn’t quite capture the fervor of the piece. I’m not sure if she wasn’t using enough energy or if the acoustics were just horrible. But the orchestra sounded superb so I’m unsure. I fell asleep during the 2nd movement of the Rach Concerto which meant that it was very good (Plus I was really tired). But I do have a tendency to fall asleep at classical concerts for some reason. I think it just soothes me into a peaceful state and I just relax to the point where I sleep. Anyway, the Brahms Symphony 4 was great and I lasted 3 movements before I drifted again. I was wide awake toward the end and enjoyed it all, including the encore.

And the concert ends after a Liszt Hungarian Dance encore.

Perhaps the coolest looking building in the fog in Moscow, the gold up top supposedly solar panels, according to one of the Russians with us.

Naturally, I couldn’t resist taking more photos of this place.

The top of the other side of the building, shorter but still capped with this gold solar panel configuration.

These neon lights were ridiculously cool. I wonder if because they are green, then they don’t ruin one’s night vision, or bat’s vision.

This is one of the funnest things I’ve seen in Moscow so far. I can’t stop taking photos.

Finally, as we were walking away, I got a full photo of the whole building complex.

This sign was right above the metro. 4°C is actually warmer than average lately. But it’s still feels super cold.

We rushed home and hung out before I tried to go to sleep only noticing that insomia is beginning to creep up on me. Seems to be happening more and more every semester now. To counter, I read almost a hundred pages in my new book, Hyperion. It’s incredibly complex in terms of how many aspects of life & society Simmons chooses to write about. I’m stunned by how much I’ve learned about this fictional society. It’s like Battlestar Galactica merged with Dune, merged with Serenity, merged with a story where 7 specifically chosen people make a pilgrimage to a planet because the religion there needs them to meet with their ‘god,’ a metal? monster with 4 arms that can freeze time, and has been killing a lot of people, because of some time tombs that are being opened up for the first time in 300 years while at the same time these ousters, a society like the mutants from Serenity, are coming to invade the planet (I don’t know another book with a plot like this so I just listed the plot). Nevertheless, I finally fell asleep.

2009-11-21
Slow Week, Snow Run Nov. 4-7

The week started out normally, with us trying to finish our homework the day before each class. The Russians got a holiday on the 4th; unfortunately, we didn’t. But it made for an interesting morning commute to school. The entire city was silent. At first I didn’t notice a difference (maybe that’s how much I zone out every day to and from class), but then when I could see all the way down a street without cars blocking my way, I finally saw.

Empty Streets

Nice color on that Audi.

I just realized I haven’t shown you our university yet. Here it is, all in one building. All of its glamor. To be exact, our classrooms are on the third floor toward the right. Only one window can be seen: on the right of the three birch trees. We use three classrooms. Two on this side of the building, one on the rear.

Independent University of Moscow

The workload steadily increases and we try to deal with it:

Dian takes a powernap. One might assume with all these sleeping students that I might be some kind of sleep stalker. On the contrary, I just coincidentally walk in on people when they’re passed out, and then go back to grab my camera.

On Friday, right after lunch, I headed over to the Higher School of Econ to practice piano like I usually do. Then I was to head back to the IUM to have consultation with my algebra professor (office hours). I stepped outside and Moscow was covered in 4 inches of snow. And it was dumping more. Amazing. I put my earphones in and walked to IUM. Here are some photos of us walking home after our consultation through Little Arbat and to the Metro.

The corner that takes us to the IUM.

This girl kept jumping to the fresh snow to make snow angels.

Luckily, the snow stayed until after Saturday morning so I was able to go on a real snow run. I brought my camera this time and took some shots of my run to share. Great scenery on my long Saturday runs.

The train tracks near the park. About 1/3 into my run.

Turning around back towards the way I came down. I came from the right in this photo and wanted to go left.

One of my interval sections. I go hard for about a minute along this section, which gets me about to the end.

After looping around an apartment complex, I get to run through a short forest area along this path.

I stopped to look around and saw this firepit off the path a bit. I wonder if it has been used recently.

Gotta cross the street again on my way back. It’s just a 2 lane road though so it’s not bad.

I’m back at the monument dedicated to memorialize the Napoleonic War in Russia. I took photos of this my first week here. Looks a bit different now—the grass at least.

Toward my right there was a cool looking building under construction.

My last corner (a left) before a short straightaway and I’m home. But check out the fiberglass walls on the right. They silence the freeway on the other side pretty well. To the left of the circular kiosk-like building the downward stairs lead to crossing the freeway, underneath.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful as we stayed indoors and did homework. So no more for now.

2009-11-19
Snow & Swan Lake – Halloween in Moscow

Since the song just came on in my headphones while I finished writing this, you should listen to it while you read. It’s probably my favorite song for the semester, and the other students laugh at me when I play it because I get up and dance, not really, well maybe, but no not really, just kidding, maybe, not really. Anyway, it’s called [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FlE5eMN–4[/youtube] and it sounds amazing on my headphones after getting them back from China where I got them repaired. You might not like it if you don’t like electronic dance music, but I do.

Yesterday, October 30 was our first day of snow. There was less than an inch and it didn’t cover everything, but it stuck for the night and I was able to run through white covered trails in the park nearby during my run Halloween morning. Here I am, successfully returned from my first ‘snow’ run:

I had to add the beanie to my attire as it is getting pretty cold. Even though I cannot ride a bike here, I can pretend by wearing some cycling gear every time I run.

After a quick shower and a double-decker egg sandwich we headed out for the Kremlin area. The idea was to see the Diamond Fund, but when we arrived we noticed it was harder to get into the Kremlin than we had thought, and even with 3 students in the beginning Russian class we were not confident with our communication abilities. It also didn’t help that some of us haven’t been to Disneyland that much and so have not had practice in, and thus no patience for, standing in a line longer than 5 minutes—much to my dissatisfaction. So we ended up walking around the outside of the Kremlin and going on a short walking tour through inner Moscow.

I think a WWII memorial but there were no signs describing what it was.

Just to the leff of the pillar. In the background we see the Kremlin walls.

Stalingrad Memorial. There were about 12 blocks with different Soviet city names on them to the left and right of this one.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Too bad we can’t walk up to it like the one in St. Petersburg. (Kind of a depressing photo for that lady to put her kids into no? )

We then branched off the Kremlin area and began our short walking tour.

The old Russian Stock Exchange building. To my understanding it’s not in use anymore. But back in the early 20th century the square that I’m standing on, and this building were the center of the Russian stock market.

Cool cathedral next to the Romanov’s Moscow house.

We then ventured into the Romanov’s Moscow house which is now a museum. Even though it was four stories tall, the building was very tiny and the doorways were less than 6 ft tall. The stairs were extremely narrow and it was difficult, but fun, to maneuver between rooms. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed of the inside. It kind of reminded me of an east coast colonial home where all the rooms are like the attic room: the ceiling shaped by the roof boards, the room and windows small, very cozy. Behind it stood, or once stood, a great Soviet hotel that is now under demolition.

Honestly, this is what I thought Russia was going to look like. It would have been fun to run around inside a place like that.

Here is an example of beauty jutted up against ugly. This setting is all over Moscow: a really exquisite church right next to ugly business buildings. It makes the church, or buildings, look extremely out of place. But I imagine it makes those employees’ lives happier each day they get to see this amazing architecture.

We then went to the Moscow History Museum which was quite fun, and free since we were students. We learned about the growth of Moscow from the 16th century onwards. After walking around for a little more and getting colder and colder, it was below freezing today, we decided to head home…and get ready to go see Swan Lake. The theatre gives away a limited number of student tickets for 20 rubles ($.70) if you get there early and sign up. Unfortunately, we were a bit late for that but still tried to get them anyway. It failed. So we bought $30 tickets from a scalper organization outside the building. After all, it was Halloween, and we wanted to see Swan Lake, and that still was a better price than the actual price.

The Большой (Big) Lobby where we were to see Swan Lake.

I am lying to you a bit. This isn’t really the Большой театр (big theatre). It’s the one across the street. In Russia, when they are doing construction on a theatre, they first build another one nearby so that audiences may still see shows while the original theatre is under construction. No, probably not. They probably just had an extra theatre they moved in by truck or something. Anyway, this is called the New Bolshoi Theatre, or New Stage. Okay, so after checking the name online, it seems that the Russians did exactly just what I was joking about above. They built this theatre in under six months so that performances could still continue while construction was going on. This country does not cease to amaze.

Tanya, me, Natalie, and Lenny (left to right), inside the lobby about to see Swan Lake.

Up the first set of stairs to the inner lobby.

Up one more flight.

Looking down the finite spiral of stairs.

The inside of the theatre. I was very awestruck. Even though there are less balconies than the real Большой театр it still had that impressive aura to it.

The Stage, from another vantage point.

At intermission we went down and looked into the orchestra pit. Check out that timpani set. It would feel good to play the timpani right now.

The timpanist’s sheet music, full of rests that makes the percussionist so good at counting them.

The final bows and giving of flowers and celebration and hand waving and telling your dance partner they did a magnificent job.

I’m not much of a fan of ballet but since the music was superb, it kept my interest. And I was even amazed by a dance move sequence the jester/joker performed in the middle of the ballet. He did super fast pirouettes across the entire stage and they were all in control. Everyone cheered, including me. I think it’s the first time I’ve actually been really impressed by ballet. It was crazy good. He was the best dancer out of all of them.

But hey, the next time someone complains about women’s beach volleyball uniforms and how it’s just for men to check the women out, pull ballet argument: clearly, the mens’ uniforms are so the women can check some dudes out with virtually no clothing. The main character was wearing his tights so far up his buttox I’m not sure how he was even comfortable. I mean come one, the girls where those tutus, the men could wear them too. But then I would probably be laughing the whole time. I was impressed by how high the main character could jump, a testament to his huge quad muscles, which with my glasses, were clearly defined. Also, the dancers’ heart rates must have been sky rocketing. I had no idea how athletic this event was. One other move that I liked was when the women ‘fluttered’ their legs like swans I guess. Their feet were together with toes on the ground and they would make their legs look like rubber, sort of like the pencil trick where you hold the end and move your hand vertically. It was really graceful and very pretty. I tried it at home but apparently there is some finesse in it that takes training and practice, because I couldn’t do it—it doesn’t help that I’m terrible at ballet. Anyway, it was a very cool move.

I must confess, I was mildly disappointed at the conclusion of the ballet as my limited knowledge of ballet music caused me to think Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker Suite was actually part of the Swan Lake Ballet. Yes, shame on me. But I was looking forward to it the whole time. It was only afterward when I realized my mistake that my disappointment subsided. But I did recognize the Swan Lake Theme as it is one of my favorite themes, especially when the horns play the melody and it darkens. But it’s alright, we’re going to see Nutcracker in December so I will get to here the waltz.

The enormous chandelier and murals on the ceiling.

After the ballet we went back to the dorm, but not before buying a Snickers at Mongolia (really Magnolia, the 24 store near our house. we call it Mongolia though, I’ll take a picture one of these days.) Then we watched “Silence of the Lambs” with Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. It was quite good. The next morning the sky gave us a new surprise with more snow!

Check out that snow. Too bad it rained the next night and then warmed up some more so that it all disappeared until the following Friday.

Time to do Complex Analysis homework that I’ve put off since Tuesday.

2009-11-15
Haydn & Hard Rock October 24-30

The second week of October went by pretty uneventful, except our preparation for the midterms the following week. There was one thing that was a surprise. After we got home one day this week, there was a loud announcement over the PA system. Suddenly, those of us who were home, and understood Russian pretty well, came out of their rooms and said, “We’re quarantined? Because of swine flu?” Then others asked, “wait does that mean we can’t leave now?” “No, we just can’t have visitors.” So basically, since none of us have had any visitors except those already living in the dorm, nothing changed. But now many Russians wear those ridiculous masks all over the place–metro, city sidewalks, malls. Friends even compare the differences between one’s mask to another’s.

Another thing that is kind of odd is how people sell items on the metro. We’ll get on in the morning on the way to school and as soon as the doors close, a person will begin talking in Russian holding the item for sale and waving it around, pointing out all the ‘good’ things about it. Today, the day I’m writing this, a lady got on and tried to sell a battery powered desk/reading lamp for 100p, about $3. One time, a man got on and successfully sold a knife sharpener to a passenger. Weird, but I guess effective.

Also, the Kindle and other electronic reading devices have become very popular over here, probably because of the convenience. I see people using them on the Metro all the time, I even try to read over their shoulders occasionally. Although, it saddens me, for some reason, that people are reading an electronic device and not a real bound book. But I still see some people with real books, magazines, and newspapers so all is not lost.

Anyway, Saturday the 24th I was invited by my friend Mason, who has been over here on his mission, to his 2-year mark dinner. We ate with his fellow elder at some French restaurant on the edge of the city, called Le Noir… The idea of the place is guests eat in a completely pitch black room. Blind people provide the music entertainment as well as wait the tables. Guests order either a meat dish, vegetable dish, seafood dish, or a mix of the three. Then they trust that the waiters bring what they ordered. Unfortunately it was a bit more expensive than we had prepared for so we just ate upstairs. The food was still great and we had a good time. This was the metro station I stopped at to meet them. It had some pretty cool decorations:

A pianist decorating the wall with his performance.

A hero with the world in his hands (Mir). Or it could be peace. The words are the same in Russian.

The next morning a few of us went back to the Disneyland Market.

It’s weird, the buildings are jutted right up against really trashy dumps. This is kind of how all of Moscow is. There will be a beautiful old cathedral and right next to it will stand a really ugly business building. There seems to be little separation between art and function here. After all, Russia had no idea what a monument was other than a church until recently.

Our university here offers many different kinds of classes. Every Wednesday night a bunch of adult women come in for some class and over fill the largest room:

I don’t know what’s taught but they continually pass the lecture notes through the doorway. It must be an interesting class, or really necessary.

On the 29th, we were invited to some classical concerts by some of the other Russians in our dorm. We went first to see a Haydn concert performed by students at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and then a piano recital by students there.

A quaint hall for a small orchestra.

Look, they even have a harpsichord!

Then a pianist came out and played a huge grand piano for her piano concerto. It was very out of place. Not only was it one of the largest grands I’d seen, but it was entirely out of place. If they have a harpsichord why don’t they have a fortepiano as well?

The recital was exceptionally long and the first pianist was absurd. She was amazingly full of herself, and I couldn’t help laughing as she repeatedly kept staring at the ceiling during the performance puckering her lips or something. To top it off her playing wasn’t that great either.

The next pianist was a bit better and she was more modest. For the most part the rest of the pianists were pretty good, especially the girl who played Brahms’s 4 Ballads. Unfortunately, for Bach and Liszt, this dude butchered one of Liszt’s “Bach Preludes.” He just played the whole thing loud, and louder, and louder, until eventually I had to plug my ears because they were hurting. Then he played the next piece very quiet and beautifully. I don’t know what his deal was.

On October 30th, it snowed! It wasn’t much, but it stuck overnight. To celebrate the end of our midterms, we decided to lunch at Hard Rock Cafe, as we walk past it everyday to and from school:

Hard Rock Cafe Moscow

Proof that we were there

I didn’t remember that Hard Rock had all this cool paraphernalia.

It was amazing how much I felt like I was back in the states while we ate there. The music, the English menus, the American Rock souvenirs, the whole atmosphere made me feel quite at home. It was a wonderful feeling. I’m definitely going back again sometime.

2009-11-12
Volkonsky Keyser, MoMA, & Gulag Weekend of Oct. 17

The math is becoming more involved and I am required to spend more and more time with it. Perhaps if I had spent more time in the beginning, I wouldn’t have to now. Nah, that never works. Anyway, Dan shows how our exhaustion is setting in.

Dan works hard. And then he drops.

On Saturday after my morning run we took off to the center of Moscow to begin our walking tour. We were going to get a snack at Volkonsky Keyser first, then head to the Museum of Modern Art, and finish with the Gulag (and eat a pastry afterward to cheer us up). Into the metro!

The metro station we stopped at to surface and begin our walking tour with Volkonsky Keyser bakery.

Another shot of the station.

We surfaced to the presence of this grand building, some nice soviet architecture.

All deliciousness within arm’s reach almost—except, none of us spoke good Russian to order; luckily, the understood pointing. There were too many choices so we ended up each getting a few items and splitting them. All the pastries were scrumptious! And the olive bread was great. We saved some of that for after the Gulag.

John, Mark, and Lenny all ready for sweets.

There were a bunch of statues out front of the MoMA, and unfortunately they were probably the best part.

I even got to ride on a ram!

This was the best exhibit. “Say I love You” by Andrey Bartenev. Those little things are speakers along curved metal poles. Ambient music would play and the sound would travel up and down the metal poles. There was a microphone and a computer handling everything. We were supposed to say “I love you” into the microphone. When we said it the computer inputted the quote into the mix and would repeat it every now and then. It was a lot of fun saying random things into the microphone and listening to how they would return, sometimes in different sequences than how they were inputted.

Monkey Bars! Lenny and I got to climb on them. There was a repeating song that quickly became annoying coming through speakers. A video of dudes climbing on the bars accompanied the speakers. So we figured it was alright if we climbed on them as well.

Then we headed down the street to find the Gulag, a museum memorializing those sent to Siberia among other places during Stalin’s reign.

The entrance to the Gulag. We were kinda skeptical of its legitimacy at this point. But we went ahead and entered.

Up the stair case we saw this artwork. Pretty grim.

Another piece of artwork, illustrating the trains used to transport people away from Moscow.

At the camps, punishment was rather gruesome. There were millions of mosquitoes. One of the punishments was to strip a man, lash him to a tree and let the mosquitoes have their way. Soon his body would be completely black. In the morning, if the man lived (unusual), he would be unconscious and taken to his bed to recover.

Another piece of artwork depicting the horrors of the Gulag camps.

A map of all the Gulag camps in CCCR (USSR).

There was an hour long film about the Gulag. So of course we watched it. The documentary featured interviews of survivors and was pretty depressing itself. But sometime during it the narrator mentioned that Stalin’s motivation for building a railway across the northern border of Russia, ie across Siberia, was to defend the northern border. Immediately Lenny busts up laughing and says, “What?! to protect against who…the polar bears?” We basically couldn’t take the rest of the documentary seriously.

Once we finished with the Gulag we headed back to the metro to go home. Along the way we saw a few interesting things.

A Federal building of somesort in between the Gulag and our metro station.

A didgeridoo! in the middle of Moscow! I want one of these, and to learn how to play it.

Once home, we had a mouthwatering poppyseed bun, one of my favorite things about Russia.

2009-11-11