{"id":472,"date":"2009-11-15T04:12:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-15T12:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/?p=472"},"modified":"2013-10-10T11:33:29","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T19:33:29","slug":"snow-swan-lake-halloween-in-moscow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/moscow\/snow-swan-lake-halloween-in-moscow\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow & Swan Lake – Halloween in Moscow"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u2014much to my dissatisfaction. So we ended up walking around the outside of the Kremlin and going on a short walking tour through inner Moscow.<\/p>\n
$\"I$
I think a WWII memorial but there were no signs describing what it was.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Just$
Just to the leff of the pillar. In the background we see the Kremlin walls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Stalingrad$
Stalingrad Memorial. There were about 12 blocks with different Soviet city names on them to the left and right of this one.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Tomb$
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? )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We then branched off the Kremlin area and began our short walking tour.<\/p>\n
$\"The$
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Cool$
Cool cathedral next to the Romanov’s Moscow house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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.<\/p>\n
$\"Honestly,$
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Here$
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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.<\/p>\n
$\"The$
The \u0411\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0448\u043e\u0439 (Big) Lobby where we were to see Swan Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I am lying to you a bit. This isn’t really the \u0411\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0448\u043e\u0439 \u0442\u0435\u0430\u0442\u0440 (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.<\/p>\n
$\"Tanya,$
Tanya, me, Natalie, and Lenny (left to right), inside the lobby about to see Swan Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Up$
Up the first set of stairs to the inner lobby.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Up$
Up one more flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Looking$
Looking down the finite spiral of stairs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"The$
The inside of the theatre. I was very awestruck. Even though there are less balconies than the real \u0411\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0448\u043e\u0439 \u0442\u0435\u0430\u0442\u0440 it still had that impressive aura to it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"The$
The Stage, from another vantage point.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"At$
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"The$
The timpanist’s sheet music, full of rests that makes the percussionist so good at counting them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"The$
The final bows and giving of flowers and celebration and hand waving and telling your dance partner they did a magnificent job.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2014it doesn’t help that I’m terrible at ballet. Anyway, it was a very cool move.<\/p>\n
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<\/a> 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 <\/a>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.<\/p>\n
$\"The$
The enormous chandelier and murals on the ceiling.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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!<\/p>\n
$\"Check$
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Time to do Complex Analysis homework that I’ve put off since Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moscow","tag-links"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1365,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions\/1365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u2014much to my dissatisfaction. So we ended up walking around the outside of the Kremlin and going on a short walking tour through inner Moscow.<\/p>\n
$\"I$
I think a WWII memorial but there were no signs describing what it was.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Just$
Just to the leff of the pillar. In the background we see the Kremlin walls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Stalingrad$
Stalingrad Memorial. There were about 12 blocks with different Soviet city names on them to the left and right of this one.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Tomb$
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? )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We then branched off the Kremlin area and began our short walking tour.<\/p>\n
$\"The$
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Cool$
Cool cathedral next to the Romanov’s Moscow house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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.<\/p>\n
$\"Honestly,$
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Here$
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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.<\/p>\n
$\"The$
The \u0411\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0448\u043e\u0439 (Big) Lobby where we were to see Swan Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I am lying to you a bit. This isn’t really the \u0411\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0448\u043e\u0439 \u0442\u0435\u0430\u0442\u0440 (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.<\/p>\n
$\"Tanya,$
Tanya, me, Natalie, and Lenny (left to right), inside the lobby about to see Swan Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Up$
Up the first set of stairs to the inner lobby.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Up$
Up one more flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Looking$
Looking down the finite spiral of stairs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"The$
The inside of the theatre. I was very awestruck. Even though there are less balconies than the real \u0411\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0448\u043e\u0439 \u0442\u0435\u0430\u0442\u0440 it still had that impressive aura to it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"The$
The Stage, from another vantage point.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"At$
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"The$
The timpanist’s sheet music, full of rests that makes the percussionist so good at counting them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"The$
The final bows and giving of flowers and celebration and hand waving and telling your dance partner they did a magnificent job.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2014it doesn’t help that I’m terrible at ballet. Anyway, it was a very cool move.<\/p>\n
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<\/a> 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 <\/a>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.<\/p>\n
$\"The$
The enormous chandelier and murals on the ceiling.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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!<\/p>\n
$\"Check$
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Time to do Complex Analysis homework that I’ve put off since Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moscow","tag-links"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1365,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions\/1365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}