Moscow: Sightseeing, Soviets, and Scattered Showers, Part Two

Headnote: A gazillion photos are now posted on the photo page of this
trip if you'd like a visual.

We're long overdue for part two of our Moscow vacation. One thing about getting to and from the Kremlin we discovered was the crush of traffic. Apparently, it's every day and very heavy. Also, the drivers definitely use the "Doha" method - that is, lanes are fluid and any paved road is a means to an end (regardless if they are meant to drive in the desired direction on it). Also, there are lots of pedestrians, small sidestreets, and ground to cover. Erin and I differed in opinion on this, she thought Doha (relative to its size) had worse traffic, but I don't agree because Mav told us it takes his driver around 45 minutes to take him 5 miles home from work every day. Doing the math, that's 9 MILES an hour. Yuk. The effect traffic has here in Doha is that it feels like you are playing a crazy driving video game where cars and pedestrians shoot out at you from the sides, with the occasional bicyclist thrown in for good measure.

Despite the traffic, we spent a good portion of time exploring other parts of the city. We visited the sites of most of Stalin's "Seven Sisters". No, he wasn't from a big family. In 1947, he ordered the construction of seven Gothic towers at various locations across Moscow. The country was still in ruins from WWII, but the towers were meant to represent soviet power at the beginning of the cold war. It helped that several of them were built using German POW's. They are white and resemble wedding cakes or rockets waiting for takeoff. According to the propaganda of the time, they were built to replace slum housing for Muscovites. In reality, the Sisters were used as residences for party officials, artists, actors, writers, and those with political sway. Today, they serve as residntial buildings, hotels, and even a university. One of the sisters (at Kudrinsky Square) overlooks the US Embassy, and there are rumors that that
was not an accident - that the KGB used to spy on the embassy through upper floor windows. An eighth sister was apparently planned before construction began. It was supposed to be the tallest building in the world, with the central tower reaching 1,378 feet, not including a 300 foot statue of Lenin atop it. They even picked out a site on the banks of the Moscow river - the location of the Cathedral of Christ Our Savior. They demolished the centuries old church only to discover that the foundation would not support such a large building. Instead they put in - get this - a community swimming pool, which operated until the 1990's. After that, the democratic government decided to rebuild the church (at staggering costs of over $200 Million) and completed the replica cathedral in 1997. More photos of the new church are in the Moscow folder.

Alex (and Artie) took us on a boat cruise that snaked its way along the Moscow river and floated past some of the cities many sites. There are plenty of photos (including this one of the waterside statue of Peter the Great).It was lots of fun, and amazing to see all the "green" from many parks next to the river. I discovered that the fascination with Karaoke that exists on this side of the globe is alive and well in Moscow, as we passed a large tourist boat that looked exclusively for amateur crooners. We even saw an amusement park on the banks that had a space shuttle (ride) that looked just like the Atlantis or Discovery. Hmmm....did we sell our space shuttle plans to the Russians? :-)

Later in the trip we had a chance to visit a park/market, which had a large area exclusively for honey. Apparently, Asian bees are the enterprising sort, and they have found about 200 different flavors to produce honey. Honey was combined with flavors like various flowers, trees, spices, etc. Some of them tasted like that smell you associate with the City Zoo. Some were great though, and with care we were able to fly home with two jars of honey, one in "Mint" and one in an unidentified flavor that perhaps Erin can identify in the comment section. Here's Erin sampling....

For our last evening, we went back to Red Square to see St Basil's Cathedral at night, an amazing sight. We also had dinner at a touristy russian themed restaurant where the waiters and waitresses would break into song and dance routines of traditional russian songs. It was also there that Erin discovered that she is either allergic to, or really, really just doesn't like caviar. I had a headache too which I attributed to the warm restaurant and red wine. We had to catch our 2 AM flight a few hours later and luckily we felt mostly better by then. Maybe it was just karma, dealing us a small bit of adversity after one of the greatest experiences of our lives.