The Munich to Moscow Meander - Part X:

THE END OF THE ROAD

I had three and a half days in Moscow. It wasn't enough; there is a lot to see in this old city, but it makes me excited to return to Moscow someday.

Not far from the Kremlin is the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This Orthodox cathedral is an almost-replica of one that stood at this spot in the 19th century.

In the early Soviet era, the government demolished the church as part of its goal in pushing state atheism. Stalin's plan was to build a great "Palace of the Soviets." That never happened and the most they ever got around to building on the site was the world's largest outdoor swimming pool.

Finally in 1990 construction began on a new cathedral in the same style as the old one. After plenty of trouble and controversy, 10 years later it was finally finished and makes for a nice landmark on the riverfront.

Russian patriarchs on the great metal doors...

The lavish interior...

And the area around the cathedral is a nice open square...

One of my favorite places in Moscow is Novodevichy Monastery...

This UNESCO World Heritage site was built in the 1500's and has survived mostly intact through the centuries....

Today, this tranquil area feels almost out of place in the bustle of ever-changing Moscow...

There are still Orthodox nuns in the convent...

The grounds inside the convent are interesting to walk through...

Next to the monastery is the Novodevichy Cemetery where many of the who's-who of Moscow in the last two hundred years are buried.

 Here is Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975). His music was sometimes dark and enigmatic and other times playful and lovely. He had a troubled relationship with the Soviet government, which often tried to control his music. (Click on his name for a link to his Piano Concerto No. 2 played by his son, to whom it was dedicated)...

These notes, inscribed on his tombstone, occur frequently in his music. They are D,  E-flat ("Es" in German), C, and B ("H" in German), thus creating his initials (in German, in the spirit of Bach): "DSCH"

One of my favorite composers is Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953). Much of his music is very spunky and quirky (just click on his name to hear part of his sarcastic violin concerto, being performed in Munich!) Other works were more mainstream with memorable melodies and lush orchestrations. You know Peter and the Wolf...

One of the great composers for piano was Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915). (Click on his name to hear him playing one of his own pieces in 1910.) Scriabin was a 20th Century Chopin, writing some wonderful modern poetic works for piano. He was a bit nutty and had synesthesia, a condition in which certain pitches (and keys) appeared to him as actual colors in his mind...

One of the more modern composers buried here is Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998). His music is definitely modern but often draws heavily from older forms and styles in interesting and innovative ways (click on his name to hear some of his music)... 

Nikita Bogoslovsky (1913-2004). Honestly, I don't know much about Bogoslovksy. His name pops up now and again in the classical music world and when I saw his grave I thought I might as well get a pic. I should check out more of his music...

The grave of Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007), Russia's first president...

And here is the grave of Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), one of Russia's great writers. He was wearing a red shirt when he died (obscure Star Trek joke)...

The monastery is a popular place for painters...

And fishermen...

Birch bark and Orthodox domes...

Tolstoy used to enjoy ice skating here in the Winter...

From the other side one has a fine view of the Moscow high-rises...

On Sunday morning I went to church at the LDS ward house not far from Red Square. It was fast and testimony meeting and the missionaries were nice to translate for me. There was a good-sized congregation. The stake president was there (only 35-years old!) and overall the ward seemed pretty young and vibrant.

I went to Sunday School and Priesthood and it was fun to see the same old Sunday routine done in Russian. I accompanied the opening song in Priesthood on the keyboard and afterwards I nabbed a few Russian tithing slips to give my ward clerk at home something to scratch his head over.

After the meetings were finished the American senior missionary couple invited me over to their place for Sunday dinner. I happily accepted and then went back out into the city to see a bit more.

That evening I found their apartment and Elder and Sister Pierson, from Oregon, treated me to a nice home-cooked dinner...

It was fun to chat with them about mission life in Russia. Elder Pierson fixed the zipper on my jacket, which had been broken for a while (very much needed! Moscow can get chilly in early September). I was grateful for their kindness.

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There is still a lot more of Moscow to explore...

A couple of times I went out to Arbat Street, which serves as Moscow's main pedestrian street. At one end is one of the Seven Sisters, built during Stalin's time...

The street is one of the oldest surviving streets in Moscow and is today a tourist hub. Hard Rock cafe off to the left...

Yoga...

There are a lot of souvenir shops. Need a hat?

Of course, Russian dolls are ubiquitous...

A lot of well-known American fast food chains can be found on Arbat Street. Can you name them all?

Around Moscow, there are other American food chains...

And don't forget this one from St. Petersburg...

Russians have their own fast food chains, however. Teremok is a popular one...

They serve Russian crepes, soups, and dumplings. I ate there one day for lunch (and drank a berry-flavored soft drink called "mors")

And of course, the king of the fast-food chains: Russia's very first McDonald's...

I grabbed a snack there one night just to say I ate there.


Riding the Metro...

The Bolshoi Theatre is one of the oldest and definitely the most famous theatre in Russia. It houses arguably the world's best ballet company and one of the best opera companies. Many great Russia ballets and operas were premiered here (like Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake) and it continues to be a world-class venue for high-class Russian theatre spectacle...

Art Nouveau architecture takes a more communist flair in Moscow...

Though it can still be quite elegant...

I was amazed one day to walk underneath a pedestrian highway underpass to find a long art gallery of paintings for sale...

Backgammon...

A monstrosity of a monument dividing the river from a canal...

A nice view of the Cathedral of Christ Our Savior from the riverfront...

I followed one of the canals to find some very nice apartment and office buildings...

Property in Moscow is some of the most expensive in the world. I can only imagine how much a flat here costs...

Lovers' locks on a bridge...

Office buildings across the river from Red Square...

One thing about Moscow is there are not a lot crosswalks. You usually have to walk quite a ways to the next underpass or overpass. When there are crosswalks you can be waiting a long time for the lights to change. Rush hour traffic along the riverfront...

I love the little Orthodox chapels hidden down every other street in the city. Some of them are obviously centuries old...

Large monument to Karl Marx across from the Bolshoi...

This supermarket was near my hostel. I've never shopped for bottled water in so fancy a place...

The Tchaikovsky Concert Hall...

Some more interesting post-war Soviet architecture...

In Munich I work at a language school. The Russian trainer, Svetlana, was nice to give me a crash course in basic Russian phrases and the Cyrillic alphabet before I left on my trip. Her repayment was that I would pick up some shoes of hers from her son in Moscow.

So I got in touch with the son and he offered to show me a bit around some lesser-known parts of Moscow. So one evening I met up with him and he gave me a fascinating tour of one of the neighborhoods. It was after dark so I didn't take many pictures. It was great to get a locals perspective of the city.

He also wore a white ribbon in protest of Vladimir Putin. He told me how he had been arrested a couple of times for protesting on the "wrong day," (you are only allowed to hold protests on the 31st of each month.) It was also interesting to hear his perspective on the current political situation.

That night it was nearly midnight and I hadn't eaten dinner. One of the only restaurants open near my hostel was an American 50's diner. I went and got an excellent, and very American, bacon cheeseburger with crinkly fries...

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Evening is the best time for photos in any city. I always planned my day around where I wanted to be at sunset. Even when it's cloudy, you can still get interesting shots, like this one along the Kremlin wall...

It's always best after the lights come on but before the sunlight totally disappears. Moscow towers...

One of the Seven Sisters...

Along the river...

After three and a half days in Moscow and 19 days on the road, it was time head home to Munich. I took the train out to Domodedovo Airport and boarded a little Air Baltic propeller jet that took me to back to Riga, Latvia...

In Riga I transferred to a larger plane that took me back to Germany. Along the way we passed over Latvia and Lithuania. I could see the dunes of the Curonian Spit, exactly where I had a been a few days before...

Wider view of the Lithuanian/Russian spit and lagoon...

I arrived home exhausted but wonderfully satisfied with my Munich to Moscow meander. I had really packed a lot in to a short amount of time. I needed a vacation after my vacation, which is exactly what I got. The day after arriving in Munich, Sybille and Wolfgang (my relatives from northern Germany) picked me up and we spent the next few days relaxing in the Bavarian Alps...

It's always nice spending time with them...

And it was good to be back in Bavaria again...

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