So, another busy week. Being a tour guide is definitely knackering! I have had a brilliant week with Tom and was very sad to see him go today. But not long until I’m home for Christmas now though! We have had a very busy week. Lots of socialist stuff (concrete buildings, statues, Stalin) but also a very busy social week (lots of drinking, meeting friends and hanging out!)
The day tom arrived, it was snowing really heavily, so that was a nice little treat. We went for a lovely winter walk around the centre and got to see St. Basils, Lenin Library and GUM all lit up and covered in snow. It was very picturesque and a nice welcome. The following day, we had read that there was some kind of procession in Red Square commemorating a procession that took place there in 1941 when the city was besieged by Germans and troops were leaving Red Square straight to the front lines. However, upon leaving the metro we found that red square was unreachable by any means. I have found that this seems to be quite normal and even when you ask the guard what is going on, no one knows or rather just won’t tell you! So anyway, we walked a bit further and stumbled upon a Socialist demonstration. Tom of course was in his element. Lots of communist flags, soviet sounding songs, revolutionary shouting, we were given a copy of Pravda, and there was even a guy carrying a massive poster of Stalin! I was busy taking sneaky photos of people (yes I know I have been told of before!) and a woman started telling me off saying that I shouldn’t just take photos of the old people, but that there were young people there protesting as well. I said that I wasn’t just taking the old peoples photos, but I found there faces more interesting. To be honest, I couldn’t have cared less if it was a socialist protest or not, it was just a good opportunity to take pictures of people without them noticing. She was a moronic woman on her high horse and she really wound me up! We then went to the Contemporary History Museum which is quite good, had lots of stuff from the Tsars all the way up to Medvedev, but really poorly laid out. In the evening, Tom and I went out to a couple of places and then ended back at our hostel at about 6!
The next day we went to the tourist market. Tom spent a very long time looking at postcards trying to find pictures of “workers, concrete or buildings”. We went to the massive supermarket by my house after that, though had to quickly rush home as we were running late for the ballet! We went to the theatre in the Kremlin, which was a pretty special experience, though the theatre itself was pretty grim. It was absolutely massive and very soviet-esque inside, so you didn’t get a very intimate experience. Though, in a way it was interesting to feel like you were a soviet audience in this huge theatre, big enough to educate the masses! We watched Figaro, though as a ballet. It was a bit odd, though there were some dancers who were absolutely incredible. It was like panto-ballet, in the first half, but the second half was brilliant.
On Monday I took tom to a monastery which has this massive cemetary. I think I may have mentioned it before. (I took M&D too.) We spent a while strolling amongst the graves spotting names we knew. Yeltsin, Khrushchev, Eizenstein, Chekov and Bulgakov to name a few... we then went to a bar and had a warm-up drink with a few friends. In the evening we went to see the Nutcracker. It was at the same theatre that Mum, Dad and I watched Swan Lake and again it was absolutely amazing. The dancers are all just incredible, perfectly in time and so graceful.
The next day we went to a sculpture park which houses some of the disgraced statues from around Moscow. So there was a few of defaced Stalin’s and some of Lenin too. Also some of Brezhnev, Dzerzhinsky and other once powerful soviets. After a stroll along the river we went into the same Pushkin fine arts museum that I took Mum and Dad to. We then walked up to red square and went into St Basils. In the evening we met up with friends at a bar, where I am quite embarrassed to admit that you can have as much beer as you can drink for only about £3! So we did.
After we had drunk all we could, it was a slightly later start than usual. But still we proceeded. Tom went to look around the Kremlin while I nipped home to go and get more clothes. We reunited and then decided it was best to go home and have a wee nap! Refreshed and alive, we went watch an ice hockey game. Again, I thought it was brilliant and some of my friends had come along too, so it was a lot of fun. There could have been more fights and at least some kind of serious injury or blood on the ice, but still a good game. Our team however lost 3-2. Tom and I then left the others and went back to the hostel to make spag bol.
On Thursday, for the first time since being in Moscow, I saw Lenin! Very odd indeed! There were about 5 guards in the mausoleum alone whose sole job seems to be to point you in the right direction and tell you to move along and be quiet! After paying our respects to the man himself, we went to a massive park which was full of different styles of soviet buildings, a memorial to Gagarin and the space race and lots of strong looking soviets. Although, today it seems to be some kind of out of town shopping area; inside many of these massive soviet relics would be a garden centre or a supermarket. It was very strange. There was also some kind of theme park. It was like a sad and forgotten place which in its hay day was probably designed to be full of happy, healthy people strolling about enjoying Moscow life!??
The next day was a pretty lazy one, we watched a film and then went to see Moscow State University in twilight. We went for a delicious Uzbek meal for dinner and strolled along the Arbat.
And that is that for Tom’s visit. Sorry if I have gone on a bit. I just wanted to make sure I remembered it all!
Anyway, lots of love to you all.
X x x
The day tom arrived, it was snowing really heavily, so that was a nice little treat. We went for a lovely winter walk around the centre and got to see St. Basils, Lenin Library and GUM all lit up and covered in snow. It was very picturesque and a nice welcome. The following day, we had read that there was some kind of procession in Red Square commemorating a procession that took place there in 1941 when the city was besieged by Germans and troops were leaving Red Square straight to the front lines. However, upon leaving the metro we found that red square was unreachable by any means. I have found that this seems to be quite normal and even when you ask the guard what is going on, no one knows or rather just won’t tell you! So anyway, we walked a bit further and stumbled upon a Socialist demonstration. Tom of course was in his element. Lots of communist flags, soviet sounding songs, revolutionary shouting, we were given a copy of Pravda, and there was even a guy carrying a massive poster of Stalin! I was busy taking sneaky photos of people (yes I know I have been told of before!) and a woman started telling me off saying that I shouldn’t just take photos of the old people, but that there were young people there protesting as well. I said that I wasn’t just taking the old peoples photos, but I found there faces more interesting. To be honest, I couldn’t have cared less if it was a socialist protest or not, it was just a good opportunity to take pictures of people without them noticing. She was a moronic woman on her high horse and she really wound me up! We then went to the Contemporary History Museum which is quite good, had lots of stuff from the Tsars all the way up to Medvedev, but really poorly laid out. In the evening, Tom and I went out to a couple of places and then ended back at our hostel at about 6!
The next day we went to the tourist market. Tom spent a very long time looking at postcards trying to find pictures of “workers, concrete or buildings”. We went to the massive supermarket by my house after that, though had to quickly rush home as we were running late for the ballet! We went to the theatre in the Kremlin, which was a pretty special experience, though the theatre itself was pretty grim. It was absolutely massive and very soviet-esque inside, so you didn’t get a very intimate experience. Though, in a way it was interesting to feel like you were a soviet audience in this huge theatre, big enough to educate the masses! We watched Figaro, though as a ballet. It was a bit odd, though there were some dancers who were absolutely incredible. It was like panto-ballet, in the first half, but the second half was brilliant.
On Monday I took tom to a monastery which has this massive cemetary. I think I may have mentioned it before. (I took M&D too.) We spent a while strolling amongst the graves spotting names we knew. Yeltsin, Khrushchev, Eizenstein, Chekov and Bulgakov to name a few... we then went to a bar and had a warm-up drink with a few friends. In the evening we went to see the Nutcracker. It was at the same theatre that Mum, Dad and I watched Swan Lake and again it was absolutely amazing. The dancers are all just incredible, perfectly in time and so graceful.
The next day we went to a sculpture park which houses some of the disgraced statues from around Moscow. So there was a few of defaced Stalin’s and some of Lenin too. Also some of Brezhnev, Dzerzhinsky and other once powerful soviets. After a stroll along the river we went into the same Pushkin fine arts museum that I took Mum and Dad to. We then walked up to red square and went into St Basils. In the evening we met up with friends at a bar, where I am quite embarrassed to admit that you can have as much beer as you can drink for only about £3! So we did.
After we had drunk all we could, it was a slightly later start than usual. But still we proceeded. Tom went to look around the Kremlin while I nipped home to go and get more clothes. We reunited and then decided it was best to go home and have a wee nap! Refreshed and alive, we went watch an ice hockey game. Again, I thought it was brilliant and some of my friends had come along too, so it was a lot of fun. There could have been more fights and at least some kind of serious injury or blood on the ice, but still a good game. Our team however lost 3-2. Tom and I then left the others and went back to the hostel to make spag bol.
On Thursday, for the first time since being in Moscow, I saw Lenin! Very odd indeed! There were about 5 guards in the mausoleum alone whose sole job seems to be to point you in the right direction and tell you to move along and be quiet! After paying our respects to the man himself, we went to a massive park which was full of different styles of soviet buildings, a memorial to Gagarin and the space race and lots of strong looking soviets. Although, today it seems to be some kind of out of town shopping area; inside many of these massive soviet relics would be a garden centre or a supermarket. It was very strange. There was also some kind of theme park. It was like a sad and forgotten place which in its hay day was probably designed to be full of happy, healthy people strolling about enjoying Moscow life!??
The next day was a pretty lazy one, we watched a film and then went to see Moscow State University in twilight. We went for a delicious Uzbek meal for dinner and strolled along the Arbat.
And that is that for Tom’s visit. Sorry if I have gone on a bit. I just wanted to make sure I remembered it all!
Anyway, lots of love to you all.
X x x
No comments:
Post a Comment