“In Europe and America there’s a growing feeling of hysteria. Conditioned to respond to all the threats in the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets…” ~Sting
I was rather intimidated about going to Moscow. Excited…but nervous. I’m not entirely sure what it was that made me so unsure but I was going in any case. I arrived and all anxiety was for not! The city is AMAZING! St. Petersburg is more beautiful than I could ever describe but Moscow…is like…times 10!! Italy looks like the Universal back-lot at every turn, Moscow is Disneyland! So many bright colors and gold and steeples. A lot of the metro stations do not have the name of the station where it can easily be seen on the train and the announcements are sometimes muffled but it is not difficult to get around. Truthfully, I think the Moscow stations are even more grand the St. Petersburg stations. I’m trying to locate a book for both cities.
Junmei found an incredible apartment for 5 of us to stay in that turned out to be across the walkway from the Moscow Art Theater, a block from the Operetta Theater and 2 blocks from the Bolshoi. This means that Red Square was basically at the end of the street. AWESOME! AND it was affordable!
The first night the 5 of us (Amanda, Brittany, Junmei, Sojin & I) went and had a nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant. ALMOST went to Starbucks that night but…saved it for the morning and went on a walk around the area instead. Tons of cool shops in the neighborhood. A giant bookstore that turned out to be the biggest/best in Moscow for Art books and stuff. (I didn’t make back there during open hours 😦 …like I need MORE books…). Best find of the night though, was a grocery store that had PEANUT BUTTER!!!!!! Yes, I paid $15USD for 2 small jars, 1 creamy, 1 chunky and truthfully I should have bought 4 jars!
The first day we, of course, had breakfast at Starbucks (OH! Glorious Mocha!!! BREWED REAL coffee! I will never take you for granted again!) and met Danila at the Bolshoi Theater. We were unable to get inside unfortunately. Instead, we explored Red Square and the Kremlin Armory Museum. The amount of wealth is overwhelming! Mother of pearl handles on hunting shotguns, miles and miles of gold & jeweled “Alter Gospel” covers, a new carriage for every year and cups out of EVERYTHING…nautilus’, narwhal tusk, coconuts… The oddity of it is how many people were likely employed to construct these pieces of ostentation. The intricate design, the detailed carving, ALL the gilding and jeweling. While the product was excessive and over the top, MANY people’s livelihoods were supported. It was just a strange revelation. There was armor for children and horses…of course, the horse armor was displayed on a taxidermy horse in a glass case.
We went to Zoya’s Apartment at the Moscow Art Theater that evening. This was an exceptional theater experience. It is listed as, “A Tragic Farce in Three Acts” by Mikhael Bulgakov. (Side info…it played on Broadway in 1990 for about 2 months and starred Bronson Pinchot.) A lot of projection seems to be used in Russian theater…maybe it’s all of European theater. The whole set moved forward and back onto a rotating platform so while there was box of a set (4th wall open), the whole set revolved and scenes took place outside “the apartment” and was REALLY outside the apartment…often you could glimpse the story still happening inside. It made for a very unique experience. It was a musical, so there were some fun songs, great voices and, of course, tremendous costumes all Art Deco inspired. The party scene/opium trip(?) was really well done. But the death scenes were what I thought was most unique. One character jumps out the window but it was a very romantic moment with her walking out to the edge of the stage, removing her shoes and leaving the stage. However, when the rich man died (neck slashed with a hand fan!), he fell on the floor and the set began to move. He walks to an outerwall where there is a rug and chair like inside but 90 degrees on the wall. He stands against the rug and a projected spot expands across his face and across the whole wall like a pool of blood. Incredible!
Halloween = shenanigans!! Amanda and I went back to Red Square in the morning. Me in my Soviet Wonder Woman costume, Amanda to take the pictures. It was FREAKING COLD!!! It was dripping too but the temp was on the positive side. Like 2 degrees, I think. We started at St. Basil’s and worked our way out of the square. There was a camera crew at St. Basil’s. We ignored them…BUT once they were done they began filming us. There were a lot of triple takes from passersby…then there were phone pics. We moved to the bandstand and took pics in front of the 1942-2012 banner and took some pics there. Still…people stopping and snapping pics. Then a car starts racing across the square. It’s a police car. Wow! He’s moving pretty fast! I wonder what’s going on?! Weird…he’s headed THIS way. Nothing weird over here! Oh…crap… And he stopped in front of US. (In Russian) WHAT ARE YOU DOING???!! Uh…umm…erm…<shit…where did I bring my passport? Where’s my visa? crapcrapcrap> …Halloween? Russian-blahblahblah-Russian AREN’T YOU COLD? Yes (and a little scared)!! More-Russian-carry on! And THAT was my big Halloween scare. TOTALLY worth it!!! We finished up a few more pics then went home to change.
We spent the afternoon at the studio of designer David Borovsky. It was preserved exactly as he left it the last time he worked in his studio in 2006. He was truly an artist! Then to a theater space that is located in Stanislavski’s fathers tile factory. It was a beautiful building, adapted for it’s new needs. Steel factory tiles (from another factory) cover the floor of the lobby. The lighting is very industrial but stylish. Ceilings have been raised or lowered to adapt the stage area. Paint choices are made to make people feel welcome. There are more toilets in the womens room than the mens room to supposedly alleviate lines!!! A lot of thought was put into this theater and it is very beautiful. We did not get to see a show here though. We saw Opus Number 7 at an unpronounceable theater. The 1st Act was very interesting it was a commentary on WWII and the images were very relate able. The 2nd Act was about a child pianist and communism. I didn’t really get it but apparently it was poignant for the Russians.
Thursday we prepared to come back to St. Petersburg. It rained!!!!!! We went to Christ the Savior Cathedral. This is where Pussy Riot performed and was arrested for hooliganism. It is beautiful!!! I am not a religious person, but I do appreciate the artistic value of a beautiful church. There are paintings EVERYWHERE!!! There is also a casket covered with glass holding silver and gold boxes of bones but…to each their own. I have Julian McMahon’s underwear in a box at home…kinda the same thing, I suppose. I just don’t tend to light candles and weep uncontrollably at the site of said undies.
…and then the train ride home. 200 kilometers/hour. I *LOVED* Moscow and will GLADLY return there anytime!!
*there may be some FB duplicate pics.
JaimieF 