A designers delight

This is mostly a pattern post, containing some fantastic designs from within St Basil’s Cathedral. If pattern is not your thing, I suggest you skip this.

A magical evening in Moscow

It would be very rude to visit Moscow and not watch the ballet. Unfortunately the Bolshoi don’t perform on a Monday evening, so we headed to see Giselle in the Kremlin.

OMG, what a performance. Classical music has a tendency to make me sleepy and I spent act one like a nodding dog. However, the second act had me, literally, on the edge of my seat. The set was simple, yet atmospheric; the costumes to die for and the soloists unbelievable. I was unable to take pix, however I did manage a sneaky one at the encore.

On cloud nine, I mentally pirouetted across to Red Square to be enchanted by the fairy tale scene that unfolded. Night time in Moscow surely is magical.

Moscow in pictures

I have depleted my literary powers, yet still have many more pictures to post, so for this post less is certainly more. Some sights…

The changing of the guard (we got to see some goose stepping) and the tomb of the lost solider.

Victory Park and Memorial; the Russians were late on joining WW2 efforts; 1941 I believe. As homage to this, a recent addition to the City is this park – atmospheric, potent, yet a fitting tribute.

The Kremlin. Luckily Nadia knew the secret knock to enter 😉 We spent not nearly enough time in the Royal Armoury Museum. The museum, housing a spectacular collection of Tsarist artefacts; from wedding gowns, to carriages (gypsy wedding eat your heart out!), to dining sets and jewel encrusted goblets and the magnificent Faberge eggs; it’s the largest collection in Russia and the third biggest in the world. Housing a priceless collections of goodies, only 10% of its collection can be on show at any one time. Unfortunately, you were unable to take any photographs but I’m sure that our friend Google can help if you out should you be that interested.

Stopping of at a few Cathedrals en route; one that housed the remains of many of the Tsars, we ended up in Cathedral Square for which I have no words…

A woman’s place is in the…Nunnery

Novodevichy Monastery is a sight to behold. Traditional red bricked buildings topped with golden hats and sat on its own lake; it’s picture perfect. However, as like most buildings in Moscow it has a chequered past. Built as both a fortress (it’s located at the outer ring road and one of the city’s first line of defences) and also a convent, it also depicts what happens when Russian women get too big for their boots.

Tsar Peter the something (sorry without the Internet my historical prowess is lacking a wee bit), was too young to rule but he had an older sister, Sophia, who stepped up to the plate and did her bit to keep Tsarist Russia on the straight and narrow. When he became of age, he was threatened by her and thought that she may have gotten a taste of power. Therefore, at the tender age of 16 he shipped her off to the nunnery (where she stayed until her death) so she could not oppose his rule. You see ladies, many think a womans place is in the home, but as a strong Russian Tsarist princess it appears the nunnery is the place to be!

One more historical fact (thanks to Di and her comprehensive note taking). Contradictory with keeping the ladies out of sight and mind, it was Sister Sara who saved the Monastery from Napoleon’s gun powder. Following his march on the city, he instructed that it be blown up. All was set, the fuses were lit, yet brave Sister Sara scuppered his plans and thanks to her it still remains today.

All that glitters?

The first two days of my group tour were allocated to seeing the sights of Moscow. Given I arrived earlier, I had already had a wander about and regaled in its architecture, but i soon found that without the knowledge of the guide (ours was Nadia) my interpretation was meaningless.

First things first, some Moscow background. At the heart of Moscow is the Kremlin. Kremlin means fortress and there are many in Russia, maybe not as grand as in Moscow. It wasn’t until 1918 when Lenin transferred government to Moscow that it came into its own and took the mantle of capital city.

The city is divided by three ring roads that were once the city walls, hence why the roads are so wide (some have 8 lanes in each direction!) it is also a very green city, it has over 40 parks and it was also the first country to introduce free healthcare to the masses. The communists did get that right.

Its skyline is an amalgamation of the old and new, or at first sight that is how it appears. It’s history is steeped in conflict and contradiction and the architecture reflects this. Following the first revolution many buildings were destroyed, especially those associated with the Tsars or religion. Lenin had a hand in creating a new and forward thinking skyline of modernistic values (typified by the Seven Sisters, built between 1947-57).

However, following the creation of the Russian Federation in 1991; farewell to communism and hello again religion (btw: the majority of the country practice Russian Orthodox), the state looked to recreate many of its landmarks that had been previously eradicated.

The first glimpse of this was the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (or Redeemer). When I visited the day previously I took it to be an original 15th century building. Alas not! It was knocked down at the advent of communism for a project of Stalin’s which did not happen. After many years as waste ground it was eventually turned into outdoor heated swimming pool, yet in 2000 it was recreated in its original state; this time it took four and half years to build, in comparison to the 44 years it took to build it first time round.

Likewise, we got to visit the inside of St Basil’s (a separate blog will be dedicated to its sumptuous patterns for my design pals). It’s made up of nine small places of worship, each with its own unique decoration. It was as delightful inside as it is outside. However, again most of this had been recreated, I think not only as an attempt to wow the people but as homage to its past.

A few days visiting Moscow, even with a knowledgeable guide, is not enough to even scratch the surface of its multi faceted past, however, it does give you a glimpse of it’s history and the contradictions the Russian people have lived; and maybe to some point are living through. The saying ‘all that glitters is not gold’, might typify Russia, it’s history and its people, however likewise ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ also springs to mind.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, built circa 2000.

Two weeks with complete strangers

Hello my dears, have I got some serious updating to do. Luckily little miss Wilson has crashed with jet lag, so with a little bit of luck I’ll be able to get the last few weeks uploaded. So, sit back, relax, maybe pour yourself a wee drink a enjoy…

Sunday afternoon I left my hotel and headed to the North East of the city to meet my fellow travellers for the next couple of weeks. I gave myself plenty of time to get to the 5pm meet, despite getting dropped off at the wrong hotel, I arrived ahead of schedule and waited for the group to assemble.

For those of you that have not heard the ludicracy that some trips have age restrictions; yep I was too old to join the Vodka Train group and I had to sign up to an age appropriate tour. As such, I was anticipating a more mature group. Luckily, I was not the youngest, yet I was the only solo traveller with the majority of our 14 strong group being married couples from Australia and Canada. However, there were three ladies from Adelaide; Rosemary, Di and Rihanna, who I got chatting to straight away.

As means of bonding, our tour guide Diana (pronounced De-Anna) took us out for dinner to a ‘Mu Mu’ a traditional Russian restaurant where I caused chaos when I took a non-alcoholic beer instead of a real one! I ate pork encased in a cheese sauce accompanied with potatoes and mushrooms; most tasty.

An early night was on the cards as we had a jam packed day of sight seeing ahead of us.

Yum, My Russian feast.

Happy campers!

A wet afternoon in Moscow

Day one in Moscow and I was greeted with typical damp Newcastle weather, I was not disheartened; I felt at home. By the time I got up and sorted it was past midday and as usual the plan was vague. I’m meeting my travelling group that will be accompanying me on the trans-Mongolian railway tomorrow and I did not want to duplicate any of my tourist efforts, so I thought I’d just head down to red square and go a wandering.

Wandering I went. For a unplanned excursion I did quite well; red square, Pokrovsky (or St Basil’s) Cathedral, the Kremlin (from afar, I’m not sure if you need a secret knock to get in?), Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer, Peter the Great commanding the river and I also stumbled across ‘love bridge’ – I’m not sure whether it is it’s official title but it seems fitting to me. I even ended my journey soaking up some culture at the State Tretyakov gallery. Given the weather, I tell you it was four layers, hat and scarf attire (my gloves will be with me tomorrow) some of my pix have been photo-toasted! And, I will endeavour to do a similar route on an evening when the landscape turns into something Disney Land ‘esq (I think Lenin will be turning in his mausoleum at that comparison). Et voila.

I think the padlocks may need some explanation, or maybe not. Apparently when newly weds tie the knot, it’s traditional for them to go down to the river (originally, now the river bank is too full and they have created some new trees on a bridge) and attach a padlock to the tree as a sign of their undying love. Whatever you think of the concept (a kitchen sink came to my mind, I know, I’m such an ole romantic!) they were quite cute.

Ok final shout out to the state gallery of Tretyakov! I was very excited about this I’d read they had a Mondrian collection on loan, running along some Kandinsky. Hey, how was I to know they had several galleries and the one I visited was the wrong one? To be fair the building was worth the visit alone, despite the paintings inside. Maybe tomorrow I’ll do my research and get my modernistic fix? Until then x