Tripping With Toby: Endless Day in Moscow

Oct. 11, 2018- Endless Day in Moscow

I thought we’d be exhausted after our late night, but we were energized by our city guide and our experiences today. It was our longest day of touring yet.

On our drive around Moscow, I learned that my favorite statue was one they’d rather not have to look at. Years ago, Moscow made a gift of a statue of Christopher Columbus to the Dominican Republic. Don’t know why. They didn’t like it and sent it back. What to do? Being innovative, some Moscow official replaced the head of Columbus with the head of Peter the Great. It is now called the Peter Columbus statue. See, despite their taciturn exteriors, Russians do have a sense of humor.

A delight of this city is that there’s a surprise around every corner. It is most likely a brightly colored onion domed church. They relieve the dismal gray of the older buildings. I didn’t like the red fortress wall around Red Square any better in bright sunlight, although I do appreciate how sturdy it is to have survived since the 15th century. Within that fortress is where the settlement of Moscow began.

There are many parks and four actual forests in the city. There’s a forest in each quadrant to provide an antidote to pollution. I don’t know if the founders realized that, or if they wanted hunting close at hand, but those forests serve a purpose today.

An unexpected experience was Victory Park. Built to commemorate the War of 1812 (theirs, not ours), WWI, but especially WWII, the park is home to a church, a mosque, and a synagogue. There are five synagogues in Moscow and 14% of the city’s population is Muslim. Just when I begin to really start liking these folks, I have to remind myself that they are not our friends. Not historically and not now.

The guide explained that in 1993, when Yelstin was ousted, a change was made to the constitution to give the president more power. More recently, the term of office was lengthened from four to six years. He said that after Putin’s time is up, he can’t predict who will take over. I asked if he could predict who our president would be in 2020. He said he didn’t know, but the hackers probably did.

Our hotel houses a mini art walk in that it has Art Deco stained glass installations aplenty. The collection I enjoyed this morning was on my way down the stairs to breakfast. Any window was an excuse for leaded glass enhancement. So, I was psyched to see the collection at the Tretyakov Gallery this afternoon. I learned that up to the 17th century, Russian art was church art iconography. The 18th century was a learning experience, and Russian artists travelled to Western Europe to study. By the 19th century, they began developing their own style. We time travelled through the ages as we spent hours exploring the collections with our guide.

Not having exhausted us yet, he took us underground to learn about the famous Moscow Metro. The stations are themselves works of art. Ceilings are decorated with medallions of mosaic, bronze statuary honoring peasant workers, and delicate bas relief enhancing archways and ceiling coffers. Each station is unique and each represents the story of its time.

Tomorrow is an easier day. We will conquer the Kremlin itself, or it will conquer us.

Toby