The Many Walks Around Moscow

We have a metro pass that effectively gets us around this huge city, but let me just tell you that I am a skilled walker now. I can walk forever. As long as I sit down every few minutes... Anyways, come with me on a tour through Moscow, through the eyes of me, on my feet, walking.

Our first stop is the Kremlin and Red Square; a must see for any traveler. It is really a beautiful area. Red Square is just a massive place with a cool, historic feel. The cobblestone streets, dark red walls of the Kremlin, and the eccentrically colored onion dome cathedral call St. Basil's give a uniquely Russian feel that requires time to just soak it all in. The Kremlin has, of course, been around for centuries. It has been a fortress for Moscow as well as a residence for the tsars since 2nd century BC. Despite the rich history of the Kremlin, it still stands in most people's minds as a symbol of communism. Russia, being the first country to adopt a truly Marxist state, definitely holds the symbol of communism deeply in its walls and among its people. Lenin and Stalin both took up residence in the walls of the Kremlin. Up until 1955, during Khrushchev's Thaw, the Kremlin was completely blocked off for foreigners. Now, only segments are blocked off - I learned this first hand when I tried crossing a street. I made it, nonchalantly of course, across the street and into the grass area about 10 steps before 2 guards from both sides came running and screaming at me. Haha. I immediately started walking back and I pretended I did not speak Russian; they definitely wanted to see my documents, and that would have been bad. It looked like a cool area to go...

I find the contrasts of Soviet Russia's atheism and the rich Eastern Orthodoxy traditions to be fascinating. Standing on Red Square, you can feel the symbolism of the deep red of the Kremlin that screams communism, atheism (just as the propaganda of that era prescribed  - see my previous post), and pure Soviet ideology. It screams the importance of the state and government as this massive edifice provokes inspiration and faith in the government. It says: trust us and we will protect you, the nation. Turning 180 degrees around and your eyes are fixated on an architectural triumph not of this world. St. Basil's Cathedral invokes awe and wonder in a power more personal than any government institution.

The uniquely Russian feel I mentioned earlier has grounds of truth. It does just... feel Russian. How so? It may be the Russian, communist red coloring of the Kremlin, it may be the gorgeous and richly traditional feel of the cathedral, or, maybe, it is the fact that Lenin's body is kickin it in a bulletproof sarcaphagus right on Red Square. Who knows....



Our next stop is more brief and less historic. It is Tsaristyno Park. I was supposed to go play Frisbee with some friends from the mission. We thought we were just headed to some random park. But then we walk into this park and we were blown away. It was gorgeous.  

We were also very surprised by the inordinate amount of people
that were there. Apparently there was some festival going on or
something - there were lots of hippies too. :)

Valya is one of my good friends from the mission. She was a member i served with in the city of Novokuznyetsk when I was a branch president. Then John is a BYU student with me and we are in the program together. We have become really good friends and we joke around how it feels like we are companions cause we are generally always together and he served his mission in this area as well.

Well, this ends walking tour number #1. There will definitely be more of these. Enjoy!

A Daily Dose of Good Old Soviet Propoganda

We were able to head out to the best rinok (market, swap meet) in Moscow. This one was mostly a souvenir style place. It was pretty fun to walk around and see some of the matreshki dolls (the Russia Dolls that fit inside each other) and fun little nick nack stuff. The highlight of the experience was when we came across a huge section of Soviet era propaganda. It was fascinating. Of course, this time period was full of propaganda from all countries. America has some equally unique propaganda; however, due to people like Stalin and the great purge, their propaganda seemed to strike more fear-driven permanence. The time period called The Great Purge was astonishing. One of the most incredible Russian novellas coming out of this time period was from a Russian lady named Chukovskaya. She wrote a book called Sophia Petrovna. In this book, Sophia had a son who was a communist and loved the party, as did everyone else. Well, things starting crazy. People just started disappearing. And as people were disappearing, propaganda was also being distributed that warned of talking too much because spies were everywhere. Fear was instilled in people and panic was everywhere. Sophia Petrovna ended up having her son disappear. She spent every day in line waiting to talk to someone about what happened to her son. She then lost her best friend as well. As her reality became more and more unbelievable, she began changing her reality. She, as many others did as well, began to warp reality so that it became bearable. Anyways, feel free to read the book, it is incredible. The point I am getting to is that this mentality of keeping to yourself has bled through to later generations. Very interesting stuff...

Babbling (or speaking too much) helps the enemy!

This one on the right is my favorite. At the bottom it says, Don't babble away! At the top it says: Be on the alert, these days the walls are eavesdropping. Loose lips and rumors are not very far from being a traitor.
-In other words, be careful what you let slip from your mouth, because you do not know who is listening.

And as a comedic relief, we have the one below with a Russian woman holding a boob. Haha, it says: Are you taking care of your breasts? Wash your nipples daily with cold water.

The list goes on and on. The ones directed towards America were great. One had a picture of this demonic being wearing a kkk costume coming out of the Statue of Liberty holding a flame that had "racism" written underneath. Then underneath it said: "the inside of American freedom." Lots of capitalism stuff as well. Then I will end on my favorite ones. These ones blow me away. This went on during all the space races and stuff. Bold statements!

It says: We say the heavens inside and out. And not any gods or angels were discovered.

We traveled all around space; and, nowhere did we find god.
The little creepy robots smiling are great, haha.

Strange Russian Man in Need

So, we were walking home, all 6 of us. We were just chatting it up having a good time and we were crossing the street from the side the truck is on coming to the side the picture is taken from. We are at the grass island median when we heard something. We were laughing and walking so we couldn't make out what it was. Right when we stopped, we heard a man screaming at the top of his lungs, "HELP ME, HELP ME!!" We realize it is coming from the truck so I run over there and there is man underneath the truck! SO I am like holy crap, this guy is in serious trouble. So I frantically answer back, "What's wrong and what do you need." He tells me he needs me to pull him out. At this point, adrenaline is flowin ya know. I am about to save this guys life. I get down on my knees and go to reach him when all of a sudden he bursts out laughing and says "Just Kidding!"

Haha, well played, strange Russian man.