Hannah's Weekend Adventures: Part Two

OK. I’m back with part two of my weekend escapades.

Well, I grabbed Susan again to join me on my journeys since some of her other plans fell through and she was trying to avoid homework. It was a chilly (ha! Chilly! Pfft!) -17 degrees Celsius when we headed out. The original plan was to start off at The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour ( I posted some pictures of it earlier), one of the most well known and beautiful cathedral’s in Moscow. In fact, it is probably one of the best known buildings in Moscow and a brilliant landmark. I pass it all the time, but never went in before. Well, I told myself, that was going to change. Unfortunately, when we got there, the church was shut down along with the rest of Tverskaya. It was crawling with militia. Apparently, when someone important goes to and from the Kremlin they shut down the street. (Oh, and Saturday was the Day of Dissenters, another reason why there have been some many militia around.) Well, I didn’t see Putin or Medvedev and I didn’t get to see the cathedral either. But no worries! Right down the street is Pushkin’s Museum of Fine Arts, arguably the best museum in Moscow.

After paying an outrageous entrance fee because I accidently said “da” when I was supposed to say “net,” off we went. We saw some of the artifacts from Schliemann’s Troy (which was just awesome after reading about it in grade school) that “mysteriously” disappeared from Germany in WWII only to later “mysteriously” end up in Moscow. There is one particular painting that I just adore and will definitely need to find a print of when I get home. It’s called Aurora and Cephelus(sp?).

We stayed at the museum for about 4 hours or so and then left to get something to eat. Overall, while impressive and definitely worth the trip, the museum pales in comparison to some of the others I’ve been to (say, the Louvre and the British Museum in London). Mostly, that is because many of the pieces are plaster casts of the originals in these museums (the very famous sculpture of Aphrodite for example). If you’ve seen the originals, skim these parts and make your way to the more hidden rooms that hold more impressive pieces of art you might otherwise miss (such as Madonna and Child Enthroned and some really exquisite French Impressionist paintings). It has never failed to make a top twenty list of things to see in Moscow and is definitely worth the trip. I’ll probably try to make another stop there later.

After we left, we grabbed some lunch at…McDonalds. Yes, it is true, I went to McDonalds in Russia. That means I have officially gone to McyDees more times in two weeks in Moscow than I have in at least a year in the states. But actually, it was quite cool. It was the first McDonalds opened in Russia and is absolutely massive. There were a couple hundred people there, easy. Apparently, it is one of the only places to get a good, cheap salad (with lettuce, not cabbage) in the city. Anyways…
We made our way up to Pushkin’s Square so I could recite some poetry in front of his statue (yes, yes, I know, I am a geek). Oh, by the way, Dr. Denner. The poems? One of the most useful things I’ve learned. Seriously. I think I made someone cry…
Anyway, we meandered our way down to the Museum of Modern History (just a hop, skip, and a jump from Scandinavia) and spent the rest of the day there. Beware non-Russian speakers: the only English displays are the introduction plaques at the entrance of every room. But some of the exhibits are interesting enough without it.

The first room opens with a large portrait of Medvedev, at which point I promptly burst into laughter and got glared at by the museum workers. It has pictures of Putin shaking hands (I think) hockey players and various other funny pieces you wouldn’t expect in a history museum. The next room starts back in, if I remember correctly, the 1400s hundred and the museum carries on from there. Don’t move through too quickly, some of the smaller pieces are even more interesting than the large centerpieces. We had to race through it pretty quickly (we only had 2 hours), but stopped to laugh at the display of MGU with the furniture and example of a “historic” propysk (student pass) that are identical to the ones we use now. My favorite piece of all is on display in the (as I call it) Gorbachev room. In the right corner is “The World According to Ronald Reagan.” Completely horrifying for anyone who has any appreciation for President Reagan (and even for those who might not), but completely ridiculous and hysterical at the same time. I’ll see if I can find a copy of it online…

After we left the museum, we were going to head up to Scans to say hi to everyone, but we were really early (the museum closes early on Sundays) and completely exhausted, so we made our way back to the university to rest up for Monday and the start of a new work week.

And that was my weekend. A complete blast and very educational. I’ll look back on it fondly in the coming weeks where I am stuck inside my room due to arctic temperatures.