Day #178 - Moscow. Russia

The entrance into the Kremlin

One of the underground shopping areas

A look across the Red Square

' The Bolshoi Theatre

Moscow Underground - one of the paintings at a metro stop

Wednesday, September 8th

Today I spent the full day walking around the city of Moscow, Russia. Wow - this place is enormous. It's listed as the 6th biggest city in the world (behing Seoul, Sao Paulo, Bombay, Jakarta, Karachi). I've done a fly-by in Sao Paulo - but this is the largest city I've ever spent significant time in.

The layout reminds me of the sun. You know how you draw a circle and then have lines extended in all directions to depict the sun - that's what this city is kindof like. The Kremilin is the circle and there are main highway arteries radiating out in all directions from the Kremlin. About 1-1.5 miles out from the inner circle, there is another large circle surrounding the city. This is the main highway bypass. This would be the equivalent of Hwy 270 in St. Louis or 494/694 in Minneapolis.

I walked around for hours. I have scattered thoughts about the day, so I'll just list them randomly:

-- Red Square. I got a chance to walk out into the square this morning. It reminded me of Tiananmen Square in Beijing - just outside the Forbidden City. It's a huge brick-covered area outside the walls of the Kremlin. Not much to necessarily look at inside the square itself - it's just the history behind what has taken place here that fills your mind. The name "Red" was not given to decribe the color of the bricks or to reflect the "Red Army". The Russian word for Red is 'krasnaya. It can mean 'red' or 'beautiful'. 'Beautiful' was originally applied to St. Basil's Cathedral and was subsequently transferred to the nearby square. Also, it's not really a square - it's more like a long rectangle.

-- Military Tatoo. Originally this term referred to military drum performances, but now can refer to army performances in general. I beleive this is what has been happening inside the Red Square the past couple days.

-- Moscow Underground. The metro system is very unique here because the underground stations are filled with amazing architecture, statues, paintings, etc. I even spent a couple hours riding aroud the train system to take some pictures of different areas. Very, very cool stuff.

-- Underground Shopping. The streets here have sometimes 8 lanes of traffic in 1 direction (ever driven in Atlanta). Possibly because of this, rarely are pedestrians allowed to cross the road. They have underground walkways. These are filled with stores of all variety (food, clothing, souvenoirs). These stores are glass protected and people cannot walk into them. You have to point or verbally ask the attendant what you would like. I saw people trying on clothes in the main walking corridor - looking at themselves in the window of the shop.

-- The Bolshoi. The famous theatre within a short walk of the Kremlin. Famous for it's ballet and opera performances. I was sitting on this bench outside what I thought was the Bolshoi enjoying a snicker bar. Because really nothing is labelled that I could read - I didn't know if I had the right spot. I asked this old guy sitting next to me: "Excuse me sir, is that the Bolshoi Theatre"? This guy obviously couldn't speak English. I sat there looking at my map - this guy kept staring at me. He then put his glasses on and motioned for me to show him my map. I pointed to the word Bolshoi on my map and then to the building we were sitting in front of. He just smiled and nodded confirmation. Basically, this would be the equivalent of sitting next to the arch in St. Louis and asking somebody: "Hey, is that the arch?". This guy had to think I was a tool.

-- Young people know English here. I'm noticing more and more that if you try to talk with someone younger, there's a good chance they might speak a little English. This makes sense and I should add this to my list of strategies. Most probably, the younger folks are being taught English in schools. Even if they don't speak it normally, they shuld still know a few words by default. This would be the equivalent of me talking to someone from Spain right after high school. I could probably communicate alot better at that time than right now.

-- Black Cars. I notice that 8 out of 10 cars are the color black. What does that mean?

-- Roy Orbison - 'Pretty Woman'. I heard this song today as I was walking through one of the underground shopping areas. Appropriate - there are many attractive eastern european women in Moscow.

Well, that's just a few things I noticed on my walk about. I spent most of my time today in the northern half of the city. Tomorrow - I go south.

Missing my football draft tonight. Sika - do us proud chief! Thanks for the great messages Tina & Ricker. I was thinking about all you guys as well during the MU game on Saturday. I was following it on the internet. No matter where I go - I'll always bleed black & gold.