- 2/23/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 13Today is "Men's Day" in Russia. They do not celebrate Father's Day or Mother's Day but rather Men's and Women's Day. Women's day will be celebrated on March 8th. I don't know how Woman's Day got started but apparently Men's day goes back to 1920 or so during World War 1. Russian men took up arms and defended the motherland by defeating the attacking German army. Tonight there will be celebrations in Red Square followed by fireworks.
Marina told a story about one specific historic battle where the German army, dressed in full armor (along with their horses in armor) attacked on a frozen lake. The ice on the lake cracked and they all sank and died. I guess the Russians still take pride in out-smarting the Germans.
Dima picked us up around 10:30 this morning. It is rainy and overcast. Much of the snow is melted and all of the cars are very very dirty. As we drove through town, I took notice of how many apartment buildings there are in Moscow and how many different styles of buildings. Many of them are quite old and in a state of dis-repair. On the other hand, many of them look like palaces. In addition to the apartments, there are many churches under construction.
Our first stop today will be at the open-air flea market. Dima said today (Saturday) is the best day to go shopping. As we entered the gates to the market, there is an open area that is used for New Years and Winter festivals The court yard has some very impressive and ancient looking buildings.
I expected there to be a lot of people but due to the weather, the crowds were not an issue. Marina had given Yuri 100 Rubles (which is about $4.00). It is not much but it was enough to cause a burning sensation in his pocket. He just had to spend it. As we walked from shop to shop, he was always drawn to items of a military nature. Unfortunately, everything was much more than 100 Rubles. That didn't stop him from trying to negotiate.
After the market, we went to McDonald's. This was the busiest McDonald's (and perhaps the largest) that I've ever seen. All we got was some burgers, fries and 2 cups of soda. Cost - 424 Rubles. That is a tough thing to get used to. My first thought was, "WHAT!? $424.00?". In reality that works out to be something like $17.30 - which is still high, but the large numbers in Rubles throws me every time. Yuri was still hungry after his meal and wanted more. He eats like a horse. I gave him some of my fries and the last part of my coke.
After this, we headed to Red Square. The square was closed due to preparations for the fireworks this evening. We got a good view of St. Basil's though. We decided to head home but on the way, we passed the Church of Christ. This is something you may want to do some historical research on. I will try to summarize for you. It was a very beautiful ornate church until Soviet times. Then they destroyed the church and built a swimming pool in its place. Only recently did the city of Moscow decided to get rid of the pool and rebuild the church as it was originally. It is a magnificent structure. They don't allow any photo's or video to be taken of the inside and I didn't purchase and post cards. I'm not sure a picture can fully capture what it looks like on the inside.
As I looked around and considered the story of the church, its destruction and rebuilding, I thought of the issues the City of Green Bay had when the city council voted to put up a manger scene at the county court house. What a big uproar that caused. Over here, they are so hungry for what was taken from them that they spent hundreds of millions of dollars to restore it. What an incredible difference in culture!
As we walked around, it became clear that Yuri should not have drank the last part of my coke. He had to use the toilet pretty bad, but there are no public toilets. Stores typically don't have them. McDonald's did but that is an American place. The church didn't have one either. We walked around until we found a restroom for him to us. It cost 20 Rubles to use the toilet. Fortunately, Yuri didn't have to pay because he is a child. If I had to go, I would have had to pay. What an incredible difference in culture!
When we got home, Marina had made a nice dinner of duck stuffed with plums, apricots and apples. I had a slice of bread with some Russian horse-radish. It is mixed with beets and if it touches the roof of your mouth it will melt your head.
