- 2/24/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 14Today is the Lord's day again. We are going to visit the Kremlin this afternoon and then - who knows. We will have to see what is open. There is also a major boxing match today. Klitchko from the Ukraine vs Ibragifov from Russia. Marina likes Klitchko because she is also Ukrainian. Her father doesn't like him because he now fights for Germany. At least Ibragifov fights for his own country. Patriotism seems to be an especially important aspect to life here. Turning your back on your country is never a good thing.
While the boxing match is on, Peggy, Marina, and I watch the Russian version of Julia Child. The camera man is zoomed in on every action. This causes the camera to move back and forth, up and down, zoom in, zoom out. It is difficult to watch with the camera moving around so much. The chef is some kind of famous actress who is the 6th wife of some famous guy who is 25 years older than she is. Marina has stove envy. The stove on the show costs around $6,000. Marina knows this because she went shopping for one.
Dima was a little late getting here so we had lunch before we left. Turkey soup with mashed potatoes and a few slices of pork roast. Dima and I eat some of the purple horse radish on our roast. Peggy says to Dima, "what is wrong with your face? Why do you eat that stuff? It looks like it hurts!". Dima keeps breathing in deeply through his nose and exhaling through his mouth. Once you have the horse radish in your mouth, if you exhale through your nose, you experience a fiery - torch like head melting sensation. Dima says, "Its a happy kind of pain". I would agree. After the fire in your face goes out, you can breath a lot better.
We get down to Dima's van and it won't start. He lifts his seat and fiddles with the battery again. This seems to be happening more frequently. He says, "this van has been good to me. You don't turn your back on your friends. I will keep this van until the end." I hope the end comes later rather than sooner.
We drove to the Kremlin and got our tickets. The ticket prices are written in both English and Russian. On the English price sheet, it is 350 Rubles for an adult and something less for a child. In the Russian prices, it is written that there is a family rate of 350 Rubles and 300 for an individual. I'm glad we had Dima with us. This is not the first time he has saved us money.
We walked through the Kremlin and each one of the cathedrals. They would not allow any photos to be taken on the inside of any of them and again - I'm not sure a photo could do them justice. One thing comes to mind when you are in there - holiness. The churches of this period took Christianity at a level of seriousness that is not seen much in America. It is said by Russians, "we build our churches for God, not man". They are impressive.
No wall in any of the buildings is bare. There is a painting of some scene of the bible everywhere. During our walk-through, a group of singers came into the sanctuary of one of the buildings. They began to sing and it was so clear and beautiful, I thought the sound was coming from a CD - because I didn't see them come in and could not see them from where I was standing. Again, very impressive. On many occasions, I have observed people approach the cathedrals praying to themselves, making a cross over their heart, taking a step, and doing it all over again as they approached the entrance. Again - not something you see very much in America. The whole thing was quite stirring and made me think of the level of casualness I take with my faith. Perhaps it is my culture, my generation or just me.
Later in the afternoon, we head out for the Military Historical Museum. Unfortunately, we were a little late getting there so I got a few photos outside. One of the images is a monument to the sailors who drown in the Russian Sub - Kursk. I think there were 70+ men on board when the sub sank. It was a terrible tragedy. As we continue back home to plan the events for another day, we take a mental note to the amount of monuments there are in Moscow. Of course this is a capitol city, but there are many symbols around here dedicated to the achievements of the Russian people. All of it - very very impressive.
