- 2/27/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 17Today we had our hopes set high as we were going to be out and about with Dima. We were tired of being cooped up and we wanted to get out and move around. We packed a small bag of snacks for later and headed out. It was not long before we were well on our way to Red Square. Last night, I had spoken with Bill (the father of the other adoptive family) and he and his new son were going to meet us somewhere in Red Square.
When we arrived, we walked straight for Lenin's tomb only to find that it was closed. I guess they are "cleaning" him. buried behind the tomb are the bodies of other famous people. Lenin's wife and her sisters, Joseph Stalin (who was at one time along side Lenin inside the tomb), Leonid Brezhnev, Yuriy Andropov, Yuriy Gargarin, Maxim Gorky (a writer), and American - John Reed. Mr. Reed is the author of a book about the October Revolution.
We passed the tomb and were walking towards the Historical Museum when we met Bill. We decided to go into GUM because someone (Dima) forgot to go potty before they left home. GUM is perhaps the first shopping market in Moscow. It is not WalMart or even Super-WalMart but rather a collection of hundreds of small and very very expensive shops. Clothing, furs, jewelry, perfume... All the expensive stuff that we are continually bombarded with on TV but that most people I know avoid instinctively without a second thought.
After we left GUM, we scooted around the backside of the Historical Museum and watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. That is very interesting to watch. The Russian soldiers march funny. I caught it all on video. After the guards changed, another soldier came up to the chain fence and began to heckle one of the guards. He went on for quite a while saying something to the guard that made him smile a little. We asked Dima what the guard was saying. Dima said, "I think he is crazy or not right in his head or something." Indeed. I would not expect this kind of behavior at the U.S. tomb. That sort of behavior by one soldier to another guarding a tomb in front of hundreds of spectators would be grounds for an Article 15 from the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
We walked back towards the museum and passed over a special spot right in front of the rear entrance to Red Square. Around here they don't throw coins into a fountain and make a wish, they toss kopecks into this spot in the pavement and say a prayer. One Ruble is a fraction of a cent. 100 kopecks make a Ruble. 10 kopecks are virtually worthless, but they are all over the pavement here.
After this we went into the museum. It is a massive three story + structure made of very red brick. The history contained within it goes from the earliest known human history right up to the present state of the known world. A museum would not be complete without the "clearly" defined stages of the evolution of man from ape... The first floor brought us up to the 14th or 15th century of time. There was a lot of slow walking and standing which was a good speed for Michael. He picked up an information sheet at the entrance of each room and would look for the items described and called out to me, "Dad, dad. Come here! Lookit!"
As I mentioned, the museum is very large. By the time we got done with the 2nd floor, my lower back was beginning to ache. At the rate things were going, it would be very late by the time we got done here. Michael started saying, "Yuri tired. Yuri hungry" over and over and over. I thought, "We paid to go to to the other side of the world and we paid to get in here! We're not leaving yet". We continued to walk around passing the time and passing through time. It is not often you get an opportunity to see this much history.
We skipped the 3rd floor of the museum and went directly to the "Gold Exhibit". We had to pay extra to see it so we didn't want to miss it. In short, there was a ton of gold. We also saw Stalin's pipe. It was late by the time we finished seeing things. We parted ways with Bill and his son. They wanted to go get something to eat. I had determined earlier that we were not going into any more restaurants with Michael. He was tired and hungry, it was raining and we still had a lot of walking to do. He was also pouting.
We had one final thing we wanted to see and that was the inside of St. Basil's. Dima said that it was a lot like the other cathedrals we had seen in the Kremlin. Peggy wanted to see the inside and so did I. Dima agreed to take Michael back to the van and wait. The steps inside St. Basil's are very steep and perhaps too difficult for Michael to climb. Besides that, we had a bag of snacks in the Van that Michael could eat. I guess you could say it was a "win win".
St. Basil's is an amazing building. Construction on it began around 1555 and it looks like a castle on the inside and out. There didn't appear to be any form of heating system in the building. Considering the location of Moscow, I would guess that 400 years ago, it would have been a very cold place during the winter. Either way, it was a magnificent building. If you ever get to Moscow....
That was the last of our sites for the day. We went back to Dima's van and drove home. When we got back to Marina's flat, Grandma had dinner waiting for us. We had missed the mid-day meal so there was some hot soup waiting for us. It tasted very good. After that, Grandma brought out the main supper meal - beef patties with broccoli. As soon as I saw it, I looked right at Michael and said, "Yummy!". He immediately responded in a loud firm tone, "YURI NO!". After the last broccoli incident, Michael had promised Peggy and I he would eat lots and lots of broccoli when we got home to America. It looks like there was going to be a different plan.
During times of conflict between us and Michael, I often think of what others who are observing us are thinking. Perhaps they are thinking, "choose your battles". Dima told us, "you are tying to build an entire house in a day" - regarding our desire to have Michael comply with our wish for him to eat what we give him. I especially wondered what Grandma was thinking. The other day, we had some kind of Italian Cucumber or radish or something. It was very crunchy and juicy. Not much flavor but I liked it. Michael again exclaimed at that time, "Yuri NO". It was then that Grandma put two slices on his plate. I thought - "Good for you Grandma! You go girl!"
Anyway, I was not about to put up with any nonsense from Michael over broccoli this time. Peggy and I switched places so I could sit next to him. I put two pieces on his plate. I don't need to go into any more details except to say that Michael was not very happy when he left the table. We eat a ton of broccoli at home and someone is going to have to give in on this issue.
As I mentioned before, Michael is used to getting what he wants and getting out of what he doesn't want. This morning, he and I were horsing around. I was tickling and he was laughing. That was when I looked into his mouth and saw some of his teeth. He has had a lot of dental filling work and although I have never seen a tooth cavity up close before, there is definitely one growing on one of his front teeth. I see this as symbolic.
What happens when you give a child all the candy they want and do not teach them how to care for their teeth but let them skip out on doing what needs to be done. If I had allowed this with one of my other children, I would be guilty of negligence in the raising of a child. This is what we are up against. We must convince him that his best interests are on our mind. That one day, he will go out into the world and must know how to care for himself and perhaps one day, care for a family. I'm trying to keep my mind on the thought that God hand-picked us and our family just for him.
Lord, help us to be the parents he needs.
