Sightseeing the Arbat
This part is just a sightseeing journal, not related to the adoption. I'll try to keep from boring you with 'slides from our vacation'.
I awoke at 6:00 AM and went out to find some coffee. $8.00 in the hotel bar - and it just wasn't that good. I walked around the hotel at 6:30 AM. It was interesting to see Moscow as just another European city. It simply isn't as mysterious and different as I thought it would be.
We went sightseeing on Arbat Street. It is an enclave of shops about 1 mile long. It struck me as being very similar to San Francisco's China Town, but in Russia. There were loads of street vendors and classic Russian souveniers - Matroshka, painted laquer boxes, birch boxes. We didn't buy much.
We had breakfast on the deck of a cafe. We're dressed disguised as young Russian women in order to evade the authorities. A Russian from Texas overheard us lamenting our language defficencies and gave us a few pointers.
Here we are at a statue. I don't know it's history, or significance, but it was shiny.
Ron Kuhlman doesn't believe we're in Russia. So this sign gives some indication that we're not really in Las Vegas. Please note that this is not an establishment at which we would dine.
After the Arbat, we went to see Christ's Church. It was originally built to celebrate Napolean's defeat. But it was destoyed by the Soviets in the 30s. In the 90's, Muscovites voted to rebuild it. They did so in 5 years, and it is magnificent. It is just huge, and has the kind of granduer one sees at St. Peter's in Rome. Note the people visible at the base of the building.
Finally, here are a couple of shots of the Rossiya (pronounced rosSEEya). It gives some idea of it's size. This is one side, there are 4 just like it.
And the inside. Note the spacious luxury - NOT.
I awoke at 6:00 AM and went out to find some coffee. $8.00 in the hotel bar - and it just wasn't that good. I walked around the hotel at 6:30 AM. It was interesting to see Moscow as just another European city. It simply isn't as mysterious and different as I thought it would be.
We went sightseeing on Arbat Street. It is an enclave of shops about 1 mile long. It struck me as being very similar to San Francisco's China Town, but in Russia. There were loads of street vendors and classic Russian souveniers - Matroshka, painted laquer boxes, birch boxes. We didn't buy much.
We had breakfast on the deck of a cafe. We're dressed disguised as young Russian women in order to evade the authorities. A Russian from Texas overheard us lamenting our language defficencies and gave us a few pointers.
Here we are at a statue. I don't know it's history, or significance, but it was shiny.
Ron Kuhlman doesn't believe we're in Russia. So this sign gives some indication that we're not really in Las Vegas. Please note that this is not an establishment at which we would dine.
After the Arbat, we went to see Christ's Church. It was originally built to celebrate Napolean's defeat. But it was destoyed by the Soviets in the 30s. In the 90's, Muscovites voted to rebuild it. They did so in 5 years, and it is magnificent. It is just huge, and has the kind of granduer one sees at St. Peter's in Rome. Note the people visible at the base of the building.
Finally, here are a couple of shots of the Rossiya (pronounced rosSEEya). It gives some idea of it's size. This is one side, there are 4 just like it.
And the inside. Note the spacious luxury - NOT.
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posted by Randall Moore at
1:30 PM
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