Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Moscow, day three
Moscow River
I started the day by visiting the Pushkin Museum. (This is an art museum, actually, not one for Russia's beloved poet.) Disappointingly, half of the gallery space is occupied by plaster casts of famous artworks in other museums, such as Michelangelo's David and the Farnese Bull. I was most interested in a corner of the second floor that houses post-impressionist art from the likes of Cezanne and Van Gogh.
Church of Christ the Savior
For lunch I tried bliny, crepes with fillings (in my case, sour cream and mushrooms). After that I stepped inside the Church of Christ the Savior. This is down the street from the Pushkin Museum and along the Moscow River. The church is massive, but it is also tacky. Inside, the words "Christ Resurrected" are spelled out in neon lights. (I looked for slot machines and a bar but did not find any.)
International Children's Day
Today was International Children's Day, and Nadi told me that there was a special event happening south of the river where, among others, a musician friend was performing. I arrived late, and the music and live entertainment were already over. There were still a lot of kids, though. They were having a great time, running around with balloons and blowing bubbles.
Moscow traffic
After spending a short while there, I took the Metro to Novodevichiy Convent. Inside the convent's walls were a dozen or so buildings featuring the Baroque architecture that is so prevalent among Moscow's historic structures. In one building there was an interesting exhibit about Russian Orthodox missionaries in remote regions of Russia. Outside the convent there is a picturesque lake and a park. It was the perfect place to relax on a Wednesday afternoon.
Novodevichiy Convent
In the evening I hung out with Nadi and Julia. We went to a reception hosted by a new student club at their university. Through a connection the club was able to hold the event at an architectural institute. It was swank. The attendees, dressed like they were going either to an awards show or to a punk concert, mingled and looked cool while a DJ spinned lounge music. This shindig's raison d'etre seemed a little unusual to me—it was an exhibition of entries for the club's official logo—but I think this shows that Russians can find any reason to have a party. I walked around the room and judged the entries myself. Most of them were really good. After attending this reception I wanted to be a student again.
Afterwards I joined Nadi and her friends Alice, Agatha and Lena for a night at, of all places, TGI Friday's. It was pretty quiet on this Wednesday night. I had a meal and then tried to keep up with the girls as they went through a half dozen cocktails (except for Nadi, who doesn't drink). They insisted that I try a special Moscow libation called "snake eyes". This is actually three drinks in one. You start with a cocktail glass full of blue curacao (if I remember correctly). The twist is that the waiter lights the spirit on fire—you have to drink it from the bottom using a straw. After you suck that up, the waiter empties two shot glasses loaded with other colorful liqueurs into the cocktail glass, and you keep sucking until it's all gone. (A third person can shake pepper onto the flame, creating a nice effect.) Since you're supposed to drink it fast, it goes down pretty strong, but it leaves a pleasant aftertaste. I had three of these and got quite buzzed. The girls spent probably more than $50 each on drinks, which I thought was a lot for students on a weeknight.
TGI Friday's
I talked mostly to Agatha, who spoke English pretty well. (Alice and Lena were friendly too, but for the most part I talked to them with Agatha or Nadi serving as an interpreter.) She had done a lot of traveling to Europe and Asia, and it was interesting to compare our experiences and opinions about the world. Overall, traveling made Agatha appreciate Russia a whole lot. I would say the same holds true for me—as the trip progressed I started to miss some qualities of the States, although I think being able to speak the language well would have improved my opinion of certain places. Another great point that Agatha made was that your attitude toward traveling depends very much on who you spend your time with along the way. I would definitely agree with this, because I am having an amazing time in Moscow.
Lena and yours truly trying "Snake Eyes"
After getting primed with a couple of Long Island iced teas, Agatha shared some of her pet peeves about people from other parts of the world. She gets irked when foreigners assume that she loves vodka because she is Russian. She said foreigners think of three things when they hear the word "Russia": vodka, bears and snow (or maybe women, I don't remember). Then I asked her what three words she thought of that relate to America. She replied: hamburgers, guns, and cowboys. Then naturally the conversation steered toward these Russians' conceptions about America. It struck me how much they believed popular negative perceptions about the U.S. held by foreigners. For instance, they asked me why in the richest country in the world there are homeless? I believe that my trip dispeled preconceptions about Eastern Europe that I used to hold, so I suggested that they visit America for the same reason. They responded that this would be hard, not so much because of the cost but because it is very difficult, especially for a single female Russian, to obtain a tourist visa. The U.S. fears that such persons are high risks of overstaying their visas.
Snakebit
I was impressed by these girls' love of Moscow and Russia and by their optimism. They all are really cool; it's a shame I am leaving tomorrow because I would like to hang out with them again.
Girls' (plus one guy's) night out
