Russia/Mongolia/China Trip Day 6: Moscow (day 1)

This morning, before we left Suzdal, I walked back to the centre square to take some photos of the World War II memorial I had discovered on my run. It had all the names of the people of Suzdal that were killed in the Great Patriotic War (as the Second World War is called in Russia) as well as an eternal flame. The flame, however, wasn’t burning, probably because of the lack of gas in the city. It was then time for breakfast and to say goodbye to Suzdal. We got back in the minibus that had taken us from the train station the day before and drove the 220km to Moscow.

The landscape was reminiscent of the northern parts of the US, Minnesota for example. Lots of green, lots of forests, not a lot of people. About halfway to Moscow we made a pit stop and tried a new Russia snack Tula Pryaniki. This was a large soft gingerbread like cookie with a strawberry filling. Once again, very good and very different from anything in the states. Covering the last few kilometers into the city took quite a while because of traffic but once we started to see the sights of Moscow the traffic wasn’t unbearable. We drove into the city in between the Moskva River and the walls of the Kremlin and were able to catch our first glimpses of St Basil’s Cathedral which at first glance looks fake! We arrived at our hotel too early to get our rooms so we just dumped our stuff and make our way to the Cosmonaut Museum.

We took the Metro to the museum, an experience quite similar to the St Petersburg Metro. Tomorrow morning we’re getting up really early to ride the Metro a bit more and see some of the ornately decorated stations so I’ll talk about the Metro more later.

As we emerged we couldn’t possibly the Cosmonauts Monument with its huge rocket blasting off into space. We all commented on how similar it is to the Air Force memorial in Washington DC. On both sides of the memorial were stone sculptures commemorating the Soviet space program. One side featured Yuri Gagarin and the scientist responsible for the program, the other side featured Lenin and various Soviet workers. Around the memorial were large stone busts of cosmonauts including Yuri Gagarin (first man in space), Gregory Titov (the second man in space) and Valentina Tereshkova (the first woman in space). In front of the monument was a statue of Tsiolkovsky who developed the Ideal Rocket Equation. It was pretty clear that our group was the most excited about the museum, the monument, and especially Tsiolkovsky of any group Masha has ever guided. We were all totally geeking out....

We wandered around the museum for a few hours. Some of the highlights included:

-Model of Sputnik, the first satellite, that was opened up to see the insides

-Stuffed “Cosmodogs” (as Col France called them) that were sent into space before men were

-Replica of MIR Space Station that you could go inside to see the interior layout and the ever interesting “space toilet”.

-The space suit worn by Michael Collins and a moon rock given to the Soviets by President Nixon as a gift of goodwill that clearly was just a way for him to rub it into their faces that we got to the moon and they didn’t

-Photos of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program the first joint American-Soviet mission. There was also a bench made in honour of that mission by Thomas Stafford, astronaut and artist

-There were several lists that demonstrated the space capabilities of the countries around the world. The first outline the accomplishments of the space programs in general including launching a satellite, putting an astronaut into space, spacewalks, etc. It was interesting that Russia and the USA were the only ones to have all the boxes ticked (China was close) and I realized that if that had been in the US they would have included “putting a man on the moon” on the list but since Russia didn’t manage that, they didn’t want to put a box that they didn’t have checked off. The other lists were of the 1^st astronaut from each country and the 1^st satellite launched by each country.

-Really cool photo exhibition that showed photos of Gagarin, Titov and Tereshkova (mostly of Gagarin) both before and after their missions. It was interesting to see how much of a celebrity Gagarin became after the mission. He was good looking and charming and he played the role of hero very well. Looking at all the photos of the smiling Gagarin and his adoring fans made me think about how his life ended just a few short years after he went to space. Gagarin died in 1968 in a MiG-15 crash and Colonel France said that it was quite sad that he was killed at such a young age. I’m not so sure, however, because I think that if you go into space, and are the first person to do so, you’re loved by your whole country (the world even), lauded, celebrated, etc, its really hard to keep living after that. Unless you have an amazing familial support and can find something else to live for or strive for, how do you one-up being the first man in space??? It is interesting to compare the post-NASA lives of the Apollo astronauts. Of the 12 men who walked on the moon, only five are married to the woman they were married to when they left. Many have struggled with relationship problems, problems with the media, restlessness and a feeling of a lack of purpose. My fear is that Gagarin would have descended into alcoholism or something like that but instead he died in such a positive light and doing what he loved.

After the museum we walked a short distance to the All Russia Exhibition Centre, a large park full of pavilions that used to celebrate all the various Soviet lands and their accomplishments. The park had a total of 71 pavilions, as well as 2 fountains, however the park has clearly seen better the days. The Pavilions were falling apart and in total disrepair, one of the fountains was drained and had clearly been that way for many years, and instead the park was full of pathetic carnival rides and games, booths selling kitschy items, and, as we decided to call them, a whole host of “carni rejects.” This park was more along the lines of what I imagined post-Soviet era Russia would be: a site or building that was clearly grand and impressive at one point but has fallen into disrepair. Places built for show, rather than to last, and once the ideology behind those places died, so did the locations. On the whole the park was underwhelming and slightly disappointing but it was important to see because it gave insight into Moscow and into post-Soviet Russia.

After picking up dinner of pancake/crepes from Teremok (a very popular chain of pancake restaurants all around St Petersburg and Moscow) we headed over to Victory Square. After the disappointment of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre, anything would have been good but we were really impressed with Victory Square. Victory Square commemorates two major victories with an arch in honour of the victory over Napoleon and a large plaza and massive column honouring the Great Patriotic War. The arc wasn’t anything too special (how many arcs have you seen in your lifetime) but the World War II memorial was something special. There were five levels (each about 50 m long) leading up the column, one for each year of the war (1941-1945). The column itself was incredibly awe-inspiring. It towered 1,412cm above the square, one centimeter for each day of the war. Leading up the monument were pillars commemorating the various battles and fronts of the war with fountains in between the pillars.

As we approached the monument the details became evident. On the top of the column was the Winged Goddess of Victory reaching her hands out over the square. At the bottom was a large statue of St George slaying the dragon. St George is the patron saint of Moscow (an interesting connection to England). The column itself was decorated with images of the war as well as names of major battles and fronts of the war. The entire monument was incredibly striking the height was overwhelming.




Behind the monument, in front of the Great Patriotic War Museum, was an eternal flame (this one actually burning). We continued to the other side of the Museum where there was more open park ground complete with competition rollerbladers (doing all sorts of tricks) and pickup roller hockey games. Either the rollerblade craze of the 90s is just now starting in Russia or its making a comeback because I haven’t seen this many rollerbladers in one place since Venice Beach circa 1995.
Behind the museum was the Tragedy of the Nations Monument, one of my favourite places in Russia so far. This dark monument was designed by a Georgian architect Zurab Tseretely (who was a favourite of the former governor of Moscow) and commemorated the innocent victims of camps. When asked if he meant Russian camps or German camps, he refused to say and instead wanted people to have the conversation as to what they were about. Anyways, the monument showed a line of people, men, women, and children, lined up and awaiting their fate. The front three figures were those of a mother and father trying to shield the face of their child from the horrors he was about to face. The figures got smaller towards the back of the line where they eventually became faceless. The bodies then morphed into tablets with inscriptions, each tablet with a different language of people spoken in Russia; the inscription read “let their memory be kept in our hearts forever”. On the other side of the monument was a giant wave, threatening to wash over the monument and wipe out the memory of those who suffered. The idea of the monument was to never let the wave wash over the memories of those who suffered. Around the monument were sculpted piles of personal belongings of the victims. I don’t know why but seeing that is always extremely touching, whether it be the piles of shoes or glasses frames you see at Yad Vashem of the Holocaust Museum in DC, there is something about the discarded items of everyday life that always gets to me. This monument on the whole was extremely moving and really reminded me of the Januz Korczak monument at Yad Vashem. Its always amazing to see the raw emotion that sculptors are able to pull out of solid rock. Also interesting was the fact that this monument is relatively new, erected in the 1990s. While sitting around the monument we discussed the fact that, even 25 years ago when most countries had already establish memorials and museums honouring the victims of the Holocaust, the Soviets wouldn’t have even been allowed to discuss either the German or Russian camps let alone make a monument in honour of those who suffered. Russia has come a long way since the Soviet times (granted it has a ways to go yet) but I’m glad we got to witness something like this that showed a glimpse of the direction in which Russia is going.