Russia 2008 Jul-Aug
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Approaching Red Square: St. Basil's Cathedral on the right, the Kremlin is within the tall brick wall to the left. Red Square is between the two. (We only saw Red Square on this day. Kremlin pictures come later.)
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St. Basil's Cathedral is probably the most famous building in Russia, often being called "the Kremlin" by mistake. This is NOT the Kremlin.
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Some of the "onion domes" atop St. Basil's
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This is one of 20 towers that surround the Kremlin. Spasskaya Tower is the best known, because it is taller than most and has the Kremlin clock, and is next to Red Square. It was built in 1491 and is 210 feet tall.
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And, well, there I am, standing in Red Square. "Red" means beautiful, and has nothing to do with the color or communism.
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This monument to Minin & Pozharsky sits next to St. Basil's. They ended the Time of Troubles in 1612, and this was made in the 1800s.
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Russia's State Historical Museum, situated at the north end of Red Square. (Red Square itself is just a huge open space, and there were bleachers set up in it, so it didn't make for a great picture.)
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Tsarskaya tower, next to Spasskaya tower, was the last tower built (1680).
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Alright, I was wondering when we would get to go shopping! Just like a swap meet in America, this was home to me. I bought something I'd been searching for for 20 years: a really nice malachite ring. (cost: $22, about half what you'd pay in the southwest where the Native Americans sell jewelry roadside.) What's malachite? It is a green semi-precious stone, and I'll put some pictures of it in this show.
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This is Moscow State University's main tower. It is one of 7 tall buildings around Moscow known as the "7 sisters" as they were all built between 1947-1953 in Baroque or Gothic style. 2 are hotels, 2 are residential, one is administrative, one houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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We walked into Victory Park, which was opened in 1995 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Russia and the allies winning WWII.
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The museum is probably about 3 times as big as what is shown in this picture. It wasn't possible for me to get it all into one shot with my camera!
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Like many, many places in Moscow, there were large, beautiful fountains in Victory Park. The church is called St. George's Church.
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This is St. George slaying the dragon. The statue is bigger than it appears here. It is at the base of the tall obelisk seen in an earlier picture.
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The base of the obelisk.
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Everywhere we went, dressed up brides and their wedding parties were being photographed at landmarks. It's a common practice in Russia, and of course summer is high wedding season since the rest of the year has such brutally cold weather. That's the dead dragon's head hanging over them. I hope that gives a sense of the scale of the statue seen earlier.
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Although this building is known as the "Russian White House," it houses the Russian government, not the president's home.
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This is the inside of a grocery store! Here's the story (which I found on moscowia.info and attempted to correct the grammar):Eleseevskiy Palace - the Shopping Paradise on Tverskaya: The house was originally built in the 18th century by a noble man as a present for his wife. In the end of the 19th century a millionaire Gregory Elliseev bought the house. After reconstruction the family estate was transformed into a shop selling groceries, exotic delicatessen, and wines. Elliseev had the privilege of being a supplier to the Tsar’s family which was considered one of the highest hallmarks of quality.
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Formerly known as McDonald's, but now known as "Macahonac." Believe it or not, the letters actually spell a word that is pronounced "McDonald's" in Russian.
Russian Lesson 1: H is the new N!
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And, while we're at it, Starbucks will now be known as "CTAPbAKC," which does indeed spell "Starbucks" in Russian. We didn't come up with a catchy name like Macahonak for CTAPbAKC.
Russian Lesson 2: C is the new S.
Russian Lesson 3: P is the new R.
Seriously, I got used to this!
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Another example of the Cyrillic alphabet in action! Who knew "PATATYN" (except the N is backward) spells "Ratatouille?"
Lesson 4: a backward N is some kind of vowel.
Lesson 5: a letter that looks like a small n with a tail on the left is pronounced like an L.
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We passed this as we approached "Star City" which is the English name for the Russian Cosmonaut training center. From Wikipedia: In the Soviet era the town was a highly secretive guarded installation restricted from the rest of the country and the world.
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Our tour guide.
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Old Russian spaceship parts? Not sure if this is a display or a scrap heap, but you won't find this anywhere else!
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Inside the world's largest centrifuge. I couldn't get the whole thing into one shot, so I'm trying to show the size of the room it's in. Try to imagine the huge (300 ton, 55-foot radius) arm swinging in a circle so fast it pushes the person inside it with the force of 30 G's (30x gravity). Some trainees lose consciousness.
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This is the outside of the building the world's largest centrifuge is in. I hope this gives a sense of scale.
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Those Russians, they sure love to decorate! Stained glass was everywhere, even at the Space Training Center.
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And then we found a pixie inside one of the small spaceship mock-ups! A family from Atlanta took her home. They named her Taryn. Isn't she cute?
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Life-size training mock-up of the MIR space station. Now, MIR has been a big part of space travel for a long time, and even though space travel is not one of my main interests, I have an affection for MIR. So this was very cool to explore.
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When you're walkin' out in space, you gotta have something to hold onto! And yes, MNP spells MIR. Are we getting the hang of the Cyrillic alphabet?
(unrelated to space: Who can tell me what PECTOPAH sounds like? The answer is a few pictures away!)
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Nice bathroom! You have to "go" into a vacuum (one for #1 and another for #2 evidently--see the lower right area of the pic), and wash your hands in a bubble. Without gravity, everything goes everywhere, and that just won't do!
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In Russia, summer is short and winter is brutal, so they use a lot of flowers to celebrate the good weather. You'll see more in some upcoming pics.
Now that we're out of the bathroom, PECTOPAH = RESTORAN, and is their word for "restaurant!"
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The front of one of the buildings in Star City. I think this is the museum. I thought the sculpture and wall were cool.
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This is a picture in a display case in the museum; looks like they had a celebration involving kids. If you're going to have a kiddie party, you really need a moon bounce with onion domes!
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A typical house in the outskirts between Star City and MOCKBA. I mean, Moscow. (Lesson 6: K is still K, and B is the new V, so MOCKBA = "Moskva") I love this house--it's a little bit Victorian, and I believe it was built about 100 years ago.
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See--they go NUTS with the flowers! How cool is this little hillside in the middle of Moscow? I wonder what all the gardeners do for a living the rest of the year.
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I had never seen a crow that was not all-black. Never. I couldn't get over the 2-tone crows, and I took several pictures, but will only bore y'all with this one.
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We're inside the Kremlin now. Kremlin means "fortress," so this is the Moscow Kremlin, and the building is the Assumption Cathedral.
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This is the Ivan-the-Great Bell Tower. It was first built in 1508, then made taller in 1600.
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Close-up of the Ivan-the-Great bell tower.
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This band was heading to a special concert for the Russian Olympic Team, who were about to leave for Beijing.
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This is the Verkho-Spassky (Upper-Savior) cathedral.
A little bit about the Kremlin: "Kremlin" means fortress. The (Moscow) Kremlin is inside a wall (the tall brick wall seen in earlier pics) that is about 1.5 miles long. Within are four palaces, four cathedrals, and the official residence of the President of Russia.
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The Czar Bell: Largest bell in the world. Cast in 1735 in a 30ft. pit, weighed 216 tons. While still in the ground, it was broken by cold water being poured on it during a fire in 1737, and it was left there 99 yrs! Raised onto its pedestal in 1836, it has not been moved since.
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Around the corner from the Csar Bell is the Csar Cannon. Again, the world's largest. Cast in 1586, the gun tube weighs 40 tons.
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A close-up of the front decoration of the cannon base.
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This is the State Emblem of the Russian Empire. The two-headed eagle dates back to the mid-15th century. Notice St. George slaying the dragon in the center.
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This building is called the Arsenal. It was built in the early 1700s. Napoleon's retreating army blew up part of it in the early 1800s, but it was soon restored, and now houses a museum dedicated to the victory over Napoleon.
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Here is a close-up of one of the Arsenal cannons.
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We've just exited through the Troitskiy (Trinity) Tower and are on the Troitskiy (Trinity) Bridge, heading toward Kutafiya Tower.
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Detail of the wall on the Troitskiy Bridge. This is the style (merloned) along the top of the entire 1.5-mile Kremlin wall. There aren't a lot of places you can see it this well.
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Looking back at the tower through which we exited, called the Troitskiy (Trinity) Tower. That yellow bit on the left is a corner of the Arsenal.
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Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is maybe 1/2 mile from the Kremlin. Originally built in the mid-1800s, the original was dynamited by Stalin in 1931, then this replica of extraordinary accuracy was built after the fall of Communism, using donations that poured in. (Power to the People!)
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Detail of one of the many bronze reliefs around the outside wall. The original cathedral had marble reliefs, and changing to bronze was controversial.
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Outside the cathedral, there is a footbridge over Moscow River, and I found this garden along the way.
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This statue looks like Christopher Columbus, because it was supposed to be Christopher Columbus. But when the artist couldn't sell it as Columbus, he re-did the face to look like Peter the Great and they put it in Moscow! It is officially one of the 10 tallest monuments in the world.
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Here is a lovely view of the Kremlin from the Cathedral's bridge. You can see some of the 20 towers, palaces, at least one cathedral, and the Ivan-the-Great bell tower.
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YOU. CANNOT. ESCAPE. DISNEY. And I for one, am glad of it!
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Unidentified church in Moscow. I like shiny things!
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We are now a good 2,500 miles east of Moscow. Sightseeing in Novosibirsk, Siberia. Another bride is having pictures taken near a monument. This is a soviet statue in Lenin Square by the Grand Theater.
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The central statue is of Lenin.
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This soviet sculpture represents a peasant, a soldier, and a farmer; the three types of men who were supposed to build a strong USSR.
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A huge and lovely flowerbed leading to the Grand Theater.
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Having had enough of the statues, we enjoyed the shade, You'd be surprised how hot Siberia gets in July. Taryn looks perky, but Erica was pretty pooped. Those red-eye flights are tough!
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Flowers, flowers, everywhere!
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The temple of St. Alexander Nevsky.
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This is from the Museum of the Sun outside Novosibirsk. A man has collected over 350 artistic representations of the sun.
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Just more beautiful and unusual flowers!
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After 2 days on the sweat bus (no a/c & temps in the 90s), it felt good to take a cruise on the Ob River on this boat. About the clouds, Novosibirsk clouds up and clears up frequently.
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We spotted this houseboat while cruising the Ob.
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Some of my new pals, Gene and Julie, about to enjoy some Novosibirsk-style entertainment. See next pic.
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The show was quite enjoyable (aside from our personal discomfort from all the heat we'd endured). The lead guy (playing accordion) speaks English with a charming Russian accent, and was quite witty! In this pic, they were performing "Those Were the Days" or, more accurately, Дорогой длинною (Dorogoi dlinnoyu). Turns out it was originally a Russian song before it was loosely translated and hit our pop charts in 1968.
For those of you following the Russian lessons, here's lesson #7: Now you know what a "D" looks like!
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The view from my room included the Trans-Siberian train station, the Ob River, and much of Novosibirsk.
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It is ECLIPSE DAY!!!
This is David Levy, well-known in astronomy circles and a super-nice guy, trying on my favorite eclipse glasses, which I got from Griffith Observatory in 1991. I am honored!
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David, his wife Wendee, and me.
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Using all my little camera's zoom, that is a spot of forest that did not get flooded when they dammed the Ob River in the 1950s, creating the Ob Sea. So in a way, it's a man-made island.
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My new pal Ruth, watching the moon cover the sun! That process takes roughly an hour.
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More partial phase-watching by Wendee.
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Me 'n' my Groovy Glasses--we're a team. I also took them to Egypt in 2006.
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We're all waiting for the Big Show! L-R: Barbara, Brandon, Erica, Joni, Spencer, and Taryn.
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With the sun behind me, the moon is passing from my left to my right. And when the sun is half-covered, my shadow becomes fuzzier on the left and sharper on the right. I thought the effect would show in my crazy hair, but the wind was moving it too fast to be captured sharp, so if you look instead at the edges of my arms, you can see the difference.
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Alright, this may not look like much, but for my little PHD camera ("Push Here Dummy") to take this picture is absolutely amazing. On my computer, I can zoom in and see 2 prominences! (Big flames leaping off the sun's edge) When I took this, I could clearly see Venus and Mercury in the viewfinder, but they didn't come out. Many thanks to super photogs Bob and Larry for their help in how-to-get-the-best-you-can-from-a-PHD!
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That night, flying back to Moscow en route to St. Petersburg, I noticed this on the seat in front of me on the plane. I work for one of those companies! Not just Warner Bros. but Warner Home Video specifically.
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If there's any possible way to continue a trip after a total eclipse of the sun, it is to visit St. Petersburg. The city is nothing less than spectacular.
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Founded and built up by Peter the Great, he envisioned a city with canals like Venice.
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Rostral column, on Vasilievsky Island in St. P
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Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, built 1712 - 1733 and this spire is about 370 ft. tall. It is the main building within the Peter & Paul Fortress.
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The inside of Saints. Peter and Paul Cathedral.
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This is the final resting place of the last Csar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his family who were all murdered in 1918 by the Bolsheviks (communists). Their bodies weren't found until 1998, and even then 2 of the children were still missing. They were found and identified this year (2008).
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Peter the Great is in the tomb closest to the wall.
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These beautiful lightposts were all the way across the span of the bridge we crossed. It took a few tries to get a good shot of one. It rains a lot in St. P, so raindrops on the bus window are just part of the deal!
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That famous-looking church is called The Church of the Spilled Blood. It was built on the spot where a Csar was assassinated in the 1800s. It seems the Csars had a lot of bad luck that way.
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We did not go inside Church of the Spilled Blood. The next pictures are from yet another incredibly beautiful church, St. Isaac's Cathedral.
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This photo had an odd perspective, so let's see if I can explain it. We were outside of the entrance but under this covered area (portico), and I thought the underside of it was photo-worthy, so my camera is pointing straight up.
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And from this angle you can see it's actually a curved ceiling.
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St. Isaac's Cathedral interior.
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A complete, scale model of St. Isaac's
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Taken from dead center, pointing straight up at the inside of the central dome, I caught the dove!
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Here's a bunch of that malachite I mentioned earlier. It's the green stone used to make those big columns. That is a LOT of malachite. You'll see its beauty better in some upcoming photos.
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Forgive the scaffolding, and check out that awesome stained glass.
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St. Isaac's exterior
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Now we are inside the world-famous Hermitage Museum, which is housed inside Catherine the Great's winter palace.
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I'm not sure exactly what the purpose of this gazebo was, but it has eight supports made of my favorite stone, and the beauty of it is more evident here.
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The inlaid wood floors in the Hermitage are numerous and stunning. I took many pics of them and it was hard to pick the best!
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The Gallery of 1812
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Still in the Gallery of 1812, zoomed in on the end of the room.
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One huge malachite vase!
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Another gorgeous inlaid wood floor.
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This is the last wood floor picture, at least for the Hermitage. Catherine's summer palace is full of them too!
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A rather typically long hallway with many support columns.
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This is a unique mosaic floor in the Twenty Column Hall. (and it's a tile floor, so I did not lie!)
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I think I'll do this in MY house, (in my next life).
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This is the Golden Drawing Room. I love the griffin table bases. (and of course the spectacular floor...)
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Michelangelo's Crouching Boy, from the 1530s, of marble.
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This is the curved ceiling at one end of a room.
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This is a small part of a room called the "Small (ha!) Italian Skylight Hall."
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An astronomical clock
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Large malachite vase
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The Palace Square is where imperial guard opened fire on a peaceful demonstration in 1905, igniting the revolution that would culminate in the storming of the Winter Palace by the Bolsheviks in 1917. 70+ years of Soviet Communism was the result.
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Zoomed in on the center of the General Staff Building.
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The Moscow Triumphal Gate (so-called because it is on a road that leads to Moscow, over 300 miles away), built mainly of cast iron, was erected in 1834 -1838 in memory of the Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829.
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We passed a small village on the drive to Catherine's Summer Palace. This is a shot of the local cemetery.
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On the grounds of the Palace: a statue of Russian poet Pushkin in the garden of the Lyceum, 1900.
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Unidentified small building we passed on our walk to the Palace.
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One of the spectacular gardens at the Palace. You're seeing about 1/25th of the main building. You heard me...
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Up close--a small part of the palace exterior.
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This is the main staircase.
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This is the tiled stove in the Dining Room for Cavaliers-in-Attendance.
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A ceiling medallion of the Russian eagle.
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Marble sculpture called "Sleeping Cupid"
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IMG_1882.JPG 2008-08-03
IMG_1886.JPG
IMG_1886.JPG 2008-08-03
In case you wonder what she looked like, this is Catherine the Great.
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IMG_1887.JPG 2008-08-03
Here's the White Dining Room and it's got everything: a lovely table, a blue & white tiled stove, and one of those fantastic inlaid wood floors.
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IMG_1889.JPG 2008-08-03
This is the Picture Hall. That looks like a stove, but I bet it's a fireplace. After all, all heat came from fire then. No gas, no electricity. And it gets mighty cold here.
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IMG_1892.JPG 2008-08-03
Reminds me of M. C. Escher! Did he do floors? Hmmm...
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IMG_1895.JPG 2008-08-03
This is the Green Dining Room. I really like these colors together.
IMG_1907.JPG
IMG_1907.JPG 2008-08-03
This is a painting of the palace, painted in the mid-20th century (look at the clothes!) You are looking at perhaps 1/10th of the building in this picture. Much of it is 4 stories high.
IMG_1910.JPG
IMG_1910.JPG 2008-08-04
One of many statues on the grounds.
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IMG_1915.JPG 2008-08-04
We've moved onto Peterhof Garden, which was the residence of Peter the Great.
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IMG_1922.JPG 2008-08-04
Here I am at the central area, known as the Grand Canal, which connects to the Gulf of Finland.
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IMG_1928.JPG 2008-08-04
Our trip wouldn't have been nearly as good without intrepid tour guide Elena!
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IMG_1929.JPG 2008-08-04
This monument to Peter the Great is known as the Bronze Horseman. It was commissioned by Catherine the Great and has been here since 1782.
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IMG_1932.JPG 2008-08-04
Peter and Paul Fortress, taken from across the Neva River.
When it's not raining, you get the pretty clouds, so the rain is worthwhile.
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IMG_1936.JPG 2008-08-04
One of dozens of nice bridges over the rivers and canals of St. Petersburg.
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IMG_1940.JPG 2008-08-04
Kazan Cathedral: built 1811, dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan, an icon that the Russian Orthodox Church probably venerates the most.
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IMG_1942.JPG 2008-08-04
The restored Russian flag (goodbye & good riddance, hammer & sickle) and the flag of St. Petersburg.
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IMG_1947.JPG 2008-08-04
Saying goodbye was hard--I didn't want to leave!
Thanks for hanging in till the end--you should get a prize. Here, have a smiley.
SLC 2006 Sept.
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Egypt 2006 March
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Wash.DC 2006 March
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