I'm in the Land of Lenin!

I sang the words as I frolicked among decaying statues that adorned the park in which Marina, Valentine, and I spent part of our afternoon. Some of the statues which stood tall in the park were rescued after the fall of communism, parts of the park contain sculptures depicting the triumphs of their soldiers or great masters of the arts, and still other sculptures depict the horrors of Stalin's repression. Standing tall and proud behind it all is the enormous statue of Peter the Great...

err, or is it?

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The statue was originally a gift for America- it was Christopher Columbus discovering America (let's skip all the P.C. arguments about who actually discovered what, shall we? It's a paid holiday so I'll take it). Long story short, America took a gander at the Ogre-like creature in a boat nowhere near the ability to support his weight and said "thanks but no thanks." Oh well, in Russia, you don't waste anything. Old bread is eaten until it is literally inpalatable and thereafter made fermented into a popular beverage called Kvass. So they lobbed off ol' Chris's head and replaced it with the Euro-phile's and suddenly it is a statue of Peter the Great watching over Moscow.

Sound too far fetched to be true? This girl would agree, so she did some digging.

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First, look at the base of the statue: Three boats depicted at the bottom.

Second: Peter the Great would not have been gazing approvingly at Moscow. He established the capital at St. Petersburg because he saw it as Russia's "Window to the West" offering it easy access to what he fully believed was the more civilized part of the continent. Any statue this huge is misplaced (and abhorred by most of Moscow's locals)

Third: Even tour guides who have studied history have backed up the story. I got to talk to one firsthand after my boat ride on the Moscow River with coworkers. We got hooked up with a free watery tour because the tourguide, a historian, is a good friend of my coworker, Ilena.

So there just might be some truth to this story...

Anyway, one should not assume that the reminders of this land's Bolshevik uprising are confined to parks. Metro stations continue to boast their original decor. The wall of metro stateion Ploshad Ilichya, greets me with a giant profile of the Lenin man each morning as I swich lines. Stations boast names like "Proletariat Place," "Street of the year 1905," "Marksist Place," and the "Lenin Library." Not to mention Lenin's tomb, which continues to draw interested tourists, and aging pilgrims in droves.Let's not forget the great Moscow State University, the most prestigous institution of higher learning in the country, designed by Stalin himself and still boasting its original symbols

Further Communist fun:

A wet and icky first Saturday in Moscow didn't stop this girl from adventuring out into the city. My good friend, Marina, met me in the metro station and introduced me to her hustband, Valentine. He's half Ukranian, half Russian, and doesn't really fit into either category very well, although he prefers Kiev to Moscow and moved here just to marry dear Marina 9 months ago.

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We went to an expansive park that was formerly an exhibition area for all the Soviet Republics' grand accomplishments. Each Republic was represented by its own individually designed exhibiton hall. The buildings surrounded a sprawling park with fountains, statues, and Soviet rockets and airplanes. There is a sculpture to honor Yuri Gagarin- Marina: Because we were first, you know? Me: Yeah, I know, you guys sent the first dog into space! Poor Laika.

A wonderful fountain displays the different industries...



with Agriculture looking strangely like a certain Ukranian...
Timoshenko's great great grandmother???

Soviet stars and symbols are everywhere. You really can see firsthand the lengths the Party went to in maintaing the fascade they were always prosperous and building pride in its citizens.

We decided not to let the awful weather get us down and instead took advantage of globalization by means of German engineering of the "Wilde Maus"

In an appropriate end of the afternoon's stroll down USSR memory lane, we all enjoyed a late lunch at McDonald's. It's really where to eat when you want to live like a local, as each of the many locations are always teeming with Muscovites, anytime of the day, and almost all are open 24 hours. Plus, it's one of the few places one can afford to eat out on an non-profit organziation salary.

Here they have a cheese sauce you can get for your french fries, and actually you have a choice of classic Micky D's fries or potato wedges. While you have to pay for condiments, I have to say it's worth it for the solid mass that comes in a bbq sauce sized container and tastes like a mix between mayonaise and cheeze whiz. It's about the perfect accompanyment to your fried 'taters and reinforces my belief that Russians won't eat anything without either sour cream or mayo. While most prices are reasonable and/or comparable to the US, the 35 cent ice cream cones still reign strong as my favorite item on the menu!

I ended the evening at home, sampling Russian wine with Nadia and Sergei and then staying up way too late with Nadia talking about boys... some things you never outgrow :)